On landladies, pocket money, Baron and Inge Schothorst... (part 2)

Ton Toonen, a teacher!

After an interview with Ton Toonen, I was allowed to come; I still had to find accommodation nearby. It was a small room with a - in my eyes - somewhat strange landlady in Soest, at cycling distance from the stable. The food was horrible and she only had sterilised milk, but I took all that for granted! The real horse life was about to begin!

Pieter, my ‘stable boss’

In those days you didn't earn anything, at Manege de Prins you even had to pay. At Ton's I got fl. 25,- a week pocket money... but you didn't think about it; you were going to learn something, learn a lot! That was worth everything to you. When I started, two other girls and Pieter Metting van Rijn worked there. The latter was already a year ahead in Deurne and I looked up to him enormously. Later he became an excellent farrier and still is. Pieter actually ran the whole stable and it was from him that I learned most when it came to stable work. Ton was on the road a lot to find horses and give lessons. But he also taught a lot at home, especially in the evening. I could then sit on the side for hours, listening and watching. Much to the annoyance of my landlady because I was never in time for dinner... haha!

Jumping and hunting horses!

More than half the horses were boarded; a mix of jumping and hunting horses and the occasional dressage horse. Many of these hunting horses were ridden by the owner only on weekends. We were allowed to ride these horses during the week. One of those hunting horses I will never forget - Baron! A big dark brown gelding, with harness horse blood and very hot. Well, Maarten could ride that. Probably because I sat pretty, stayed above and didn't know what to ask such an animal. But with all the lessons I had watched and those few lessons I had had myself, I was getting along quite well with that menace. I can well remember one afternoon when I was driving and suddenly Pieter, Ton and his brothers were on the side. Baron was very sweet I thought and very quiet and he danced for my liking. Ton said he was “Baron had never seen me walk like this before and how clever it was of me to have him so beautifully ‘connected’, ‘reined’ and ‘collected’. And what a beautiful ‘extended trot!”
Little did I know... it came naturally I said, Baron did all that! Shaking his head and half smiling, Ton walked back to the canteen... For days it buzzed around the barn about my ride with Baron. I didn't understand much of the how and why.

A while later I was allowed to ride ‘the Erdball’, Nico Toonen's Z jumping horse that was ridden a lot by Pieter. Erdball was a very beautiful chestnut, who ‘walked so nicely with his head’ I thought. Pieter then took the trouble to explain to me what and how about control, impulsion and ‘riding together’. Pieter did have a short fuse and I found it difficult. Yet that is where the realisation began for me what training and dressage riding was all about. And so you see, you can also learn a lot from a fellow intern, if you want to!

The small house in the grounds and saddling

By now the girls had left and the small house in the grounds also became vacant. I was allowed in there, thankfully! My mother came every fortnight with the clean laundry and cleaned the little house. My pocket money was withheld and my parents paid a few hundred guilders for my accommodation. Pieter had also gone elsewhere to pursue his education.... For a long time, I was on my own. Keeping 30 stalls clean, lunging, riding, feeding, sweeping, speaking to customers... I went on and on.
On weekends, I often had to go along to competitions to help out and on Mondays Ton and I would go and look at horses at various dealers. I sat on a lot of animals and was just as much beside them. Many years later, one of those traders told me that I had backed a lot of young horses at his place. After all, I was often the first to get on... what did I know, I did what I was asked; sit pretty and stay on top. In retrospect, of course, it was irresponsible for both humans and animals, but that was the way things were in those days.

Back to Deurne!

With the approaching entrance exam in Deurne, there had to be a horse. Ton had arranged a very nice greyhound for me. I forgot his name but it was a Persian Path. Only... he didn't want to go on the trailer. On the day of departure to Deurne, that white one decided to run very fast backwards off the trailer. I stood behind it... ankle broken and my little finger halfway through. End of story as far as Deurne was concerned. Fortunately, a few months later I was allowed to try again. And whether it was out of pity or otherwise, I was allowed to take the horse Nando to Deurne! Nando belonged to a boarding client, Inge Schothorst and I rode Nando occasionally and was crazy about that horse. Nando was a sturdy brown gelding by the stallion Garant. For that time with a very nice spring in his movement and a buttery mouth. Nando (and so did Inge) made sure I was able to do entrance exams with good results. A few months later, I was allowed to go to the Basic Training. Three months intern ‘at Deurne’, a dream came true. And... Inge allowed me to take Nando with me for three months. Ik was too young to realise what an amazing gesture this was from Inge. Only recently I thanked her from the bottom of my heart.

Cor Loeffen, Brammeijer and Tjeerd Velstra

The three months in Deurne were a fun time, in fact everything went fairly easily for me. In my experience, Cor Loeffen called me a ‘dickhead’ the least, I had the fewest quarrels with stable master Brammeijer and I was allowed to ride on the back of the carriage with Mr Velstra the most often. Maybe I'm overromanticising a bit now, but I only have good memories of that first Deurne period. If only because I didn't have to muck out 40 boxes...

During this period, my mindset grew above all. I wanted to learn, I absorbed everything I saw and heard; not just from the big boys but from everyone. I was curious for more! At that time, Deurne was mainly intended to train riding school instructors. Sport came second. In the structure of this training, I learned that there had to be rules, you had to behave consistently and always do your best, even if it was often nowhere near enough. But with small steps, I got somewhere and the hunger for knowledge kept growing... at any cost....

From Deurne, my next internship address had to be a real, commercial riding school. For me, Manege Prinsenstad in Delft was chosen. A completely different world than I was used to. And I'll tell you more about that in part 3....