JOEKEN WUCHERPFENNIG
About me
My name is Joeken, I am 19 years old and the third working student from Germany. After I finished school in July 2018 I spent three months on an Icelandic horse farm in Canada, where I learned a lot about Ttouch and Connected Riding.
When I arrived at Suddene Park in October 2018, I found myself in a new world, which included dressage, show jumping and riding horses other than Icelandics.
I have never had much contact with other breeds before, because we kept only Icelandic horses at home.
Thankfully Sarah and Eileen at Suddene are really good teachers with a lot of knowledge and experience, so I learned a lot and improved my riding skills. In February 2019 I was riding my first online dressage test and I enjoyed hacking around the beautiful Wiltshire countryside and the delicious food at Suddene (in particular Fran's amazing chocolate brownies).
In April 2019 my pony and I took a 1000km-walk back to Germany – another big adventure, but I will miss the Suddene Park Family.
My work
Along with the regular daily work, which includes bringing horses in and out, mucking out, poo picking and keeping the yard tidy, there is always a lot of other stuff to do on a livery yard. A few of these varied tasks are fixing and building things, painting and fencing.
Next to the outdoor activities, there is always some paperwork to do, for example doing bills and planning events, like clinics or the online dressage test.
Of course one part of my work was the training of the horses (groundwork, schooling and hacking).
There is always enough to do, so you are never bored, but you are surrounded by a good team, so it is always fun to work and you can use your own knowledge and ideas to improve the horses and the yard management.
My Horses
HERTRA
I brought my five year old Icelandic horse with me from Germany. I started to ride her regularly and we developed our groundwork and liberty. She loved the attention as a cute little teddy bear at Suddene, which included a lots of extra treats. I enjoyed to hack her bareback around the farm or to go for along walk on a Saturday. We are familiar with every bridleway within a radius of 20 mile around Burbage now.
LENNIE
Lennie is a nine year old ex-racehorse who moved to Suddene in Spring 2018. When I arrived we started his rehabilitation programme after he had damaged his suspensories whilst racing. He developed really well and I rode his and my first dressage test on him. His rehabilitation programme continued after a setback and included walking in hand and polework. I really enjoyed working with Lennie whilst I was at Suddene.
HERTRA
I brought my five year old Icelandic horse with me from Germany. I started to ride her regularly and we developed our groundwork and liberty. She loved the attention as a cute little teddy bear at Suddene, which included a lots of extra treats. I enjoyed to hack her bareback around the farm or to go for along walk on a Saturday. We are familiar with every bridleway within a radius of 20 mile around Burbage now.
LENNIE
Lennie is a nine year old ex-racehorse who moved to Suddene in Spring 2018. When I arrived we started his rehabilitation programme after he had damaged his suspensories whilst racing. He developed really well and I rode his and my first dressage test on him. His rehabilitation programme continued after a setback and included walking in hand and polework. I really enjoyed working with Lennie whilst I was at Suddene.
