Il Aramis was born in 2013. The smart dark bay is a son of Londrino, out of Venturosa. His owner tells their story:
THE SEARCH
Due to lack of time and for about 7 years I rode and took care of horses owned by other people. Now it was time to look for a new horse to buy.
My ideal or dream always was and still is riding with light aids in harmony with the horse. Horses that were already ridden, that were dull and mostly were put too much of a strain on already, those were out of the question for me.
I was looking for inspiration and I remembered Leonie Bühlmann, who probably rides with light aids. I had never seen her on horseback before, but once watched a lesson she taught, which was so very different from the riding lessons I had known so far.
On Leonie’s homepage I found various horses for sale. All of them were beautiful. But was there a horse that really suited me? One that touched me more deeply? For about 10 days I studied the page, looked at all the horse pictures and read the descriptions.
“Il Aramis” was the candidate that really appealed to me. Aramis made a shy, but also self-confident and at the same time very sensitive impression on me. Leonie wrote that he was very “special” and was looking for a suitable person for himself. Then I called Leonie and we arranged to meet at the stud so that I could get to know Aramis personally.
It turned out that he was very reserved, almost fearful and reacted strongly to outside stimuli, but at the same time he was interested and open-minded. Leonie told me that he was probably the most difficult horse of the year.
At first, I was almost as cautious as he was when getting to know him. During the first leading and lunging, it became apparent that he reacts very fine to body language. Therefore I could show him my claim to leadership with minimal gestures. Already on the first day Aramis came to me directly from the trot after I asked him to. Leonie was amazed.
After 2 days the decision was made: I bought Aramis.
FIRST STEPS
When he arrived in Germany, Aramis let himself be led “well”, but it took quite a while before a real relationship developed. If he was not able to identify a stimulus, e.g. a driving aid on the ground, he could jump away very violently and initially in panic. Nevertheless I could immediately “catch” him again (focus on me again), after such an “overreaction”.
THE DEVELOPMENT
Over time, Aramis learned to wait when he couldn’t match a stimulus. Now he waits attentively when he does not understand. Well, his inner tension increases, but quite low compared to the beginning.
Riding felt “not right” at the beginning. It took me a while to realise that the saddle was hindering him, even though the saddle was fitted good, I assumed, by the saddler. Finally after choosing a new saddler and a new saddle with a firm tree, he walked freely.
TODAY AND A LOOK BACK
Aramis and I have become a team that is characterised by deep trust. From my point of view, the combination of relationship work on the ground, collective work in hand, small exercises of lateral movements and first collection under saddle enables a deep relationship and an ideal training for body and mind.
I am very grateful that Aramis was able to live almost completely free until he was 4 years old and then he was lovingly introduced to the human world by Leonie with clear guidance.
Aramis would not have survived rudeness or violence: either (and very likely) he would have become so panicky and unpredictable that he would have become a danger to every human. Or he would have become completely numb and broken. Thanks to the time, calm and patience that Aramis received, first from Leonie and then from me, he is now a very attentive and happy horse who loves to work. When he succeeds in a task and I praise him he is more than “happy”.
