Part 1 – Le Matou – How it all began
What about your goals, wishes and dreams? Do you have a list of places you would like to visit one day, of experiences like walking with a herd of wild horses, of a very specific attitude towards life? Is there something you are specifically doing to get closer to it? For me, a long-held dream was to live on a farm with many animals and to have a seminar center. The realization began in 2010 with the purchase of a remaining farm in Lower Saxony.
We planned and worked, built and designed and received a lot of support from the universe and countless dear people. Over the years, Hof Steigerwald grew and thrived into an oasis for people and animals with a busy schedule. And why on earth would you give up something like that?! It wasn’t actually planned that way either.
In 2019, I finally wanted to take a real vacation in the summer again and browsed Airbnb. Since I had gone after the Abitur with two horses and two dogs on a five-month trail ride in the foothills of the Pyrenees and had lived there for 1.5 years, I also looked there for offers. Finally, this area had never completely let me go. The nature, the silence, the charm of the mountains, the relaxed attitude towards life….
I enjoyed every day of my vacation, reminisced about times gone by, and when my hostess told me about a uniquely beautiful place that was for sale due to age, I said, “Well, I’d look at it…”. The day before heading back to Germany, we drove to Le Matou, the name of the farm. In France, every individual farm has a proper name, which is very charming. Walking around the property I saw the Pyrenees and felt: this is it! ❤
No ifs, ands or buts, it practically jumped out at me. However, I had no idea where I would get the money and what my husband Mario and Richard, our son would say about it. Both thought I was crazy, of course. Correctly and completely crazy. A very exciting time followed and in April 2020 we sold Hof Steigerwald and bought Le Matou. At the end of July it finally happened and our dream became reality.
We move with Sheltie Jupiter and all six ponies. Richard stays in Germany to do his Abitur, the sheep are already housed somewhere else and the chickens move to the new location for the chicken seminars near Göttingen. Because there will still be me as a speaker in Germany! Due to family and friends, there are enough reasons besides teaching expert clicker training to get me on the road three-four times a year.
The horse seminars do not yet have a definite location as of October. In any case, I will work exclusively on farms with reasonable open stables. Fortunately, formats like the Steigerwald. T Medical Trainer or the Training Specialist Horse you don’t need a whole indoor riding arena.
For the seesaw trainer, on the other hand, you do need a bit of a selection of gymnastics equipment on site, as I won’t be bringing the seesaws from France.
So if you already own some Steigerwald gymnastics equipment and would like to have two seminars a year on the topic of horse rocker training at your yard, please contact me at info@steigerwald-t.de.
Apropos horse seesaws: The construction and shipping of everything from the two-hooves-rocker to the whole-body-horse-rockers to the rotary-disc-horse, balancer-beam and stepper will continue to take place in Germany. However, the wood of the runners will then be southern French.
With the time there will be also seminar offers there, on Le Matou.
We are already busy planning and the guest house is already ready for occupancy. On the 67 hectare property, the possibilities are endless! And for the women, who are thinking about how to convince their husbands to travel so far for advanced training: Mario wants to get a mini-excavator for all the work that still needs to be done, so the needs of many are taken care of 😉
More details about Le Matou will follow in the coming weeks. Subscribe now to our newsletter, then you will not miss any news and you can continue to follow our dream and especially the launch on Le Matou.
And now we take you a little bit with us and introduce you to Le Matou with the video.
The Heroes List
The list of heroes is a list of helpers and supporters who support us in making the Le Matou dream come true.
We would like to thank all those who have supported us so far and continue to support us in making the Steigerwald dream come true.
We are grateful and happy about every single supporter and wish our special helpers all the best for the realization of their own life dreams.
Would you also like to be on the list of heroes and be there when, in the face of the Pyrenees, a place is created where living, loving, learning is made possible? Then choose your own personal thank you for your contribution in our online store.