Today we’d like to introduce you to Alessandra Deerinck.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was not “born with horses” in Milano, Italy. I pulled them in my life because I always felt drawn to them like a magnet is drawn to metal. I wanted to ride since I was two, but my Dad asked me to wait until I was eleven. Later, he also asked me to stop because he was concerned about the dangers of riding, but I could not obey him. Riding is my passion and has become my job. At the age of sixteen, in order to keep riding, I went to work at the racetrack, exercising horses before I went to school every morning. I was blessed to meet Enrico Camici, a great jockey and trainer, and to learn from him. At the age of 18, I earned a license to race as an amateur rider and rode and won in flat races for ten years. I value the time I spent at the racetrack as well as I am thankful to my parents for insisting that I graduated from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Milano. During that time, I assisted in his work Dr. Bassignana, a racetrack Veterinarian and Professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine in Pisa. For the same doctor, I edited and illustrated with drawings many articles and a book published about lameness in horses. I also worked at different farms, assisting in the foaling season, and did student internships in small and large animal surgery. I competed in flat races between 1980 and 1992 until an accident ended my racing career. In 1992, during a trip to California, I met Charles Deerinck, and we got married two years later. In 2005 I attempted to obtain a racehorse trainer license in the US and started to exercise racehorses, but I had another major accident in which I broke my back for the third time. Too often jockeys risk their lives riding because not much care is taken about the racehorse’s mind and proper training. Since then, changing this very wrong conception became important to me. I am extremely thankful having a husband, children and being able to ride again without permanent consequences from my accidents. Of the many racehorses that left their influence in me, I have to mention Downtown Rosalie, which has helped me explore all the possibilities of the human-to-horse relationship, and another very special horse, who started it all. His name was Maslogarth, an ordinary racehorse that, just for being a “good boy,” became the S Siro racetrack mascot and earned himself lifetime room and board from this institution. Together we won and placed in several races. I was also able to ride him bareback with a simple halter on the racetrack. On the ground, he walked at my side free of tack, even while we were between all the other racehorses. At that time, I could not explain how I was able to work with him like that. It was spontaneous and beautiful. Later in my life, when I began working with horses that are able to freely move, I understood a lot more of what I had previously experienced. From the experience I gained I created Human Horse Sensing, a new way to relate to horses and apply it every moment in my professional life. It is based on working with horses free to move but rooted in the goals and nuances of classical dressage, current horse behavioral sciences, and my experience of forty years spent with horses. I have ridden in many different disciplines, trained many horses, and currently, aside from being the mother of three children, I compete in any venue that is suitable for the horses I train. I believe in a comprehensive approach and take care of any and every aspect of the horse, from managing their health and nurturing their mind to trimming their barefoot hooves, from training to competing if the owners would like to do so. The thrill of an endurance race is for me as exciting as teaching my horse to keep eyes and ears on me, to walk truly straight on a loose rein, or to teach my skills to others.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I like to look at life and my past in a positive way and keep a positive attitude even when there are struggles. This always helped me to overcome difficulties and succeed in overcoming problems.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Since the year 2009, I have worked as a horsemanship clinician and horse trainer between the US and Italy. Human Horse Sensing is formulated to be taught online as well as in traditional settings and its principles are the subject of the published book Human Horse Sensing Horsemanship. The horsemanship instruction program runs year around and can be personalized to everyone’s needs and wants in order to give people a way to communicate with horses in a spontaneous, immediate, and sense full way. In light of the actual time, culture, scientific studies, and my professional experience, I studied in depth the interaction between human beings and horses and how communication naturally happens during this time, aiming to keep an objective perspective. I applied the information that came from this approach to the interaction between human and horse in many different instances, ranging from breeding to training, competing, and performing in events. The experience suggested a deep innovation for the traditional modality of the relationship and the communication between human and horse, making a radical shift from an interaction based on training to giving a structure to the immediate interspecific communication that naturally happens in that time. The communication in the interaction between human and horse can be managed through purposeful movement, taking into account the content, modality, and the sense through which the information is perceived – from the ground (communicating through sight, hearing, and touch) and from the saddle (communicating through touch and hearing). The interaction has the same meaning for human and horse, is kept in the social context of relationship, with concepts that are instinctual for human and equine, and does not include the use of force or of fear. The result is a system for communicating with the horse through behavior in a dynamic dialogue with a comprehensive approach that always keeps in consideration both sides, human and equine.
Such model allows us to manage the situation in the time while it happens, modulating it and reshaping it moment by moment.
I have been a regular contributor in the training section for two different magazines, Il Mio Cavallo in Italy and Elite Equestrian in Ocala Florida. In 2018 I have published my own book, Human Horse Sensing Horsemanship, available on Amazon and soon to be published in Italian.
In 2010 I presented my work at CavalliaMilano in Italy, and in 2011 at Equine Affaire in Pomona, and in 2017 at the Norco Horse Affaire in California. 2010 was also the year I first rode a Mangalarga Marchador, and fell in love with this breed, which sums up all of the traits I appreciate in horses. They are very responsive, attentive, tune in with the rider, and move effortlessly at each gait. Their movement is one of the smoothest a rider can experience in the saddle, yet natural and very effective, up to speed even for endurance. My 2012 MM mare Aria de Los Cielos and I are going to dressage shows, competitive trail rides, have won in endurance, and even tried mounted archery, polo, and fox hunting together. I had her since birth and she is my dream horse coming to life. I also worked with Rancho de Los Cielos a Mangalarga Marchador breeding operation in Riverside, CA. Of all of their horses, Allegria de los Cielos is my favorite. I introduced her to endurance in 2012 and together we rode in the Tournament of Roses Parade for 2016 as part of the AERC Parade Riders. With Allegria, I won the title of Champion mare 2014 in Las Vegas, participated in rail shows, trail competitions, cowboy challenges, endurance LD rides.
In my equestrian life, I rode hundreds of horses, and I thank each one of them for the time we had together.
In my life, I always want to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, and reality to every dream, and to see my children grow up and become who they want to be.
https://youtu.be/da24-kgIecM Human Horse Sensing
https://youtu.be/wu5_lvHAoTQ Where real horsemanship can take us
What’s next?
My goal has always been to teach people how to understand spontaneous communication with horses and how to ride safely and I plan on continuing to do so.
Contact Info:
- Website: hhsensing.com
- Facebook: Human Horse Sensing
- Youtube: Alessandra Deerinck
- Yelp: Human Horse Sensing
