Meet Franzi and Tony
The Founders of the
Equisit Way of Life.
Who is EQUISIT ?
We are Tony Lander & Franziska Hertelendy.
We:
Bust Myths,
Destroy Limitations,
and Empower the Passion
for horse's and their people around the world.
Tony has been involved with horses for more than 40 years. Learning, Studying and Teaching Horsemanship (HMS) for 27 years. In the last 5 years, Tony has gone on to develop his own unique formula for success with horses and their human which is a melding of HMS and High School Riding bridging the gaps between Mental, Emotional and Physical Balance.
The "secret sauce" which Tony adds to all riders is his own creation named SEATology™️.
A passion for Tony is assisting people to "destroy" the Limiting Beliefs which stop them enjoying the benefits and pleasure of high collection development - his Belief is that anyone can do it.
Why can Tony offer this??
Because in 2017, he had an epiphany which allowed him to crush his own Limiting Beliefs around the same subject and he became obsessed with achieving high collected movements for all riders and horses who want it.
Franzi
has been involved with horse for over 20 years. In that time, Franzi has developed a deep understanding and empathy for both horses and people in their horse journey, because she has lived and experienced the highs and lows of that process herself. Franzi made a life changing decision in her late twenties, ignoring her training as a Physiotherapist and instead making the learning and teaching of Human / Horse Development a full time career.
Tony and Franzi can change the way you view horse "training" and horse "riding" lessons - they become WAY MORE than mere "training" or "riding". They are about HOW to attain a mutually beneficial "horse-human" refined communication.
Tony's Early Life
Tony's childhood did not include horses in the physical sense, but he sure dreamed about them from as early as he can remember. His family had a home on the edge of a waterway and so no facility for horses.
In fact no-one in his family was even interested in animals - Tony was almost a "black sheep".
It was only ever rarely that Tony was able to "steal" a ride, if a kind local girl might lead him on her pony.
His infatuation for horses had to remain "under-covers" until finally, at 19, he was able to buy his own horse because he had his own money, as he had started a job in the computer industry.
His first horse was an ex-pacer, called Prince, who tended to "run-away" with him on most rides and Tony would fall off reasonably regularly - maybe not the best introduction to horses?
However, Tony persisted for years and though knowing very little about horses generally, he started to breed Arabian horses...
Then he met Pat Parelli and everything changed.
Franzi's Early Life
Franzi's childhood also did not include horses in the physical sense, however from as young as 5, she had already felt a bit different from other kids around her because she had a deep connection and draw to nature.
She describes herself as constantly thinking about being in nature with horses, so the passion had started!
After nagging her parents for a horse for a good long while, they finally succumbed and bought her, wait for it, 2 rabbits!!
By the time Franzi was 10 years old, she had been able to have some riding lessons at a local stable - however, this was a bit of a nightmare. The stables were dark, with small boxes, unhappy horses, scary rides and some bucking-off all along with teachers who yelled a lot. The "trauma" from these episodes caused Franzi to take a short "holiday" from horses.
Fortunately, 3 years later, Franzi met a nice Palomino which the owners allowed Franzi to care for and develop with. From this sweet couple, came an introduction to Parelli Horsemanship and Franzi was then "hooked". She devoured DVDs, attended courses and developed her skills to where she could ride the Palomino bareback and bridle-less as well as play on ground at liberty.
Franzi's passion and almost obsession, with horses created a dilemma for the teenager - her school grades dropped and she also ceased a relatively promising tennis competition program - both of which her parents were not happy about.
Then came a sad day, the Palomino was moved - to a large Arabian Stud. Franzi fortuitously visited the place and fell in love with an Arabian foal, subsequently purchasing it as a yearling. So started a long and sometimes difficult journey with Casper. The difficulty came because Casper seemed to always be sick and had several conformation challenges. Especially difficult was his unwillingness to put effort into any task, which caused all Franzi's instructors to tell her to "use higher phases", "more energy", "more whip", none of which helped much and episodes left Franzi feeling like a "cruel and spiteful owner".
There were many nights of crying and reflection after yet another "higher energy" session with little good results.
Something HAD to Change...
Tony's Career
Tony became a devoted Parelli student and also one of Pat's top Instructors, teaching in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and USA.
However, in 2002 Tony felt he needed to spend more time, at home, raising his young sons and so he resigned from Parelli and made a career change, buying a franchise shop - that was a "bad" decision!!!
He felt like his horse dream was disappearing and his life was wasting.
So, he sold the shop, and grudgingly worked again in the computer industry for a short time.
However the "call" of his horse dream was strong and he started the International Horsemans Institute, a program for horse people to develop their Foundational Horsemanship.
As good as this was, Tony was still unsettled. He wanted much more from himself and for himself.
He also wanted to be able to deliver far more for and to his existing students and future students.
He felt restricted, as though the HMS industry had created "glass ceilings" for people, preventing them from progressing to higher levels of horsemanship by constantly pushing them to "get a better foundation"
He wanted to "break through the glass ceiling" of foundational horsemanship.
He wanted to ride harmoniously with super refinement AND to ride collected movements AND to be able to do it on ANY Horse and to help ANY rider to achieve it as well...
Franzi's Career
Franzi, after leaving school, studied Health Management and Physiotherapy at University though she was not fully convinced that a corresponding career was what she wanted.
Horses were still a huge draw for her, so she also started a Horsemanship Instructor Education Program in 2014.
During this time Franzi and Tony met at several courses Tony ran in Germany and Franzi was impressed and influenced by Tony's approach to "people training" as well as the Horsemanship he presented.
Franzi completed her Bachelor Degree in October 2016, and on the same day, flew to Australia to study with Tony for 3 months full-time at his ranch.
This was a turning point for Franzi as it was in Australia that she made the big decision to follow her dream of horses Full-Time. So when she returned to Germany she started teaching Horsemanship as her career.
In 2017 Tony and Franzi began a collaboration and developed Equisit - Horses Improving People which has a specific focus on developing the Person first, so that they can then develop their horse in a more harmonious, empathetic and productive way.
However, there was still something missing for each of them...
A Tony's Health
In August 2011, health became an urgency.
Tony was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and operated on immediately; the surgeon said it should be fine - it wasn't.
Over the next 3 years, Tony's cancer developed to Stage IV, into the bones and his life-expectancy was maybe 3 years.
Options were discussed, none of which suited Tony, as he wanted "alternate" solutions. He researched countless books, videos, journals and settled on Cannabis Oil as his choice.
Rick Simpson is the author who Tony read and he then followed Rick's protocol.
Long story short, the Cannabis Oil totally stopped the spread of cancer and REVERSED the tumours to NONE, completely clear on the scans in 2016!!!
This was the signal to Tony that he had been "given another chance" at life. He decided that he HAD to live his dream of finding what he was missing in riding - the Riding Art. No longer could he ignore the ache inside him to ride high collected moves in a super refined communication and so started the "journey of discovery".
NEW Tony, NEW Life
After the clear scans, life "began again" for Tony.
So since 2017, Tony has been "on a journey" studying High School riding and developing his expertise into a program which:
Busts Myths around horses and riding
Destroys Limitations which hold riders back AND Empowers Riders allowing any rider to discover HOW to influence their horse with virtually "invisible" cues from their seat.
He named this method EQUISIT SEATology™️ and it has already helped people by delivering thousands of more productive, effective and harmonious riding hours for his students and their horses.
Franzi's & Tony's Alignment
Tony & Franzi began discussing their dreams about horses with each other. They found that their ideals and dreams about horse handling, development and levels of expertise were very closely aligned. Both wanted a "better way" through the focussed development of the person first, as the main responsibility.
Above this, they both wanted to develop and ride horses to the High Collected movements for pleasure AND for the horse's mental, emotional and physical well being. Besides their own individual dreams to ride High Collection, Casper is also a driving force for their development into this area as his conformation does not lend easily to High Collection. Yet it has made an incredible difference to him mentally as well as his physicality and way of moving. Now he needs WAY LESS support energy while also experiencing much more balance and beauty.
In what, at times, felt like an endless and fruitless search for a "mentor" to learn High School Riding they finally met Sonja Leitenstern. To "fast-track" their learning, they moved themselves and their horses to Sonja's for 5 months intensive study and each took 4 lessons per week. The change in both horses was phenomenal, reaching the beginnings of Piaffe, Passage, School Halt, School Canter, Mezair and more.
They now had belief that they were definitely on the "right track". They had both successfully Destroyed their own Limitations, they were Empowered and so EQUISIT Way Of Life was born.
Now, Tony & Franzi are fully involved in developing, promoting and teaching EQUISIT Way Of Life for the mutual benefit of people and horses.
Personal Life Together
Tony and Franzi have an exceptional life together.
They spend almost every minute of each day together as they develop and progress Equisit to allow them to serve more and more horse people around the world at the highest level.
They spend their time between Australia and Germany and have several horses in each country. Their approach to business is simple, find the best solution for the client and their horse. With increasing availability and adaptability of virtual technology, almost anyone, anywhere can be supported in their journey to their dreams.
Their approach to life is also simple, "Life is Short - Enjoy it all" - to this end, Growth and Development are "the responsibility of and to ourselves".
Together Franzi & Tony support and develop each other in almost all areas of life including:
Self Development, via programs like Lifebook, Wildfit, Tony Robbins
Business Development with help and guidance from Russell Brunson, Dean Graziosi, Tony Robbins, Eric Edmeades, Myron Golden
Horse Development from experts such as Pat & Linda Parelli, Mary Wanless, Sonja Leitenstern
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