ST Mastery student Kim Alford from South Africa passed Riding 1 with her mare Show Girl and with that Touchstone she passed all 5 Touchstones in Grade 1!
Congratulations!
Kim has some great insights to share about the Mastery and Evaluation Program, and how it has helped her on her wonderful ST journey:
"From being a horse mad girl, having my first riding lesson at the age of 4, to years of owning and competing my own horses in Showjumping and 3 Day eventing, I never stopped searching for more and more knowledge in training horses.
Having stumbled across ST only a month before the launch of the new Straightness Training Mastery Program, in November 2013, I eagerly signed up as a Mastery Student. I just knew that this was what I had been searching for, for so many years. My goal was never competition but to do my very best for my horses on our journey, through life, together.
One of the many inspirational quotes from Marijke de Jong, that instantly drew me to ST was “Think first, act later”. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was going to live this quote to the fullest. When the Evaluation Program was launched in 2014, I was so eager to start sending in my evaluations but my horses said “Not yet. You have to spend a lot of time studying the information in the program and work on yourself first. We will wait for you”.
In June 2016, I submitted and past Groundwork 1. An incredible achievement for Show Girl and I. Since then we have been steadily working through Grade 1 of this amazing Evaluation program. The level of quality required to pass a Touchstone is outstanding and you will only reach it, and more, by submitting Touchstones and learning from the incredibly detailed feedback that you receive from the evaluators. 20 months later, with the help of Marijke, her awesome program Straightness Training, my amazing instructor, Zaneta Georgiades and the worldwide ST family, Show Girl and I have graduated Grade 1. This is our springboard into Grade 2 and amazing things to come.
Along with everyone interested in growing on their Straightness Training journey, let’s keep learning, improving and submitting touchstones. Don’t get disillusioned when the gremlins creep in. Although it has taken us some time to get here, with the knowledge and experience that I have gained and the incredible relationships that I have built up with my horses, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Onwards and upwards."
-- Kim Alford, South Africa
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For more information about our educational programs, click here:
▶︎ ST Mastery Program
▶︎ ST Evaluation Program
▶︎ ST Academy
