Tiffany Joosse - where do you start with this amazing young woman?

At 22 years of age (nearly 23) Tiff (as she is known to her friends) has battled against the odds to prove that if you want something bad enough you can make it happen!

Tiff is the result of a mixed marriage - her Australian mum, Jackie and Dutch dad, Wolter and really, horses were obviously in her system before birth. Mum rode, but Dad did not, but his uncle ran a riding school in Holland.

Tiff started riding on her mum's first pony who was 30+ years at the time. Unfortunately we were told quietly and firmly by Tiff that publishing the photos of her at age 3 on board the pony would be frowned upon by her - and this is a young lady we didn't want to annoy so the photo was returned to mum, Jackie to go back on the photo board in the house.

Tiff's first pony of her own was her 6th Christmas present and she headed off almost on Christmas Day to join Balnarring Pony Club which she was

a member of until she was 21 years old and considered "too old".

As Tiff was growing up it was obvious that her love was going to be dressage, Jackie and Wolter realised that the warmblood was the horse their daughter would need and so they decided to breed her one as they were realistic about the fact that to buy was going to be out of reach. Unfortunately this did not work out as they lost the youngster they bred soon after it was broken in.

Little did any of the Joosse's realise that as Tiff was growing up and Wolter was pursuing his racehorse breeding program that one of his "broken down racehorses" would become the love of their daughter's life!

Wolter bred a racehorse who was very successful on the city tracks until a fall in the truck at Moonee Valley Racecourse left him on the injured list. The young racehorse came good and was back in work and on track to be a super racehorse until an accident with the blinkers left the horse virtually blind in one eye - so now the question was "what do we do with this?"

The eye injury happened at around the time that Tiff's purpose bred warmblood was lost to them and her parents said "well you had better pick something from the paddocks because we are not in a position to buy you a warmblood"!

Out to the paddocks goes young Tiff and young Tiff chooses.......the vision impaired horse! Why is the obvious question, with so many sound horses with full vision to choose from?

"I don't know" says Tiff with the bright blue eyes widening, "he is cute - I fell in love with him"!

"He was a handful, but we clicked".

And so began the love affair with Dutch Marine, the vision impaired thoroughbred who many told the Joosse's to get rid of because he was simply too crazy for their young daughter - but Tiff would hear none of it and persevered. She tried out for the Pony Club State Championships year after year but didn't get past her Zone eliminations.

During her time at Pony Club, in both 2002 and 2003 Miss Joosse and Dutch Marine won the Equestrian Federation of Australia Young Rider title but still the Pony Club State Championships eluded her.

Finally in 2005 this combination made it to the Pony Club State Championships but "we didn't do very well" says Tiff with no anger, disappointment or negativity - she shrugs her shoulders and smiles about her achievements at EFA level.

So the story to date, for those not following - young Tiffany gets a vision impaired thoroughbred who was known to be very tense and hot and after his eye accident, very distrusting of humans who were definitely not his friends and she decides it is dressage she wants to do with him but there are those who have said he is too dangerous!

Ok so let's move on - Tiff is being taught at Pony Club rallies once a month and in between rallies her dad, Wolter is training her but Wolter is not a rider and has little to nothing to do with dressage horses and their training so father and daughter get hold of books and start studying the masters through their words.

When we asked how they managed to train Dutch Marine to the dressage movements Tiff explained, "Dad looks at the mechanics of things so he read the books, looked at the pictures and worked it out from there".

Some two years ago Tiff was taking refuge in an indoor arena not far from home when her arena flooded and

while there she was spotted by dressage coach Roger East and he recognised the natural talent in this young lady, combined with a determination which could not be dampened regardless of what the horse was doing under her saddle. Roger gave her a bit of a hand that day and then recommended to the owner of Bella Bartok that they think about giving Tiffany the sit on their horse. Bella Bartok has a checkered past with many riders simply refusing to sit on the smart moving horse because he preferred to spend his time on two back legs. Tiff sat on him and loved his movement, but recognised the difficulties ahead of her.

Owner, Avril Williams, agreed to give Tiff the ride but on the condition that she have what they still laughing call her "safety lessons" with Roger and Tiff quickly agreed as this was her opportunity to train with Roger - her first dressage coach.

"I like the way Roger teaches" says Tiff "because he understands both my horses and that they are difficult in such different ways. Roger finds exercises and ways of riding them both which are so different but work for each horse. It works for me and the horses and Roger is great".

Tiff becomes so animated when you ask her about Dutch Marine and her hopes and dreams for the horse - "this horse and my cat are my best pals - if anything happened to either of them I wouldn't cope" says Tiff. (the cat did not make himself available for our photo shoot, preferring to keep a low profile)

Even though the cat wasn't available, Snoopy made sure he was well in view for any photos - pictured right.

But back to the horses - Dutch Marine has been a difficult horse for even the most experienced trainer, but for Tiff he has been a labour of love - she loves the fact that the horse tries and as he trusts her more and more in situations which he would normally lose his head, the competitions become easier. No longer is the warm up a place of terror for a horse who panicked when horses came up on his blind side -

and over the past 12 months the combination are getting better and better. Tiff is well aware that the thoroughbred is not the ultimate dressage horse but right now that it what she rides and she is determined to help the horse achieve the best he can and she uses accuracy to gain top marks as he quite obviously doesn't have the big, flashy paces of the purpose bred warmblood horses.

Since the horse moved to Medium she has found that he is settling much easier and trusting her more and more. Of the move to Medium Tiff explained that "Roger told me not to play it safe - get out there and try" and with this advice that is exactly what Tiff did and it was a wonderful day for this young lady when she won the Medium Championship at the Yarra Valley Club Championships a couple of weeks ago and she won it in style beating many of the imported warmbloods with her score of 71.98% which was some 4+% above second place.

Tiff could not believe it when she won - "it was a strong field of 30 horses including imported horses. I liked the test but mum said it was ordinary but that was because she was videoing and couldn't really see. I didn't care because I liked the test" she tells us with an impish grin while mum smiles with that quiet pride that only a mother can smile.

Tiff's favourite win was at the State Championships when she won the Novice Championship because she did something nobody believed she could do but she is also very proud that she represented Australia in Trans Tasman Young Rider Team in 2004 which went to New Zealand. The team won and Tiff and Dutch Marine were the "babies of the team" competing Elementary.

Ok so we know that this young lady is unique in the way she has taken a visually impaired horse, trained (using books to learn what to do) him to now be about to begin in Prix St. George but who is Tiffany Joosse?

We asked her our 10 second pop quiz and the answers showed another side to this 22 (nearly 23) year old.

What star sign are you? - Aquarius
Who is your hero? - Anky van Grunsven
What is your favourite food? Seafood
What is your favourite drink? Coke
What is your favourite music? Nothing really - I just listen to the radio
What is your favourite movie? I don't really have time for the movies but I do like comedies
What do you do for fun? I ride horses

Mum Jackie interjects to tell us "she is in her element when she is with her horses - then she is happy"

Tiff went through school and completed her final year of school and then wanted to try riding full time but her parents insisted she "get a piece of paper" saying she was qualified in case things didn't work out with the horses. Tiff went to University and has just completed her four year teaching degree and has done this full time while riding, teaching and working to support herself and her horses.

Now a trained Primary teacher, Tiff has just been appointed as a Kindergarten Director but will continue her teaching - which leads us to another of her skills.

Not only is Tiff a young lady with a natural feel for a horse and an amazing ability to train a horse to Prix St George through reading books but she is also an amazing coach. Miss Joosse teaches around 15 students a week - teaching every night after school hours and teaches all day Saturday from 9.30am till around 6pm. Tiff also boosts her earnings by waitressing on a tourist cruiser on the Mornington Peninsula and often rings mum to stand at the gate of their property with her change of clothes so she can drive straight to work and change on board!

Sunday's are either for competing or teaching at Pony Clubs and Adult Riding Clubs so the grass never has a chance to grow under this young woman's feet.

And for anyone who doubts the ability of a 22 year old to teach Tiff has a wonderful story to tell - "about 8 months ago a 40 year old woman rang me telling that she was looking for lessons from someone who would give her back the joy of riding and help her take away the fear that was stopping her pleasure. This was a scary enough phone call and then I went to teach Student X for the first time and she told me she didn't canter, couldn't ride on the right rein and wouldn't do things she wasn't confident about - this was not inspiring as a coach.

I took a deep breath and started teaching Student X and after a couple of lessons she was cantering and even going on the right rein. As I got to know Student X better I found out she had never competed and that she really wanted to but she was so full of fear.

I figured that it would be wonderful if I could get her to a competition and so we started working towards that - I would call movements to her and she was so focussed on the movements she didn't realise what I was doing and at the end of the lesson I laughed and told her she had done a dressage test. The excited look on her face was so great.

Just a week ago I went with this student to her first unofficial competition and she 8th in her first prelim test and then scored 62% for her second test and came home with 6th placing - it was fabulous and a real achievement for someone so nervous and with so little confidence - I was so proud of her"

The part that Tiff doesn't tell is how she slowly and carefully gave this student all the skills she would need to be able to go into the ring and not make a fool of herself - the student was so confident in the aids and her own ability to execute the moves that she came out of the ring beaming with pride at what she had achieved - and now Tiff is planning the next competitions for her prize student.

Tiff is tough as a coach, accepting nothing less than 100% effort but she has a way of teaching which makes the whole process seem so easy for

even the most nervous of riders. Tiff is an undiscovered jewel in the teaching circuit and no doubt her existing students will not be pleased with us for exposing her but her loyalty to her students means those who have supported her through her college years will always be first on the list.

So what does the future hold for this charming, strong, determined young woman from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia?

Tiff wants to take Dutch Marine as far as he is capable of going and that is the most important thing right now - and the next step needs support from owners and sponsors as she wants to represent her country again realising that she will need a purpose bred horse to go International one day.

This young lady is one that would do any owner/sponsor proud and anyone who has a horse which needs riding there would be no hesitation recommending Tiffany Joosse as she has all the ingredients for a happy partnership which will see horse and rider go to the top and have fun on the way! Her poise and confidence belie her 22 years.

The Joosse's, as a family are extremely grateful to NatureVet and Mal Bryne Saddler for their continued sponsorship and support of Tiff.

As we publish this article Tiffany Joosse and Dutch Marine are preparing for their first Prix St George start on the weekend and when I asked Tiff how she thinks she will do her answer is simple " I get really nervous (at shows) and my Mum is there because she gives me good positive vibes - I need that and other than that I can only give it my best". Whatever happens I have no doubt that Tiff will have a smile on her face, will accept that her horse is giving his best for her and there will be none of the temper tantrums and bad faces so often seen in competition arenas - this is a wonderful competitor who appreciates how hard the job is for a "little almost blind in one eye thoroughbred - but he always tries for me and that is why I love him".