I have been acquiring experience working with dogs and horses and further developing my knowledge since 1990, when I was in Moscow and worked with the trainers V.P. Kalinin, Igor Samoderovski and Nina Minkova. For many years I have been training and competing in dressage and jumping, and I have also been active as a trainer in both disciplines for over two decades, initially in Moscow and since 2001 in Slovenia as well.

In addition to horse riding and training, in 1996 I also started training in agility with my white boxer Joy, and soon after began to compete as well.

Four years ago my Australian cattle dog, Avatar, came into my life. When he was 15 months old we began training agility. The longer I trained and the more people and dogs I met at training and competitions, the more I observed certain similarities in jumping in dogs and horses. After talking to instructors and some competitors, we concluded that the biggest difference between training horses and training dogs is that horses are deliberately taught to jump, whereas for dogs jumping obstacles set 5-7 metres apart is considered natural. From these conversations the idea grew that the knowledge I have from many years of training horses, in which I always focused on the technique of jumping, could be adapted and applied to agility training.

I know that even if a horse has a good predisposition for jumping, this does not necessarily mean he will be a good competitive jumper. Throughout my career as a trainer I learned how important it is to train jumping gymnastics and teach each horse appropriate and correct jumping technique. Specific exercises in jumping gymnastics are the foundation of training for every horse that competes in jumping.

And the same goes for dogs. All dogs know how to jump, but that doesn’t mean they can run a course of twenty obstacles at full speed with optimum speed and safety.

And so I began to work with friends and their dogs with the aim of showing and teaching them how to improve jumping ability. And as expected, these dogs soon began to transfer the ability and experience they gained through directed training of jumping gymnastics to regular training of sequences and courses.

I would like to thank all the handlers and their dogs who put their trust in my knowledge and training expertise. All of you have demonstrated and affirmed to me that through proper exercises we can help dogs significantly increase their body awareness and jumping technique, which forms the foundation for safe training and good results.

Special thanks go to Katarina Podlipnik Capuder and Lea Komat, who were the first to put their trust in me and invite me to work with their dogs, and who have encouraged me to share my expertise and experience through online courses and seminars.