Kruger Snyman

We moved to South Africa, Saldanha Bay Military Academy at the end of 1983 who was home to the Saldanha Bay Military Equestrian Centre. At the age of 9yrs my mom took my brothers, sister and I to go horseback riding at the Centre. This day almost altered the course of my life forever away from what I believe God (Yah) intended my life to be.

I remember the riding instructor(corporal) asking me: ’Can you ride?’ to which I responded:’ Yes, I have ridden’ He assumed that I have ridden independently, and I implied that I have been on a horse, led by someone. So, he put me on a roan called Geronimo and when I passed the instructor whilst riding the horse, he flicked the horse with a stone on its bumb. The horse overreacted and took off like a rocket, flat speed with me on its back.

Clinging for dear life for one and a half laps, not knowing how to steer or stop this powerful frantic animal! I lost my grasp and fell off at the back of the horse at top speed, landing awkwardly on my neck. From there I can’t remember the rest of the events that day.

That was the end of my horse-riding pursuit. I was so fearful of horses from that day on, any mention of horses would send me into a cold sweat, shaking uncontrollably! I wanted NOTHING to do with horses!

At the age of 11yrs Constant Neethling became my best friend, and they had horses on the coast of Saldanha Bay, Swart Riet. On weekends we would go to their farm but being too scared, I would never ride. This never changed, until one day I accompanied my mother, who went to bake pancakes at the ‘Boere Sport’ Day at the Military Academy. I was mesmerised watching people riding on horseback as if the horses were their own feet and how they laughed and enjoyed themselves playing Boere Sport.

Something happened inside of me that day. I was deeply moved, like a burning sensation. I just had this urge to ride. So that Monday I clocked in at the Military Academy Equestrian Centre and I started riding and have been riding ever since. I just decided whatever it will take to ride a horse, I would do. Because I had the desire to, and I wanted to understand a horse. Within 6 months I backed my first horse. An Anglo Arib called Russian Spy.

I found a job in Racing at Randjiesfontein and was treated as an outsider probably because I looked like a ‘Plaas Japie’ walking around in shorts and bare feet. It didn’t take long for me to start wearing shoes though.

I was introduced to a man who ended up inviting me to go to Australia on 14 June 1997. I landed at 5 o’clock and started working my first horse at 8 o’clock. Here I got a lot of experience, and I met a man called Len Tailor who guided me into being a better horseman. The one thing he taught me that stuck was, to switch a horse ON and Off. In other words, how to get them to work hard and fast and how to switch off after that to come back to a calm state. Our roads departed after about 8 months where I ended up working for lots of other people breaking in horses and fixing problem horses. I did tons of horses.

Subsequently, someone approached me to go to Dubai, I worked with a horse for Sheikh Mohammad which he bought for $500 000, and the horse put a few people in hospital. After 9 months they got me to come and work with this horse who everybody was afraid of. After I fixed the problem word spread and a man from Japan saw me and invited me to go to Japan to help with a stallion, they bought for $10 000 000, who took somebodies 4 fingers off and put another 4 guys in hospital. I fixed the stallion, loved Japan! That concluded my overseas travels.