Born in Austria, Angelika's early relationship with horses began with terror. At seven, her parents gave her a difficult pony that frightened her. At ten, her father bought her Diana, a mare with whom she developed a connection that would shape everything that followed. Diana taught her what partnership could mean. When Diana had a foal, Angelika named her Doria, the result of crossing with the Austrian trotting champion Dorian. These mares became her foundation, her teachers, her companions for decades. Diana lived to 35 years, Doria to 36, both remaining with Angelika their entire lives.

Despite being sent to boarding school as a teenager, Angelika spent every free moment she could with horses. Austrian mountain riding in summer. Time at a dressage stable in Salzburg. Riding racehorses at a training yard in Yorkshire. Jumping horses at a family friend's stable. She was building a foundation, though she didn't yet know where it would lead.

In 1987, after finishing school, Angelika moved to Italy to study architecture. She brought Diana and Doria with her, keeping them at her best friend's farm, where she would create an equestrian business that ran until 2011. For years, she lived two lives: architect by profession, horsewoman by passion. She became a partner in an architecture firm, successful by conventional measures, yet something remained unresolved.

That resolution came in 1998, in the form of a four-year-old untrained Thoroughbred named Mimmi. Mimmi resented authority. She responded to conflict with aggression. Angelika struggled to communicate with her in ways that nothing in her previous training had prepared her for. Traditional methods failed. The relationship deteriorated. Then Angelika saw a demonstration by an American horseman named Pat Parelli and everything changed.

Parelli opened a new world. Natural horsemanship offered Angelika a language for what she'd always sensed but couldn't articulate: that horses respond to psychology first, mechanics second. That understanding replaces force. That partnership requires communication the horse can comprehend. With Mimmi, Angelika discovered endurance racing, competing in the 60km national championships in 1998 as part of the Tuscan team. More importantly, she discovered her calling.

In 2000, Angelika travelled to Colorado and took the last Level 2 course Pat Parelli taught personally. From 2004 to 2008 and again in 2010 and 2012, she spent six to ten weeks at the Parelli centre in America, studying with Pat, Linda and their top instructors.

In 2002, Angelika made the decision that would define her life: she left her position as partner in the architecture firm to dedicate herself completely to horses. In 2003, she qualified as an official equestrian guide, taking clients throughout Tuscany on horseback. In 2006, she became a Parelli instructor. In 2012, after twelve years of intensive study and countless hours working directly with Pat Parelli, she achieved what only three others in Italy have accomplished: certification as a Parelli 4-Star Professional and Horse Development Specialist.

Angelika's study never stopped at one methodology. She trained as a barefoot trimmer, attending courses with Hildrud Strasser in Germany. She studied to become a farrier, obtaining the Cytek-accredited farrier certificate. Her interest in biomechanics, horse health and hoof care became expertise. Even as she mastered natural horsemanship, she continued pursuing classical riding, studying with masters such as Kate Mably, Vera Munderloh and Anja Beran. She understood what few practitioners grasp: different traditions hold different truths and wisdom lies in learning from all of them.

In 2011, Angelika moved to Alterreno, the property that would become one of Italy's most distinguished equestrian centres.

In 2025, Alterreno achieved recognition as one of only two BHS Approved Centres in Italy, joining the ranks of fewer than 200 approved centres worldwide. The certification attests to facility quality, animal welfare standards and training excellence at the highest international level. For Angelika, it represented validation of what she'd always believed: that horses deserve better than conventional training offers and that dedicated practitioners can create spaces where excellence and ethics are inseparable.

Now, with over forty years in natural horsemanship and more than two decades teaching, Angelika has created what she always needed: a place where riders learn to achieve genuine understanding with horses, where trust and respect are foundations, where classical principles meet natural horsemanship and where horses live as partners, not tools.