Caroline Sprengel
EFA NCAS Level 1 General Coach
Caroline Sprengel was born in 1973 in Hannover, Germany. Caroline's grandfather was a renowned breeder of Hanoverian horses and Caroline grew up surrounded by horses. Caroline's equestrian career 'proper' commenced in the traditional German way with vaulting at age 7 in the Hanoverian Riding School, Verden.
Caroline trained for a short time with a German Bereiter with the emphasis on correct seat and dressage aids but her riding career in Germany was interrupted when her family migrated to Australia in 1981.
As a student, Caroline owned a succession of horses and ponies. After leaving school, Caroline became a qualified veterinary nurse and worked at Moorooka Vet Clinic until a friend of hers introduced Caroline to the Riverside Riding Centre and its proprietor Elizabeth White in 1997. This was the first time Caroline had seen riding and training along the same lines as what she had grown up with in Germany. Caroline's interest led Mrs White to offer Caroline a full-time position as coach-trainee.
During her time at Riverside Riding Centre, Caroline's responsibilities included the running of the riding school under the direction of Mrs White and Jenny Gehrke. Her duties centered on giving group and private lessons while also taking care of management of the horses, stables, maintaining equipment, organising contractors, farriers, providing vet nursing. (When Caroline left this position in 2002, she was replaced with 3 full-time trainees to perform the same tasks).
During her time at Riverside Riding Centre, Caroline was fully trained and mentored for her Level 1 Exam by Jenny Gehrke. Jenny's skills as a coach were passed on through years of co-coaching; where the trainee is coaching the riders and the mentor steps in to add refinements to the trainee's skills. Riverside Riding Centre is the only coach training facility in Brisbane where trainee coaches receive such an intensive level of mentoring. The result being that at her exam in 2000, Caroline was the only candidate out of 8 to pass on the day without needing to redo at least part of the exam!
Caroline left Riverside Riding Centre in 2002 to pursue her career as a private coach which has proved extremely successful with Caroline unable to accommodate all the pupils who would like lessons. In 2003, Caroline was approached to become dressage team coach to the Brisbane Girls Grammar Interschool Equestrian Team. Caroline regretfully left this position to start a family in 2005.
Caroline continued to improve her coaching skills with regular lessons with Jenny, (who herself now trains with world-famous coach Leonie Bramall) and has always sought opportunities to watch Jenny coach and ride. Therefore, when Riverside Riding Centre was looking for a Coach Trainer, Caroline was the obvious choice. Caroline's skills in training coaches were uncovered when she co-coached Jenny to help friend and pupil Cathy Binz to pass her Level 1 exam in 2006.
Caroline's current duties include developing trainee coaches along the lines set down by Jenny Gehrke and overseen by her. In addition, Caroline has commenced the process to obtain her EFA NCAS Level II Dressage specialist accreditation which is a world-recognised qualification. Caroline still teaches privately (and there are still no vacancies)!