✦ International Dressage (Equitation) Champion ✦
About Me
My name is Praveen Kumar, also known as Prashant.
For more than eleven years, I have dedicated my life to understanding horses. I have trained under and worked with Mr. Kapil Modi, a seven-time National Champion and World Dressage Challenge Champion. His trust in me allowed me to work closely with some of his most valuable horses and, more importantly, taught me to look beyond training methods and learn to truly read the horse.
I am an International Dressage (Equitation) Champion from India and have earned more than 30 medals in the International Dressage Development League. While competition has been an important part of my journey, my greatest education has come from the horses themselves.
What I Do
I work directly with horses through groundwork, relationship development, movement education, and dressage foundations.
My approach focuses on developing horses that are mentally relaxed, physically capable, and genuinely willing to work with people. Every horse is an individual, and I adapt my training to the horse rather than forcing the horse into a fixed system.
My work includes:
• Building trust and confidence.
• Groundwork and relationship development.
• Preparing horses for ridden work.
• Improving rhythm, balance, and straightness.
• Developing strength and self-carriage.
• Introducing lateral work foundations.
• Improving willingness and focus.
• Working with sensitive, misunderstood, or challenging horses.
My goal is not simply to teach movements. My goal is to help horses become confident, balanced, and willing partners.
Beyond Techniques
Training methods, techniques, and tactics all have their place. But in my experience, the greatest change in a horse does not come from a technique. It comes from the quality of presence we bring into the relationship.
Calmness matters. Not passive calmness, but calmness combined with awareness, attention, and a genuine willingness to be present with the horse.
Again and again, I have been impressed by what horses are capable of when they are trusted.
Trust is not built through grand gestures. It is built through hundreds of small interactions repeated over time.
One of the greatest teachers in my life has been a black stallion named T-Rex. Through years of working together, he taught me that horses are far more aware, intelligent, and emotionally honest than we often give them credit for.
The Journey
I did not come into the horse world with a grand plan. I found horses at a time when much of the world felt confusing and difficult to understand. Inside the stable, surrounded by quiet strength, warm breath, and honest communication, something felt different.
"A horse does not ask what you want. It asks what you are."
The more time I spent with horses, the more I realized that successful training was not simply about teaching. It was about becoming someone a horse could trust.
The Black Stallion
Everything changed when a young black stallion entered my life. He was powerful, intelligent, and completely uninterested in pretending. He challenged every assumption I had about training.
"The horse that obeys because it has no choice is not truly trained. It is simply waiting for an opportunity to choose differently."
Working with him transformed my understanding of horses and continues to influence the way I train today.
My Dream
My dream has always been to win India's first Olympic Gold Medal in Dressage. Whether that dream becomes reality is something time will decide. What matters to me is the work itself.
The medals are meaningful, but they are not the reason I do this. The reason is much simpler. Being with horses, understanding them, and helping them become the best version of themselves is what gives my life purpose.
My Philosophy
A horse must be able to think before it can learn.
Behaviour is information, not disobedience.
Trust is built through thousands of small interactions.
Willingness is more valuable than obedience.
The emotional state of the horse matters as much as the physical state.
Training should create confidence, not fear.
Calmness is not the absence of action. It is the foundation that allows meaningful action to happen.
The goal is not control. The goal is partnership.
Why I Write
The Horseman's Journal exists because horses taught me lessons that extend far beyond riding and training. This website is a place to explore trust, fear, communication, growth, and the relationship between horse and human.
"The horse does not ask you to be perfect. It asks you to be real."
Every article begins in the arena long before it reaches the page. And every lesson worth sharing began with a horse.
Working With Me
I am available for private horse training and horse development projects. My work focuses on building trust, developing confidence, improving movement quality, creating willingness, and helping horses become balanced partners both mentally and physically.
If you are looking for someone who values patience, observation, clear communication, and a horse-centred approach to training, I would be happy to discuss your horse and its individual needs.
The Full Story
What you have read here is only the beginning. The real story — the surrender, the twenty days of silence, the moment fear became trust — lives in the Awakening.
"The universe did not send me a horse to train. It sent me a mirror that refused to lie."
— Praveen Kumar
