By Jessica Grutkowski
Portraits by Melissa Fuller
Ania Knapinska has accomplished more than most people dream of in a relatively short lifetime. She has trained with Olympians, legendary equestrians and pioneers of our sport across every discipline—all while simultaneously earning a PhD in molecular pharmacology.
While no one in her family was born with the “horse gene,” Ania credits her mother for her love of horses. When Ania was 7 years old, she accompanied her mother to Sweden one summer and spent time on a working farm. She rode the horses there with no formal instruction, just doing her best to figure it out along the way. “The work horses there were very smart, very much like a seasoned school pony,” Ania recalled. “When the horse figured out I didn’t know anything, he would take me back to the barn to avoid work.”
All year long, Ania looked forward to her summer break so she could be around the horses. She missed riding during the school year, and when she was 10 years old, she asked her mother for proper riding lessons back home in Poland. Ania began training at a large facility in Sopot, an urban coastal city located in Northern Poland near the Baltic Sea. “It was truly a gem in a city setting,” Ania explained. “It was situated around a racetrack built in the 1920s; on the inside of the track, there was a cross-country course and several jumping and dressage arenas.”
A Little ‘Birdie’ Gets her Wings
Her lessons fueled her passion, and when Ania turned 13, she began riding at a Stallion Testing Station for Polish Warmbloods. “These centers used to be sponsored by the government at the end of Communism, and there are similar stations in Germany,” Ania said. “The horses arrive at 3 years of age to be started under saddle. Over the course of 10 months, the horses are trained to drive, jump, navigate natural obstacles, pull wagons and in basic dressage.”
Ania was the youngest amateur rider, working five days a week after school. “My nickname was ‘little birdie,’” Ania laughed. “I was a small, skinny kid riding these enormous Warmbloods with Trakehner bloodlines.”
The Stallion Testing Station follows a specific training program with benchmark testing periods at three, six and 10 months after each stallion’s arrival. The horses perform in a three-day-eventing-style competition to help vet out the best possible stallions. “Some would go on to become sport horses, some to event and some just to jump. The best ones would breed at national studs,” Ania noted. “Overall, it was a very good start for the horses. They could pretty much do anything after that first year and were super rideable.”
During her three years at the Station, she was lucky enough to train with Andrzej Orlos, a legendary Polish equestrian who coached the Olympic team and won the national title three times: 1959 in eventing, 1961 in dressage and 1964 in show jumping. “I had a great foundation in my early years, thanks to Mr. Orlos,” Ania said. “I was very lucky to have trained with such an amazing horseman.”
A Bit of Luck
Ania’s luck for finding herself under the guidance of excellent horsemen continued when, together with her mother, Ania moved to the United States at age 15—not knowing any English. “By total chance, the first place we stopped at in Wellington was Mason Phelps’ barn,” Ania remembered. “After a year, I began to help others with catch rides in exchange for lessons.” A former Olympian, Mason was a social and philanthropic leader in the Wellington equestrian community, and the former president of the National Horse Show.
After her time with Mason, Ania went on to work for Alan Korotkin, where she got her first taste working with American Thoroughbreds. Through her work with Alan, she secured a working student position for a trainer in New York. Ania continued her education whenever time allowed, and began taking classes at a community college just outside of Boston. But when her mother opened a business in Chicago, Illinois, Ania moved to the Midwest to help. “I never really stopped riding,” Ania said. “I took some classes at Northwestern University to continue acquiring credits toward graduation.”
While in Chicago, Ania began galloping horses at Arlington Park, a former racetrack in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights. “I had to learn how to ride racehorses, which was very different from riding young jumpers,” Ania noted. “I basically put myself through college by galloping racehorses.”
She went on to work with industry greats like Terri Pompei, Carl Nafzger and Todd Pletcher, where she had the opportunity to work with high-performance horses. “When I was on the track working for Terri, there was one horse that refused to gallop,” she said. “He was a well-bred horse, but he had everyone’s number. I was determined his talent wouldn’t be wasted.” Her experience working with the horse is what piqued her interest in alternative training methods and led her to explore natural horsemanship.
A Natural Approach
After graduate school, Ania moved back to Florida, where her desire to learn more about horse behavior led her to liberty training. “I went to see Pat Parelli in Pennsylvania and saw him canter a mare around bridleless, while simultaneously commanding a stallion to move around him and perform turns with just his body language and a training stick,” Ania recounted. “He then invited four students, the youngest of whom was only 12 years old, to enter the arena with their horses and let them free. All of them were able to call their horses to them without being distracted by one another.”
Ania was immediately hooked. “I thought, If she can do it at 12 years old, then so can I!” Ania exclaimed. She worked through the levels of the Parelli program on her own, while earning her PhD at Rutgers University. “I suddenly had a much bigger toolbox to help horses understand what was being asked of them, and also help people better understand their horses.”
From the Track to the Centerline
In what would become a full-circle moment, Ania adopted a retired 6-year old Thoroughbred named Tougher N’ Most from her former trainer Terri. “I began to retrain him, and within a year I was riding him without a bridle,” Ania said. “I started getting back into jumping and three-day eventing with him.”
Fast forward to present day, Tough is now 21 years old; his favorite treats are carrots and super-ripe bananas. “He still rides like a 10-year-old,” Ania said. “We’ve shifted our focus to dressage; the fundamentals truly help support every discipline.” Ania and Tough recently went to the Dressage Regional Championships were they took home the Year-End Gold Coast Reserve Championship in Third Level and in the Open Horse division.
Currently, Ania trains with Heather Bender of Treasure Coast Dressage, based out of Palm City, Florida. “Heather understands the value of natural horsemanship,” Ania said.
“To have a well-rounded dressage horse demonstrate harmony with its rider, we need to train the horses in experiences—not just in the dressage ring. They need to experience dealing with big stimuli that they don’t understand,” Heather said. “Ania is an expert in understanding how to do this; she gives the horses a way to process the exciting moments and understand situations are OK. She works every week with my mare who comes from very excitable bloodlines, and it’s clearly helping her be less worried and more focused.”
Ania works with Heather’s top horses, including her Grand Prix prospect. “I start them with spooky things. You can communicate with a horse in many ways by teaching them to move with touch or dynamic pressure,” Ania said. “They start to trust you and know you won’t push them in front of something that could hurt them. I expose them to things like enormous blow-up lawn characters, various noises and moving tarps—basically all of the stimuli one may encounter during a competition.”
Ania’s main goal is to instill confidence. “We don’t want to desensitize; we actually want the horses to be as sensitive as possible,” Ania explained. “Horses should be brave, not dull, so they can tune out distractions in the arena and focus on communication from their riders.”
Ania is grateful to Heather for getting her immersed in dressage. “She deeply loves this sport, the horses and their people,” Ania said. “Heather’s unique background in disciplines other than dressage, and the movie industry, help her to better understand the value of natural horsemanship to enhance daily dressage practice.”
Outside of the barn, Ania loves to stay fit and be outdoors. She enjoys Crossfit, adventure races, disc golf, snowboarding, hiking and traveling. She is happily married to husband Pawel Hanczaruk, whom she met on a ski trip in Austria, and together they have a dog named Fizzy, a Florida Cur.
Ania also hosts clinics with longtime friend Sue Durjan, owner of Leaning Pine Stables, the location of Treasure Coast Dressage. Aptly named “Spook and Survive,” the clinics are designed to introduce people and their horses to basic natural horsemanship techniques. “Participants learn how to develop better communication with their equine partners, and horses learn how to be confident,” Ania explained.
Together with their horses, Tough and Irish—who are also best friends, Ania and Sue compete in the dressage and jumper rings. They even helped to set a Guinness World Record for Longest Competitive Trail Ride, wherein 984 riders across 24 states rode to raise more than $69,000 for equine rescue programs.
Despite all of her success, Ania continues to dream big. One day she would love to compete at the Olympics, but for now, she’s extremely satisfied with her work. Ania recently received a fantastic update from one of her most memorable clients. “Several years ago I worked with a dressage horse who became unrideable, even with seasoned trainers,” Ania said. “Through my training in natural horsemanship, I was able to completely turn this horse around.” The horse ended up going to Shawna Lewis, a student and assistant trainer of Karen Rohlf, to continue his natural horsemanship and dressage training. “Not only is the horse rideable again, but he’s going to show at the World Equestrian Center this season,” Ania added.
She’s a firm believer that natural horsemanship can enhance any relationship between horse and rider, and urges those interested to explore the many resources now available online. “Pat Parelli says, ‘When there are no ropes or bridles when interacting with horses at liberty, only the truth remains.’ I think this is the ultimate bond that we can have with horses, and when applied to high-level performance, it can enhance longevity and happiness in the equine athletes.”
Photos by Melissa Fuller, melissafullerphotography33.mypixieset.com
