BY ELIZABETH LAWSON, EMILY GUY AND CARLA HANCOCK

Australian dressage star Tayla Desmet moved 16,000km away with her mare, Zaubermaus.

It proved a masterstroke.

Desmet boldly chose to pack up her life and move because Germany is the “best country in the world for dressage”.

“From a young age it was a dream of mine to be able to come to Germany, train with the best, compete with the best and surround myself in that competitive environment,” Tayla said.

“I haven’t gone home yet, and it's been nearly five years.”

Beginning her horse-riding career at five years old in Woodend, north-west of Melbourne, Desmet explored disciplines within her pony club, including dressage and jumping.

With her father and grandfather as previous showjumpers, Tayla started doing “quite a bit of jumping, low-level jumping”.

“To be honest, as soon as the jumps got a bit too high, I got a bit too scared,” Desmet said.

“You can't go into those jumps doubting anything at any second so I knew that that definitely wasn't for me, so that's when I started dressage.”

The choice to transition to dressage proved to be an easy and seamless for Desmet, despite her previous reluctance of the discipline.

“When I was young, I thought dressage was a little bit too boring,” Desmet said.

“I probably was about 10 years old, getting more serious and only focusing on the dressage - I absolutely loved it.”

During her six years at Woodend, Desmet’s commitment and passion for dressage captured the interest of Maree Tomkinson, a renowned dressage rider who once represented Australia.

Tomkinson became Desmet’s coach for the following seven years.

In an interview with Equestrian Life, Tomkinson said Desmet’s forte was her “mental strength”.

“I trained her during her school years, and she was disciplined with her schooling, and also running and riding,” Tomkinson said.  

“She could compartmentalise her different disciplines.”

Desmet recalled the move pushed her “out of (her) comfort zone”, not only allowing her to progress in her dressage career but acquiring “many life skills as well”.

“I think it definitely makes you much tougher, and you grow up a lot quicker - I’ve been exposed to a lot since I was 19 and I feel like I’ve definitely grown as a person,” she said.

“I'm also lucky enough to have all the experience with the horses and training here with the best people - I've definitely had improvement and some great results while I've been here.”

While describing her environment as a “horse paradise”, Germany's geographical proximity to so many countries has allowed her to compete with more athletes at a higher level.

“Being exposed to such a competitive environment is always pushing (me) to train harder and be better,” Tayla said.

“Whereas at home, we do have a limited number of people and I think it’s much more difficult to be able to compete at a high level from there.

“It's definitely more beneficial to be right in the heart of the sport.”
 

Dealing with an animal when competing adds another layer of responsibility.

“They've got a brain, there's always something that doesn’t fit your plan, you can have one plan in your head, and it can go completely sideways,” she said.

This has instilled resilience and discipline in Desmet.

“You can't just dump your animal in the stable and leave … it's really a 24/7 thing,” she said.

“It's super tough and time consuming.”

For this reason, Desmet doesn't see her time in Europe ending anytime soon.

“While I’m riding the horses (I plan on staying in Europe), for sure, it’s the best place to compete and train,” Desmet said.

“I love Europe because it’s very easy to go anywhere.”

After completing her double degree at Monash University, the move to Europe seemed to satisfy Desmet’s dressage and career aspirations.

“I was also still doing the horses at home (while studying at Monash), except the difference was that I actually had to drive an hour and a half from the city to the farm where the horses were,” Desmet said.

“That wasted a lot of time. I've always been used to busy days, so it wasn't too difficult for me. I just love being challenged.”

Despite not knowing exactly what she wanted to do after high school, she knew she wanted to work in business.

“The great thing about international business is you get access to a range of different business topics like I was doing at Monash University, business statistics to accounting, to HR, and journalism and marketing,” Tayla said.

Desmet is now living in Belgium and 45 minutes from where she completed her Masters at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Now looking ahead and “trying to plan a life after the horses,” Desmet has kept motivated to complete her Masters and now plans to specialise in marketing. 

“I obviously got even more experience with the marketing side of things (during my Masters) and love that even more now.

“I'm quite confident in what I want to do with my life. I love the strategy side of things and working in a competitive environment.”

On top of training, Desmet has also been able to support herself while living in Europe.

Her income has been most through horses - selling, looking after other people’s horses and giving lessons.

However, she has managed to land an English-speaking marketing manager role, just 20 minutes away in Germany.

“It's been difficult for me to find a job that allows me to still do the horses at this point in time,” Desmet said.

“But I'm lucky I've found this super flexible, and it allows me to do it.

“Obviously, long term (dressage) is definitely very challenging and I think you have to be very sure what you want your future and your life to look like … because it is a very expensive sport.”

Despite the challenge of moving and competing abroad, Desmet doesn’t see her time in Europe ending soon.

“You've got to be hardworking, very determined, if you don't love it, then you definitely won't last because you have to love it through and through all, you'd be too crazy to do it.”