How it started

Karl (my father) with little me, at the age of 6, on his 'unrideble mule' , Bandit

My name is Katja Kossmayer, I am 6. Generation of the Kossmayer family. My parents are Sjoukje Kossmayer-Dijkstra and Karl Kossmayer. My mother is a famous figure skater who has won European/World and Olympic championships. My father was a good animal trainer, entertainer/ clown in the so called "painting act" but mostly known because of his comedy act, Kossmayer's "unridable mule".

My mother Sjoukje Dijkstra.

Sjoukje Dijkstra was 6x Dutch Champion (1959-1964),
5x European Champion(1960-1964),
3x World Champion(1962-1964),
2nd place at Olympics in 1960,
1x Olympic Champion ('64).
Several times sportswoman of the year and in 2013 elected to the World Hall of Fame in Colorado (USA)
I've also followed the footsteps of my mother for a while. I became Dutch junior champion in 1992 and 1993 and competed at the European youth Olympic games in Aosta in 1993. And several other international competitions. I had to stop figure skating due to a back injury.

Karl and Katja with Omar & Bambi

My father and me at the age of 7

Because we had always animals around, I knew from a young age on, that I wanted to work with horses one day. As a child, I tried to "tame" my father's "unrideble" mules. My father didn't want that at first, so I had to go behind his back. Later he taught me a lot about Classical riding and Classical training of horses. My first "contract" was as a clown in Circus Minimum in Sweden at the age of 7 years. My father had hoped that I wouldn't continue in circus with animals, since he had a feeling it would be tough times later on. After I finished school I went with my niece to the Karoly-Baliga family who trained my niece's horse. I stayed with the Karoly-Baliga family for about 2 years, where I helped to train horses and learned a lot. Until one day a friesian horse called "Wietse fan Hylpen" arrived in that stable and needed to be sold. I fell in love with that horse called Wietse and I bought him. That's kind of how my career started. Wietse and I toured with several circuses and horse shows through Europe. I worked for several years In a German horse musical Zauberwald "Goa". I played/rode many diffirent roles in that show. I also was substitute for the leading part. And for almost 3 years I played the lead part in that show. It was an acting role with singing (playback), dancing and riding.

Wietse got some new company from other horses over the last couple of years. I specialized myself on high school and liberty. I train and show my horses myself, sometimes if I am lucky a get some help from friends/ family. The most important thing is: you should try to understand your horse. When I'm at home in the Netherlands and not touring, I'm teaching dressage / high school and long reins.