A paradise for riders and horses

After five years the day finally dawned when the right farm was found. The Scheel family had been searching for the ideal riding stables for a long time to fulfil their dream of owning their own equestrian facility. In Nersingen between Stuttgart and Munich they finally found what they were looking for. Here they discovered horse stables which basically offered everything the Scheel family had imagined. After a some remodelling the Engelhof was established to offer not only horses and riders the ideal environment, but also provide the Scheel family with a new home.

“I fell in love with the farm straight away," says Daniela Scheel. “I liked the location, the ambience and the layout of the stables, riding arena and the outdoor area. It was clear to me that we had a lot of renovation and rebuilding work to do, but I immediately saw the potential and the possibilities it offered. It was very important to us that we would be able to live on the farm and be close to the horses at all times.” No sooner said than done.

The stable wing with its 40-year-old horse stalls was completely gutted. New horse stalls, which offer the horses a lot of space, were planned for this area. Shortly before the start of the corona crisis, the last horse stall was installed and the floor covering was laid. The horses and the Scheel were therefore able to move in to the Engelhof.

Daniela Scheel, husband Hans Scheel and daughter Chiara have been running the equestrian facility at Hungerbrunnen 1 in Nersingen as a family business under the name "Engelhof" for a good six months. In addition to an indoor riding arena with a footprint of 20 x 40 metres and a large outdoor riding arena of 30 x 90 metres, the facility includes 20 modern horse stalls. Chiara is a dressage rider. To be more precise, she is a qualified equestrian manager, specialising in riding. She's a horse enthusiast through and through.

She has been passionate about horses since she was a child and had a special bond with them from an early age. She grew up with her mother’s American miniature horses. It was therefore clear that this young rider also wanted to focus on training dressage horses professionally. During her apprenticeship as a trainer, Chiara was taught classic riding.

The focus was on getting young horses used to riding equipment and to introduce them to dressage riding. Furthermore, Chiara discovered her special talent for liberty dressage. She communicates casually and playfully with horses in line with the maxim: “Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” She swapped the snaffle for a neck ring. She didn’t need a saddle either.

Freedom is important to the Scheel family not only when training the horses, but also in the environment of their beloved four-legged friends. The horses should be able to decide as much as possible for themselves. They also wanted this concept to be reflected in the design of the stable and stalls. “It is important to us that the horses have plenty of room. For this reason we did away with a few stalls and set up double stalls for each horse instead," Daniela Scheel explains. But that's not all.

Each stall has its own paddock. This means that the horses can decide for themselves whether they want to relax in their stall or enjoy the fresh air out in the paddock. The horses not only have the opportunity for social contact when they are grazing every day, but the horse stalls and paddocks are designed so that the horses can make contact with their stall and paddock neighbours if they wish. The open stall fronts means that horses can join in with whatever is happening in the stable aisles where they can go to be petted.

“The Scheel family decided on the Röwer & Rüb Amsterdam stall model not only because it looks good and is practical for handling the horses, but also because it offers the horses the opportunity to retreat if they want to and also gives them as much freedom as possible,” adds customer consultant Marc Poppel, who helped the family find the ideal solutions for all their wishes and ideas. The Scheel family had the western facility of the Eder family from Tuntenhausen in mind as an example of how their facility should be. Here everything is also focused on the well-being of the horses.

We hope that the Scheel family enjoy their new stables, wish Chiara all the best in her riding career and would like to thank everyone for their trust and confidence in our company!