I’ve traveled and worked all over, seen amazing things, learned a lot, and lived some questionable adventures.
Dinette
And here we are. Basically homeless but with a suitcase full of amazing experiences and a laptop to make some money.
For more than 30 years, my life was in the Netherlands. I was a teacher, a horse trainer, an equestrian journalist, and a riding instructor. I sang in a classical choir (Bach is my idol!) and loved to travel.
In November 2009, when I was 34 years old, I quit my job, sold my horses, said goodbye to family and friends, and left for the trip of a lifetime.
I came to realize that every person has their own reality and that the world is full of people and stories worth celebrating.
Places I've spent the night during my travels...
In a tree house in the Pacaya-Samiria reserve in the jungle of the Peruvian Amazon, where we swam with piranhas and pumas and tarantulas visited us at night...
Under starry skies on the Mongolian plateau...
In my car under Devil's Tower in Wyoming...
Photo: Esther van Putten
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In a tent in Montana's bear country...
On a sailboat in the Galapagos Islands...
In a hostel with view of the Moai, the statues of the Rapa Nui on Easter Island
Photo: Esther van Putten
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In a cabin in Southern Patagonia...
In a fancy five-star hotel on Kauai...
...In my old room at my parents' place in Hattem, the Netherlands; in a Mongolian yurt; in a horse barn, on top of tack trunks at a horse show by Washington DC; in a horse trailer; in a Chinese hospital; in a little tent at 15.000 feet in the Peruvian Andes; in a hostel by the Mount Everest basecamp in Tibet...
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a few more memorable experiences:
I swam amongst piranhas, crocodiles, and pink dolphins in the Amazon.
I had to drive on the "wrong side of the road" in Ireland transporting elite showjumpers.
I ate questionable street food in Bali. And regretted it...
I ended up in a Chinese hospital after a rough encounter with a horse.
The kind of things no one really prepares you for...
Photo: Miranda van Kol
I can't live without:
espresso
Anyone who visits me will see that my Nespresso machine is well-loved.
my passport
Currently, I split my time mostly between Argentina and the Netherlands. In the past twelve years I have not been in the same place for more than half a year. I am always traveling!
music that fits my mood
I LOVE Bach, but also Argentine Tango and Cumbia, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kensington, American country, and pop too! I'll never forget Dolly Parton’s concert in the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville or Händel’s Messiah and Bach’s St.John Passion in Hattem and Oud-Avereest, the Netherlands.
I was terribly disappointed when Dinette told me she wanted to leave. Away from the Netherlands, in search of the wide world. I lost my best colleague, a woman with inside knowledge of the sport and with an amazingly lively and original style of writing. You'd be surprised at that in equestrian journalism!
Dirk Willem Rosie, editor in chief Paardenkrant - Horses.nl
Fortunately, she settled in the United States, in the heart of American equestrianism. That is where she has the stories for the taking. Not because more happens there than anywhere else, but because Dinette sees a story that someone else would pass by. And fortunately, to this very day, she delivers them to my newspaper. May our cooperation continue as long as ink flows from her pen.