Bjarke Rink was a horseman, a hippologist, author and researcher of equestrian history and founder of the Desempenho Riding School and iHOCA- Homo-Caballus Institute. He was known and respected both in Brazil and internationally.
Bjarke was born in Denmark, but moved with his family to Brazil when he was six. Ever since childhood he was fascinated by horses, adventure and nature. He got his own horse when he was 10 and learned to ride at the Fluminense Equestrian Club in Niterói, where he lived. As an adult, he continued with horses and at the same time had a successful career in marketing and advertising.
In 1979, he and his wife Mara realized a dream, when they bought a beautiful farm together in Cachoeiras de Macacu and the horses moved there. They started with cultivating bananas and raising dairy cattle. In 1984, they also started breeding Mangalarga Marchador horses.
In 1990, they founded the Escola Desempenho de Equitação to initiate children and adolescents in the equestrian life.
From1992, Bjarke decided to dedicate himself full time to his lifelong passion, horses. Breeding, observing and training horses, he immersed himself in the study of the human-horse relationship throughout history. He worked with scientists to unravel how the nervous systems of human and horse connect during riding. In his historical investigations he researched how the human-horse union accelerated history and transformed the world. He started giving talks and wrote articles for specialized magazines putting forward his ideas. He was a collaborator of Horse Magazine in Brazil and Equus magazine in the USA. He also became an honorary member of the Long Rider´s Guild.
His first book, The Centaur Legacy (2004), was published in the UK by the Long Rider's Guild Press. The Portuguese version, Desvendando o Enigma do Centauro, was edited by Equus Brasil (2008). In 2013, he published The Rise of the Centaurs, the first of a series of four "true adventure fiction" books abou the Equestrian Heritage. In the books you (the reader) ride with Bjarke (the author), through time, witnessing and living key exciting moments in equestrian history.
From 2000, Bjarke started giving courses and clinics for adults at the Escola Desempenho de Equitação, with as a highlight the course Desvendando o Enigma do Centauro, based on his findings for the book The Centaur Legacy
In 2006, he brought the art of mounted archery to Brazil after encountering this discipline in Hungary during his travels in search of equestrian history.
In 2010, he founded IHOCA - Instituto Homo-Caballus, dedicated to study of equestrianism and nature.
IHOCA now manages the Escola Desempenho de Equitação developing equestrian methods and techniques as well as horse management in tune with the philosophy of the human-horse symbiosis. The methodology proposed by Bjarke and practiced by his pupils demonstrated that, in the practice of equitation, the force and speed of the horse interacts with the intelligence and strategic vision of the rider, creating a new entity – the centaur. The psychomotoral entity thus formed works because it permits that the commands are accepted by the “stronger” (the horse) if the “weaker” (the rider) uses the right technique, without violence and aggression. The rider ceases to be an instrument of domination in order to become a central management system and a charismatic leader. This knowledge can then be EXTRAPOLATED to other sports activities and creates new paradigms for human relationships and relationships with animals and nature.
The legacy and philosophy of Bjarke live on in the wide open spaces of the Desempenho Farm, where the horses roam free and the rainforest is regenerating. His teachings live on in his books and in the work of his pupils. The Jardim Bjarke Rink is a starting point for an immersion in nature and in the Bjarke Rink Corner, teachers and pupils get together for meetings, workshops and talks. He also left to IHOCA a rich library, a surprising collection of equestrian stamps and a mini-museum of equestrian artifacts of different times and origins.
