Kyra was born in Helsinki in 1951. As a child she was mad about horses and used to ride her godmother's draught horses during summer holidays. After a fall resulting in a broken arm her parents bought her ten riding lessons at a riding school in Helsinki.
In 1967 Kyra participated in her very first competition, the Nordic Cup in Lahtis, Finland. Finland won the Nordic cup and individually she was placed second. Two years later, Kyra's parents bought her first horse, Kasper. That same year, Kyra participated in three different Finnish junior championships. She won the dressage competition, was second in the eventing and fourth in the jumping - all with Kasper.
Kyra left school in 1972. She planned to become a veterinarian, however she went to Stromsholm to take a year out and learn more about riding before her studies began. She stayed for more than two years and became so enthusiastic about the horses that the veterinary career was shelved. She left Stromsholm and returned to Finland to work with showjumpers for a year.
At Stromsholm, Kyra gained a thorough theoretical framework along the traditional military lines that permeate Europe. This was to form the solid foundation for the strongly practical emphasis she was to have in Germany. Few riders in the world have managed to train and successfully compete so many different horses in international Grand Prix dressage. Kyra has obtained this exceptional result thirteen times, with Piccolo, Nör, Matador, Ramon Navaro, Edinburg, Vancouver, Flyinge Amiral, Midt-West Ibi-Light, Dakar, Patrick of Finland, Master, Asterix and Lillemarkens Arkibal.
Kyra has developed a system of training horses that combines the core elements of the German and Swedish systems with her own techniques. The system has been applied to many different horse and rider combinations with great success. The basics aim to develop the horse based on his own capabilities. This is described in her book, Dressage with Kyra. Kyra is a fundamentalist and believes strongly that the quality of the paces reflect the basic training. Every horse that comes for training is evaluated along the same lines - is it forward, is it straight and is it submissive in a relaxed way. Every pace, every movement depends on the quality of the foregoing exercises. The riders, even international Grand Prix riders, are evaluated for their effect on the horse and their correct way of sitting and influencing the horse.In combination with Kyra's reputation as a world-class trainer and rider, her great sense of humour has made her lecture demonstrations and clinics globally renowned.
Towards the end of 1998, following many successful years at the national equestrian center in Flyinge, Sweden, Kyra and her partner Richard moved to England. They live on the Surrey/Sussex border and they have their training camp at Dorte Semler Nielsen´s wonderful farm in West Sussex. The Swedish riders in the clinic at the Global Dressage Forum will be : Kristian von Krusenstierna with Wilson (dark bay 14 years old gelding, born in Sweden by Norson-Libretto) The other rider is Mia von Essen with Vivo (bay 9 years old gelding, born in Sweden by Master-Vivaldi). Kristian owns Wilson himself, Ebba von Essen (Mia's cousin) owns Vivo.
