Sunday

I couldn't believe it, Sini was again at the beginning of the starting list. He was the second horse. It was the consolation Gran Prix for the horses who didnt qualify fot the special. The class started at 11 o'clock so it was not so cold anymore. From the beginning Sini was loose and relax and he stayed like that through the hole warm up. I was feeling very confident when I rode inside the arena. Sini did good piaff and passage, the hole trot tour was super, the zikzak and two tempis were good. Only in one tempis we made again mistakes. I was really happy after the test and the score 72,6% overwhelmed me. Our best test for a long time. I also rode Heimliche in the same class. I had to make her a little hotter to my leg that she will piaff again in the test. The passage were good and also I got the piaff but the one tempis didn't work out. She got the score 71,38% which was enough for the second place. And Sini won!! So happy that I could jump around and sing hallelujah :) Later in the afternoon was the GP special. Donnelly was the last horse to show. He feld quite good in the warm up. I was alone because Hubertus needed to catch his flight back to Germany. I made too many mistakes, one tempis were broken, in one passage-extended trot transition he cantered and some smaller things. He got 70,5%, still ok but I am little disappointed with the hole test. At the end he got the 4th place. On Monday it's going to be fee. The first testis again on Wednesday. Tomorrow I'm just going to walk the horses and ride few minutes posting trot that they don't get so stif after the hard week.

Gran Prix

Sini was first horse to go at 9 in the morning. It was still very cold and as started to warm up my fingers and toes were already frozen. Sini was also very cold and he was very stif in the beginning. I did posting trot long and slowly we both got warm. Sini started his test quite well. The trot tour were good exept one mistake in the second extended trot. Piaff and passage he did also good. Passage good be better but for the first test it was enough. Then we got to the canter and the mistakes came after one other. Only small mistakes in the flying changes but very expensive ones. And then the last center line with passage and piaff was again really good. The score was 69,02% which I'm still happy about.
Next I started with Donnelly. He's starting time was later in the afternoon. The warm up was good, he felt relax and powerful. In the test I was able to ride him like in the training. We didn't get any big mistakes. There's still much we can make better but for so far it was our best test together. Score 70,57% and at that point we got the first place.
Heimliche Liebe was the last horse in the class. She was a little more tense than the day before maybe because of the strong wind. In inter II she stopped in the piaff so now I tried to put on her more pressure that she will piaff also in the test. It worked and she did 3 times nice piaff and good extensions. She got also really hot in the test but I managed to control her. I was very pleased with her. That was her first Gran Prix ever. We got all surprised when we heard the score: 70,59%! And she won! And I won for the first time DCI Gran Prix!
It was unbelievable to stand in the prizegiving ceremony and listen the national hymn from Finnland. So it was a perfeckt day: Liebe was the first, Donnelly the second and Sini was 6th.
Saturday is a day off. I will train all horses with Hubertus and then on Sunday we compete again.

Hubertus came today and I trained Sini Spirit and Donnelly with him. They felt both much better than yesterday. It was the first day with Donnelly that I could train him almost normal. He still has been recovering from the transport.
Liebe had her first test today. It was Intermediate II. There were some nice parts in the test but both time in piaff she just stopped and the one tempis were not good. It was our second test together and already better than the first one. We scored 65,95% and ended on the 3rd place. It was a nice start for the show. And it got even better because Alexandra Malmström rode her Waterford on to the second place. Finland rules :)
Now I have to go to sleep! I need to wake up early bacause the gran Prix starts at 9:00 and Sini Spirit is the first horse to go.

The day started like everyday so far: breakfast at seven, a half hour later to the stables and breakfast for the horses. During the horses eat we get water, mock out the boxes, take the night bandages off, sweap and then start to prepare the first horse for riding. Today I took Liebe first and then Et Voila. Liebe has the intermediaire II tomorrow so we trained some movements out of the test. When I rode the 2 horses my groom took Sini and Donnelly for a hand walk. After Et Voila we had lunch and so had the horses too. Sini's turn was after lunch and the last but not least was Donnelly. Again when I rode the 2 my groom took the other 2 out.
Tomorrow is going to be different. Liebe has a test and the other ones I'm going to train with Hubertus. He comes to help me for 4 days. The intermediaire II begins at 15:30 and Liebe is the third horse.

Vet check

Today in the afternoon was the vet check. All 3 horses ( Sini Spirit, Donnelly and Liebe) passed it :) so no worries about that anymore. Only Donnelly is not drinking very well and is still week so I could do only a short warm up with him. Sini Spirit feels good. I got to ride him on the main arena. There is a lot to see because the show ground is not completely ready yet. They are still bringing flowers to the arenas, cutting the grass and cleaning the judge towers. That's good training for Sini to get to know everything before the first test.
The weather is nice, at night the temperature gets near +0 and during the day +20!

The first day

This morning we had here +2 degrees and I thought in Germany is cold! It was freezing outside and the windows from our car were frozen. We drive about 5 minutes from our hotel to the stables. Me and my groom went there at half past seven to feed the horses. They all looked hungry. While the horses were eating we reorganized out tack box. It was so full of stuff that we barely fit in. About 9:30 I started to ride. My plan today was to stretch the horses and make them loose after the long trip. Sini Spirit and Heimliche Liebe were fresh and Et Voila also started the warm up with bucking around the arena. Only Donnelly felt still tired and I didn't ride him too long.
After riding we wanted to find a place to eat lunch. The problem was that everything was closed, it was siesta.
Later in the afternoon I took Sini and Liebe out for a walk and my groom handwalked Donnelly and Et Voila. Tomorrow ist the vet check and before that I'm going to ride the horses.

Flight to Spain

I'm on my way to Spain. I'm in Düsseldorf at the airport waiting for my plane. I have to change the plane once in Madrid and then I will fly to Jerez. From there I'm going to rent a car and then drive to Vejer de la Frontera where the show ground is.
The horses arrived there yesterday. Donnelly had stomachache last night but everything seems to be ok now. My groom has been walking with the horses and I will do light warm up later after I have arrived.

Sunshine tour - the journey begins

Yesterday was a busy day. We put everything what we'll need for the hole trip together and packed all our stuff for horses, feed and hay into the lorry. There was a lot of stuff because I'm taking 4 horses with me: Sini Spirit, Donnelly, Heimliche Liebe and Equestricons Et Voila. The horses and my groom will drive with Johannsmann to Spain to Sunshine Tour.
Early this morning, 3 a.m. we made the horses ready for the transport. We load the horses and the lorry left 3.45 a.m from our stables. I need to stay for few more days at home and ride because Hubertus will not be there over the weekend and our other bereiter can't work because of the broken arm. I will fly afterwards to Spain. The lorry drove first to Aachen where they took one more horse with them and continued towards France. The first night they will spent near Lyon so the horses can sleep in a stall. So far everything went well.