I do London!!!

I have been chosen to the finnish team in London! Unbeliavable! I still can't really believe it. All the traveling and competing all over Europe is now worth it. I was hoping so hart that this day would come and now im so happy that there is no words. My dream to represent Finland in Olympic Games is becoming true!

Gran Prix Special

I was the last rider to go in the Gran Prix Special on friday evening. It was a long day to wait. My groom went walking with Sini in the morning and I rode him lightly in the afternoon. I did my warm up like before Gran Prix. Sini felt again relaxed and didn't get tense even if the audience was cheering for the other riders before me. My starting time was 22:21 so it was already dark and the arena had bright lights everywhere. I was still feeling confident as my time to ride in came. The beginning of the test was very good. All the half-passes and passages were good and we got a lot of 8's. In the walk Sini wasn't as relaxed as I hoped and he wanted to look around a bit. The canter was ok, maybe not as good as Sini can do, but there were still some good parts. We got 71,244% and ended up to the 6th place. I'm very happy about the week in Aachen. Sini is getting better and he gets more self-confidence after every show. I'm relief that this time we got 2 equal results and in both tests Sini let me ride him.

Gran Prix

I'm very VERY happy about yesterday! Sini stayed calm as we trotted in to the arena and we had a nice test with one mistake in two tempis. I was very relief after the test and happy with Sini that he stayed focused trough the test. The audience was unbelievable! They were cheering and clapping their hands and it felt wonderful! Thank you all who were supporting me and keeping the thumps up for us! We ended up to the 8th place with 71,043% and so far that is my second best result from the Gran Prix. Today we have a day off and I went already walking with Sini this morning. Later today we will have a training with Hubertus. On Friday we ride the Gran Prix Special which starts at 9:00 pm.

The training with Sini went surprisingly well. First I warmed up on one of the training arenas and went after that to the main arena. There were always 30 minutes planned for each country and Finland was with Switzerland together. I was feeling much comfortable than in Rotterdam and I was able to ride him like at home. Our starting time will be at 7:15 pm. as 13th horse. Together there will be 22 horses.

CHIO Aachen

Hello, Sini Spirit and Marieke travelled already yesterday to Aachen and I came today in the morning with Martina (the groom from Hubertus). I went directly walking with Sini inside the main arena and he was ok. The vet check was after midday and it went also well. Later when Hubertus is also here I will train Sini on the main arena. The Gran Prix is tomorrow starting at 5 pm.

Home again

We came back home from Rotterdam on Sunday. Sini Spirit and Heimliche Liebe travelled well. There were no problems at all. On Monday Sini had a day off. He went walking outside with Marieke, my groom and he also got to eat a lot of gras. In the evening I took Sini out and we did some streching. On Tuesday I worked him light as well. We did a lot of transitions and streching and today we will start again with the collection. We need to get prepared because next week is Aachen and that is our next show. It will be my first time to ride in
Aachen. I'm already excited!

Rotterdam CHIO

Hello! We left from our stables on Tuesday morning. I had Sini Spirit, Heimliche Liebe and my groom with me. It took us 5 hours to get to Rotterdam. There was one accident between and that's why it took us longer to drive than we thought. On that day we had only the vet check for both of the horses and then I trained then in the main arena. At first Sini was fine there but suddenly somebody put the electric commercial on which was on two sides of the arena and it was blinking. Sini got so scared of that and totally panicked. We needed to get out from the arena quickly and went to another arena inside the woods to calm him down. It took me long before Sini got relaxed and we could end our training. I really hope that I don't have to ride the test on the next day because I'm not sure how Sini will react when we go in again.

Sini Spirit Gran Prix

I trained Sini in the morning when the main arena was open. He was unwilling to move as he can. He almost didn't canter at all. I stopped riding and we went back to the stables. Tuula Pursiainen with our vet was checking Sini and found out that he has pain in his stomack. They took care of him and he got better before the Gran Prix started later in the afternoon. My starting time was 17:10 and as we prepared Sini for the warm up, he looked and felt fine. The warm up went well. Sini was calm and concentrated. In the test he got first a bit tense but I was able to ride him trought the test and after the walk he got more relaxed. We got 70,4% and it was enough for the second place! I'm pleased and now I just hope that we can make a nice ride tommorrow in the special.

Donnelly Gran Prix

Today was the Gran Prix for freestyle. I started with Donnelly. It was his first show after our south European journey. He got a bit hot and tense when I rode in to the main arena. And in the first part of the test he cantered 4 times! He cantered after entering, he broke in to the canter in extended trot and also before the first trot half-pass. But the second part of the test was good. We had nice pirouettes and serial changes and also from the zikzac we got two times 8 from the judges. After all we still got 68,38% which was enough for the fourth place. Donnelly qualified for the freestyle on Sunday evening under floodlight. That is going to be exciting!

Wiesbaden

Moi!

Terveiset Wiesbadenista! Hevoset, Sini Spirit, tulivat hoitajani Marieken kanssa jo torstaina, jotta saimme hevosautolle sähköpaikan. Täällä on pieni parkkipaikka ongelma sillä tilaa ei ole tarpeeksi kaikille autoille ja jos tulee liian myöhään ei välttämättä saa enää sähköpaikkaa. Itse saavuin Hubertuksen kyydissä perjantaina puolelta päivin. Kahdelta oli vet check ja sen jälkeen treenasimme hevoset. Ratsastin ensin Sinin ja yllätyksekseni ensimmäinen treeni sujui ihmeen hyvin. Sini oli aika rauhallinen ja keskittyi hyvin tehtäviinsä. Sini menee vasta sunnuntaina ensimmäisen luokkansa, joka on karsinta specialiin.
Sinin jälkeen treenasin Donnellyn joka ensin oli vähän pinkeänä. Donnelly on nyt ensimmäistä kertaa kisoissa sitten Etelä-Euroopan reissumme.
Tänään kävin jo kävelemässä Donnellyn kanssa pääareenalla ja kohta lähden treenaamaan Sinillä. Gran Prix alkaa tänään klo 15:30 ja Donnellyllä starttini on klo 17:00. Luokassa on vain 14 lähtijää.
Olen ensimmäistä kertaa täällä Wiesbadenissa ja tämä on aivan uskomattoman hieno paikka! Eilen kun ratsastin ekaa kertaa verryttely kentälle ja näin kilpailuareenan jonka taustalla kohosi vaaleanpunainen linna, en meinannut uskoa silmiäni. Näkymä oli kuin suoraan sadusta! Lisäksi koko kilpailu alue on puistossa puiden ja ruohokenttien keskellä. Täällä on lisäksi myös kenttäratsastajat joiden kenttärata puikkelehtii joka puolella puistoa.
Ihanaa on myös se, että lisäkseni myös kolme muuta suomalaista on mukana kilpailemassa. Mikaela Lindht, Terhi Stegars ja Henri Ruoste. Viikonlopusta tulee suomalaisittain tosi jännä!

Freestyle

Our day started like yesterday. We were allowed to ride again in the main arena early in the morning. I took Sini out for training. It was colder than yesterday and more windy. Sini was a bit afraid of the V.I.P tent which was moving in the wind but otherwise he did his job well. The freestyle started at 12:15. My starting time was at 13:00. The warm up was not as good as yesterday. Sini was more unsteady on the bit and sometimes hurried. I took my time and he was better when they called us in. Unfortunately Sini got tense when we entered the arena. And it got worse when the audience started to applause. Our freestyle was not as good as I hoped for. There were a lot of mistakes caused by the tension. Half-passes and some passage was good but piaffe and pirouettes wasn't good. We got 70,825% and ended on the 14th place. Now we are home and Sini gets the next week off. Tomorrow we go to Düsseldorf where our physiotherapist checks him and then he gets some nice time jogging und hagging with my groom. I fly on Wednesday to Finland to meet my family. Our next show will be in Wiesbaden in four weeks.

Photos from Hagen

Saturday

I rode Sini already in the morning in the main arena. We were alloved to ride there from 6:45 till 8:15. Sini was much calmer than the days before and we had a good training. Hubertus was also there to help me. Finally I got lucky and got a good starting place. I was in the end of the class just before Totilas. In the warm up Sini was first a little bit unconcentrated and looking around to see everything. There were so many people and noise that I needed to keep him really occupied. Sini felt good when I rode in to the main arena. I was suprised that he stayed so focused despited of the people around the arena. The test went good but in one tempis we had a mistake. When I got to the end and looked up to the live screen and saw my actual procents I couldn't believe it! There was standing 72% and a bit more! I was so happy and later when I heard my score 73,25% I started to cry for a joy! Unbelievable! I did my new record in gran prix and ended to the 7th place in Hagen where there were so many good riders and horses. I'm so proud of Sini!! We also qualified for the freestyle which is tomorrow starting at 12:15.

Horses and dreams meet Great Britain

We arrived today in the afternoon to Hagen. I took 3 horses with me: Sini Spirit, Sini Santos and Fiaro Lacendos. Sini is going the big tour for the freestyle on Saturday, Fiaro goes small tour starting with the prix St. georges tomorrow morning and Santos is there for learning. Today was the vet check for Fiaro and also free training in the main arena. The weather was really unsteady, sometimes sunshine and then suddenly hard rain. I was training with Fiaro when it started to rain and we got so wet that there were water drops falling from my riding helmet in front of my eyes. With other horses I was more luckier and we stayed dry. Fiaro is going tomorrow morning in the beginning of the class.

Olympic games

So, it came out, the list of the riders who qualified as a individuel for Olympics. I'm 6th on the waiting list. It was so close... But still, our federation said that there is still a small chance that some of the countries don't sent their riders and then maybe, MAYBE I will be able to ride in London. But now we just have to keep our fingers crossed and wait till 15th of April. Meanwhile my horses, Sini Spirit and Donnelly, will do something else than dressage for a few weeks. They really earned it!

Vilamoura Portugal fotos

Sunshine Tour 2012 fotos

Finally home!

I flew home already on Friday afternoon but the horses left with Johannsmann early on Saturday morning. My groom Marieke drove with them. They did one over-night stop in south of Germany and finally on Sunday afternoon they arrived home. The horses were surprised to see where they are as they recognized the stables. The horses are well and healthy but now they will have a well earned holiday!

Saturday

In the morning I trained the horses and they feld good. All of them are still feeling fresh which I'm wondering because it has been such a long trip so far. The weather was a bit cooler today. During the night it rained and the morning was also gray. The sun came out first in the afternoon but the temperature didn't rise so high. The freestyle began at 17:20. My starting time with Sini was 19:30. The music was so loud, much louder than I wanted in the sound check,that Sini got scared and was tense trough the hole test. Anyway somehow I managed to rode him and we did all the movements but with tension. I think the judges didn't see it all the time because we still got 73,35%. Tomorrow Donnelly will go the special and Sini will have a small earned break. :)

Vidauban friday

Today was Donnelly's turn. I rode him in the gran Prix for special. Our starting time was 9:18 in the morning. It was still very cold. When we came to the stables it was -2,5 C. Donnelly feld good in the warm up but he got a little bit strong during the test. I was not quite happy about the test. We made one small mistake in siksak and a bigger mistake in one tempis. Our score was 69.4% and third place. Terhi Stegars made a very nice test and got only 1,5 points more than me and she was second. Also Henri Ruoste did well and placed on place 8. We all qualified for the special on Sunday. Sini and Liebe I trained alone because Hubertus flew home already. The freestyle is tomorrow evening and Sini goes at a fourth last horse.