Sunday Gran Prix Special

The last day. It has been again a long weekend. There was some good parts and some bad parts but I still go home with one great experience. Liebe was good again in the special. She was fourth with 68,7%. She got hotter and hotter during the test and then at the end we got some mistakes. I'm still very happy about her. Now we go home and both horses will have an easier week so they can recover from the long trip.

Saturday

The Gran Prix 4* started at 8 a.m and I was second on a startinglist with Liebe. She was really nice and relaxed in a warm up and I felt good to start our test. Liebe stayed relaxed and supple trough the test, only in one piaffe and in the one tempis there were mistakes. We got 68,2% which was enough for the fifht place in the competition. With Sini Spirit I rode the world cup freestyle later in the afternoon. In the morning I went with Sini to the main arena when there was free training. He was still a little bit tense and got nervous when another horses left the arena. The same we had in the test. Sini didn't feel happy to stay alone in front of the audience and our performance was not good. It is so difficult to know which places or arenas Sini likes or where he gets totally scared.

Gran Prix on friday

I had the GP with Sini today. I took him out in the morning and rode him 1/2 hour on the main arena. He was relax but more looking around than the day before. Our starting time was at 11:10. The warm up felt good and I was confident. Then it was our turn to move on to the main arena. The warm up arena is a totally different arena than the main arena and you have to go outside to change them. The way takes few minutes and goes next to a street where there is a lot of traffic. So as we got to the main arena Sini was already nervous. And the hole test went that way too. There were a lot of smaller mistakes and Sini didn't walk. We were the last ones with 66,85%. I'm very disappointed because the training and the preparations went better than in Oldenburg. I'm allowed to ride the freestyle tomorrow afternoon and then I ride the Gran Prix in the morning with Heimliche Liebe at 8:09 a.m.

World cup

My starting time with Sini Spirit today is at 11:10 a.m. Keep the thumbs up! :)

Stuttgart

Marieke took the horses Sini Spirit and Heimliche Liebe with her and drove on Tuesday to stuttgart. I rode them first at home and then she left. I drove afterwards on Wednesday morning to ride the horses there. I could train in the warm up arena during one dressage test. The first test for Sini is on Friday and for Liebe on Saturday. I wanted to take the horses to the show ground so early because Sini needs always more time to get to know to the new places.
Vet check was today at midday. It was placed in a small garage where could go only one horse at a time. There were only like 10 meters place to trot forward. So Sini couldn't stand still because he was alone and then he trotted really fast that he could get out of the garage quickly. Both horses passed the vet check.
Before all that we were allowed to train on the main arena. The arena is huge! The biggest indoor where I have ever ridden. Sini behaved very well and the training went good. I felt he was more confident and pleased now than the week before in Oldenburg. Let's see how it goes tomorrow! I'm very excited about our first world cup!

Oldenburg

Our trip on Wednesday didn't start very well. We got Sini and everything in the truck and we had past the half way already when my groom realized what she forgot. She had forget the keys to our tack trunk and that was the only key! And of course that tack trunk were locked. So as soon we got to the show ground and had put Sini in to his stable we needed to find somebody who can broke in to our tack trunk. Luckily we found a gay who did it and it was not so difficult. So we need to put extra keys and a new better lock to our list what we need to buy.
The next we made Sini ready for training. There was free training in the evening and that is also the reason why we travelled so early. I wanted to spent as much time as possible with Sini in the main arena so he would get use to it. This is our first show after the Olympics and also the first indoor show for a long time.
So as I was getting ready for riding and putting my boots on the zipper broke. I couldn't believe it! The zipper broke the hole way on my right boot so I couldn't close it! And of course this time I didn't take an extra pair of boots with me.... So I had no chose but put some black tape around my boot and try to ride.
The riding was good. Sini was relaxed, I didn't do so much, just got him calm and concentrated on me and then I finished. Now my only problem was how to fix my riding boot! I asked the show office if they now somebody who can help me. They found me an address from a shoemaker. It was already closed because it was so late but I planned to go there on a next day.
On thursday morning very early I rode Sini once in the warm up arena. It was a tent but a very small one. At first Sini was very nervous because there were no other horses but as soon two more horses came he felt much safer. After riding I called shuttle service and asked then if I can get a ride to the shoemaker. They drove me there and the shoemaker said he needs to put a totally new zipper and it will take a while. I said I need to have the boot back tomorrow by the noon because I have the horse show then. He said he will try. So the rest of the day and also Friday morning I was very nervous and anxious to get my riding boot back. And as we drove back to the shoemaker on Friday and I got my repaired boot back I felt so happy and relieved! Just in the!
The warm up was not as good as the days before and Sini was tense because of the small warm up and people and shops around it. The test went the same way. There were some good parts but also some movements like pirouettes didn't go so well. At the end we got 70,34% which was enough for the fourth place. It was a good start for the indoor season and I'm happy that we can ride the special tomorrow.

November comes

Hello, it's monday now and I'm looking forward to the next weeks. I will have a very busy november. There will be 3 shows where we are going and it meens also a lot of driving. This week we will go to Oldenburg with Sini Spirit. The week after is Stuttgart, also with Sini. And the week after that is Bielefeld, national show, for Sini Solina and Sini Santos. For Oldenburg we will leave on Wednesday. It will be for Sini the first show after London. We will see how it goes. I'm anyway excited! Emma

Helsinki UB Horse Show

Moi kaikki! Tänä viikonloppuna Suomen hevoskansa kokoontuu Hartwall areenalle jossa järjestetään jokavuotinen Helsinki UB Horse Show. Olen itse tulossa piipahtamaan areenalla sunnuntaina. Tällä kertaa ei kylläkään kilpailumielessä. Olen siellä iltapäivänäytöksen ajan. Tulkaa moikkaamaan!

Saturday

Today I rode Sini Santos and Rock'n Rose in young horse Gran Prix. Santos was first horse to go. He was much better than on Thursday. He did really nice passage and extensions in canter. We got 66,5% and in the end we got the 4th place! I'm really happy about him. He is learning so fast. During the show he also improved a lot. Also Rock'n Rose did well. She was also better than on the first day. She didn't do the piaff but the hole canter tour was really good and now mistakes. She got 65,98% and ended up for the 6th place. It was the first GP placing for both of them!

Donaueschingen

We came on wednesday with 3 horses: Sini Santos, Rock'n Rose and Fiaro Lacendos. Sini Spirit I had to leave home because of the slightly swollen leg. There is no need to take any risks and travel with him almost 600km to south Germany. Fiaro and Rock'n Rose in the lorry On tuesday I rode the Louisdor preis  which is a Gran Prix tour for 8-10 year old horses. Sini Santos and Rock'n Rose they both went Inter II for the first time in their life. I'm really pleased with them. Santos test didn't start so well. First he change the canter as we were entering and then after the salute he cantered instead of trotting. In the piaffe he stayed a little bit behind my leg and that is why the piaffe was not as good as Santos can do. The rest of the test was without no mistakes. Of course there is still a lot what we have to improve but for the very first time it was ok. Santos got 64% and Rock'n Rose just few points more. She had also a lot of mistakes and she didn't do the piaffe at all. I'm happy that I can ride them both again today. The class starts at 15:00. Yesterday I rode Fiaro Lacendos in the nürnberger burgpokal warm up class. The trott was really good about 75% but then in the canter we got many mistakes and the score dropped down to 64%. The qualification test for the Nürnberger Burgpokal is on Sunday. Santos&Marieke Fiaro

Training at home

Sini Spirit had some easier time after London and now he is step by step getting back to the work. Our next show will be in Donaueschingen 13.-16.9. Also my mare, Sini Solina, is developing. We are training now for the Prix St. Georges level but we have also started with the half steps.

Home

We are back home and everything became normal again. Sini got some easier time now, I still ride him 6 times a week but we go mostly hacking and do only light work. I'm working like usual but I got only 9 or 10 horses to ride. So it's not too stressful at the moment. I have one small show coming on 1st of September. I will ride Santos and Fiaro Lacendos in one s-class.

Photos - Ferry

Fotos from the Olympics - vet check

Travelling home

We left from the show ground after the freestyle on Thursday. We were brought to Kyra where my lorry were standing during the Olympics. We unload our staff and load them into my lorry. We wanted to leave early on Friday morning so we could drive before the morning traffic past London to the ferry. We left from Kyra at 5:00 am. and drove to Dover to the ferry. There were first a problem with our papers and it took us longer to get in to the ferry. It was 9:25 am when we finally got in to our ferry. We arrived in Caleis, France, around 11:00 and started our drive to Germany. We drove first to Retie in Belgium where we took Spirit out for a couple of hours and put him into a stall. He started to drink immediately. We let him walk and eat some gras before we continued driving. From Retie we still drove 4 hours until we reached home. Spirit was happy when he finally got out from the lorry and realised that we came home again. I think we all were happy to be home again and to be able to sleep in our own bed! I want to say thank you to my sponsor Sinituote Oy, Monica and Ilkka Brotherus, from the support they have given me and who made this all possible! I also want to thank my family and my boyfriend Thomas who always have been there for me. A BIG THANK YOU to my team: Marieke Oertel, Hubertus Schmidt, Tuula Pursiainen and Riitta Holopainen. And thank you all who kept the fingers crossed and cheered up for me!

Semifinals

I'm very happy about Tuesday. The all day was just wonderful. I got to wake up early that I could train Spirit once before the competition. He went really well! So I felt confident and relaxed before we started the warm up for our test. Spirit was doing well hole time and I had a good feeling to ride in to the arena. Through the hole test I was able to ride Spirit like in the training and now also the tempis were without mistakes. We got so far our best score from the GPS 71,889% and we were all very happy about that. Unfortunately it was not quite enough for the freestyle but anyway I'm very pleased about my first Olympic games and how they went for me. This was an amazing experience, my dream coming true and now I have to start dreaming of something new! :)

Weekend

Saturday and Sunday we had some time to see the city and do some shopping. I also invited my boyfriend and my parents to the olympic village to see who the life there is. It was nice to send some time together. I also rode Spirit in the morning and he still feels fresh and not tired at all. Tomorrow I'm going to take Spirit out two times just like on Tuesday when the test ist.

Gran Prix the second day

It was exciting for me up to the end. I had to wait the final results to see if I qualified or not. And I did! I can ride the Gran Prix special on Tuesday and I'm more than happy! :) On Friday I just jogged with Spirit and went for hacking so he could have a little time of. Today we start our training again. I have go trough my test with Hubertus just to see what the judges said and where we have to work more. For sure I need to work on the serial changes!

Gran Prix

Wow how amazing it was! Even if we got some mistakes in one and two tempis, I'm happy how Spirit was inside the arena. We had a good warm up and I tried to keep him focused on me and not on the audience and it worked! I'm really happy about the trot and passage tour and also the sicsac in canter and the pirouettes were good for us. The score 70,395% could have been better but with the mistakes I'm still happy that we got over 70%. Now we just need to hope that if that it is enough for the special.

The last day before the competition

Today we got to train on the main arena. We had specific times for each country and all the individuals were put together so they had groups of 4 riders. Each group had 30 minutes to ride inside the arena. First I made a warm up outside and then some movements. When our time came I concentrated to keep Spirit focused on me and work. I'm happy about the result: I could end and leave the arena when my horse was quiet and relaxed. I wanted to give him nice a nice end and good memory.
Tomorrow my starting time will be 14:01 GBT as a 18th horse.