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.

The morning was really cold. In the stables were -5 C and it feld freezing. I started to ride about 10 o'clock. Hubertus came yesterday and we already did light training. Today I started with Donnelly and rode Sini and at last Liebe. All of them went well and Hubertus were happy. Sini had also his Gran Prix today in the afternoon. That's why I rode him in the morning and before the test I did only a short warm up. Sini got a bit tense as we rode in to the arena but calmed down before I started the test. The test began well, we had one mistake in the passage after the first piaffe where Sini suddenly cantered. In two tempis were also had mistakes and the last change after zigzag was late behind. I was very happy about the passage and piaffe and that Sini let me ride him. We got only 68,3% because of the mistakes. We still ended on the second place! Sini qualified for the freestyle which is on Saturday. Donnelly goes the Gran Prix for the special tomorrow early in the morning.

The first night in Vidauban

We arrived in Vidauban about 6.30 p.m on Monday evening. We found our boxes and made them ready for my horses. At first Liebe was really nervous because she couldn't see the other horses. They are all standing in a row next to each other but the walls are closed so they can only see horses on the other side. But we didn't have neighbors yet. We gave the horses water and hay and after a while we took them out for a walk. Later we gave them mash but Liebe didn't start to eat. We took the temperature and it was 38,9. I tried to call the show office, stable manager and the official vet. Nobody answered. Finally the official vet picked up and came out that he is not even here! I couldt believe it! He's coming tomorrow but then it would be too late to help the horse! He promised to sent me another number who might know the number from local vet. We took the temperature again and know it was already 39,5!! Finally I got a number from the vet and she promised to come but se was 1,5h away! Unbelievable... So we just waited and cooled Liebes legs with cold water. At 11.30 p.m the vet came, Liebe got the medicine against fever and got better soon. It was already so late so we decited to stay with the horses and sleep inside the tack box. We rolled blankets around us and tried to sleep.

Vilamoura saturday

Today is our last day in Portugal. I rode Donnelly in GPS and Sini in freestyle. Donnelly lost his shoe again this morning but luckily the farrior was here and could put the shoe on immediately. Donnelly felt good in the warm up but I tried make him a little bit more going for the test and it worked. The test was better than the day before. I was happy with the halv-passes and pirouettes but in one tempis on the center line we made mistakes. The score 70,98% was enough for the first place. Also Sini did a really good freestyle! I'm very very happy. The score 74,75% was my best score so far in international GP freestyle. Sini was second in that class. I'm very proud of my horses! On sunday morning at 4 we wil load the horses and drive 900km to Valencia where we will stay one night and then continue to Vidauban. It's going to be a long trip again.

Vilamoura Gran Prix

The day didn't start very well. In the morning when we took Donnelly out from the box we noticed that he almost pulled a shoe off from his hindleg and then stepped on it. He was a bit sore from the hoof as we took the shoe off. The ferrior came quickly but first we wanted to show to leg to a vet. That took a bit longer. The vet check the leg and said we should put the shoe back and then he'll check Donnelly again. This was only one hour before the class and Donnelly was suppose to go as first. The vet suggest that we talk to the judges that I chance my horses and start with Sini first. It was all okay but then we needed to make Sini ready in 15 minutes.everything went well and I was in time. Sini did a very nice test. There was only one bad chance in one tempis otherwise he did everything well. He got 70,17% and I was more than happy. Donnelly's starting time was later so he got time to rest and get to use to the new shoe. He was the second last horse to go and the fudding was already bab. Too deep in the corners and diagonals with holes. Donnelly had some troubles with the rhythm and was unbalanced. He got only 68,6%. At the end Sini was second and Donnelly fourth so the day got better!

Freestyle

I qualified with Donnelly to the freestyle. I don't have a own freestyle music for him so I borrowed Sini's freestyle. It fits quite good. My starting time was at 13:00. Donnelly felt good already in the warm up. He was a bit more concentrated on me than before the Gran Prix. In the freestyle he cantered once in extended trot and one change was not good. Otherwise I was very happy with him. We scored 73,2% which was enough for the 4th place. It was nice ending for the show. Other horses I jogged that they don't get too stif before the transport.