Life in Germany is very busy at the moment and this week we all competed. Marne and Aaron did pretty well in the Young Horse classes, especially considering it was their first time out with their horses. I competed with Domino and we came third in our Advanced Medium class. It has been quite a while since our last competition due to bad weather and not being able to get entries into the very busy shows here. Domino behaved really well, we had a bad rein back due to me asking too strongly and one walk pirouette was slightly large. I was really happy to be third in a strong class, we both just need more mileage together but considering last time we competed all four legs were off the ground at times, I was very pleased. It was also his first big prize giving and he behaved like an angel.
We had the new groom, Daniel, at the show, who used to work for Isabell Werth. He was amazing and had everything under control; the turn out of the horses was second to none. Every time I go to a competition in Germany I realise what a high standard of riders and horses this country produces - it’s really fantastic to look around and see such good horses one after another.
This week I began riding Cashou, the pony owned by Markus. She is only six and has had a little break, she is so talented it’s a shame I am not a pony rider anymore! Also at the beginning of the week Markus competed a six-year-old stallion and he was pleased with the test. There was just one extra flying change in a corner but they were second with a score of 8.0.
The Young Horse classes come in two sections, the first is when two riders go in the arena at the same time and perform the same test, one in front and one horse following. It’s a basic test with walk, trot and canter. The second section is when you ride your own individual test - you get a mark for all three gaits and the harmony between horse and rider, so the final mark is an average of both. The horses are aged four, five and six.
After I have ridden my horses today, I am going to drive to Holland to visit my friend Emma. She worked here at Lodbergen last year and I haven’t seen her for a while so I’m looking forward to it. I am also very happy because I made a dressage training video with Markus for a Canadian website in which I rode Domino and it went really well!