2021, New year, New goals...

So 2020 is over and I think all of us are ready for a new year. The past year left a lot of unfulfilled expectations but I think it also taught us a valuable lesson. To not take the lifestyle we have gotten used to for granted. To learn to appreciate all the things we have and to value what we have accomplished to get where we are today. For me 2019 was a great year in every way. Lots of success, happiness, many achieved goals and so on. But at the time I might have forgotten to take the time to really appreciate all the nice shows I got to ride at, the amazing horses I have, supportive owners, sponsors, family, staff and friends. That is something I definitely will take with me as a lesson for the future.
2020 started off in a very good way with good results in Valencia and then the opportunity to ride my first LGCT show in Doha, where I won my first 5* class and had good rounds in all the big classes. After that everything stopped in what we thought would only be a few weeks of lock downs but turned into months. We still managed to do some shows over the summer, adapting to the new temporary regulations of wearing face masks and competing on empty arenas.

At the end of the summer I had a bad fall in Valkenswaard which resulted in broken ribs, bruised liver, fluid in my stomach and a week in hospital. When I was finally back riding again I made the stupid mistake of holding a twitch on a horse and didn't pay enough attention to him.. So when he exploded I was anything but prepared and got kicked in the head. Ambulance again and 10 stitches on my head. Luckily no serious damage but very bad headache and concussion for a few days. After another recovery period I was back again and started getting ready for shows.. I then received an email about the FEI's suspension of the UAE Federation and thereby all UEA owned horses. This included my 2 best horses (W Diva Rosa and Cleo) and they could not compete for the rest of the year. I was hoping the situation would be resolved earlier but ended up having to accept that the rest of the year would be shows without them. I instead focused on the young ones and to also build up Divas and Cleos strength for the coming year. Hopefully we will get to attend some 5* Nation Cup shows and our big goal is to be on the team for the Europeans later this year. But for now we are focusing on Spain and to have all the horses in great form.  

Since mid August, talented Swedish Young Rider Stina Efraimsson is based with us. She has 3 horses with her at the moment and another one will arrive next week to join us to Spain. It's a new experience for me to train someone fulltime so it has been both challenging and fun. I'm really looking forward to this year with Stina and I hope we can reach all her goals. 

So now it's finally a new year and I am more then ready to get started! Next week we leave for MET I at Oliva Nova with in total 11 horses. Me, Olivia, Fonz, Stina and Linda.

Looking forward to a new year with hopefully a lot of happiness, health and success!

Happy New Year everyone,

Xxx

Annika