Sopot, Falsterbo, goals, etc.

Hi everyone!

So the last couple of weeks have been like a dream coming true for me. First we had the great show in Poznan and after that we continued to Sopot.

 Here the horses started of jumping good Zaza did a good first round, Diva got to jump a smaller round in the 1.45 to hopefully prepare for the GP. Cooper stepped up and did his 2nd 1.50 the first day and the qualification for the GP. It was a big class but he jumped great. I came to big into the last double and had the vertical in down. But with a fast time he still qualified for the GP. He's such an amazing horse and i feel very happy to have him and that he can take some weight of Diva in the bigger classes.

Already on Friday it was time for the GP! My first ever 5* show and me and Diva was about to jump our biggest class so far. I didn't have a perfect round the day before with her so a was a bit more nervous then usual. I walked the course, called Bassem to go through my plan for the course. I had already number 8 so there was no time for me to look at any of the other riders. In the warm up Diva was feeling great so my confident grew a bit and also my nerves got a less. Olivia was a great support keeping me positive and confident. When i was walking up to the ring Willem (Greve) told me that the time was very short and that most of them so far had time faults. He told me that it was better to do 8 into the double combination, i had planned to do 9 stride. I was only thinking that i was gonna do the best i could and that i would be happy anyway since i had a great show the week before. So we came in, cantered around and got ready to start. The speaker said our name and told the public that we had been 5th last week in Poznan, so even more pressure to do good. We jumped fence number 1 and Diva was flying, 2,3,4 fences same feeling. I remembering thinking that if i don't mess this up she will jump clear. When we cleared the triple and the over after we had only 3 jumps left. Skinny vertical with a gate under, the water and the last vertical. When i cleared the last jump and looked up at the board i couldn't believe we just jumped clear in our first 5* 1.60 GP. When i came out Olivia was just as happy as me and it almost didn't feel real that we just achieved this.  That feeling is something i will never forget. So happy and so proud of Diva, she was jumping her heart out from beginning to end. I was the first one to be clear in the class and it was only 12 more to finish on a clear score. To be met by so many kind words from riders that i have admired my whole life was something special. In the jump off we had one small mistake what put us on 11th place. Of course i wanted to be clear ones i was in the jump off but still this was one of my best days! The trip home from Polen after these 2 fantastic shows was pretty easy;)

Now i have been home a bit more then a week and had all the other horses out showing. But still thinking back at these two moments being clear in two 1.60 GPs 2 weeks in a row puts a smile on my face everyday.

So beginning of this week i got the news i have been hoping for and working for during a long time. We have been selected to ride at CSIO5* Falsterbo! This have been one of my dreams since as a young girl i was sitting on the stands there cheering for all the big riders. I am so humbled and happy to ride in Falsterbo and i hope we can keep up our good form. No we have a bit less then 2 weeks to get ready and i can't wait to canter into Falsterbo's amazing arena!!

Have a nice evening:)

Xx

Annika