Finally!

After all the hard work and all the shows and preparation, it did pay off! My horse Finally is going to the Dressage Festival of Champions: the USEF Finals in Gladstone the beginning of August. When I started out the show season, my goal was to make it to the finals, but since Finally didn’t yet have a show record, I didn’t know if that would be possible. The most minor issue of the show season turned out to be actually riding my tests; my biggest challenge was getting Finally used to all the commotion that occurs at horse shows, since this was a new experience for him. When I got one thing down, something else popped up.

The finals in Gladstone are also the selection trials for the World Equestrian Games that are occurring this fall at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, so I know it will be a fun and exciting show. All of the California horses will be flying out to New Jersey and I hope that the travel, heat and big East Coast bugs will not give any one too much grief. I will be on the flight with my horse and the plan is to arrive at Gladstone a week early on July 30. There is still a chance that my horse Taison will qualify for the finals as well—he is number two on the waiting list. Taison is actually feeling and going better now than he did at many of the shows this year, so I really hope I will get to take him to New Jersey, too.

I’m working very hard preparing myself as well as I can and am really looking forward to the show. My brother and sister will fly out from Sweden to watch me compete. My brother, Carl Frederick, and his wife, Birgitta, have never seen me ride! My sister, Elizabeth, and her husband Goran were actually at Gladstone when I competed there with Basquewille in Grand Prix a few years ago.

I hope all of you are having a great summer and wherever you are it’s not too hot!

As always, best wishes!

~Mette