Kajsa, Dennis and I went to Jönköping Horse Show last Thursday to compete in Agria Star of tomorrow, the league for 6 year olds. None of us had been to Elmia before so we weren’t sure what to expect. But wow what an amazing place to compete in and what a great feeling to compete in front of a bigger audience again after the pandemic. Dennis was a bit affected by the surroundings and buzzing in the arena to begin with, but after two practice rounds before the actual competition we trotted into the arena at 19.38 on Friday for our first performance. He was so excited and he really did a great job. He scored 81 % in gaits and 72,6 % in technical which gave us a total score of 76,8 % and we finished in second place. On Saturday we had a day off from competing so we just had an easy workout in the morning in the warm up ring and after that we just took him for a few walks during the day. On Sunday it was time for the final and he started second to last (they started the qualification list backwards for the finals at this competition). I was a bit worried about how we would handle the difficulties of our performance for the final since it was our debut with that program. But Dennis really excelled and did his best, he did a great program and the results speak for themselves. We got 84,4 % in gaits, with 9 for trot and 9 in future prospects, and 73, 61 % in the technical gave us a total score of 79,006 % and another second place after the winner Sofie Lexner and the wonderful Kavira.
We are so happy and proud of Dennis and his developments. And it’s really the cherry on top to perform well when both my partner Christopher and my parents went to Jönköping to watch the final live. My groom Kajsa Gustafsson, is my rock both during the working week and in competitions. I’m so happy to have her back with us. She has a big part in our success just like the rest of the team around us. An extra thank you goes out to Patrik Hedqvist who shoes Dennis and Lena Rosqvist who is our physiotherapist for our horses. We succeed best together.
Jönköping Horse Show and the arena Elmiamässan truly is a great place to compete in and I’d love to return. A big praise to Charlotte Esping, Emelie Brolin, Carl Hedin and all of the volunteers and staff who made this competition happen. What a great job you’ve done! Until next year.
