A new year, but first ...
Time moves fast, and right now I feel like it was only yesterday that we jumped into 2024, but.. January is already gone, and before we get too far into the new year, I want to do a quick recap on how 2023 went for our little team!
2023 has been a busy year for Mia. Luckily, Olive decided to join in with a helping hand, not only with the horses, but also with Ellie, which has been giving Mia a bit more time to focus on the training and the shows. A new Show Jumping Circuit showed its ‘face’ this year, which gave Mia a few more opportunities to travel with the horses. Candlelight is still a young horse, he’s only turning 7 this year, and with all the power he has inside his body (and mind), he still has a lot to learn. Mia has taken it slow with him this year and tried not to press him too much in the show arenas. He has lots of potential, but he needs some more routine before we want to move him up in the classes. During the spring-months Mia took both Ballerine and Candlelight to California and then next to Stockholm for the CWT Shows. Candlelight did some very good rounds, finishing 1st in his class in California and 3rd in Stockholm. Sadly, after returning home after both shows, we saw a bit of stress with Candlelight, and decided that he wouldn’t be joining us for the CTJL Monaco show at the end of summer. We want to take good care of our horses, and if that means that we are only bringing them for smaller, local shows, well, that’s what we will do. With Mia away for some of the bigger shows, Olive took over the daily training of Candlelight, which showed a big change in Candlelight’s behavior; Olive is a really talented rider, but she doesn’t have the biggest experiences as a show-rider, but seeing Candlelight changing from one big firecracker to a gentle giant with Olive, led to Mia making a decision to let Olive take over the reins full-time. Olive and Candlelight participated in a few local shows at the end of the year, and they actually finished 3rd in the local championship! We are so very proud of both of them, and Olive has already agreed on trying out for a few bigger shows this year, as long as they still stay in the lower levels.
Mia and Ballerine had a fantastic year! We started the year off with the CWT shows, where Ballerine finished 2nd in her classes in both California and Stockholm. At the end of the summer, Mia went to probably the biggest show of the year, the CTJL show in Monaco. Mia was filled up with nerves and almost started to reconsider why the heck she decided to be a show jumping rider, but during their final round, Ballerine showed her why by being the very best friend Mia could ever have wanted in her life. Ballerine was such a pro as always, keeping Mia safe, and did a flawless round, which brought them to the top of the podium in the 1.30m. class!
With the new circuit this year, the Kuse Jumping Tour, running with qualifications during the whole year, Mia and Ballerine gathered enough points to qualify for the finals in December! This time Mia had backup from the whole team consisting of her mom and Ellie, Olive and her trainer, Ryan O’Neil. The team went to Oliva, Spain, for the finals - and what a wait to end the year; coming in 1st in their class, and ending in 2nd place on the class-leaderboard, and 7th place on the overall leaderboard for the KJT! We are so very proud, and we hope to see the KJT on the calendar again soon!
2023 also brought an extension to the team: Magnolia’s Valerie - our sweet young Hanoverian dressage-mare, bred by Mia’s aunt. Valerie joined our team back in the summer. In September, The Hanoverian Association hosted a wonderful Grading-show in Georgia, and since Georgia is also our home-base, Mia decided to take Valerie to the show. This was a huge success with Valerie being placed 1st in her division and awarded with the highest title possible - the Premium title!
Since Mia is a former dressage rider, and was given the opportunity to get back in the dressage arenas with Valerie, Mia took a big chance at the end of the year. Valerie had only been in the stable for 4 months, but with the talent and huge improvements she showed every single day in their daily training, Mia decided to ‘go all or nothing’. Just before going to Oliva, Spain, for the KJT Finals with Ballerine, Mia entered the DWBCYH - Dressage World Breeding Championship for Young Horses! The competition was held over a few days with a qualification round, and the Final where the new World Champion for 4, 5, 6 and 7 years old horses would be found. And what a show it turned out to be! Placing 1st in their qualification round with a score of 89.024% gave them a ticket straight into the Final round. Somehow Mia felt at peace before their round, and when their score was announced, the tears started to roll down her face: 93.902% - and winner of the title as World Champion for the 4 years old dressage horses! This score also turned out to be the only score during the whole show to be over 90%!
We are so pleased with how 2023 went - and with some small changes to the team-structure, and a new face, who will be introduced soon, we are more than ready to bring our A-game into 2024!
A big thank you to all the show hosts of the shows in 2023 - we have enjoyed participating in the shows, and we are hoping to see your shows again this year! Also a big thank you to the breeders of our horses - without your trust in us to take care of these amazing animals, we wouldn’t be where we are today! ❤️✨
@katrinbergling @calveroterranorasj @madiwx @plotsandplumbobs @itssimplythesims @equialitysims