Jan 10, 2016: Big boy feeling rather small

Quite a few rides at Münster, and we had our moments. First to go was Escolar, who presented himself very well during warm-up. After he did so well at Frankfurt, without getting nervous about the atmosphere, I did not want to overdo it with the young horse before its first St. Georges. But then... Escolar, who never is spooky at all, was totally impressed by the narrow competition arena. His heart sank into his boots, I think. Right after the first halt, he turned around, but luckily I could convince him to proceed versus C. But then, when we were about to pass the entry, which in Münster is not even closed with the low wooden rail, it was too much for him: He left the rectangle, and me unavoidably with him. Of course, the bell was rung, but I was allowed to ride the test nonetheless. Surprisingly enough, he did quite well, with nice a-tempi-changes and Pirouettes. And the next day, we were allowed into the arena right when all spectators where still in there, waiting for the victory ceremony if Inter I, and it worked again. So we'll continue gaining ecperience...

Father Estobar was rather hot, so I did a longer warm-up for the short Grand Prix. Maybe due to this, he was lacking a little esprit, and without major mistakes we had 69,721 %, rank six. We hadn't done any special preparation for the Kur, but Estobar was far more relaxed. Although we showed rather poor pirouettes, the test went even better. Scoring 71,97 %, we ended up on rank five.

In both competitions, Fabienne and Flynn PCH were ranked right after us - so definitely a nice premiere for the two of them.

Sammy Deluxe was great to ride. Usually, I am a little exhausted after showing him, but he was less lazy this time. He showed really nice piaffes, they surely could have been better, but for Sammy, they were good. We didn't perform immaculately, as in the Grand Prix, we had mistakes in the a-tempi-changes, and in the Spécial, he jumped to the side right after the first halt. But rank eight in the Grand Prix, seven in the Spécial - let's say that I am really pleased with the horse, and less with the ranking.