| 18 |
Great Party After Great Success |
| November |
The Asian Games are over for Joyce, Michael, Qabil and their horse Wup. After winning the team bronze, they also took the bronze in the individual dressage final over two days. The championship became a great success and was followed by a party!
'The Asian Games indeed was one great adventure. Or, more likely a unique kind of fairytale.It was quite emotional to see 'my Wuppy'in the medal ceremony at a big international championship. A championship of which every second was on tv live, all the tests and the medal ceremonies of all the dressage riders.Full tv coverage, we don;t have that in Europe unfortunately. This once more underlines the importance of the Asian Games for people from Asia.
'My Wuppy' stood there, being pretty in the medal ceremony. Qabil on his back, me at the side, how proud can a person be... Qabil on the stage with a medal around his neck, his second of thechampionship. Ofcourse we aimed for a gold medal, but bronze was also a great reward for two months of hard work together with Qabil. He became a sort of family member for us, every day we worked together with one goal: an individual medal at the Asian Games. We made training schedules, had a freestyle made, rode in practice shows in Holland, went into quarantine, travelled to the other side of the world and we did it!
I am glad it all turned out to go well. I mean, when you enter the arena on the horseback, it's all in your own hands. This time I couldn't and I could only make sure they entered the arena in the best possible way. The preparation has to be perfect. We did everything we could and maybe the most beautiful compliment that I got was: 'You did a very good management of this combination'. At home I kept on saying to Qabil 'It's all about good management, not about the best horse'. Management in several kind of ways: arrange everything in time, make proper shcedules, work towards something in your training,support both rider and horse in the best possible way and also make sure that both horse and rider stay fit, healthy, motivated and focussed.
I have learnt a lot the past weeks and it was just super. I would like to thank several people for several reasons: the owners of the horse for the confidence in both me and the rider, my trainer Sjef for coaching me at long distance, my partner for travelling with me to China to support me and to share these great memories with me, my parents for their support and Qabil and his family for having confidence in both me and the horse. Last but not least I have to thank Wup for all his efforts, he has done a tremendously good job with a new rider.He is a super horse, and heis our buddy.
Yesterday evening we had a party in which we celebrated the two individual medals in one family. Now we can enjoy a short holiday of two days in the city of Guangzhou. We stay in the Grand Hyatt, right next to the stadium of the opening and closing ceremony. So many good memories....!'
