Message from Brett Parbery
Brett Parbery on Victory Salute in the GP Special at Aachen Photograph:Ilse Schwarz/dressage-news.com |
Hi Toni
Aachen was probably the most fun I have had in Dressage to this point. After Rotterdam, I was confident that we could go to Aachen and make the Special. My focus is always to produce a mistake free test, and I know that when I do, I can score between 67% and 70%. My goal coming in to Aachen was to try and get 70%. To score this in Aachen was a dream for me, but I knew I could do it...and we did.
After the Grand Prix and the 10th place, it suddenly dawned on me that I had never ridden the new Special before. So needless to say the warm up was spent training walk piaffe transitions, passage canter right and ones off the left rein and twos off the right.
Our special didn’t go so smoothly and we had a glitch in the two tempis, which is uncharacteristic for us. Anyway, after the ride I thought that we had made a fair attempt at the test, and was slightly surprised with the 69%. Anyway, we took it all on board and when it was announced that we had qualified for the Kur, I knew that I was back in my comfort zone.
Sam warmed up beautifully for the Kur and apart from feeling a little jaded from such a big week, he felt great. The Kur was a lovely ride with just a few moments of tension as I went for maximum. All of the feedback that I have received from friends and fellow competitors has been really complimentary which gives me great confidence looking forward to Hickstead next week.
All in all, Aachen has surely put us on the radar for what could turn out to be a great year for Sam and I.
Just a quick thanks to everyone who has sent text messages, emails, posts on facebook and forums. We really appreciate your support and good wishes so keep them coming.
Lots of love to you all
Brett and Sam
