BLOG: Julie-Pascale tells about her participation in Verona (Italy)

Fieracavalli is 10 times better than Mechelen Jumping !

It wasn't the first time in Fieracavalli for me.  We had already been there 2 or 3 times before with the ponies. It was nostalgia and a very easy decision to agree to participate again in this competition.

At 4.20 am on Thursday morning my alarm went off. I must  admit it was hard to get up. But with the good prospect of Fieracavalli and after I had had a shower, I was fully ready for it. After I arrived in Milan, Bergamo, by plane, I picked up my hire car and left for the biggest horse event in Europe.   

Verona, a wealth of history and also the town of Romeo & Juliette, but of fervent horse lovers too. All-in-all 13 halls, each one housing a different discipline of the equestrian sport: dressage, jumping, western, free jump, carriages, Spanish riding school, kids corners with Falabellas… You can wander around in there for hours. To put it briefly, something for everybody.

After we had arrived in the afternoon, I wanted to exercise my horses a little before the competition started on Friday. But I hadn't reckoned on getting a sprained neck. With the fierce pains I had, there was no other solution than to let my brother Guillaume exercise my horses.  But that didn't solve my problem. So off I went to the Red Cross first aid. They gave me some cream and a few pills and I thought I was patched up. But unfortunately that wasn't the case. The pain remained and that's what Stefan Corten - who I had met on the plane - had also noticed.  Thanks to him, I found an osteopath who helped me, so I was able to ride the next day. Of course, the problem wasn't solved in 1 day and I had to go back the following days.  And as if this wasn't enough, I also had a cold. Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle, that's the only thing I have been doing all weekend long. I thought to myself: ' Hmm, well great! I came all the way to Verona for this!'

If a CSI** is combined with a CSI*****, of course you try to take in some CSI***** rounds while you are there. So that's what we did. On Saturday evening there was a test of speed and agility over 1m50 fences. This round was won by Scott Brash in magnificent style. On Sunday the World Cup was held.  But before it started, there was a minute of silence in honour of Hickstead. On the track they had laid a circle of flowers on the spot where he had died last year.  This gave a lot of people goose pimples. The World Cup was no doubt one to write home about. With 12 combinations making the jump-off it went extremely fast. But there can only be 1 winner and it was Christian Ahlman who won the 2013 edition.  

I can state with pride that we rode splendid rounds. The results of my 7 year old stallion Picobello Ghost (8^th , 4^th, 4^th) in the  1m30 competition didn't go unnoticed. Picobello Verybelle under the saddle of Guillaume has again demonstrated her many qualities. Due to an unfortunate fault in the 1m45 Grand Prix, it was a pity that they didn't get selected for the jump-off.

If you ask me if I would participate again next year, I would immediately say yes. A combination of culture, sport, entertainment, … that's all a competition needs to be truly successful.

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