The journey to Munich was exhausting, from traffic jam to traffic jam. On departure, everyone involved was very pleased. Slide's performance in the Grand Prix Kür opened a door to a promising future.
Winning rounds are fun
The CDI 5 * tournament in Munich is certainly a highlight in any tournament season. Magnificent spring weather in recent years, a very diverse show programme from jumping to working equitation and vaulting to the difficult challanges in dressage sport and a hyper-range of horse themed stalls lured thousands again this year to the Olympic grounds in Munich-Riem. The German dressage elite had also announced itself. Out of the national team that won at Tryon, only Cosmo was missing. They were joined by front-runners who clearly knocked on the door to the national team, sending a clear signal to the German Championships in two weeks. The competition was significantly stronger this year than last year, when Dia and Tatiana were able to finish fourth in the freestyle.
In the early morning at 6:30 am you can explore the competition venue undisturbed
Kickoff formed a Grand Prix on Friday. Dia had made very good progress in the last weeks before the exam. The trot, in particular, has become very important. In addition to the strong thrust development from the back, more and more spectacular movements developed from the forehand. Higher knee actions and ebullient forward striving raised hopes, but they were disappointed in this test. Dia behaved extremely unwilling and matte, could not be moved to spectacular exercises. The disappointment was great. A dejected mood spread. One felt on a ascending path and now that. Second to last in the Grand Prix. Strong competition back or forth. You didn't expect that.
Anyone who knows Tatiana Kosterina knows that she is not burying her head in the sand. A lot of ideas were analysed on Friday. Too much stress from getting there? Wrong depreciation before the exam? Wrong feed? Wrong help in the exam? Everything came under scrutiny and a concept developed for the remaining days. Food, employment, entertainment program, training in the arena. The "Freestyle" project started. Saturday was designed accordingly with coordinated feeding rations, walks on the grounds, relaxed grazing and challenging training laps under the saddle. A lot of praise, a lot of reward when something succeeded well.
Dia, please smile once. Tatiana needs a photo for Instagram
In the meantime, there was still some excitement about the music. The Freestyle had been choreographically and musically reworked. However, the new music was only available in a preliminary version, which was to be elaborated instrumentally. There was a commitment from Moscow that the elaborated version should still be sent on Saturday. Unfortunately, it didn't come. So the exam had to be ridden with the pre-version.
On Sunday, Munich offered gloriously sunny spring weather. Tatiana and Dia opened the Grand Prix Freestyle in the early afternoon. And a great performance succeeded, which convinced in several ways. Dia let herself ride well, showed herself cooperative, was ready to perform. In the technically demanding performance, she showed several times that she has got better once more. Liquid transitions, spectacular trotting and swinging passage, strong stride. Tatiana had Dia at the hand, she went along and Tatiana was able to enjoy the ride. The music, that unfolded Russian tunes, went down well and it showed she could well highlight the mare's movements. This was also shown by the artistic evaluation. Harmony, choreography and music appealed to the judges and led to notes between 7 and 8. The head judge, a proven expert on the Freestyle, honored the artistic part with 79 percent. So the new music and choreography has gone down well. Overall, the two came in seventh place with 72 percent, a good result in this field of participants.
Now the preparations for the tournaments in Moscow are beginning. Tatiana and Dia will start in the Russian national team in the qualifying competition to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.
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