Today in Trakiets, eight very young talented riders from Bulgaria, Russia, Serbia and Turkey are gathering again to continue the YRA learning program for emerging young riders.
From Bulgaria Irina Nikolova, Vanesa Atanasova, Vencislav Izov, Zhelyazko Dimitrov; arriving from Russia Joana Clarke, from Turkey Berk Basegmez, from Serbia Manu Krzic and Stoyan Stoyanov.
Together with Jean Maurice Bonneau, this edition has a very special guest: Laura Klaphake.
Laura, always with her contagious smile, today explained first exercise by riding their horses. Sport session was followed by a long interview where she answered several questions on her show planning, preparation method and training system. Special focus on show pressure and routine organization between riding and studying were asked by Manu and Stoyan.
"When I am not riding I am very busy with my studies as I am currently doing my Masters, normally I ride in the morning and concentrate on studying in the afternoon, but it can change depending on specific plan" answered Laura. She stressed how complex and competitive showjumping in Germany is, due to a great group of riders always ready to fight for a place in the team; to assure a Championship results need to be showed throughout the season and, from her point of view, is crucial to always stick to the plan. "To produce those results, you always need to be honest to yourself and to your horse" claimed Laura, "when you are a rider you work with horses, not machines, so you really have to understand the horse. Every horse is different, and you should be a partnership. You should never try to fight the horse; the horse might not understand you and it is your job to teach it and nurture it so that it does". Finally, her recommendations to this group of young talents: " It is important to remember you will have ups and downs but when you have the downs you should never give up and as the highs are worth so much more than the lows!".