It's all over!

We have all made it home safe and sound after our amazing adventure.
I left Perth not knowing anyone and have come home with some of the greatest friendships, experiences and stories to share. Words cannot describe how different things are over there; it was a huge eye opener that’s for sure! The quality and quantity of horses and riders is phenomenal. I think that the best thing we could have possibly done was gone to watch the European YR and JNR Championships. The most interesting thing was to watch the riders warm up; it was even better when to coaches spoke English!! And then run over to watch the test. It was nice to see that only the top 30 was at that standard that everyone had imagined but there had to be a bottom 30...

Visiting the different stables was also very interesting to be able to compare how they are operated. It was nice to be able to have the opportunity to go to the Hanoverian and Westfalian Studs and then to compare it to a privately run stable like Monica Theodorescu’s which we were so lucky to be able to visit, thanks to Brianna Burgess for setting this up with Jenny.
The Nordrhein-Westfalian Foal Action was another incredible thing to witness. The amount of foals up for action was amazing, I think we all had to hold our hands down very tightly, it was a buyers market.

The day off from the horse thing was also nice to be able to visit some cities (Verden, Amsterdam, Koln and Düsseldorf) where we had a guided tour, very interesting history behind them.

The most exciting part and what we all went for was of course the 2 weeks at the riding school. Mr Vrerden matched us with our horses on the first day and most of us stuck with them. It was awesome to be able to have a Dressage and Jumping (sometimes lunging) lesson every day not to mention the 2 theory lessons. The theory was particularly interesting and useful as we could discuss it and then put it into practise when we next rode. It was very good, and scary, when Mr Vreden kindly videoed a part of our flatwork and jumping sessions which we then watched and discussed. We definitely earned our keep by working before breakfast and doing our part during the day-it’s all a part of riding! It was a great bonus at the end to be able to complete our certificates successfully!

I would like to extend my deepest thanks to Hanno, Alexa and his other staff for making us all feel so welcome and trying to help in any way possible. The knowledge and experiences they have passed onto us is priceless.
Also, thanks to Jenny and Organisation Unlimited for all of their hard work organising this successful trip.
The other tour members, thankyou for being my surrogate family for the time we were away, many memories and friendships were made and will never be lost.