However in terms of life in Europe Rebecca says it was more difficult because her husband and family couldn’t travel to see her. “We had a lot of trips planned that all ended up cancelled. It actually became very stressful with the constant not knowing when we would see each other again.” Rebecca added that at the start it was very annoying that all the restaurants had to close. “I could only leave my apartment to train Dazz and to go to the supermarket. Let’s just say that Netflix got used a lot.”
“Once we opened up for the European summer months I got to do a couple of international competitions, and for a little while things got back to a ‘new normal’.” During this time Zoom and Whatsapp became a godsend for Rebecca who was trying to maintain relationships with her friends and family back home. “We had a family zoom link up every two weeks and I also have some amazing friends that checked in on me regularly. This all helped a lot, it would have been a lot harder if I didn’t have that, that’s for sure,” she stressed. The biggest challenge during her stay in Europe was staying focused on the training when she was emotionally not as well as she wished to be. “I found that if I allowed myself to ‘boil over’ with the emotions before I went to training, the training was a lot better. If I didn’t, I would always have a bad ride. It was a real rollercoaster that’s for sure,” she says. “But then there were the ‘good’ challenges, such as having the opportunity to compete
against some of the best riders in the world and doing my first Intermediate I at an International CDI. That would have been my trip challenge highlight.”
TIME TO RETURN HOME
However, the Aussie dressage rider says that after achieving many of her training goals she decided late in 2020 that it was time to go home. “I basically woke up one morning with a sense that I was ‘done’! I can’t really describe it because it took me by complete surprise. I had been talking with my family about staying an extra year, and all of a sudden, I wanted to be home.” In hindsight Rebecca feels that was a good decision as Europe went back into lockdown in mid December. “And Dazzler and I were back in Australia and home for Christmas,” she adds. Training back on their beautiful property in Emerald, Queensland, Rebecca says now that she and Hollingrove Dazzler are home they are back into full training after a short break. “He feels better than ever, and we have already started competing again. We are concentrating on what we learnt in Germany and progressing towards Grand Prix under the watchful eye of my great friend and Grand Prix rider, Vay Snyman.” Asked if she plans to head back to Europe again to train, Rebecca admits there are plans, but at this stage she feels the pair will be home for a couple of years at least. “Once Dazzler and I have cemented ourselves at Grand Prix level then we will head back over and get a few big international events under our belt!”
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Follow us @appvoc | Phone 08 9472 1804 | RTO No. 5273 April May 2021 - Page 25