My adventure began about 10 years ago. My dad's good friend and our neighbor had horses. Back then I did not have so many commitments in the school so I spent every afternoon with neighbor's horses - two white lipizzan - Aba and Gea. As the time passed, I started to love those elegant animals even more. A very unexpected day came. That same neighbor gave me a male foal Lipizzan, which I named Sokol. Since he was still young, crazy and full of energy, I'm was a bit afraid of him. He even bit me three times so my father was thinking of selling him but in the end he didn't do it.

You can ride a horse for the first time when he is three years old so I had to wait. Neither Dad nor I could endure so Dad decided to buy an older horse. It was arap whose real name was Kairos, but we called him Šagi. Sagi was a lot more mature then Sokol and it could be observed in his behavior. He was cuddly and good, and I started to learn how to ride on him. On Sokol I only improved everything I know today.



Despite all the bites, falls and fears, Sokol became my favorite. As we grew up together, we began to understand each other and we became friends. In the summer of 2011 we started to prepare for the competition. In the beginning it was very difficult. As much I was afraid of him, he was afraid of me, but together we managed to succeed. Today, after seven years of hard work, after hours and hours we spent together we achieved excellent results across the Croatia and beyond. I would not change my Sokol for anything.



I forgot to mention that in the meanwhile we bought a mare Finnin from the Netherlands, with whom I was supposed to compete in show jumping, but unfortunately I have not managed to achieve that yet. Finnin gave birth to a beautiful foal Blue a year ago, and dad rewrited Blue to me. Imagine what it's like for the 17 years old to have her own horse. I think that Blue will in a few years, when she grows up, be able to replace Sokol which will by then be old. I hope that I will create a special bond with Blue that now I have with Sokol and realize the desire to compete in show jumping.



Well I hope that I have at least managed to conjure up a bit my adventures that I would never have tried to change. I did not mention what it feels like to ride. Oh, that you can not even put into words. Despite all competitions and awards that I have win, I live for those moments when we ride free in nature. So far I have not felt anything nicer.



Btw. my sister has 250 horses xD



Maja Piljek