The half hour that made Sanna change horses – now she’s aiming for the DressagePower Horse Show!
Sanna Parkkila is one of the team members in our popular DressagePower Sweden Trophy – the competition for Sweden’s MsvB riders. Together with the horse Fionnaghal, they have a fantastic opportunity to qualify all the way to our grand semi-final in Linköping during the DressagePower Horse Show. But almost 3 years ago, Sanna’s interest in jumping for horse riding burned out, something a dressage lesson on a rainy autumn evening would change.
The horse interest has always been very close to the heart of the 26-year-old Sanna since childhood, where jumping was for many years her greatest passion. But the interest in learning more has always been obvious – and that is why Sanna chose to book a dressage lesson one day. 30 minutes later, Sanna had completely switched from being a show jumper to becoming a full-fledged dressage fanatic.
Sanna had to take over the reins of the 15-year-old horse Fionnaghal (owner: the Alm family) from her trainer Sophie Lindström, who had trained and started Fiona up to the difficult class.
”Fiona or Fille, as she is called, is a red-haired woman with firm opinions. There is always a little fox lurking behind her ear and she likes to make up stories. Sometimes my balance is really tested. But she is a true teacher who has taught me everything from schools to exchanges, something I had hardly done before.”
She joined a dressage team and the journey from LB to MsvB went quickly; Sanna says that the support from her coach has been invaluable.
”She means a lot to me, both as a coach and as a friend. She can help me with developing a good plan for everything related to training, competition, and recovery. I feel eternally grateful to Sophie and her family for the opportunity to ride a ”once in a lifetime” horse!”
The team’s goal is not to climb the ranks, but to have fun and learn as much as possible from the experienced Fiona. The team entered the DressagePower Sweden Trophy to be extra motivated to ride their very best during this year’s competitions in the hope of qualifying for the semifinals in November.
”I think it was a really fun idea! It was also great to create my own choreography, which has been really fun to create, whether it gets shown or not.”.
Next year, the team aims to gain more experience in the MsvB classes. Finally, Sanna adds:
”And maybe it will also be the DressagePower Sweden Trophy 2023 for us again?”
We wish Sanna and Fionnaghal all the best!