February 26, 2024

Can a mistake in the ride still result in a win? Absolutely! We have talked with Anna Svanberg who, together with Vidar (horse Val e Total Hope – Dalwhinnie by Helixad AB, owned by Kersö Equestrian, Anna Svanberg Dressyr AB), was the winner of the Swedish Warmblood Trophy for 6-year-olds at Gothenburg Horse Show. A race that ended in victory for the team – but which started completely wrong when Anna set out to ride a different program. 

Anna Svanberg is the operations manager at Kersö Equestrian who breeds, trains and competes with first-class dressage horses. Together with Vidar they had qualified for the final of the Swedish Warmblood Trophy for 6-year-old horses. Anna describes herself as a ”control freak” and wants a carefully planned routine before her competition starts, but just before this class nothing went as planned.

”I chose to warm him up on the track this morning instead of the night before so as not to expose him to too many impressions. He is a young horse and by riding in the morning there were fewer horses on the arena at the same time. However, he is a horse that is more wild than tame, a bit of a catapult, and he took off a shoe during the warm-up. Since it was so early in the morning, we couldn’t get hold of the groom and our entire schedule got delayed.” 

During the ride, Vidar was certainly charged up and offered Anna many jumps and sprints. When she entered the arena, she thought silently to herself ”How is this supposed to work?”. When the start signal went, Vidar was on the scoresheet, but the judges immediately blew the whistle for improper riding. Anna had then started riding the wrong program. 

”I rode up to the judges and asked them if they were really sure that I had ridden the wrong program!”

With a few seconds to spare, Anna managed to get the ”air pilot” to engage and quickly switch back to the program. She quickly got the machinery back up to speed and after the first parts of the program, the crew was back in their harmonious, beautiful rhythm. And that led to them winning the race! 

We asked Anna how she could mentally switch gears after starting with a wrong ride.

”Of course, I have a lot of experience in the bag and that is very helpful. Mentally I am strong and have a good competitive mindset. Of course, you get disappointed in yourself after a mistake, but you still have a chance to impress the judges even if you start off with a wrong ride. It’s simply a matter of delivering instead of dwelling on it. My horse is prepared for tasks like this and then you have to make sure that you can perform mentally yourself.”.

Vidar is jointly owned by Anna Svanberg and Kersö Equestrian and is one of many promising horses from Kersö. A whole team works to ensure optimal horse welfare and treats each horse as an individual. They start by handling their young horses early by taking them in and brushing them frequently, giving them love and handling them on foot. This is done to create a safe individual who is easy and accustomed to being handled, which makes the later introduction easier. Regarding training and competition, all horses receive their own plan, with variation in the work being the guiding principle. 

”For us, a lot of time spent outside is essential and having a varied schedule with both horseback riding, water sports, outdoor walks and mucking out is a must. Vidar usually only rides three times a week, both in the walk and training sessions. In between, he gets to exercise on the water band and go on long walks.”

The plan for Vidar is that he will stay with Anna and Kersö Equestrian for competition. Anna says that he is a very complete horse with many merits, and a horse they believe very much in for the future. 

In the future, they will aim for the yearling classes if they are suitable and relevant. The horse is already far along in its development and they have no need to rush things. Perhaps we will see Vidar and Anna start. Kersö Equestrian Future Stars – The competition for our talented dressage horses aged 7-9 years? That is what we hope for!

Good luck to Anna and her team and thank you Kersö Equestrian for being one of our partners!