Over the past weeks, I moved through the final phase of the indoor season with MiniBubi.
Before the last competition, I took him out for a warm-up show in the Netherlands. Not to prove anything. But to feel where we were.
Because competition is never just about the arena.
It’s about understanding whether the work you’ve been doing — quietly, consistently, often invisibly — is actually there when it matters.
The last show, in Germany, was the final indoor competition of the season.
And I made a very conscious decision.
Not to stay within what felt safe: But to ask for a little more.
Not more in terms of difficulty. But more in terms of commitment. Precision. Risk.
There are moments where you can choose to ride clean.
And moments where you decide to test the edge of what is really there.
This was one of those moments.
Over the winter, the work had been focused on building exactly that: a system that could hold together even when the request becomes more demanding.
So in a few key movements, I allowed myself to take that step.
To ride forward.
To trust that what we had built would stay with us.
Mini responded exactly in the way that defines him.
He is not expressive in the obvious way.
He doesn’t show energy by becoming bigger or louder.
He holds everything inside.
And then, when he enters the arena, something shifts.
He becomes deeply focused.
Present.
Almost as if he is aware of the space, the attention, the moment — but without ever losing his balance.
He doesn’t get distracted.
He doesn’t rush.
He stays with me.
And that is where the real work shows.
We finished with 71.64% at Prix St. Georges, winning the class.
But the result is not the point.
What matters is something much simpler:
That the work we do at home, day after day, is real.
That it holds.
That it can be trusted.
Because in the end, performance is not something you create in the arena. It is something that reveals what is already there.
And now, with the indoor season behind us, the focus naturally shifts.
A different rhythm.
A different energy.
New questions to explore.
The work continues — just in a different space.
Silvia
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