With a sigh Julia opened the heavy door and walked inside the large and bright stables. Million had gotten a box at the end of the floor, and Julia had been happy to see it was the box next to Siva Hagmanns pretty stallion Blizzard. Julia liked Siva very much, and Blizzard and Million had become friends. It was amazing how many people they met, and they knew a lot of the competitors.

Many people were surprised when they saw WHS arrive with Million Dollar Baby and Rahotep because those horses were quite unknown and had little show experience. Anyone had expected WHS to enter last year‘s winner, Martini, again.

But Martini had definetely deserved a rest, and since Million had proven how amazing her dressage skills were despite her young age, Julia had decided to just try it.

It seemed that the mare had slept well. Hay in her mane in tail proved that she had lain down to sleep, it was always a good sign because she would be very fresh after such a night.

When Julia tacked up her mare, she noticed her hands were slightly shaking. She had been at the AUSE-Olympics last year too, she had even won 3-Day-Eventing with Martini and Cross Country with Uptown Girl, but this year it was different.

Due to the loss of the actual Olympics that weren’t held anymore, a lot of people had come to the Australian ones and it was the biggest event of the year. Lots of famous horses were there, horses so talented Julia thought they would never have a chance. But they had trained so much and Million felt ready, it would be a shame if they quit.

Even WS Ambassador had arrived, and with him being Millions great-great-grandfather it felt like a family battle.

The mare snorted and turned her head towards her rider as the young woman carefully removed any wrinkle in the saddle pad and tested if the saddle was not lying on her withers. She then checked the bit and bridle and found that on the other side the strap of the bridle was hanging directly over Million’s eye, forcing her to close it. Julia couldn’t help but laugh, it looked as if the mare was winking at her.

When she had double-checked all the straps and fasteners and unfiddled the two reins, she led her mare to the Warming Up ground. It all went well, the mare knew all the moves from her mind and performed them perfectly. Julia just was not so sure how Million would react if she saw the big audience and heard their noise.

They had trained a lot in the past months, also with other people from other stables and foreign horses, and Million had luckily lost most of her shyness. She enjoyed being at events now, yet loud audiences were still distracting her. Julia could just hope the distance from the arena to the stands would be big enough not to stress Million too much. Luckily there was a strip of stand dividing those two parts of the arena. The wind was howling, so maybe the noise wouldn’t be that loud either, and since the weather was awful, maybe there wouldn’t even be that many people.

Lots of people were very interested in the performance of Julias young mare. She had an amazing bloodline, she was dressage-bred and with her lineage she was destined to be a winner. At least that was what people thought.

What they all didn’t know was that the well-bred mare in fact suffered from stagefright. Extreme stagefright. She was not mean or anything, just very careful and would like to be invisible. Well, at least it had gotten better over the past months.

Despite of that, people kept telling Julia they were going to do sooo well and asking for breeding slots to Million. Julia denied both, it was only Millions second big event and so she did not expect much, and a foal would only destroy the young mare’s career.

Julia checked the saddle girth once again and mounted her horse. They had to walk through a corridor to reach the big main arena in which the dressage class was held. When they slowly moved towards the light, Julia felt a cold wind blow and saw fast-moving clouds at the horizon. The weather was bad, it had been raining, but the sun was still shining and always found a way to come through. Right now it seemed there was another big storm coming. The sunshine fell on the dark clouds and they reflected the light in an amazing range of colors.

As soon as they left the tunnel, applause arose but the sound of it was quickly blown away by the wind. The woman felt the horse between her legs get tense. Suddenly Millions ears were both pinned towards the grass-covered arena, she started not just walking but striding. <Target locked>, Julia thought when she saw how concentrated her mare was.

They had now reached the smaller side of the arena. She rose her hand, someone hit the play button and the music started to play. They had chosen „Te Deum“ for the performance, a piece that was not only beautiful but also epic. It was a classic piece and it just fit both Millions appearance and movements very well; both rider and horse were incredibly well-dressed today and Julia had chosen golden instead of silver metal pieces for her mare and her clothing. For a moment the arena was silent, only the distinctive melody of „Te Deum“ echoed over the ground.

When the right moment came, Julia directed her mare into the show ring and let her passage until they reached the very middle of the egg-shaped arena. Julia saluted towards the judges and whispered into Million’s ear: „Now it is all about you.“

And when Million jumped from halt into canter, Julia felt the spirit of Lascivio, Ilu, Ambassador and Brisk Brigand move with them.