The judge was Marleen Haeneefstingels from Belgium.

14/03/2026

My stress level was unusually high, no matter what I did, and Kaïa, being an emotional sponge, was also nervous and stressed. The result was catastrophic: I didn’t handle her properly, and she didn’t listen anyway.

15/03/2026

I took the time to get rid of the stress and get Kaïa out of the car at the very last minute to warm her up and run so she doesn’t stay in the ambient stress. I don’t really like this process, but it’s better not to have her fully stressed in the ring.

It didn’t change the results, as we finished this first weekend with nothing but disqualifications. But at least it felt like a normal competition.

07/02/2026

The judge was Elpida Ismael from Greece.

There were a lot of misunderstandings on this course, but she performed the weave poles amazingly well.

I was pretty happy with the start up until the long jump. I didn’t handle that section correctly. Looking back, it was a poor choice, and I should have been to the left of the long jump.

08/02/2026

The judge was Zzusa Veres from Portugal.

My overconfidence cost us the double tunnel. It was simply too far and slightly in the dark. I knew it was a long shot, but I gave it a try.

A small handling mistake at a jump, and she took the obvious obstacle. The finish could have been cleaner. I don’t think I made the best choice there.

10/01/2026

The judge was Philipp Cottet from Switzerland.

We started the weekend in the best possible way. The course was not perfect but we ended with just one refusal. This allowed us to step onto the podium in third place.

I recalled her way too weakly after the long jump and she carried her speed into the wrong jump. I am still really happy, especially with the weave pole, she understood me perfectly.

11/01/2026

That Sunday was colder than Saturday, I am not a morning person and I also did not get a good night of sleep or my morning hot shower. I could feel my muscles being cold, regardless of my usual warm up. In a nutshell: I was not feeling great.
But the show must go on!

The judge was Steffi Hundt from Switzerland.

I showed her several obstacles really poorly, and she saved me at least twice before my mistakes finally got us disqualified. I couldn’t run properly and was late many times.

On top of everything else, a new layer of difficulty was added for this run: dogs were constantly barking around the ring, and it was really hard for me to focus.
We had a really poor performance.

Yennefer

While Kaïa was running, Yennefer was an adorable little demon.