In the Fast Lane of Championship Horse Shows, Book 1

ISBN-13: 9781493698615 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 474 str.

Johan Wassenaar

Opis

Anake Wolmerans, aspiring to represent the United States in the 2012 Olympiad, crashes in the final jump-off round of a stadium jumping championship and her injury destroys her right-hand peripheral vision in both eyes. She and Andre Brink, her trainer, withdraw to California's Santa Ynez Valley determined to still make the U.S. Olympic Dressage team. They start from scratch training her on her Friesian Stallion, Elan, to ride as if blindfolded. The exhausting process challenges to master each dressage level all the way up to forth level and onto the first international level of Prix Saint Georges. Many years her senior, Andre serves as her eyes, mentor and business manager, bonding with her until they are inseparable. Her performance at progressively higher levels draws increasing attention to them. Having saved her vision, her neurosurgeon is inspired to provide financial help through his hunt club members and sends his dressage-riding teenage daughter, Madison, to live with them. She bonds with Andre to achieve astounding results very quickly while Anake accepts an invitation to attend a high level annual dressage clinic in Holland. Her famous host motivates her to ride Intermediare I and II, as well as Grand Prix on the back of his famous Warmblood, Breda. She leaves Europe with a strong affection for her imposing host, Jan Prinsloo, with the ultimate goal of including Grand Prix Freestyle They find it increasingly difficult to hide her sight impairment from dressage federation observers as they turn their attention to showing at important championship shows on the West Coast with a final appearance in Las Vegas. Madison has her own challenges set by Andre to take her horse through level three on the same trip. Anake begins to draw the attention of the equestrian press while Madison discovers Renata, a beautiful Brazilian Olympian, watching Anake closely enough to be a Dressage Federation observer. The stress to exceed each previous triumph along with the irritation of Andre's attention to Madison, wears on Anake who begins to behave aggressively toward her. When he sets a trap for Renata, the beautiful Brazilian, to ride Elan against Anake in Portland to elevate Renata's appreciation of Anake's depth of ability, it almost brings their relationship to a breaking point. They encounter the Brazilian again at a Los Angeles show and Anake befriends her to discover that she bore Prinsloo a child out of wedlock two years earlier and invites her to stay with them for the next show in Las Vegas. Andre hears that Renata's grandfather had taken her child into custody in Brazil leaving her stranded abroad to fend for herself and steps in to convince her Stanford MBA father to make peace with her and to persuade her grandfather to release the child to her. With the specter of added competition for Andre's attention from this new formidable dressage figure, Anake overdoses on Bols Gin an hour before her Grand Prix Freestyle test. With the aid of the neurosurgeon, Andre revives her in time for the test which falls slightly short of expectation, but it sours her relationship with him to a point that he packs her off to a wild animal camp in Botswana on the Caprivi Strip where he and several associates had contrived to save a rich heritage of wild animals during the Angolan war. Anake seeks comfort in the arms of Rolf one of Andre's bosom friends. When this comes to his attention Andre decides to encourage the courtship to ensure her security and to preserve at least their training relationship. At arms-length they hold it together through a vigorous show series at Grand Prix level in Florida which almost assures her of a place on the next U.S. Olympic Dressage Team, but causes a nervous breakdown which hospitalizes her in a psychiatric treatment facility in Wickenburg, Arizona."

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