- Speaker #0
Hello and welcome to the Journal d'Endurance podcast. On September 26th and 29th, Arborea in Sardinia will host the World Championship for Young Horses and the European Championship for Young Riders. To mark the occasion, the organizing committee Sardinia Endurance Festival and I would like to offer you a series of episodes linked to this event. And who better than the last champion to speak about World Championship for Young Horses? Dominika Klenova is a Slovakian endurance rider. and she won last year in Paddy's with the mayor, Molta. For us, she recounts a great victory. Have a good listen. Hello, Dominika. Thank you for joining us today. Please, to start, could you introduce yourself and explain to us how you came to practice engines?
- Speaker #1
So, hello, everybody. Thank you for having me. Me, I'm Dominika from Slovakia. I'm riding endurance since... I can remember like maybe 2001 I did my first competition so it's already been like more than 20 years. When I started to do endurance in Slovakia it was not really so widely spread and common so usually here in the country we had like the national levels from 40 to 80 but not really like people participating in the FEI races. So the beginnings were like this you know with like whatever horses we had in the stable to participate in the 40s and 60s and the dream was to go for the 80s and the time goes by and I really like spending my time with the horses you know outside training so endurance really got into me and when I was 15 like my parents bought me my first horse like the first Arabian so I can really like focus in endurance that I really loved so that was the beginning when I really started to to focus and try to learn and it was not really like much people around me to you know get experience from and learn from so more likely it was like so you know like even you succeed or fail with the training so i was learning by my own mistakes and by time with really difficult horse but i'm really happy for this because he taught me a lot so this was the start and i was just me by myself with my family supporting me you know going step by step okay so it lead us to where we are now okay so training horses is not your job now um it is like most of the time yes uh but as everybody knows like it's uh not really easy um you know money wise concerning like really earning enough by training the horses mostly in slovakia So we have like a family company from a different business that I'm still working at and somehow we all work here as a family but most of the time like five six times per week I'm always with horses and just you know sometimes from home you know working also on the other business to keep everything running and somehow to afford duration.
- Speaker #0
Yes because at this level it needs a lot of power on the saddle so it's I think it's difficult to manage your job, the training. So how do you manage this? You have riders, maybe?
- Speaker #1
I have one really good friend that is with me for, let's say, 13 years now, that is riding with me. So we are like two of us, like the main riders in the stable. And then we have like two, three other girls really helping with us for a few years now, riding with us. So... Yeah, we have like four of us are like really just a stable team and then when we need somebody is coming for like a bigger training or something but it's not like a big group of people we are like better keep it between a few people like a family.
- Speaker #0
Okay, how many horses do you have?
- Speaker #1
Apparently the train we have 12 horses.
- Speaker #0
Okay, it's good.
- Speaker #1
It's enough, more than enough.
- Speaker #0
Yeah. We will speak in this episode of World Championship for the Young Horses. And last year, you won with your mare, Malta, in paddies. And in fact, you were not the favorite to win, but you took the head of the race at the beginning and you never leave it. Your average speed was 21.2. Can you relate this moment to us?
- Speaker #1
The moment of the victory, because this is something I will remember forever. but the race was something I really was hoping to go like two years before the race. I was hoping to get the young horse to precipitate. Then I bought Malta when she was seven, like early winter, so she was one time one star qualified. And I bought her and I knew she will be a good horse, but I didn't know exactly how good she will be. So she came and she was like a quiet mare, no problems with her. such a good horse like but you didn't expect her to be like really that good so the first season i trained her and everything was fine and we did just uh one more one star so um only one race per season because she had like um a few literal like injuries like nothing serious but you know what we could feel from my point when i see my horses she needed a good rest after the previous um races she had uh not with us So we take her a good rest and then I said like okay we will try to qualify for the world because I think like she can do really well. So we qualified easily for the 120 here in Slovakia in Šamarin and we say okay like let's focus for Estonia and everybody around me was like telling me like this man is great like my family like not horse people not like expressions you know by the intuition like and everybody was pushing me like you have to go like she is amazing. can i like i know and i will but let me do my job and don't talk to me like it's my job uh so from april to august it was four months so uh we took this four months really just to prepare her for like more speed and um she changed so much in this one year of preparation like from a quiet horse she become like a powerhouse really like very very strong horse so I was really happy with her and she was doing fantastic. So I was prepared to go for Estonia to push her to her best. But OK, to win is always like we are dreaming for the win. Before in 2018, I was able in Slovakia in the Young Horses Championship also to be to be fit with my horse. So in my head it was like I would like to be at the top five. Like that would be amazing again. So this was my goal. to do our best and be in the top five but uh the wind was really something really like something god dreaming for 10 years you know and now it was happening so it was something really really amazing did you listen
- Speaker #0
to her to go on the end of the race or you fix you as an average speed how did you manage the race uh actually like estonia was like beautiful place really beautiful
- Speaker #1
that it was more difficult than I think most of the people expected. It was like the half of the race was really deep sand, but like deep, like the sometimes you were just walking and trotting and the horses were crashing down to the distance, like it was really kind of dangerous. And then the other half of the race was like a hard track sled when you could reach the speed. So for me, As a rider, what I'm trying to do with my horses is to really have a good partnership. And so I can listen to the horse and the horse is listening to me and we can cooperate together. And the trek in Estonia was very technical, like a lot of narrow roads, still like right, left, right, left. So you have to be still in the contact with the horse so that nothing will happen. And really with Malta, we get this together. and she is amazing because she really wants to go but she is listening to the rider. She will never do whatever she wants. So that's really I think the quality of her that helped us a lot in this race. So for me it was like to be able to catch up with the first group but I was still like behind like one minute or something just to see them but not to go you know directly with the the first 20 horses. So we were doing the race calm and we really were like keeping the speed that I was training for. So the sandy part we did really like slowly trotting to be careful nothing happened and then on the good road I let her canter. She was trying to do like 26 canter. So I let her canter like this and she was really enjoying. She was calm, it was her speed, like it was what she was trying. partial so it was really not difficult for her to keep up the first three loops and for the last little bit was like okay we have to go for everything and that was the time to really put up everything. So I let her go. I tell her like she's the queen and just let go. And this was the time from the last crew point when the other horses were already chasing us and we could see them. So this was the first time I pushed her to go. And since then the mare was just flying. She knew she was going for the win. So really the feeling that the horse is coming for the world championship and she was feeling. so good she was feeling she is going to win and she was still full of energy and happy and that was uh really something why i am with the horses you know to dream that you will experience this feeling with the horse that you really love so i think this is um this is the reason why people are with the horses and um i was always saying like um you There were like many years that were like really tough and you wanted to give up endurance and horses because we know the life with horses is never easy and they are living creatures so one year is good and the other year is not good. So I'm saying like these emotions that we got last year it will just you know push us forward like forever. You just have to remind it to yourself that everything will be good and the hard works fail and you just have to meet the right horse. you know in the right moment and when you work hard and really it's about every day morning evening you know still every day taking care of the horse to know what's normal for her what's not normal for her and then all the people around from the vets failure like the family helping us helping me to have time for the horses so i think like everybody has its own place on the metal like why it is always possible because even the trip to Estonia was taking us, we were away for 10 days. So it was also not easy to arrange for everybody here.
- Speaker #0
There was a good team at the World Championship in 2023. You were not afraid to ride with this rider, with these horses?
- Speaker #1
I was. When I saw the start list and I saw like most, more than half of the starters were like the biggest names and the biggest tables in the world. so and the horse is amazing horses on the start when i saw it i was honestly like not feeling good for the top five but i said like okay maybe top ten like uh we will see but still everybody around me like really have to say they were such a great uh you know support like my team and my vet was there with us and she was like okay just don't think about it just do your job and do what you are trained for and for me i have to say um like before the races and before I sit on the horse like everybody is stressed I'm stressed I'm thinking over thinking what to do but once I sit on the horse I'm just fully focused and I just do with my horse the job that we came to do and of course we were lucky you need luck that nothing happened to us and everything was fine but maybe not to record it but I was you afraid that they will let me go out of the political reasons, that's for sure. And I was ready for this, but I was also not going to give up. So but honestly, I could feel like such a huge support from like the whole European community on the race. It was amazing. Like everybody was cheering me up before the last loop. Even the stewards that didn't even know who I am. but they knew that I'm from Europe, like everybody was pushing me to go and that was that was amazing really. I think like everybody from Europe that were on the race was so happy that I won that I couldn't even expect before. So I think it was like the win for the whole European community but that's what I was feeling.
- Speaker #0
Yes I think all the European riders were happy to see you win. How was your victory perceived in your country?
- Speaker #1
I have to say it was really nice. Not really nice from, I would say, the state ministry and the big officials from the country. It was not really much, but from Endurance Federation and the people who are working for the sport and for the riding at all, not just Endurance, but the Riding Federation. equestrian federation slovakia it was uh it was really nice and when i came we had like a race in slovakia one week after estonia so we were home like for two days and we left for another race in slovakia and it was really nice like um the owner of the place, who is also writing in German, they made a speech, they gave me beautiful flowers, a bucket and gifts, and also the officials and everybody joined us to congratulate me at home, so that was really the most important part, and it was very nice. So I'm happy, I think we did it for the whole community, and for Slovakia it was a big win. so i'm really happy even i think in slovakia we are quite good in endurance like we have good riders and good horses not to compare like with the big countries because the number of the rider is much bigger in spain in france and italy but to compare with like the we are small state but we have few really quality riders and so i think good horses for the championships so okay
- Speaker #0
we will see this at Montpagy in September.
- Speaker #1
Yeah, I hope. We should have a good team.
- Speaker #0
Is endurance a popular sport in Slovakia?
- Speaker #1
As I said, we are a smaller country, so there is not such an amount of riders as in the biggest country. But I think in the past 15-10 years, endurance in Slovakia has grown much thanks to the organizer of the biggest race in Slovakia, Shamarina. I don't know if you heard of it, but it's a beautiful equestrian property and we have races, API races every month or like five times a year, six maybe now, I will not lie. But usually like from March until October there is like every month race from one star to three stars with all the nationals. So the fact that they're organizing this race is helping us a lot and it's done on a really high level like I think everybody coming from Europe now more and more people are coming from Europe many people from UAE even like the the Royal team of Bahrain is coming to Chamorine quite often so um everybody likes it because it's a beautiful place it's a safe place for the horses it's a great organization like everything is always going smooth and well so I think thanks to this race uh it's also opening up uh Slovakia a little bit more for um for the other european countries and also i think like the location of slovakia is still really good because we are in the middle of the europe so everybody can come from the old direction even like east or west you know from north like all the the polish riders are coming even like lithuania estonian riders are coming to slovakia oh i think the past few years a lot of italians Sometimes also Protestant friends are coming. So Hungary, so from all states around, we are in the middle. The people are coming to qualify. And you can always like rely on the good organization that everything will be fine. So I think thanks to this place, like Slovakia has grown a lot in endurance.
- Speaker #0
Are there a lot of amateurs in endurance in Slovakia or it's much more professional like you?
- Speaker #1
I think it's not enough amateurs. I think we need more of the amateur levels to be able to bring more people to FEI. So it will be good to get more people from the lower level so we have more people coming to FEI. But more likely there are in Slovakia people already riding FEI levels more than the... than the nationals, I have to say. The other countries I know, even in France, in Czech Republic, like the national level, the amateur level of the people, there are like really a big quality of people not doing it on the FDI level. But here in Slovakia, I think somehow the people are more focused to get up on the levels than to be under the FDI competitions.
- Speaker #0
Are your horses all yours or do owners entrust them to you?
- Speaker #1
We have it like half-half, 50-50%. I have my own horses that I'm paying for and I'm keeping them for myself forever. Then I have horses in the training. Currently it is like seven horses, eight horses from different owners in training. And they are paying for the training for the horses before they came to UAE.
- Speaker #0
so yeah we have it like pop-up and the aim is for them to be sold afterwards at the uae for example
- Speaker #1
No, it's usually like the owners buy them in Europe and they bring it to me or also to any other stables to train them for one, two seasons, you know, to bring them to one star or two stars. And usually after the two stars, when they are ready and good to go to the desert to compete in UAE, then they go. Okay. Sometimes they stay. It depends on the owner. Because also like... For us it happens a lot, like the owners want to keep the horses here with us so they can come to race the horses in Europe. So sometimes some horses they are just paying and they are not leaving and we trade them for the owners so they can come and also when they want to compete in the World Championship in Estonia we had two horses in our training and the riders from UAE competing in Estonia also with our horses.
- Speaker #0
And you travel a lot to go on the race? I see that you go in Italy, in Poland, in Saudi Arabia, in Germany and other countries. So you take plane, maybe boat. And we all know that the journey is a decisive point for a good race. How do you handle it?
- Speaker #1
It depends on the distance. But usually I'm always trying to arrive for the race. two three days before the competition so the horses have a good rest and uh and all uh we love to travel to italy that's uh our favorite spot and it's always a good way it's all highway so it took us like just you know one day one thousand kilometers or something so that's not bad uh so estonia was hard we took it for today's travel uh so the horses did come in a good condition and we came like four days before the race and we stayed at the stable five minutes from the venue. So the horses were outside in the paddock, so they were happy and relaxed and they didn't have any stress from the race because they arrived just one day before to the competition venue. So yeah, we do what we can. You know, it's sometimes more stress for us and the horses are all good. and we are just afraid that something will happen but they are managing really well so yeah when we were traveling to to houston park to england i really loved that race when there was a european championship in 2019 and also the year before we came there and it was also a two-day journey for us also taking the ferry and boat and everything so for me it's always like when we have races like this i'm trying to take the horses that I know that are able to do the transport without any big stress and nerves. So you need a good horse with a good head that can manage, that will eat, that will, you know, drink. Because when you take a horse that is really easy to get stressed, then it can be a really big problem when you take them for two days journey. so i am also choosing horses which one to take where and maybe there is a horse that needs one two day more rest before the race and then the horses that has no problem when they arrive so it's managed always uh with that i'm trying to keep it individually like with every horse even the trainings and everything that's why i'm not uh having like more horses or bigger stable because then you cannot keep track and eye on all the horses what's happening so this number that we have now i think uh it's enough i don't want to have like more horses in training that's just yes i would ask you if a horse that doesn't travel well can run at this level but you answer it um if it use all his energy before the race it can't work exactly yeah i think for really going for a championship or for a big race when you want to give it all and really compete the best horses you need to have a horse that is like champion in the head like that he can manage the stress he can manage the race uh he can save the energy because exactly like to have an to have a horse that is like too stressed nervous or just pulling too much on the race you know he is losing so much so that's that's really not something if you can choose it's always better to choose you know the horse that has all the abilities to come to compete on the highest level. You need the horse to have everything. Not just good legs, not just a good heart. You need the whole package.
- Speaker #0
Yes.
- Speaker #1
And that's not easy to get.
- Speaker #0
Yes, it's easy.
- Speaker #1
Yeah.
- Speaker #0
So it was not your first world championship for young horses in paddies. You were at Saint-Maurin in 2018, at Bruxelles in 2017. At this time, the horses had to be seven years old. And now they are to be eight years old. What do you think about this change?
- Speaker #1
I'm really happy about this change because I think if we want to push the horses in the speed that we are pushing them on the championships, to give them one year more is just much better for the horses. They are older, they are stronger, much more prepared for the speed. Because before, when they were seven, you really needed to have a horse that was mature enough. at seven years old and pushing the horses at seven for me with this speed it's uh not the best for the horses so you really need like a strong horse that uh when you will push him for the speed at seven it will not make any damage okay to be honest okay so when you give them one more year uh to complete them at eight on this distance for me I'm really happy about this change and uh I think it's only good for the welfare of the horses for sure
- Speaker #0
I don't know if you know but this year at Arbora is the first year that there is a ranking by nation at the championship for young horses and really I didn't know yes I think it's a good way to highlighting the work of every country on the young horses what do you think about this
- Speaker #1
I really like it I was always hoping something like this will happen because it's really nice and The Young Crosses Championship is always more open for people to come, because it's not limited the number of the riders per country. So more riders maybe get the chance to compete on the championship. So it's really nice, I didn't know about it and I think it's a very nice idea. I support it a lot, it's nice.
- Speaker #0
Will we see you in Arborea this year?
- Speaker #1
No, I will not compete this year. Somehow in my stable they are all like seven years old or six years old horses. I don't have one that is eight this year. But maybe it looks like I will come just to join my friends to support them in the race. So I'm really hoping to come and see the race and to relieve also our championship and spend a good time with the friends really.
- Speaker #0
looks amazing really like a beautiful venue to compete so i hope to come and to support everybody and my friends to have a good result okay will there be slovakia riders at arborea uh i don't think so actually
- Speaker #1
i'm not i'm not sure there will be anybody from slovakia coming this is a good question i don't i don't
- Speaker #0
think so i don't know about anybody who will come from slovakia okay we will i will see with the committee organization sir really check but uh the people i'm thinking that might come i think they also are
- Speaker #1
not coming okay check check check but i think uh maybe nobody okay i know there are people from czech republic from uh they are really close to us that are coming But there are some friends coming that I want to go and see them from other countries. But I think really from Slovakia, this year there might be nobody coming.
- Speaker #0
So what will you do with Volta at the end of the season and maybe next year?
- Speaker #1
I'm happy she's still with me and I'm enjoying every day with her. But for this season, we're just keeping her off to have some time to relax. Because we were just not lucky this season. We tried to qualify for Montpellier for the World Championship, but we didn't. So we decided to keep her off this season so she can have a good rest. And we want to focus for the next year for the European Championship in Italy with her. So that's what I'm planning.
- Speaker #0
You said that... you are happy that she is still with you? Why did you say that?
- Speaker #1
Because she is not mine anymore. I sold her already.
- Speaker #0
almost a year before Padis. Just the owners are really nice and they let me keep her in training and like to ride her still. So that's really good and they are still supporting us and keeping Malta with me because I hope they think we are working well together so they are really nice. So yeah, and they are supporting us like they wanted her to... stay with me to compete to go for the next world championship so okay they're good good nice people from small stable you know nothing uh nothing huge so that's really nice she's having a good life with us i hope for for a very long time would you have something else i'm thinking i'm really um keeping my fingers crossed for the slovakian team for uh for mom bazir okay I guess we should have like the full team, five riders and really nice and good horses. So I hope they will do something good to make us proud. Thank you. And yeah, I hope to see everybody in Ardrea. I hope to come and see some nice win, the new world champion for the future.
- Speaker #1
You will give the medal to the new champion?
- Speaker #0
I would love to!
- Speaker #1
Okay, so good. So see you in Arboria.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, you will be there also?
- Speaker #1
Yeah, I will be there.
- Speaker #0
Good,
- Speaker #1
good, good. So thank you very much, Dominika. And see you soon. Thank you.
- Speaker #0
Thank you very much.
- Speaker #1
I hope you enjoyed this episode. As you can imagine, we are looking forward to seeing you at Arboria. See you soon.
