13 January 2023

The Driving Moment of … Angelica Kwint

The Hoefnet challenge 'My Most Memorable Driving-Moment' resulted in three great winning stories. We would also like to show you the beautiful stories that did not make it to the top three. Below you find the driving- moment of Angelica Kwint.

2022 was exciting for us. Our Fjord Zerre was recovering from a serious injury. In September of this year we were told that we could start with trotting and cantering again. We had been walking him for a year. After the good news we secretly started dreaming to do another marathon this year. The recovery went well, so we signed up for the marathon in Leusden at the end of November. We didn’t drive at our own pace and speed, but we were competing and I was very happy with it.

Together with Zerre’s horse friend Gwennith (30 years old), we started trotting. Later we were allowed to canter in one go. That felt weird, but oh so nice! And then it was suddenly the week before November 26. Zerre recovered well, but was she fit enough? Are we really going to do a marathon again after two years? The organisation announced that they were doing a marathon on the Friday evening before the marathon. How cool! I signed up with Gwennith. Just for fun and to see if she liked it. Gwennith smelled the atmosphere and was unstoppable! She went so fast and she had fun doing it. It was so cool to be able to do this with her. We finished 4th. This round was the preparation for the day after, when I would be the groom.

And then the big day came. We were slowly warming up and Zerre thought it was all fine. However, we were being very nervous on the carriage. Will she like it? Is it too early? Then we were called into the arena. Time to do the first marathon in two years after my mother’s illness and Zerre’s tendon injury. The bell rang. Normally Zerre then leaves at full gallop. Now she didn’t dare to. It seemed like she couldn’t believe she was allowed to go again. During the course she dared a small canter. We were both enjoying ourselves on the carriage so much that we were no longer busy with the course. And that was noticeable: in the last obstacle we made a mistake, what we didn’t realise. Therefore we were not allowed to continue the course. But we don’t mind. We just went for a second round in which Zerre cantered a bit more and did a pretty good time.

We really enjoyed this weekend with our ponies. We don’t mind making a mistake in a course, as long as you’re having fun and we did. We will never forget this show and we are so happy to be able to do marathons again!

We hope to make many more beautiful memories.

Thank you again for sharing your story Angelica. We will send you the two Hoefnet caps as a thank-you gift!

Photo: Private collection

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The Driving Moment of … Angelica Kwint