No matter how many times I move across the Atlantic, I just can’t seem to learn not to do the whole “wait until there are 24 hours to go before attempting to pack two months of life into two bags” thing.

Thankfully, I made the flight to Germany (with all necessary luggage in tow!) and will spend the next two months at the Hannoveraner Verband in Verden, Germany.

One of the Global Champions Tour events, this year’s CSI***** Valkenswaard welcomed the best in the world. Held at Jan Tops’ Stal Tops in Holland, Valkenswaard was the last event of the GCT tour before the finals, which was just held in Rio De Janiero (Brazil).

The European training program and the American training program­—at least the one I know—are very, very different. For starters, many of the stables here breed many of their own horses, and as such, constantly have new young horses to bring along. Each year, the horses that are 3 and turning 4 years old are evaluated for performance and soundness by free-jumping and x-rays, respectively. Those who exhibit great potential and have clean x-rays are then sent to a cowboy to be saddle broke for a few months, before returning to the stable’s training program.

For as long as I can remember, everyone I have ever known that has travelled to Europe, whether equestrian or otherwise, has said it was the experience of a lifetime. Thus, when the opportunity came to not only go to Europe, but to go to Europe and ride…let’s just say I jumped on that plane as fast as I possibly could.