Day 5 -Henk van Bergen

Dutch FEI trainer and judge Henk van Bergen shared his story and journey with us before the Grand Prix special on Saturday. He was the son of a baker, his father would not buy him a pony so Henk took matters into his own hands. He took a shoe box, covered it in pictures of horses, and put it in the bakery for donations. Henk emphasized that you cannot wait for someone to come along and sponsor you, you must take matters into your own hands and go after what you want. Create your own success. You have to take initiative, find a good trainer and go to them. If you can't ride with them, sit in the corner and watch lessons. As a rider work to beat yourself, not other riders. Henk emphasized that your goals shouldn't be to make a team because there is so much luck involved in getting on a team but rather the goal should be "I want to be tomorrow, a little better than I am today". Work to improve yourself not only as a rider but in every aspect of your life. People become successful by fighting back and never giving up. You must work harder, longer, and be a bit better than everyone else in all aspects to get to the top in this sport and be wiling to give an extra ten percent. Henk told us to never stop learning and do everything we can to improve our knowledge, especially in our 20s. He was an inspiration to all of us! We loved hearing his life story and all the amazing lessons that we took away from it.