Dr. Stefanie Palm Loves Dressage as Her Ultimate Escape from Work

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2013 CDI Fritzens

Combining her high profile profession with a successful dressage career, Austrian's Dr Stefanie Palm and her equine partner Royal Happiness stole their first international victory in an international Prix St Georges at the 2013 CDI Fritzens on 12 - 14 July 2013. Scoring a tidy 71.711% and rounding off her weekend with a 71.316% to finish second in the Intermediate I behind Germany's Dorothee Schneider, Stefanie feels Fritzens could not have gone better.

"Fritzens was great with a first and second place in a very strong field," says 30 year-old Stefanie, "I felt that my horse "Happy" was awesome and even though he was not impressed with the surroundings he still carried out two very concentrated and stable tests.”

Known to Stefanie as a very reliable and loveably partner, Royal Happiness always wants to give his best. His rider was delighted to share this milestone moment with such a horse. "Our first international victory was absolutely fantastic and an overwhelming moment for me, especially when the Austrian anthem was played and the Austrian flag was hoisted," she admitted. "However, my absolute personal highlight was the very loud and intense applause from the spectators, family and friends. This nearly stirred me to tears."

While Happy was a bit tense in the warming-up area on the first day, Stefanie had to get him a bit more concentrated to get him ready for the competition arena. "He knows when it is important," she added.

The 9 year-old Oldenburger gelding is by Royal Diamond out of a Trakehner mare by Consul and is very rapidly making his way to Grand Prix level. "At the moment I am training to fix the Grand Prix movements so that I can have him ready to make the start at the top level next year.”

Stefanie Palm and Royal Happiness Ever the cool cat, Happy is not easily scared but can be a bit clingy towards the people he loves. "He's like a big dog. He loves to be in contact with people.”

Fusing her competitive life with the very demanding career world, Stefanie works as a judge at the regional court in Feldkirch, Austria and considers it as a very interesting but challenging profession. "Every day I am faced with new cases and life stories, it's impossible to get bored," she stated. "I normally go into the stable in the evening, after office hours. Sometimes that's quite late but Happy is used to being ridden in the evening. I have to admit that it is difficult sometimes. Especially when I have important cases it isn't easy to "get my head free" for riding. On those days we just do some "fun-work" so that Happy and I can enjoy the evening and get relaxed together."

Certain that horseriding is very important for her to "get her head free", Stefanie feels it provides the necessary balance and compensation after a busy working day. "Sometimes I would prefer to be lazy and would love to lay down on the couch and do nothing, but I know that Happy (normally) is waiting for me. So, I pull myself together and drive to the stable. Mostly while grooming but at the latest when I'm sitting on the horse the pressure of work is gone. If I didn't have the possibilty to ride, I would definitely need to do another sport in the evening to clear the work away."

Stabled at jumping yard Reitsportzentrum Hard in Hard, Austria, Stefanie found that the people there were warm and welcoming and that everybody worked hard to make them feel comfortable. "Most of the time I'm riding alone because of my work, I'm not so flexible. Sometimes (1-2 times/month) a trainer comes over to help me out, and once or twice a year I also take part in courses with famous riders or trainers to get some "input" to work on at home."

Dr. Palm is a judge at the regional court in Feldkirch, Austria One person, for example, whom Stefanie admires for her work with horses is Olympian Helen Langehanenberg, who rode Happy at the German Bundeschampionate when he was six. "At that time I was injured and had a knee surgery and since then I am still in contact with Helen. I learned a lot from her," she explained.

In the meantime, keeping her solo training focused on making the work fun for herhorse, Stefanie puts her effort into keeping her horse in a good mood for working. "He has a big paddock box and goes on the field every day and into the walker at least twice a week. I also try to figure out a very diversified training. Happy is ridden maximum 4-5 times a week and most of the time I am just riding outside on the jumping place around the jumps as gymnastics. When I have to train for a competition I go into the riding arena to practice some tests in there. At least once a week he is worked on the lunge, and especially on the weekends, he has some days off because I often drive home to Innsbruck to see my boyfriend, friends and family."

With only just enough time out of court to keep one sport horse, Stefanie feels that one horse is enough. "I still have my old schoolmaster Ravel (25) who isn't ridden anymore, but who is part of the family too."

Set to compete at the 2013 CDI Donaueschingen in September, Stefanie is not yet 100% sure she'll go to Germany for the show, but she is certain about her ultimate dream. "I definitely want to ride Grand Prix with Happy next season and maybe in some Young-Grand-Prix-Horse competitions. We will see!"