The van der Sluijs sisters finished 10th out of 11 vaulters at the CHIO Aachen World Equestrian Festival in Germany but consider their performance at the competition a success nonetheless.“It went really well for me and Angelique. We were pleased with how everything turned out for us and we definitely met all the goals that we set out for ourselves there,” said Jeanine van der Sluijs, who competed in the pairs category with her sister, Angelique.Jeanine also competed individually and finished 21st of 27 vaulters.The festival is the second-largest equestrian event in the world and was held from July 11 to 20. Vaulting took place during the first three days.For the sisters, the festival was a chance to test their routine on a new horse and build a relationship with him, Jeanine said.“We definitely (came) away from that competition knowing that we found the best possible horse for us in Europe that (we) can be competing on this year,” she said.Jeanine said their routine is inspired by rain and thunder, performed to the backdrop of piano music and sound effects.“We start with mimicking the movement of the water. So we're tipping back and forth a little bit there and we go into some of our lifts,” she said.The sisters' major goal for the year is to compete – with their new horse – at the 2014 Alltech World Equestrian Games, to be held from Aug. 23 to Sept. 7 in Normandy, France.At that competition, the two will represent Team Alberta, which was selected to compete for Canada.But before the sisters get there, Jeanine said they need to make some tweaks to their routine.She said they want to practise mounting their horse faster and to add a more dramatic finish.“Overall we were really happy with the responses we got from the audience and some of the judges as well. It definitely seems we're on the right track,” she said about their performance in Germany. “We know we have a few challenging spots in our routine that we would like to polish up and possibly change the beginning and the end of the routine a little bit to show … the things that we're really good at.”Currently, the sisters are trying to stay in the best shape possible, training for strength and endurance.They will soon depart for more training in Scotland.“We will be focusing on making sure we can get as many run-throughs of the routine on this horse … and just making sure that we feel 100 per cent confident every time,” Jeanine said. “So that by the time we get to the World Equestrian Games we can just be calm and confident we're going to be able to show our skills.”[email protected]
