MADRID, 16 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish rider Mariano Martínez Bastida goes “with great enthusiasm and desire to do well” to the Madrid event of the prestigious Longines Global Champions Tour jumping circuit that starts this Friday, and where he hopes to rub shoulders with the best in the world in this specialty , also at the level of horses, which he considers “highly competitive athletes.”
“Madrid is one of the great competitions in Spain and we come with great enthusiasm and desire to do well,” warned Martínez Bastida in an interview with Europa Press, where he made it clear that he faces the event in the capital “with confidence” after obtaining good results. results recently.
In this sense, the Murcian clarifies that “equestrian racing is measured by season, almost more than by competition”, and for this reason he celebrates having “a very good stable, with young, but already quite experienced horses”, of which ‘Belano’ stands out. , with whom he competed in the World Cup final, but who will rest at the Villa de Madrid Country Club.
At the Madrid venue, he will be with two “horses who are in a very good moment” such as ‘Jup’ and ‘Origi’, both 10 years old and who “have already passed important tests and can do well” in a competition. that “it’s like the F-1 of horses.” “It is where the best horses in the world and the best riders in the world come, it is a huge event,” he remarked.
In addition, “always used to jumping outside”, doing it at home “is a pleasure and a special motivation.” “Just the ovation when you enter is impressive and jumping on this track, which is one of the best stages in Europe, is a pleasure in life,” confessed Martínez Bastida, who “comes with an extra” to the capital because everyone wants do it “right.”
The rider remembers that he has been “jumping in such big competitions for a short time.” “This is my third year jumping, but what you feel in Madrid and on this track is not felt anywhere else outside. It is a very good track for us, it eats a little bit at the horse, it is very like in a ‘bombonera’ ‘And they see a lot of public and it becomes a bit ‘small’, that’s why they have to be well-rounded and they learn that it is something good, not bad,” he stressed.
THERE IS NO “MORE PRESSURE” FOR THE ‘EXAM’ FOR PARIS 2024
Furthermore, this event will also serve the Royal Spanish Equestrian Federation to decide who will go to the Paris Olympic Games, an event in which it hopes to be and for which it has good options. “It is going to be a scenario where the riders and the horses that jump will be taken into account very carefully. We have all come with a track record since last year and the horses or riders are not measured by a competition, but it is one of the scenarios where you can mark a little which horses are a ‘little’ more ready than others,” he pointed out.
In any case, this possibility does not cause him “more pressure.” “I want my horses to do well, but for my own interest, because I have very good horses and I am interested in them learning this type of competition and going up the steps with them,” said the man from Murcia.
However, he does not hide that “there is nothing higher than being in the Games, in whatever sport.” “For me it is like a dream that could come true, but it is not known who is going to go yet. There is a list and from there the four who go will be chosen, of which three or all four will jump. We have to try to do it as best possible and to be able to be,” he wished.
“Just being in things as important as the final of the World Cup or preselected for the Games is a source of pride and, much more, when you come working so hard to be among the best in Spain and even in the world because in the FEI ranking I am 68. For me it is already a pride to be in good shape at this moment, with the horses I have, with my owners, it is something impressive, especially from where I come from,” said the Spaniard.
For him, being in the ‘Top 100’ “is a beast” because “there are many very good riders” in a circuit where everyone gets along “phenomenally” and where he doesn’t believe there is “very bad vibes” in a sport where “they can compete women and men in the same condition” and that “also allows you to be 65 years old and jump.” “I think the best age is from 40 onwards, which is when you have more control and more experience,” he explained.
“In high competition the level of riders is very high and the horses make a huge difference because there is no longer so much difference between the riders. You can get someone a little more different and then the horse does make a ‘little more’ difference. With “A good horse makes everything easier,” highlighted Martínez Bastida.
“SPAIN HAS THE BEST INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS”
And in the case of horses, he is clear that “a good horse must first have an athletic head” and then “balance and strength.” “Let it be a horse that assimilates things and understands what we want. Then, like every athlete, it has to like the sport or not. There are horses that love to compete and there are those that don’t. Basically it is a high-quality athlete. competition and everything is done as if it were a human,” he explained.
“You put them, as if they were a footballer, in the important matches, when you think they are ready and then you take them down to less important matches. You give them more important competitions where the horse is going to suffer a little because it is not even used to the difficulty or even the setting. A young person suffers more from stress,” he argued.
Mariano Martínez Bastida admits that a circuit like the Longines Global Champions Tour is “very expensive”, but that something simpler like “initiation” is affordable to try a sport that helps younger people “create discipline and know how to love animals.” “.
Furthermore, Spain “has the best international competitions thanks to routes such as Oliva or Montenmedio or even the CES Valencia.” “There is no competition the same in Europe or in the world as there is in Spain thanks to these tours and then we have very important competitions such as the IFEMA Madrid Horse Week, A Coruña or Madrid that are of the highest level,” he noted.
Finally, Mariano Martínez Bastida talked about his beginnings in horse riding. “My father started working in France with a good rider and then he came to Spain and was with an Olympic rider, Pedro Sánchez Alemán, who is from Murcia like me. I was born in a horse riding arena and in the end I decided to ride horses , but you never think about getting to where I am because you need a lot of resources to do so and I didn’t have them,” he said.
And one help was to start working as a farrier. “I made a living and I was riding horses, getting better and getting owners. To get here there are many steps,” said the Spanish rider who rides “between 6 and 7 horses every day, which can be 4 or 5 hours.” ” and that he also does “something aerobic” like running and cycling to stay in shape. “Nowadays the rider takes care of themselves much more than before when they drank, smoked or were half overweight,” he said with a smile.
2024-05-16 10:10:00
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