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T here is nothing wrong with
dreaming big. It is the people
with big dreams who go on to
achieve big things. Sometimes being
unshakable will suffice. Sometimes
it takes an extra boost of
luck. Sometimes the road winds
so much that it goes out of sight
or seemingly round in circles. But
once the goal has been reached,
the long journey becomes undoubtedly
worthwhile.
Pedro Veniss never wanted to be a
good rider. He wanted to be one of
the best. That is why he left his native
Brazil for Belgium at age 18 to
train with equestrian legends Nelson
and Rodrigo Pessoa. “Always work
hard and love your horses,” was the
credo he was taught.
Five years later his time had come:
Pedro Veniss was nominated for
the 2006 World Equestrian Games
in Aachen, Germany. A week shy
of the Championships his horse
sustained an injury, leaving Pedro
Veniss with no choice but to resign
from the competition. He fought
his way back and a year later, aged
24, the young rider celebrated his
debut on the national team. Since
then he has represented Brazil in
numerous Championships, but his
major breakthrough escaped him
time and time again. Pedro Veniss
was good, but he wasn’t one of the
best – that is until the year 2015!
At 32 years of age he competed in
the Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ for
the first time, where he succeeded
in claiming third place in the
Major’s
“Rolex Grand Prix” final.
“My achievement totally spurred
me on,” Pedro Veniss said. “It made
me aware that I still had big dreams
in this sport and that I had to work
even harder to achieve them.”
That is exactly what he did. Two
months later at the Major in
Geneva,
Pedro managed to achieve
yet another top performance,
finishing
eighth in the show’s
“Rolex Grand Prix”.
His progress was followed by a
minor setback at the 2016 Olympic
Games in Rio, where as part of
the Brazilian team, they only managed
to finish fifth. “We really
wanted to win a medal in front of
our home crowd and I was so disappointed
that we didn’t perform
well enough to make that happen.”
Nevertheless, Pedro Veniss
fixed his gaze firmly to the future:
“I was determined to finish the
year on a positive note! So after
Rio I focused 100 percent on the
upcoming CHI Geneva.”
His strategy proved successful: On
11 December 2016 Pedro Veniss
triumphed
over the world elite
of show jumping in a sold-out
Palexpo stadium, claiming the first
Major victory of his career aboard
his stallion “Quabri de l’Isle”. “To
win the ‘Rolex Grand Prix’ in
Geneva,
one of the most difficult
classes in the world – in that moment
one of my childhood dreams
came true! It was truly the best reward
for all of the hard work!” It
also goes to show that it pays to
dream big!
THE MAJORS 2016
CHI GENEVA
2016