Henrik von Eckermann and his Belgian Warmblood gelding, King Edward continue to write history. The reigning World Champion also claimed the FEI World Cup finals in Omaha. "It was a competition with ups and downs," says von Eckermann. "I really try to hold on to the moment, and every day I’m thankful for what I have…"
“I can’t put it in words because it was a bit up and down!” von Eckermann said of his journey to the title this week. “On Friday having the one down I was really disappointed but at the same time I thought well he didn’t have to jump the jump-off and with being just one point behind (the leaders) maybe it’s not so bad. And he (King Edward) felt really fresh when he came out today, we had the rail in the first round but otherwise he felt fantastic, and so for the last round I had to just trust him, he’s in super shape, we jumped three jumps in the warm-up, in we go and he was unbelievable!”
Von Eckermann, who finished third at the Finals in both 2017 and 2018 with Toveks Mary Lou, was asked how he maintained his focus even though it wasn’t all plain sailing this week.
“It’s just my mentality, I don’t look backwards, and when the chance is still there we try to go and get it. Everyone knows the horse and how amazing it is, and this week I came here and I really wanted to win it but even with a horse like this it’s very easy for it to go the other way around. But I’m so happy for the horse that he wins this because he really deserves to have a win in the World Cup Final”, said the 41-year-old rider who, together with the extraordinary King Edward, collected Olympic team gold in Tokyo, double-gold at last summer’s FEI World Championship and now the indoor title they all want to win.
Untouchable
He’s been almost untouchable for quite a while now, and he really appreciates the magical time he is living through…..
“It feels like I’m at the top of my career and it can only go one way and that is down!”, he said with a laugh tonight. “So I really try to hold on to the moment, and every day I’m thankful for what I have…in our sport we have different horses and it’s work every day and you keep on going, but sometimes it’s good to just sit down and to be thankful for what we have because it’s not going to be forever!”
source: FEI