The last rider came into the parcours. I was very nervous because the presentation ceremony would start very soon and I had pretty good chances – the judges called in everybody with ratings being better than 7,4. That meant that I was included! After I mounted I rode into the arena with no expectations but with hope. I knew that with my 7,9 I was able to get one of the top 5 places.

"And on the third place we have Wonderful Lady 11, ridden by..." I didn't hear the rest because a shiver of happiness went through my body. The smile on my lips became bigger and bigger when I rode over to the judges where I got my medal.

After announcing the second and first place, the lap of honour was started. Lady wanted to storm forwards but I could stop her after a few meters and range in again. The measure of Lady's gallop fitted perfectly in the beat of the music and the smile on my face just grew. I really enjoyed it and I had so much fun.

Afterwards Jenny and I provided the horses. She told me many times how proud she was of me. The competitions today ended great. We both were placed – we had a seventh and a third place, and all in one day. It was definitly something to celebrate.

Later, we returned to the jumping arena where we, again, bought something to eat. Usually I didn't like to eat that much but I was very hungry after that strenuous ride.

Jennifer was sitting at the same table with her friends whom I barely knew. She organised a bottle of champagne for us to celebrate my third place. Usually I wasn't the biggest fan of champagne since I had made some bad experiences with it but today it tasted amazing. Even my food tasted better than ever. I could see that Jenny felt better with every minute. It might have been her medecine or the alcohol which helped her. I didn't know but I also didn't care. Everything that mattered was that she felt good again. For me personally my third place felt like an Olympia victory. After my bad accident I didn't had any confirmation about what I did. I had practised so hard for months to be able to go this competition and knowing that I had actually achieved something with all of this hard work made me feel so happy. For one time in my life I had the feeling that all of this training was worth something. Every minute I sat in my room thinking about giving up was worth it because it just encouraged me to go on. Every minute of having muscular ache was worth it. Every minute of fighting for this goal was worth it because this feeling was surreal. It was like I was able to do everything I wanted to do – it was like flying.

Whilst I was sitting there I heard all of the adults telling stories. They drank the champagne and laughed together. Of course I listened to them becauseI didn't want to miss the newest gossip but I was somewhere else with my mind. I just didn't know where.

Suddenly, someone sat down next to me. "I wanted to congratulate you on your third place" the voice said. It was Tim. I turned on him. He still wore his competition suit but he had changed the leather boots to trainers and he had taken off his jacket. "Thank you" I said smirking. "You weren't as bad as you told me you were. You were pretty good." The smile on my face became bigger and bigger and my cheeks blushed. "Thank you so much. Do you wanna drink a glass of champagne with us?" I asked politely. He hesistated then he said "No thanks but I guess I'll see you tonight at the aftershow party..." It was more a question than an establishment but it made me really nervous. I didn't know at all if Jennifer would go to the aftershow party tonight or not and if she would even take me with her. She had never taken me with her before plus she was still ill. For a while I didn't say anything. Suddenly Jennifer inserted: "Yeah Tim you will." "Great, I'll see you then" he smiled. Then he stood up and left.

"Are you feeling better now?" I asked her curiously. "Yeah, it seems like the medecine is finally working now" she answered "but it seems like you have to tell me something, don't you?" she smirked.

And I smiled. Equestrians had ears everywhere. Secrets didn't exist in this world. But it was OK. This was my world and it was perfect the way it was.