Pietro Grandis: Riding without borders

Catching a train that won’t stop here again;
being prepared to leave everything behind to catch an opportunity. Pietro Grandis speaks of his experiences.
” 

Leaving home, family and friends, the country one was born in, to follow a dream and seize an opportunity that might never present itself again, wherever this may be, a few miles from home, in a different city, in another region or country…being prepared to change one’s life, give up one’s comforts and securities to embark on a new adventure in the hope of making one’s dreams come true is what Pietro Grandis talks to us about: he tells us what inspired him, as well as how and why, six years ago, he left his hometown Albissola, Liguria, to move to Michael Jung’s stables in Germany.

Michael Jung and Pietro Grandis training at Reitshule Jung, 2020

Everything has a price

On December 18th, 2014 I left Italy and my home in Albissola. The evening before I had gone out with my friends and I remember that I did not say a word. At 3AM I left driving my mother’s car and with 650km to travel. I was 19 years old and my English was appalling. Instead of getting there at midday as agreed, I arrived at 1.30 PM. I was worried, late on my first day… I came across two boys in the stables and they welcomed me and soon after that Michael turned up and started to show me the place and explain… I didn’t understand a word. All I said was, “I understand little but I work a lot”.

“These are all people who belong to the world of horses, all prepared to make sacrifices and work hard because they are people who really do love horses.”

At 2 PM I started work.

I had rented a room in the attic of a B&B and there was no kitchen so effectively I would skip lunch. The boys at the yard would take me to a supermarket but I never found anything I liked…I was used to home-cooked food… So I ate sandwiches or went to McDonald’s. In the evenings instead I would go to an Italian restaurant where the owners had practically adopted me, welcoming me every evening and giving me discounts. I remember being cold, my mobile phone not working, the car freezing up at night and every morning being afraid it wouldn’t start and that I wouldn’t manage to get to the stables.

Three weeks later Michael confirmed that I could stay. I had passed the test and so I started to look for a place to live.

[…]

by Susanna Cottica | Managing Director of Cavalli&Cavalieri

Preview of the article about Pietro Grandis that will be published in March 2021 issue of Cavalli&Cavalieri

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