THE HISTORY OF OPAL MANES
Opal Manes got its life from a 13-years old sso crazy girl in 2020. Back then I didn't even know what sso dressage was. After christmas, I joined my very first dressage club, and I began to love making routines and I already had made my first sso dressage related discord server, because I really wanted to host lessons, but I didn't want to leave my current club. After 2 months of being a member, I felt like I wanted more. So I started planning my own dressage club. Our first club name was Flower Castles, but after a while, it started to feel like it didn't suit us.
2-3 Months after the club was made, we changed our name to Garden Hawks, because that was the name of my old friends club, and I wanted to "continue" the club, but it didn't feel like my own, so I changed our name again. One day I was just scrolling thorugh club names, and I accidentally clicked on "Opal" and then I tried, if "Manes" is free, and it was. I remember quickly changing to my main account, disbanded the club and chose a new name. Since that day, we have been Opal Manes and I still love that name.
On october of 2020, we were chosen to be the club of the month by SSD. That was a big thing to us. I really want to thank everyone in the club that helped me!
In 2021, my irl life started to get hard for me and I didn't really have the time and motivation to keep the club active. I also have a bad habit of doing everything myself because I just can't let people help me. (I'm working on that LOL). We had a really long break until January 2022.
We started a new tradition "member of the month" and got a new leader. Then again, my life started to get hard because of moving and my parents broke up. Now that i've settled in my new home, I can be active in sso again :)
IMPORTANT PEOPLE
I want to mention some people/clubs that have motivated and helped me and the club during these 3 years.
Dina Ravenhook - Dino was one of our first leaders in the club, and she has been an irreplaceable help and a friend to me. Dino has gone through a lot of hate with me and she has always been there, even if she wasn't in the club.
Terrific Tigers - This club is a BIG inspiration to me personally. I can't even tell how many times I've almost given up with Opal manes, but after scrolling through their social medias, I get my motivation back. I can't even imagine sso dressage without TT.
Moon Champions - One of the most talented clubs in finnish dressage history. Moon champions were one of the first dressage clubs in Finland, and I was a big fan of them when I joined the dressage world. I have always looked up to them as the "mother" club of finnish sso dressage.
Traditions
Opal Manes have some yearly and monthly traditions like Lucia "hike". Each year we choose a new Lucia to lead us to the spirit of winter and christmas.
