Love Unexpected

Prolouge

April 2015

I braid my auburn waist length long hair up so it will fit under my riding helmet and doesn't get in the way while I'm riding, take a quick look in the mirror to check if everything looked okay before I go and get my horse K-Mag's Victory ready for the competition.
My snow-white stallion named of course after my brother Kevin Magnussen's Champion title in the Danish Formula Ford in 2008 because my stallion was born at our farm at home just a few weeks later after he won that champion titel.

I had been riding since I could walk, my passion for horses came through my grandmother on our mother side, she had been breeding show jumping horses her whole life, so when Kevin started karting in young age to take after our dad Jan Magnussen, I took on after my grandma and spent all the time from the day a took my first step and until were I'm now.

So here we are 6 years later competing FEI World Cup Finals in Show Jumping in Las Vegas.

My parents had flow out to Las Vegas to support me through the weekened since I was still one of the youngest riders in this competition, born in 1997, I was 18 years old and the youngest rider in FEI World Cup Finals Show Jumping in history and representing Denmark. Sadly, my brother Kevin was occupied traveling with the F1 team he was reserve driver for at the time.

We were next up; it was our time to shine and show them what we could do matter how young or old we were. I pat my horse on his neck and whisper some motivating words to us "we can do this, it's just you and me in this, Victor". He nods with his head as he understands what I'm saying. I had given him the nickname Victor since, my brother Kevin was often called K-Mag at home and through our mutual friends.

Now it was our time, we saw the clock was ready when we went through the line that started the clock. We had to get though every jump combination without knocking down a pole and get minus points and get through it fastest way possible.

"Next up we have our youngest rider in history riding with us today, and that is Johanne Marie Magnussen with her horse K-Mag's Victory! Give a big applause for them!" The man in the speaker said. It was our time to shine now.

We head straight ahead to the first jump with ease and jumping over without knocking any poles down, galloping to the next. K-Mag's take me through the arena with different combinations of jumps with ease, because he knows me so well and we got this magical connection that we just understand what each other want to do.

We head toward the last two jumps, the big brick wall is next, that jump have always been the worst for us, always knocking some of the bricks down, but today I had the feeling we could do it. And just about when Victor is about to leap up and forward over the jump, we go tumbling into the brick wall. Everything feels like it happens in slow motion, one moment we are in the air and the next, we are falling with bricks everywhere around us, I fall of Victor with a hard thud hitting the ground and landing on my back. I couldn't feel a thing when it the ground, my helmet was broken in pieces and lay scattered around me. And then I see Victor falling over me before everything goes black.

July 2017

Silverstone GP
It was a lovely sunny day and warm day for it to be in England. I was wearing light blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a grey cardigan.
I was walking into the paddock with my crutches after my brother, trying to catch up with him since he's walking faster than I could walk with my crutches. "Hej bror, vent på mig! Jeg kan ikke gå så hurtigt som dig!" I shout after him in danish, but doesn't seems like he hears me.
English translation "Hey, brother! Wait on me, I can't walk as fast as you!"

Thinking back to the accident that happened over 2 years ago while I try to catch up with my brother that seems to be in a hurry.

It was a half year since I got out of the hospital after my terrible accident in Las Vegas in the FEI World Cup in Show Jumping. I was in a coma for almost a whole year after my accident where I got a severe head injury that almost killed me, broken both my legs, left arm and several ribs.

But I pulled through against all odds, but the way back to full recovering took time and when I got one step better, I fell back one step, but with good help and support from my family and friends I pulled through. I worked out with my physiotherapist at the hospital every day because I was stubborn as hell, I wanted to get to horse riding, but there was still a long way to go there.

My horse Victor got mostly safely away from the accident with just a few scratches and a torn off tendon in the tendon attachment his left front foot, so he could never compete again. He got flow back home to Denmark and would live his life as a breeding stallion because of his good genes and how well he had done in our years in competing in show jumping.

We had both achieved Danish Championship and European Championship in both young rider class and my first year after I turned 18, in the adult class before my terrible accident.

Earth back to Johanne, I had to try to catch up with my brother since I didn't know where we were actually going, and just when I'm about to look up and try to see if I could see my brother, I bumped into a person that almost make me fall over, but thankfully for my crutches I don't. I hear the person swear in a language that I recognize is german, since I took german classes at school and had been competing with several people from Germany and that's why I recognize the language.

I look up and see the emotionless face of Sebastian Vettel standing before me. "Watch where you're going cripple!" He almost shouts in my face. But that doesn't offend me, I've heard worse after my accident, so I give him a stern look back "Don't call me cripple, because I still can use my legs and got an extra pair of legs so I can hit you were the sun don't shine!" I say back at him with a smirk on my face.

He chuckles "Like you would do it, I doubt that" he looks at me with a smirk on his face now. "I'll show you, if you don't think I got the balls for it" I answer him. Just as I'm about to swing one of my crutches at his crotch, he catches my crutch and pulls at it, so I lose my balance and fall forward towards him, but he steps out of the way, and I hit the ground with a thud. "VETTEL!" I hear my brother screams as he comes rushing our way, pushes Vettel away from me and helps me back up on my feet. Kevin looks at Sebastian "You stay away from my sister, Vettel!" Kevin says as he checks both my hands and sees a scratch on my jeans on my knee. I nod and wave him off "Jeg er okay bror, ta det rolig. Jeg er ikke helt hjælpesløs." I tell my brother in danish.
English translation "I'm okay brother, don't worry. I'm not entirely helpless brother!"

Sebastian nods and starts walking away because he didn't have time to deal with this when he had a qualifying session to get ready for.

Kevin helps me to the Haas hospitality building so I could have somewhere to sit down while he went and got changed for qualifying.

As I'm sat down in the Haas hospitality by at table by the big floor to roof windows, I watch people walking by either in a hurry or have all their time in their world. Thinking back to my meeting with Sebastian Vettel, the grids one and only duchebag and playboy that thought he just owned the ground he walked on since he was leading the championship for this year's world champion, and I just had to experience that at first row.

As speaking of the devil, himself, he walks past the windows were I'm sitting, full on gear in his Ferrari suit with the arms wrapped around his waist and pulling down his white fireproofs just as he walks by, and I can't help myself to have a look at his fine well-trained abs. And as I look up when he has pulled down his fireproof and tucked them into his suit, he looks at me through the window and gives me a wink before he walks away towards the Ferrari garage.