15 May 2016, San Nicola horse farm in Rome. The national show jumping competition has begun. The air stretched between the audience and the participants is punctuated by the pawing of the horses. Participants from the Army, Navy, Carabinieri and State Police were present for the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement. Horsemen and amazons have ten minutes to evaluate the circuit to be covered with their horse.
The corvette captain Delfina Autiero begins to memorize the route, the obstacles, the angles to be faced, every detail is compared with the experience of the Amazon kept alive by the determination to participate to win. His boot sinks into the ground, calculates the depth he will have to beat with the horse's hooves, his determined and proud gaze makes a general recognition of the perimeter of the circuit. Like a war machine the mind of the Amazon of the Navy elaborates all the information gathered and prepares to mount it in the saddle. We must maximize the understanding with the animal to reach the goal. A decisive start and step by step, rider and horse move in unison one after the other, overcoming obstacles and maintaining a perfect balance on the circuit line.
Just at the start around 11,30 a torrential rain arrives unexpectedly and the time is beaten by the sound of the fast and constant tinkling of water on the ground. A new assessment is needed. The water changes the attitude and the yield of the horse on the ground and on the deviations. The corvette captain Autiero does not give up and raises the dose of commitment pointing out the perfect combination. The heart of the amazon and her horse beat in unison in facing obstacles, impervious terrain and difficulty of the course. The effort is arduous and demanding, but constancy is rewarded with the result. Several participants decide to retire while the Navy achieves the desired result: first ranked among the competing uniforms in the C115 category, with much less time on the other competitors. The event is therefore crowned with a success for the Navy, which sees a Marine Armed Force excel in a sporting sector particularly suited for land forces with the particular role that a woman commander is the first to mount the winning horse , the corvette captain Delfina Autiero of the Naval Staff, an Amazon who gave the Navy a historic goal. Target that assumes three fundamental connotations: the first is that the Navy ranks first among the Armed Forces and Order Forces participants; the second that to achieve the result is for the first time an officer of the fair sex, the third is that the competition has recorded important and significant elements of difficulty on the obstacle course due to the weather conditions that have made the ground slippery inside of the system circuit. These aspects have not gone unnoticed and have been crowned with a heartfelt testimony of style that has received wide appreciation among the jury and among the spectators. Reasons that bring pride and honor to the Navy, which sees the achievement of respectable results and which bring out sporting qualities that encompass a series of commitments and abilities that the commander Autiero has been able to ride showing how these qualities can marry with determination and courage leaving a concrete and indelible sign in the result that brought a "Delfina" of the Navy to the crest of the wave.
The sports career
Delfina Autiero, married and mother two sons Leonardo and Gaia, has a thirty-year experience, despite her young age and has nourished for horses a particular attention, since she was a child she read them in fairy tales and dreamed about them, until when her father unexpectedly gives a beautiful specimen. From here comes a strong affection that neglects the first accidents of fall and points to the gaze of the animal mixed between sweetness and pride, to its bearing to its way of being. The challenge is to succeed in establishing a degree of understanding such as to have available the competitive strength of the quadruped within an aesthetic bearing. The jump of the fence became the aspect that Delfina decided to follow, being struck by how much strength and so much weight could take off in the body of a horse, imagining itself to be riding Pegaso. To do this the challenge is to communicate with the animal in a language that makes it comprehensive and therefore able to obtain the desired result. Thus perseverance has remained active for thirty years with first degree authorization to assemble the Italian Equestrian Sports Federation (FISE) and with the qualification to teach riding as the fruit of this unique experience of communication with the animal that imposes on the being human to develop an extraordinary sensitivity, attention to detail, a capacity to know how to recognize and manage one's fears and feelings, to face difficult moments, especially when jumping obstacles in competitions. Horse riding is an iron discipline that requires determination, courage, devotion, humility, a spirit of sacrifice and a lot of respect, first and foremost for the horse: but beware all these indispensable requisites are not enough alone, to the binomial horse-rider, must be placed side by side by a competent staff that lives the life of a stable in all its functions, if you want to have appreciable results. Our Amazon has therefore completed her professional training even with studies of veterinary applied to horses and also of biodynamics, has followed internships in Holland and Germany, also participates on a monthly basis in national and regional competitions competing with knights established at national and international level ; the watchword that keeps in mind and that for a knight one should never feel arrived. From the cavalry he learned in particular that it is necessary to "throw the heart beyond the obstacle" but in sports to win this is not enough, what counts, says Delfina: "not those who begin but those who continue ”.
Commander Autiero claims that courage in this sport in particular is fundamental, not to be interpreted as unconsciousness, but as the determination to act by evaluating every aspect according to the objective, then the constant commitment, humility and sensitivity. We must learn to listen to our horse and try to become one with it. Furthermore it is necessary that the horse trusts the rider and this is not achieved with authority and strength but with authority ... the horse relies on me and I entrust myself to him. With the horse you continually question yourself and confront yourself with an equal level; the horse is taught but learned.
The officer of the Navy
The name is not conciliatory for those who have chosen to become an Amazon, but in order not to deny it altogether Delfina Autiero has also profoundly lived her aquatic dimension and so that since she was a child is the passion transmitted to her by her underwater father with the hobby of fishing that allows you to spend most of your time in the water. With his mother he was walking along the port of Naples (his hometown), stunned to observe large ships from which officers came out elegantly dressed in uniform and with a sunny and open look. Here too the attraction of unique elements of nature emerges, says Delfina: the sea is the image of God on earth. Here I discovered a parallel, immense and enchanted world ... immersed in its apparent silence; a world that can only be discovered by a select few in its extraordinary beauty, by those who fully understand its infinite power and majesty and with humility can do nothing but answer "commands!".
He attended the Partenope Naval University located in the Maschio Angioino just in front of the Molo beverello in Naples, spending whole days studying sitting on the benches of the port, sometimes distracted by the faces and events of the sailors who merged between the blue of the sea and the ships that disappeared on the horizon.
Delfina Autiero confesses how difficult it was to become an official of the MM in addition to the professional commitment to be reconciled with other activities, moving between mistrust, refusals and continuous renunciations and accepting the detached and contemptuous attitude of those who claim that a woman, a mother will never and above all, he must not even think of being a sailor, a military man, a commander. As with all things, what you do with passion and love over time always gives good results
Finally, regarding the relationship to have with the animal world, Delfina Autiero has clear ideas: she agrees with the appeal of Pope Francis and states that the lack of attention to others must not be motivated by an access of love for an animal; everyone has their role in creation and people and animals are not to be confused, but we often confuse people with people when we don't want to see beyond appearances or our experiences. Love and affection for our fellow human beings cannot conflict with that for animals and vice versa ... I have many friends - without a horse - and I consider myself a very sociable person and above all available and encouraged to help.
