Life has been busy lately, so there has not been much time neither to read or comment on blogs, nor write on my own.
This weekend my daugher and I visited Oslo Horse Show together with friends, and on Friday night us adults went to an Italian restaurant.
We had such a good time - my favourite combination: good food and wine, plus horse loving friends!
Lovely.
Lovely.
Some pictures from the show:
To the price ceremony, they used a true Norwegian equipage with four Fjords, and with the price awarders dressed up in "bunad", traditional dresses from old times.
Looked very stylish.
Looked very stylish.
When they had the lap of honour, the carriage was standing in one of the corners looking Very Spooky.
The audience got some extra entertainment when the winning horses were passing...
The audience got some extra entertainment when the winning horses were passing...
Now, please look at the picture below.
This rider and her horse brought tears to my eyes.
Camilla (11) and her mother were involved in a car acccident.
Her mother died, and Camilla was very close to.
The pressure in her skull after the accident was too large. She was kept in coma, and was through seven brain surgeries. In the end the surgeons had to make a drastic action; they removed a part of the left side of the skull to keep her alive. Her father was told that she probably would survive, but they were not sure whether she would come back to normal.
Her skull was partially replaced with plastic.
Coming back to consciousness, she could not talk, and could only move her eyelids.
She spent 270 days in hospital and rehabilitation, all the time longing for, and after a while also talking of, her pony Laddy.
She had pictures of Laddy all over her room at the hospital, and everyone in the hospital staff taking care of her knew the name of her horse.
After very hard and dedicated work she is now almost back to normal, and the strongest motivation was to be able to ride Laddy again.
Camilla, now 14, had a dream to ride her horse at Oslo Horse Show.
On Saturday she did.
50 of the hospital staff were there watching, and I don't think my eyes were the only ones that were moist.
After both a family show, dressage and show jumping classes, Saturday's show ended with puissance.
Nothing for my nerves, and I am not comfortable with asking the horses to jump so high either.
They managed to get it up to 2.10 before ending.
Crazy.
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13 comments:
You brought tears to my eyes with the story of that young girl. How wonderful for her to make such a comeback!
And I agree with the puissance class, it clenches my nerves and I can't help but to watch to make sure they all make it safley to the other side.
Must be the mother in me!
What a lovely write up, Horseof Course, about Camilla and her pony. Thank you so much for that inspiring story.
Sometimes it's hard, as an adult, to believe in fairy tale endings but they do happen occasionally, don't they, if you keep on trying and keep on believing?
Puissance is a nerve-wracking event to watch. I usually don't.
You did bring tears to my eyes with Camilla's story. It's such a shame she lost her mom. I'm so happy she was able to make a recovery and be able to ride her horse in the Oslo Show. Good for her, I wish her and her horse all the luck and good fortune in the future.
An amazing story - what determination and bravery!
And I loved the 4-Fjord hitch!
Tears in my eyes too. Horses are powerful healers. Camilla and Laddy look very stylish; he's a pretty pony.
Loved the Fjords!
I couldn't watch Puissance. That just can't be good for the horse. Just looking at that picture made me feel nervous.
Nice post HorseOfCourse. Looked like a great show; glad you had good friends and good food to go with it.
Good to hear what you've been up to. I think the story of Camilla and Laddy is a good example of the power of horses in our lives. I had someone recently shaking his head at my riding adventures and saying how he didn't understand what the attraction was (his mother was in a fairly serious riding incident). This story shows the other side - they help heal us too!
I used to love watching puissance classes when I was younger, about 15-18 years ago. I honestly haven't seen one in such a long time, I'm not sure how I feel. I don't think I realized then that it could be hard on the horse. I agree with you now though, knowing better how a horse will try and try no matter what.
Fantastisk historia. Hoppas hon kände publikens stöd att ta med när hon har svåra dagar.
Kombinationen vänner-mat-vin-hästar är obetalbar...
Håller med om höjdhoppning. Vill inte se. Hemskt att pressa dem tills de kraschar.
A lovely post, thank you. What a brave little girl, the thought of riding her pony again probably made her more detemined and helped with her recovery.
What a story, made me think how proud her father and family must be. Hooray for healing horses.
Sounds like you've been having fun...food, wine, friends AND horses, lucky you.
sad and happy at the same time
i always disliked puissance...TOO high!
Thanks for your comments all!
Camilla's story was also sent on National TV news that evening.
Those of you understanding Norwegian can check it out on:
http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/indeks/186676
Please help out a cowgirl...what is puissance, and did the horse in the last photo clear that last jump?
Camilla is the definition of horsaii....
Hi Mugs!
Puissance is to see who can jump highest, and the obstacle is always a wall (combined with a warm up jump)
They usually start out at around 180 cm, and increase. They stop when one rider is left, or when remaining riders fail on the new height, when the riders refrain from going higher, or when they have done maximum allowed number of jumps.
And yes, the horse cleared that jump! When they finished it was close to 7 feet, and the people raising the jump had problems to place the last round of blocks...
I agree with you, Camilla is a real horsaii.
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