Update

Life has been quite busy lately, so not much activity on the blog for a while.

I have been to Gothenburg Horse Show with my daughter.
We had a lovely trip, and I also had the possibility to meet two childhood friends. One of them I had not seen or had contact with for 40 years. A funny feeling, meeting now and I still see the little girl in the woman sitting opposite me.

I was not happy watching the dressage.
Too many short necks, unsettled mouths and trailing hindlegs.
How Adelinde Cornelissen could get 82% when her horse was working behind the vertical large parts of the program beats me.

The best part was actually Angelica Augustsson, the Swedish 23 yo girl who won the World Cup qualifier in jumping.
She was in tears at the prize ceremony, and I believe everyone who was there saw the birth of a new star in the jumping circuit. She was very close to win the Gothenburg Trophy (1.50 class) the previous day, finishing second, so it was not just a lucky ride.
The roof almost lifted off the building when she won.
It was very popular with a Swedish victory, as you can imagine!

At home we had some lovely weather today!
Lots of snow still, but wonderful sunshine.
In a way it is the best part of the year - we have the plum part of winter left, and all of spring and summer.
It is a bit like a Friday afternoon, when you get home from work and have the whole weekend in front of you, but on a larger scale!

What is really irritating is the moose.
My friend Anne  is back in Norway for a short visit, and we took the horses out for a ride on Wednesday evening.
It turned out to be more of a moose safari than a quite hack, and as the moose was standing on every path (and refusing to move, two even moving towards us) we planned to take.
Even on the path leading home.
We ended up going over the creek at a different site than we normally do, which included very high ice edges down to the water, a drop down and a jump up in the dark.
My brave girl took it without problems, with me hanging on, frantically grabbing the mane as I once again rode bareback.
My daughter's pony thought it all too scary, so we ended on separate sides...
I could not go back, because the drop on my side was too high and the bottom of the creek was made of large stones, which made it an uneven surface to land on.
So we had to split, meeting again at the proper bridge a bit further down.
I really want the snow to melt away now, so the moose can get lost somewhere up in the mountains again.

The blue colour of the sky is incredible!

Jimmi is here for the weekend, and we had dressage training yesterday, and jumping today and tomorrow.
Fame really loves to jump, and was very "enthusiastic" today. If you get my meaning.
Poor thing, we have to jump more often!
Our normal trainer has been away for a while as she has had a baby, and I am far too lazy to get the jumps out just for me.
Hopefully that will change as our trainer now is back in action from next week on.

Passing the creek on our way to the jumping - on the normal place this time!

Moose safari

After two months with very low temperatures and not much snow, the situation has changed and we have been getting much snow but higher temperatures.
And when we get much snow, the animals get problems to move higher up in the mountains, so they move down to the bottom of the valley where we ride.

It was a lovely day yesterday with trees heavily laden with the new snow, and both sun and some fog which made a wonderful scenery.
As I got home from work a bit early, I decided to take Fame out for a hack.

I took her out from her food, so a bit on our way she tried to grab some branches sticking out from the snow.
When I told her "no" we suddenly had some commotion from the forest just in front of us.
Turned out to be three moose that had been standing watching us, without us noticing.

Luckily they turned around and ran off away from us.
Problem is that when we get much snow, the moose too wants to follow the paths or the roads as the going is easier, and then it can be a bit tricky sometimes.

Fame luckily doesn't worry much about moose, she is quite used to them.
She is curious though, and often sniffs the ground in their tracks, sometimes also wanting to follow their tracks.

She had a lot of excess energy after two days off, one of them unplanned - so we aired the system with some fresh canter for quite a while, uphill.
She has had some extra forage due to the cold, and it makes her more on her toes.

Even if she had had a real good workout, she was still full of energy on the way back with tendencies to some jogging which I don't like.
I had to turn her energy into some work instead, and that was why I did not see the fourth moose until we were just beside him.
He was lying down in the snow just beside our path - I would say only some 5-7 m off.
Anyway, we pranced on, he just moved some ears and past him we were.

Horses, not moose!

Moose are large animals, but I am not very worried about the moose when we ride out.

I have had many close encounters over the years, and no bad experiences so far. (But I do know of incidents where my fellow riders have been chased.)

When I do worry though is when I am out driving.

I see them by the road almost every day driving through the valley. If you get them in front of the car, the car hits the legs and you get the body straight up on your wind screen.

People here are killed in moose accidents every year.

My friend Anne, who is studying in Germany has gone English.

She bought a new horse a couple of months ago.

Check out her blog!

An exciting start of the new year

If one munches on branches, one might get a surprise....

My friend Anne who lives in Germany was home for the holidays, and we had a very nice trail ride together on Saturday with the horses.

The horses enjoyed themselves, and we too.

The weather was lovely, finally the cold has lost some of its grip.

Just a few degrees below zero, and sun in addition - lovely!

The very nice thing about the blogosphere is the possibility to make new friends.
I love to read about all my equestrian blogfriend's experiences and stories, but now I am very excited because we are taking this one step further:

Wiola from Riding Instructor's Diary is coming over to us to throw a weekend training together with her collegue Kari, who is a chiropractor.
They have set up a very interesting training schedule where Wiola and Kari will work close together to assess each rider's problems:

Nordmarka RSK invites to a training weekend with

ASPIRE EQUESTRIAN RIDING ACADEMY
28-30 January, Sørkedalen

”The horse mirrors the rider’s movements”

Most horse riders know what their own personal difficulties are, but many do not understand why  - and therefore feel like they are constantly struggling to correct it.

Biomechanical restrictions can easily cause some of the problems encountered by horse riders daily, such as a weak seat, inconsistent rein contact, locked hips, tilting the upper body and/or legs forwards, and collapsing through the waist.

If your horse is crooked, lacks impulsion, is tense or is going against the aids, the cause might lie with you as the rider.
Would you like to improve yourself?

The training will be a great help to get more insight in your own riding, where you will get help to address the problem that really affects your further development – how your own body influences your horse’s movements.

Schedule:

Friday evening Jan 28: 
Presentation and planning.
Riding in groups of 4, lenght 30 min, assessing riders.
We sit together afterwards and share some pizza and look into each rider’s goals, issues and problems. Discuss what comes up, and plan the training for the rest of the weekend so each rider gets a tailor made program to address his/her issues.

Saturday Jan 29:
AM: Riding 45 min session, two riders pr session.  Part of the session will be filmed.
Lunch: Looking at the videos, and discuss what each rider needs to work with.
PM: Each rider gets ca 30 min session with chiro Kari, with exercises that will address what needs to be worked on based on the riding sessions and the discussions during lunch.

Sunday Jan 30:
Each rider gets ca 30 min session with chiro Kari before the riding sessions start.
Riding sessions 30 min, alone.
We meet and sum up the training. Feedback and help to plan further training.

Instructors:

Wiola Grabowska BHS Intermediate Teacher, founder of av Aspire Equestrian Riding Academy

Kari Duglebby DC BSc Hons Chiro, Chiropractor and rider

Both come from UK, and are a part of the team in Aspire Equestrian Riding Academy,  who work with a holistic approach to horse and rider.

Wiola and Kari will work close together to tailor the instruction and treatment to each participant’s needs.
Read more about them on:  
www.aspire-equestrian.com

I am really excited about this!

We had maximised the number of participants to eight, and it took half an hour after I annonced the training until it was fully booked! 

Let's just hope that the temperature keeps a bit over what we have seen here lately; we have had the coldest November and December here in the last 100 years!

And here, Wiola and Kari, is the venue.
Not very grand, and looks quite deep frozen, right?
Don't dispair.
You'll get a warm welcome even if the temperature is low!

Someone has to take care of things?!

I do believe that any horse needs variation in  work, but youngsters in particular.

I have been hacking out with Fame ever since she was started under rider.
In the beginning  I walked part of the way, to save her back.
Sometimes we got to some scary stuff.
Most of the time, she crossed by herself after searching for crocodiles without finding any.
Once in a while I had to help her by getting off and walking over the scary stuff beside her.
"See? No crocodiles."
When safe over she got a pat and a snack.

Now I have a very reliable trail horse that handles everything from water to mud and moose.
So I relax when we are out.
Let my mind wander.

And Fame crosses whatever is in front of her nose.

Thing is, I don't pay attention.

So she has to remind me.
Whenever we have crossed something scary, she goes in slow-motion mode.
"Hey, you, upstairs - you've forgotten something!
And if I am still lost in my own little world, she stops.
"Uh, what?" I suddenly get aware that something is happening here.
"Oh".
Snack time.

Then we carry on.

Somebody has to take care of things.
Mind the traditions, like.

I have got some in one of the pockets, somewhere...

---

You might also be interested in: What's in it for me? 

Reckless riding

In my late teens, I vowed together with my best friends that we would never be square, boring adults.
Volvo, kids, the whole package. It sounded so absolutely Not Fun.
We would stay young.
I even remember something about wearing skin skirts (this was in the beginning of the happy 80ies) but at 47 with sagging knees and cellulites I don't find it such a good idea as I thought at the age of 18.

But maybe my 18 yo self would have approved of me Monday.

I have missed riding Fame being away so much, and as she had her vaccine she had the weekend off from work.
(Grumble, grumble)
This week I would stay at home though.
When Monday came I had planned to do some dressage training, but the weather had been lovely lately and the outdoor arenas were dry and very dusty, and it was warm.
Hmmm.

Instead I found my hackamore, jumped on bareback and headed out in the forest.
The evening was lovely, and Fame kept tossing her head and jogging.
Had I been a horse I would have been tossing my head too.
We felt GOOOD.

After splashing around a bit in the creek, we settled for the long and winding gravel road up the slopes of Grøttum, several kilometers steadily climb up one of the mountains.

Sometimes I get these wonderful moments of togetherness with my horse, and this was one of those occations.
I was just so very happy to be on my horse again, enjoying the scenery and the wonderful summer evening, and I could feel that my horse was just as happy as me.
I guess we both felt a little bit crazy.

And when we came to the start of the slope, I just gave her the reins, and let her go.
She started out in a normal canter, but soon the joy of being alive, feeling powerful and strong, made her take off.
And here I was, a middle-aged, grey-haired (un)responsible Mum clinging on my horse bareback and going at full speed so fast that it made my eyes water, and I had this itsybitsy feeling in my stomach about "will she stop?".
And it was wonderful.

And of course she stopped.
She's  a dressage horse, isn't she?
We just forget ourselves sometimes.

(To be frank, even dressage horses get tired after running at full tilt uphill for a long period of time. Hahem.)

Ash st(r)uck

Last week I was in Northern Norway when the volcano Eyjafjallajökul started messing about.
To make a long story short, the trip home that normally would have taken a couple of hours took two days.
And I was lucky compared to many others.
I am sharing some of the pictures from the train ride home, day two.
We are in between Trondheim and Hamar, mid part of Norway.

Not the best quality I am afraid, taken with a cell phone out of a train window!

I love the majestic, serene beauty of the mountains.
They don't care about harsh weather, about man's struggle, life and death.
Timelessness.

----
Coming home, I was met with another bout of snow (melting away during the day).
But the day after -  my favourite spring sign: The return of the wild geese.
I just love that sight and sound! 
Welcome back! How wonderful that you made it!
They are happily cheering each other on: Not far now! Keep the formation!

---
The weekend before last, I had another lovely ride with my daughter.
We packed food for the horses, and started out in lovely spring weather.

Happy Norwegian Cowboy #1 (undercover dressage lady on secret mission)

Happy Norwegian Cowboy #2.
Not chasing cows, but a place to eat!

Fame is fascinated by the sight and sound of the small waterfall.
We rode to our favourite place place to stop, and the horses were very happy for that.
They know the way, and they know what's up when we arrive...

Lunch time!
My daughter is Purchase Manager, I am the Bank and Horse Manager.
She happily purchases away whatever they have got.
Today's catch is waffles, carrot cake and chocolate cake. 
Health food for hungry cowboys. 
(Bank got busted.)

Down to the leftovers.

This lovely place is under siege from hungry people wandering around in the area.
We are in between skiiers and bikers though, so today it was a peaceful place.
When everything is eaten up, it is time to leave.

Bye for now!
Fame and Charlie are happily walking along towards home.

---
During the upcoming three months I will work in Germany three days a week due to a large project.
It will be hard work, but interesting too.
Might be less time for blogging though. 
We'll see.

Easter sun

.

And finally, on Easter Day the sun took mercy on us frozen Polar people, and showed herself.
Wonderful.

I took a trail ride with my daughter's pony Charlie in the morning.
The gravel roads are just perfect now, soft and inviting.
He needs some power work to increase strength, so we took intervals of collected canter on our way upwards.
Collected canter, followed by a short stretch of extended canter to flush that lactid acid away from the muscles, and then a walk until the breathing is normal again.
New interval.

When going downhill, we trained on stretching out in the walk.
Hard work thought Charlie, who tried to solve the equation with jogging instead.
Without success.

At the edge of the road the water from the melting snow  has created snake patterns.

A stretch through the forest again.
Once the snow has melted away we will get some wonderful spring flowers here.
Charlie still would like to jog:
"We're on our way home now...please?"
Nope. No jogging.

When coming home both Charlie and Fame got their lunch in the sun.
I love to let their coats finally get some sun and air after using rugs through the winter.

Guess who else enjoyed her lunch?
First time sitting out in the sun this year.
Ah. I have waited for this sunny day the entire Easter. I am so happy it finally arrived!

After lunch it is time for horse #2.
Fame got kicked in her left front leg on Thursday and is on antibiotics, so we're just out walking to get the swelling down. Luckily it was at the upper, muscular part.

She loves to stop and have a look around.

One has to enjoy the view.
But hey, what's this??

Oh. Some green stuff!
(Well. Green? But one cannot be too choosy)

Snow is no hindrance.
Notice the elegant way we are resting the front leg here.

And one final look at the view before returning home.
Thanks for accompanying us!

A treat of a day

What a treat of a day - just look at this weather!

The days are getting longer, and the sun has started to warm some again.

Such a wonderful feeling.

I got so inspired when I woke on Saturday this weekend that I promised my daughter I would clean the terrace from snow.

That was before I had a closer look at it.

I was knee-deep in snow, and I only had one large shovel.

Well, a promise is a promise.

I guess some sweat and exercise won't do any harm...

Sweating. Sweating.

Hm. I can't use up all hours of sun on snow shovelling, must get time for a ride too.

Hi. What are you doing? Is it warm in the sun?

Sniff, not very. I'll stay inside for another week or two.

King of Hunt has another approach to winter and snow.

He watches, very interested, but from the Outside.
Matcho Cats with an image don't sit in windows.

One can miss out on Something. A mouse or two perhaps.

But the icing of the cake this wonderful day was a trail ride with my daughter.

We set out, all four of us, eager to enjoy the beautiful weather.

When passing the Icelandic horses at our neighbour stable I missed a real camera. My cell phone is not doing justice to how the horses contrasted against the horizon, and the intensity of the blue sky.

After having some trot and canter intervals we let the horses walk for a while.

Good boy, Charlie!

Even if you can feel a slight warmth in the sun, it is still low.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza?

After another long nice canter up the hill, we took a stop and relaxed a bit in the sun before taking on the last part.

Fame loves to get the opportunity to admire the surroundings. She is just one very curious horse.

Finally we turned home again.

When the sun sets, the air gets chilly almost immediately.

I love the look of the snow now when the days are getting slightly warmer. It gets kind of sugary and glossy on the surface.

Thanks for accompanying us!