Tour de Norvège

I have been out and about in Norway, visiting branch offices in my new job.

This week it was Tromsø and Bergen, next week it will be Stavanger.

Tromsø is situated north of the polar circle, and at this time of the year the sun never rises.
This is taken outside the airport when I arrived, 11ish am.

It is however a lighter period around the middle of the day, like twilight.

Tromsø is famous for its Northern lights (aurora borealis) at winter time, unfortunately I did not see any during my stay.

The lifeline of the coast in earlier days, Hurtigruten, lays to quay in Tromsø.

It is a coastal cruise line that still is important for transportation of goods and people (and quite many tourists), and is called the "Worlds most beautiful sea voyage" as it also enters the fjords on the scenic west coast.

The Norwegian coastline has the Atlantic winds and water coming straight at it, so weather can really be harsh.
Even so, it has been easier to transport goods and people by the sea than through the mountains.

Hurtigruten sails along the coast, starting from Bergen and ending at Kirkenes at the Russian border. It takes a week.

In the picture above and below we are looking back towards the city.

Tromsø has about 65.000 inhabitants, and is the 7th largest town in Norway.

At the right hand side of the picture, where the bridge ends, you can see one of the famous landmarks, the Arctic Cathedral (upside down V-shape).

Even if Tromsø is situated far north it is not so cold due to the Gulf stream.

It was just below freezing point during my stay.

Travelling in Norway is not easy.
The country is long and it is mainly mountains, so you have to fly.

Going from Tromsø to Bergen I got the "slow train" by air, going down in Bodø and Trondheim before arriving in Bergen.

It took close to four hours.

Bergen is the second largest town in Norway, and was the largest in Scandinavia until the 17th century.

In the middle ages it was an important Hanseatic city, and Bryggen in Bergen is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. You can see it above and below.

The second night I had some more time on my hands, so I decided to take a stroll over to Bryggen, and try to find a restaurant as there were some in the old buildings.

Here you can see what they look like.

Bryggen was founded around 1070, and was from 1360 to 1754 the site for the Hanseatic trading in Norway.

After trying two restuarants that were full, I was finally lucky with the third!

There is a lot of people dining out before Christmas.

Below is the entrance to the restaurant, Bryggen Tracteursted.

I got the last table!

Even if I was the first to arrive, the room was full after 20 mins.

To visit the toilets you had to go outside the restaurant (below).

It rained when I was there (as it often does in Bergen) so it was nice to walk along the old passages with some roof over my head.

As I was in meetings during the daytime, unfortunately all pictures had to be taken in the dark - sorry for that!

Now we're back at the hotel.
Thanks for accompaning me!

What kind of student are you?

I just love these discussions.

So many good thoughts and comments - thank you guys!

stillearning had an interesting comment on the last post which moves the topic from instructors to students.

I believe that is a good start of a separate post, and hope that my other blog friends also may comment...

She has no blog of her own (as yet) but I would very much like her to get one.

She wrote:

Here's another question: Are you a good student?

I know that I'm a royal pain to my instructors in many ways. Despite knowing the dressage is a lifelong pursuit I get impatient and discouraged when progress is slow. Despite having a strong commitment and desire to learn I am constantly short on funds to invest in lessons so I want each one to be wonderful. Despite seeking out lessons I sometimes think I know best (altho I USUALLY manage to keep that to myself...). Because I read constantly and audit whenever I can, I am full of ideas, and some are conflicting; this leads to mixed signals to my horse because if one thing doesn't work I'll quickly try another. Because of the same budget constraints, my horse projects are OTTBs or greenies or some other inappropriate learning partner. And worst of all: I'm so passionate about seeking perfection that my sympathetic teachers must cringe at times.

So...I'm now working with a good trainer on an occasional basis. I board at her barn, and can ask for help as needed. Her teaching style often frustrates me, but I also realize that it's a good one for me. She observes. She comments. Then she goes away and gives me time to work it out. Repeat. She doesn't often discuss things; more often she'll tell me the right way as she knows it. End of discussion. If I disagree with her idea/method to fix it (which is often drilling IMO), it's up to me to find another way to fix what she's observed (i.e., "your horse isn't using his hind end enough" or "he's not even in the contact" or "you're not staying straight on the line of travel"). I work on it, then ask her to watch again. She comments and goes away again.

It's a good system for me right now. If I had a bigger budget I'd be tempted to invest in a more traditional training program; I'm not sure I'd progress any faster.

So, what kind of student are you?

Now, I honestly must confess that I had to think quite a bit on that one.

I had not thought about it at all before, lol!

I am also impatient by nature, and my husband has wondered more than once about how come I am so hooked on dressage.

On the same time I have a large need for peace, quiet surroundings and balance, and that is what the riding gives me.

But it is the partnership with the horse that is driving me.

And I think that when you shift the focus from results to instead focus on the partnership with the horse, it is easier to be patient.

As long as my horse is sound, I am happy.

I know the work will take time.

This autumn, I have had to rearrange my plans because Fame has been tense.
Without relaxation, no real work can be done so ...the rest has had to wait.

Sometimes I think that (dressage) riding is close to eastern philosophies.
The more you learn, the more you see what you lack, and that you never, ever will be the rider in your dreams. At least not me. I want much more than I ever will be able to accomplish.

But I cannot let that stop me, or spoil the joy I have in the riding.

It is all about the road, and enjoing the scenery as you travel.

And the more I am working with horses, the more fascinated I get with them.

And the more I want to learn.

But I also see that to be able to do that I need a large portion of patience, to calm down and to try and listen to my horse in the process.

So I am the eternal student, with an insatiable need to learn more (I envy you your blog name, stillearning!)

As a student, I try to stay concentrated on the tasks.
I try to give it my best, but if I am totally done I ask for a breathe.
I ask if I do not understand, but I don't argue.

If I do not agree, I keep it to myself.

I try not to get impatient with my horse (I can tell you it has been a toll this autumn).

I try to praise her at an attempt to make it right, it doesn't have to be perfect.

If I am satisified with the help I get, I tell my instructor so. They also need to hear that they have done a good job.

I might be a bit reserved with new instructors, but once I get to know them I am very grateful if we can have a more ongoing talk during the lesson about what happens, and why.

I often stay on and watch others ride. I believe watching others train for a good instructor is a very good help to my own riding, and it doesn't cost me a thing (more than time).

So how about you?

What makes a good trainer?

On my post two days ago, I got an interesting comment from Wiola.
She wrote:

"Someone told me this clever thing a couple of days ago: "Horses always do what they did".
If they come to the arena each day and are allowed to buck that's what they will do next day. If they spend 30 minutes a day fussing with the bit that what they will do next day again.
If you want to break a habit either in yourself or a horse you need to make a proper change, do something different.
Experimenting and trying different approaches is good."

Wiola's comment got me to think of another saying: "If you do what you've always done, you get what you've always got".

That is, if you want to break an undesirable pattern, you have to do something different.

Through the years, I have been riding for many trainers.
Some good, some less so.

One show jumping instructor was very nice, but when a horse and rider had problems with an obstacle, he did not make the exercise easier.
Did not lower the obstacle, did not frame it to avoid the horse running out etc.

So often the result was that the rider kept banging his/her head in the same brick wall without being able to solve the task.

Resulting in repeating the bad behaviour in the horse thus learning him to do things wrong, and getting the rider frustrated.

Not a very good tactic, if you ask me.

I have also found out that a good rider does not necessarily make a good trainer.

So what does?

If I am to improve myself, I have to change things.

I need an instructor who helps me to see what is most important to address.
I want my instructor to have many tools in her tool box, and also to be able to use them at the right time.
I want him/her to be verbal, to be able to interpret a feel into words.

To have an analyzing skill, so she/he can dissect the problem and find the underlying cause.
To be encouraging, but at the same time come with (contructive) critisism, as I know that the only way to improve myself is to do things differently/better.

I want him/her to have a sympathetic approach towards my horse.

I want him/her to look both at me as a rider, as well as to the performance of my horse.

What do you think guys?

How is your ideal trainer/instructor?

The other thing that Wiola's comment got me to think about is the excellent memory our horses have.

I have a vague memory of having mentioned this before - but if I have, you'll have to excuse me.

When Fame was three yo we met a small pig from one of the other stables when out trail riding. It was moving in the undergrowth, hidden behind some bushes.

She got absolutely terrified.

Thing is that every time we pass that place she still gets very alert and tense, three and a half years later.
There is no doubt in my mind that she still relates to that single incident.

Nothing happened, she was just very scared.

And remembers it well.

So we have a large responsibility when training horses, especially young ones.

We have to be very careful about what kind of experiences we give them.

They remember well, both the good and the bad.

Winter wonderland

After the rain and the mud, this is just heaven.

Thanks to my daughter for the lovely pictures.

Thanks to the Weather Dep. above for the lovely sun and the snow.

The elusive art of riding

And finally...we have got snow!

It is just a thin layer, but together with some cold, clear weather and a lovely FULL MOON - I am a happy girl!

Sometimes I dream of living in a more southern part of Europe, but when I get all the rain like we have had lately, I change my mind.

I want a real winter.

With snow that lights up in the dark.

Frozen, nice hard ground, not mud where your boots get stuck.

Ok.

Maybe the Alps then.

A nice, white winter, but a shorter one, and closer to the Mediterranean.

Wouldn't hurt.

I think I might have found the reason for Fame's antelopiness.

If so, it is embarrassingly simple.

It has been so muddy lately that they probably stand still most of the day when outside.

Hence, too much energy when ridden.

*headdesk*

I did not think of it until today when one of the girls remarked that Fame and Othello had been playing around a lot when she was to take Othello in. (The ground is now frozen.)

Oh, well.
We'll see.

After riding her half an hour down to the new riding hall on Sunday, working her over an hour and riding back again she still was bursting with energy.
Taking moose-length steps when walking, pretending to get scared and jogging, and when I let her canter up a small slope she just took off, jumping left and right and playing around like a two year old.

Stupid thing.
But she did concentrate a bit better in the work, TG.

Riding is an elusive art.

This autumn I have learnt a lot, but it has also been frustrating at times.

Fame has become stronger but also tenser, which has forced me to evaluate my riding.

The horse I had this spring, is not the same I have been riding this autumn.

Conclusion is: I have been fiddling too much with my hands, and too little with my legs when trying to get her to relax.

I feel that I am still out on an exploring trip, but we are closing in on the riddle. I had a good session on Monday when training for Annie.

I also have to be quicker to give the rein. It is so easy to tense up yourself when your horse is tense.

I had another good session on Sunday, with another trainer, AK.

I liked her too.

My tool box is always ready for a refill.

AK wanted me to take another approach when Fame tensed up. She asked me to collect and then ride forward and soften on the hand.
While Annie wants me to ride through it, keep the leg on until Fame softens.

I do not find the contradiction frustrating.

No horse is alike, no situation is either.

We just have to find out what works best on that horse, at that particular time.

I suppose that is why riding is so intriguing.

"Ever changing, each horse is different, each day, each hour, and each moment. Few activities can be so full of surprises as riding. Nothing can be less predictable than a horse.(...)
We never reach our goals in riding. Riding is like shooting a moving target, and if, and when, we hit the bull's-eye the thrills are incredible"

Dressage Principles Illuminated, Charles de Kunffy

Once Upon a Time...

...we had sun, and beautiful colors.

And I took a wonderful trail ride with my daughter.

Now everything is dark, wet and grey.

It is just a month ago, but right now it feels like ages.

Why don't you join us for the ride?

I apologize for the quality of some of the pictures. My cellphone was not quite cooperative that day.

After crossing the creek and some fields, we are taking a gravel road leading further up into the forest.

We are so lucky to have some houses serving food in the forest.

Norwegians are very fond of using their spare time for walking and bicycling in summer, and skiing in winter, so there is a market. the people who live there have part of their income serving food, mainly in the weekends.

We go horse riding, much more fun!

We have packed up food for the horses too.

After about three-quarters of an hour, we leave the gravel roads for a path through the forest.

I just love the way the sun is filtering through the trees.

A bit of the path is quite stony, with bare mountain sides.

We meet some people with bicycles.

I don't like to ride on bare mountain sides with a shod horse, the horse easily slides.
Most of the path is OK though.

Below you see one of the most popular places to stop and have a rest, and something to eat.

It is called Kobberhaugshytta (Copper Hill Cottage).

You can also spend the night there.

We are moving on to a less frequented place.

Calmer surroundings makes it easier to relax with the horses.

Below: We are closing in on the way up to our destination, Finnerud.

Fame has been here before, and is looking up to the houses.

Feed Place is in there, Mum! See??

Here we are, this is Finnerud.

They used to have a "parking place" for horses , but a horse ran off with the tree trunk to which you tied them and unfortunately it was never replaced.

But we don't mind, we have a special corner, with some trees and our own table in the sun!

They have the very best ciabatta, carrot cake and waffles.

I was very disappointed as they were out of my favourite, the carrot cake.

But the waffles were not bad either!

Charlie can't find his pellets on the ground in between all the leaves, and is getting impatient.

(read: being a nuisance. Have you seen a horse get entangled in a tree? Well, he did his best)

My daughter has to help him relocate his food.

He has it well hidden under the leaves after trodding around and scraping up leaves with his hooves, stupid.

My princess Fame is behaving well as always (hahem) and is calmly looking at the surroundings.

She has hoovered the ground free from food.

Been here, done that.

Charlie suddenly gets a visitor.

He stops being Very Bored (expressed by un-relaxing exercises in different postures), and checks out what's happening.

The entertainment climbs up a tree.

I am waiting for an explosion from a "frightened" horse.

As food now is scarce for both two- and fourlegs, we decide to get on our way home.

When coming home, we had been out and about for around three hours.

Horses were happy, we were happy.

A wonderful ride.

Thanks for accompanying us!

All shades of grey

Att: CEO Weather Dept.

Re: Recent supplies

Dear Sir,

We just want to draw your attention to the fact that the warehouse stock of Water is now filled up.

To solve the problem we have been forced to store some of the recent deliveries also in other locations (fields, roads etc.). This is giving us some trouble as the premises are not approved as storage facilities.

Another problem is that we have a large number of orders for Sun, which we have not been able to deliver. The order intake last month has been high, but we have only recieved a two day supply.

Our customers are getting upset.

We have tried to calm them with Higher Temperature deliveries, but we feel patience is running low, especially with the shortage of Daylight Hours.

If supplies of Sun still poses a problem, some of our customers might settle for some Colder Temperatures with Snow.

We are deeply concerned as the trend curves from marketing dept. show a rapid increase in Gloom.

Please advice.

Awaiting your soonest reply,

Branch office, South of Norway

Jimmi training again

Jimmi arrived on Thursday, so Fame and I have been working hard this weekend.

On Saturday I was really tired, and contemplated an Absorbine-bath.

I thought an update perhaps was in order before going into details about the weekend.

Last time Jimmi was here, Fame was tense, a bit too high in the neck and not round enough over the back.

The problem had been sneaking in on me, and when working her the week before Jimmi came I had problems to get her to relax enough to have her to work as I wanted.
We concluded after the last visit that this was the main issue to work on, and I was a bit worried that it was something physical bothering her.

I thought it over, wondering whether to contact a chiro or try to solve it through the riding.
At the same time the details of my job change was clarified, and with some extra time on my hands I had a discussion with my trainer Annie.
We decided that she would ride Fame a couple of days each week for the upcoming 3-4 weeks.

It turned out to be a very good solution.

After just two sessions Fame was much better, so there were not any large problems.

What has been nice is that when Annie has been riding, she has also been commenting to me what she was feeling and doing, so it has been kind of a kinderegg solution – I have got my horse worked through, I have learnt more about what issues to address, and Annie knows my horse better and will be able to help me better when I am riding myself.

Nice, huh?

I feel that Fame is now working with a better hind leg activity both in trot and in canter, and Jimmi also thought she had improved since last time.

I was very happy that he confirmed what I felt.

I still feel that she is more antelop-y though, in general.

I have been wondering why.

I got a comment on an earlier post that lower temperatures sometimes can get the horses more agitated.
I thought about amount of hard feed.

I am not convinced it is any of the two.

I have asked more from her in the work lately, maybe that is a factor?

We have now a new riding hall 25 mins ride from us, light and nice and with a super surface.

A treat to ride in!

It was ready just this week, and Fame had only been there once before the Jimmi-training started.

Fame saw some ghosts of course. And as a funny coincidence, as she grew tired, the more ghosts she saw.

I reread a book of dressage by Carl Hester a while ago. In it he describes his horses.
I remember that he described one of them as a bit pluggy as a youngster, but it turned into a much more lively horse as a 6 yo due to the work and increasing strength.

Maybe something similar is happening to Fame?
Fame has never been pluggy, always lively – maybe it is just a bit too much liveliness coming out through her ears?

I was looking at her the other day when tacking up.
I believe she has put on some more muscles lately.
When you see your horse every day it is not easy to tell – but she looks larger.

Still, I hope the antelopiness is a passing stage.

I like a lively horse, but I also want to keep her with me.

Back to the “with-you-ness” we discussed in an earlier post.

I dressed her up before the work on Sunday. All orange!

So what did we work with this weekend?

Basics.

Fame has to build strength to be able to do some more collected work in the time to come. I would also like her to further improve the quality of gaits.
When she gets stronger, she will be able to show some more expression.

So we worked with transitions within the gaits, and between the gaits.

Lateral work; leg yield and shoulder-in in trot and canter.

She is weaker in her left hind, which earlier gave me problems when asking for a left canter depart.
She tensed up, and wanted to float a bit outwards to the right.

She now gave me nice round departs within the frame, which made me happy.

We have another problem though.

When collecting canter left, she sometimes changes canter with her hind legs.

Jimmi said that we just have to keep working on it, stretch the limits, tap a little on her hind when asking for collection and ride out of it when I feel that she is tensing up.
Keeping her relaxed in the work, but asking for a little more day by day. I have to feel how much we as a team can handle.
Sounds good to me.

I believe I have to have some calm training sessions on my own with Fame, and concentrate on how I sit, and how I use the aids.

I earlier thought that the problems was my fault, but as she has been doing the same thing with Annie I believe it is (also) an evasion on Fame’s part, due to her weaker left hind.

In Sunday’s session we were a bit tired, both Fame and me, and the ghosts multiplied.

One of the corners was scary right from the start.

It contained a large opened door to the outside, and there were some jumping obstacles stored there. One could not see what might hide behind them.

As tiredness grew, the whole upper end of the arena turned scary. Tigers can jump far.

Which made the shoulder-ins a bit difficult to ride…

But I have a cunning plan.
When we are to ride there in the weeks to come, any break will be in the scary corner.
So, scary corner=place of rest.
*evil chuckle*

I must boast a bit in the end.
My daughter won the regional cup in dressage this autumn, class LA.

As she is not quite well she has not been able to train as much as she wants.
She was in second place before the final, with one counting show less than possible as she had been sick.
She managed to do a good ride, and get enough points to win.

We were all very happy for her.

Her pony Charlie is a sweetie, he is there for her when she needs him.

He got his carrots.

I am alive (if anyone wondered...)

It's just that the new job has been occupying my mind and time lately, and with the addition of horses and family there has not been much time for blogging.

I am afraid there will be a bit more infrequent blogging here for a time.

I am fortunate enough to be able to attend seminars from time to time, and they always are a great source of inspiration.

I am also fortunate enough to have access to good trainers.

I say "fortunate", and value it because I grew up in a small town without these possibilities.

I know that in many places around the world the distances makes it impossible to have the support of, and the inspiration of, skilled trainers and riders.

BUT -

We do have the internet.

Lots of information is available for free.

Use it!

I have lately joined a site called horsehero.com.

They have a lot of videos on training (all disciplines), stable management, showing, grooming, health, interviews - you name it.

You can try it out for free, then you have to subscribe for a reasonable sum - £15/year.

I like it.

Another source is youtube.
I found a nice video from Jane Savoie on youtube about the always important subject of straightening the horse. She here introduces a term which was new to me: "first position", which I understand is an even softer position of a shoulder fore.

I like her comment about the difference of resisting and evasion in a horse.

In the video we see an example of a well schooled horse evading, but not resisting.

I just have to smile when seeing this, because I experience much of the same problem with my horse Fame.

She also wants to drift to the right when I ask her for the left canter depart.

There is a saying in dressage that "the hind legs are attached to the reins".

Conclusion?

We have to watch the contact on the reins. If the hind legs are not working properly, you will feel it in the contact.

(Read more about the crooked horse in an earlier post here)

So why is the straightening work important?

When the horse is to collect, he has to engage more with the hind legs, i.e. carry more weight by closing the angles in the joints and stepping under more.

If one hind leg is not strong enough to carry, true collection will be impossible.

So it is just to hang in there.

Patient work over time.

This weekend I am fortunate again -

Jimmi is here, and Fame and me we have to work haaaard.

On Saturday I will do my best to compensate for the fat I've burnt -then it's time for dinner with some horsey friends again.

Yippeee!

Have a nice week-end everyone!

And.....

No kittens! The Sofa princess was in heat again last week.

Tricked us all.