I have helped many equestrians with their mindset and relationship with their horse, so they now are confident and enjoy the equestrian sport. Thanks to my extensive experience with horses, I can lead you to success in your riding. I have been actively riding the different riding styles,(dressage, hunter/jumper and trail) owened a lot of horses and have an equestrian business. l have also been breeding and selling horses for many years. I am a coach and trainer and have also completed courses as a judge. In addition, I have been a saddlemaker for many years and can advise you in terms of equipment and how it affects your horse. I can help you in 3 langauge, Danish, Swedish and English.
Axell’s Baroness is sold! What do you have to do with it, you probably think, it is quite normal that you sell your fillies when they are 3 years old. I actually also feel a little relieved when I know that I will soon have only 4 horses left.
Then I start to examine myself.
I have been a breeder for almost 40 years, is it time to quit? When Baroness leaves, I only have one breeding mare left. The only one in my possession who can carry on the blood that I have bred for most of my life.
When to stop?
When is one too old, when will it be a torment instead of a pleasure?
So much you have gone through, dead foals, accidents and a lot of money and time you have put into it. The little pleasure you have, the short time you have the offspring before it is sold, the stallion that is to be cared for all year and in some cases only used in the spring.
I stand in the choice and the qualifier if I should get my last mare covered or I should ignore it.
Now I no longer have a stallion myself and it feels hard to go through the whole procedure to breed a foal you have to sell. It feels like one’s lifetime deed is over and it’s just accepting.
Now this may sound sad, but I do not feel any sadness, I just reflect if I would have done it differently if I had had a choice. I have had so many beautiful nice horses in my life and I am grateful and do not think I would have wanted it any different
I hope you laugh a little here, because of course you do not, but ….
Buying a new pad for the saddle (horse) is an expression of the fact that you both want well and would like something nice to look at. To want something nice to look at, should not be underestimated, our whole world is built on it.
You choose colors, interior design, husband, horse, yes practically everything based on appearance. It is completely normal that you want something nice to look at.
Then there are different tastes, and it’s great that it’s so, otherwise we would choose the same interior, husband and horse 🙂 When we then have something nice to look at, then we want to use it too, so it will be useful.
When you have then put on the pad on the saddle and saddled the horse and the lump comes back in the stomach when You realize that it is only the rider who is missing.
If you have lost the motivation or courage to ride, you will in that moment, realized that the pads will be dusty dirty and possibly the mice have been eaten it, before you start to ride properly again.
How many nice pads did I not had lying and thinking …. soon I will.
It took many years before I got started again, and have thought that if I had spent that money on getting help instead, it would have looked very different.
I managed after many insecure years to get started with the horse again, and then the pads were not so nice anymore, but ask me if I care 🙂 The horse is still pretty:)
In Sweden, there are many women who rides and it can be pregnancy and childcare that can be the culprit for longer breaks in riding.
You start thinking about what can happen if you fall off and as a mother you do not want to expose your children to something happening to their mother. Pregnancy also causes one’s body to change in many ways.
I generally think that women worry more than men. As a woman, you have already listed all the things that can happen during a riding session before you sit on the horse. Men just sit up and take the beating
During a pregnancy, the hormones play a trick on us and many gain weight and have a hard time getting rid of it again, and if you have a little too much weight with you, it also means that you can become awkward and inflexible.
Have been through this myself and have several acquaintances who have gone so far as to have surgery, because it has been too hard to carry. So it is active women who do not eat much, but the body has reacted like that. Unfortunately, there are also lots of additives in the food that make the body react as it does.
No matter how you turn, you have the back end We want to exercise to get the body going and get rid of the fat but we do not dare to sit on the horse because it has been a long time since you have ridden and you are stiff.Do not be ashamed that you have a little extra kilos.
There has been some debate about how much you can weigh if you are going to ride and I think it is completely absurd. Fat weighs less than muscle, so you can not look and see at people how much they weigh and most horses carry you without problems, because just when you are in that condition, you still do not have the strength to ride much more than a little walk and trot .
When you have started, maybe you get a bleeding tooth and ride more and get rid of more fat and then you might get the urge to compete a little and then you can hope that one gives the other.The main thing is that you get on the horse and get started. It’s a wonderful sport
3 top mistakes, when You want to get rid of Your fear of riding.
We all do different, and we all learned from other people and Our own experiences. I am no different, so I might be wrong!
Though I also maybee worked so much with the problem , fear of riding, so I have seen and heard a lot.
You can choose to take my advices if it will help you, but you can also choose to not. But think about what I am saying, and please write what you think, so I get some other aspects about it and it is always intresting to hear about your oppinion!
Nr 1 mistake to do when you are afraid of riding
An old sign says that the only thing you can do is to get up on the horse emedately if you had fallen off. If the horse has bucked you off and you have hurt yourself, I think it is not a good idea.
You are scared, the horse is scared. The risk would be that You will be stiff in your body and scared to death.
Something made the horse buck you off and you have to find out what did happened, before you are trying to get on him/her again.
When I was a child we often had old millitaries who should teach us how to ride. It was very tough for a young girl. It was hard for the horses too, I think today we know more about horses language, instead off being hard and cruel to them. The fear dont just dissapear because you get ordered to get back on the horse. I agree that action concures fear, but I think the action is going to be more well handeled, than just get up on a scared horse again.
NR2 Big mistakes to do when you are afraid of riding:
Many people tells you that the horse must have respect for you so you have to do it in a hard way. If you have a horse who is scared its the worse thing you could do, to force him trough his fear with a whip.
To be a leader is not the same as to be hard. You will have to teach him/her things before he/she knows he/she kan trust you..
Off cause he cant run over you and he/she cant bite you, but to punish him/her is not the right way to do it. Teach him/her the things you want him/her to do, show him/her the way:)
When I as a young kid was on the riding scool, my trainer punished the horses with a whip when they didnt do as he told them. Unfortunally, I thought it was the right way, because he was my trainer, but later on I saw how wrong this was and found better methods along the way.
Nr 3 big mistakes to do when you are afraid of riding:
Lunge him/her a lot before riding, to get him/her tired. You could lunge him/her when he got his saddle on to see if he is embarrased by the geird, but to lunge him/her to make him/her tired is the wrong way.
He will just get in a better fit if you do this every day, and more difficult to work with in the future. A tired horse dont learn, so you will not solve the problem this way. I love to use long reins, its a lot easyer to keep them calm and you can influence them more this way.
If you own a horse, most people think that if you don’t ride it, it is a waste of money.
Riding is not always the main thing for us horse people. Just the smell and the sound of a horse chewing its food is a therapy and heal your soul. The stress goes away and just talking to and be with the horse is amazing.
Riding can be a big part of having a horse but not necessary. The horse don’t care if You ride it or not, as long as it has food and big space to move around in and good company of other horses.
You can do a lot more with your horse than riding and you have the horse because you love it and love to be together with it.
Some people start to breed on their horse when they are not riding anymore,(if they have a mare) because they want to justify that they have it economically.
It is wonderful to get at new little foal, but watch up, the next thing you know is that you will have 2 horses!
It is almost impossible to sell a horse you have been breeding yourself and soon you will have to break it in and a lot of work and new things is happening. Think it over more than twice, before you start to breed.
If you ride together with other people or you are in a place where people can look when you are riding, You might wonder how the others are thinking about how you sit on the horse, and how good you are riding your horse.
That is very comment and I would say that it is 99% of all riders who would be thinking that way.
There is nothing wrong about caring what other people might think, because it will help us to provide and get better and make us think about how to ride in a better way. The problem is not the thought in it self, but how you recieve it and what meaning you give it.
Our thoughts can go far in imagination, about what other people think about us, and it can make us fell useless or dum, but it could also get you to improve instead.
If you see a couple who are waching you and you notice that they are talking together, you would often think that it is you who are the target and you are shure they are mention all the things you dont do right at the moment.
BUT maybee they are not talking about You at all…..
Equestrian people though are very kean about their horses, and most of them think that the way they treat their horse, is the best way to do it. You can alwayes get a ”good” advice, how to ride, or how to feed Your horse, even if the person is not very educated.
Sometimes the less educated the more they want to give advice. You will have to realize that it is not the advice in it self, it is how you recieve it.
It is easy to get frustrated and angry if somebody, you know is not very well educated, tryes to convert you to do as they want. You can´t affect the way they are thinking, but you can decide how you are going to recieve it.
As a rider you will never ever learn it all, its a journey, and even with a whole life with horses, you will never know it all.
So it is simply to accept where you are on the journey, and try to move foreward. Listen to what they have to say. Maybee you can use it, and if you cant, then dont!
You will never move foreward if you dont listen, maybee you could learn something, you will never know.
Just dont listen to garbish, and if anybody speaks bad about you, ask them directly, why. Mostly it is people with a bad selfconfidence, because if you are well educated and know that you are good at riding, you dont have to talk bad about other people.
Just think that you are going to learn and be comfortable where you are, as long as you are nice to the horse, then you are good.