The Swedish countryside is breathtakingly gorgeous; big blue skies, green, lush, sweet, smelling grass, and tall pines and silver birches, but when you add Swedish Warmbloods to the equation the stakes get higher. Today S took me to where she works, a small, private Swedish Warmblood breeding operation about 20 mins drive from her house. There were horses for as far as the eye could see, ranging from wee little babies to small herds of 4-5 year old, gangling yearlings and filled out stallions and mares. Swedish kitties meowing 'hello's' and horses nickering for our affection....this is Perfection.
The farm is situated on the same lake that S's parent's house is located where we were yesterday. A small number of horses get to call this equine paradise home. 50 in all, the owner of the farm has been breeding babies for about 5-6 years and has raised some very good looking and well moving babies. When we were there late morning a friend of the owner's had also arrived and he had driven from Stockholm to see the new crop of babies. 10 in all were paraded one by one with their momma for the guest and I was lucky to get invited to the showing as well. Each baby was displayed for the guest and asked to trot around the ring with their mom; all breed for dressage you can see the natural action these babies were bred for. Nice push, natural engagement of the hind end and delicate curvature of the neck made each baby impressive. Ask the owner which one is for sale and the answer will be......No.
Hova, Sweden where S lives is the location of a Medieval event between a knight and a king and to commemoration and remember the significance of the event each year the town (S calls it a village), holds "Knight's Week". For 9 days the town comes alive with local people dressing as medieval towns folk, from their shoes to their hat. Vendors some and sell goods; jams, wood carvings, clothes and of course wooden swords complete with shield and princess head dresses. Today was the first day of Knight's Week and to kick off the celebration there is a parade of all the knights, a band, and the carrying of the town's flag to the jousting arena.
8 knights and horses are split into 2 teams. They compete in several traditional knightly tasks. We watched them all try to get the ring on the lance, stab what looked like a loaf of stale bread with the lance, slice an apple with the sword, and many more feats of bravery all while riding a galloping horse.
*** pictures to come later, or just check out my "Sweden!!" album on Facebook. upload is taking too long.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150228551360814.313809.651115813&l=028ec04030
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