10 Questions for August

From the best that is Viva Carlos, of course! :)

1. What is your biggest source of caffeine that gets you through the day? (drink, not just brand): 

Coffee! Lots and lots and lots of coffee. Did you know that Finnish people have the highest consumption of coffee in the world, at 12 kilos per person per year!?

2. Do you honestly think your trainer is the best trainer for you?:

I don't currently have a trainer, but my trainers whilst I was in England Andrew Fletcher and Lili Brooksby Dalby were both equally fantastic and I couldn't have asked for better trainers! Both were incredibly motivating, talented at picking up my faults yet even more talented at helping me fix them and I loved every lesson.

When your trainer makes your horse look like this!

3. One token of advice a fellow rider/trainer/horse person told you that you still remember to this day.

Your riding position is the shape of a box and you shouldn't stray outside of that box.

4. If riding meant costing your family so much money that they’d be basically on poverty line, or making your family terribly unhappy (if they were not supportive or understanding, etc.) would you still do it?

No. As much as I would hate to give up horses and riding, I would if it would make my family happier. Fortunately horses make my family happy and everyone is very understanding about how horses and competitions come first, the rest later.

5. (Girls) would you ride while pregnant?: 

NO BABIES YET!! (for a while yet at least!) I think it would depend on the horse and how many times I'd fallen off. I would ride both Basse and Vallu as late as possible because I trust them both, but a youngster maybe not?

6. How do you tell when a horse likes someone/has bonded with you or someone else?:

I think it's very specific per horse as they are all so different, but with Basse I knew we had bonded when he decided not to kill me on the gallop track when he was 5 years old, and with Vallu it was when I got told by several friends that he appeared really unhappy whilst I went home to visit family! 

7. Are horses capable of loving, in your opinion?:

Yes I think so.

Public displays of affection 

8. If you could have one horse from your past come back for 5 minutes, who would it be, why, and what would you do with them in those 5 minutes?:

I'd LOVE to have my pony back for even just those 5 minutes and go gallop with him across the fields. I miss how fast that pony was and how he would gallop until he was done and there was no stopping him!

9. Should a trainer also be a friend, or should it be a student/teacher relationship?:

I've had both, and I've always been more comfortable when the trainer has been a friend or at least a closer acquaintance than just a stranger. When the trainer is a friend I've found it a lot easier asking for advice and for help and not feeling like a total loser when I didn't understand something the first time. 

10. One piece of advice/training you were given by a trainer or mentor that you look back on now and view it as incorrect?:

A physio had once told my trainer and parents that Basse should be pts as soon as possible because his back muscles are so sore and that he would never be able to carry a person, be ridden or have a happy normal life due to his slight kissing spine... Safe to say that Basse's back has improved, he's been happy and healthy and we never saw this physio ever again!