10 Questions For October

Thank you to the wonderful Viva Carlos for doing another set of brilliant questions. In case you don't follow her, you really should - I love her writing and have been following her blog for years!

1. What discipline do you ride? What would you ride if you could pick any other one?
I'm going to be sticking to dressage, but if I was braver then I'd love to give eventing a go. All my horses have been bought for dressage so I can't see myself doing any jumping shows with them, the boys can just about canter over poles, and Melisse gets so hyper that she jumps everything and forgets about steering and half-halts totally so I don't think we'd survive an actual round of jumps!

2. How many horses have you ridden in your entire riding career?

I have no idea! I'm guessing it must go well into the several hundreds... Considering I started actually riding when I was 7 years old and since then I've been lots of riding schools, had my own pony and own horses and ridden friend's and employee's horses, there's no way for me to be able to count how many I've been lucky enough to ride.

3. Most bizarre activity you’ve done with your/a horse?

Not my horses, but when I was at a summer confirmation camp organised by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland when I was 15 years old, one day we took all the horses out for a swim at a local lake  🌊 I'd never ridden a horse bareback in a swim suit and swim with it before and don't think I will ever again - but it was SO COOL!

4. Do you consider riding to be your outlet? If yes, why?

YES! These beautiful souls are my entire life, and always have been. Nothing else makes me as happy as my animals do.

5. Have you ever read horse-related magazines? If yes, which one(s)?

Horse & Hound was my absolute when growing up and I still read it either online or whenever someone purchases the actual magazine. 📚 To this day I still hope to get my name mentioned in the magazine one day. When I was younger I read Finnish horsey magazines like Hevoshullu (literally translated to horse crazy) and Villi Varsa (wild foal - these names are the best 😅).

6. Most memorable advice given to you?
"You have to be smarter, quicker, and braver than the horse". To this day, every single problem that I have had with any of the horses that I've ridden has been solved by being either smarter, quicker, or braver than the horse.

7. Did you ever collect Breyer horse models or similar?
Weirdly enough, nope. I had a few Barbie horses but by the time I was the age when collecting horse models would been the thing I already had my own pony who I was obsessed about.

8. Favorite “celebrity” horse?
Salinero, Totilas, Valegro, Bella Rose 2, Weihegold OLD and Cosmo 59... 😍 I love them all! I think all horses are wonderful, but there's something so incredibly special about Olympic/WEG level dressage horses, they really are the complete package and perfect athletes!

9. If you could spend a day learning from any horse person (past or present), who would you choose?

Well my big brother of course! But if I can't pick him, then Isabell Werth. I mean who wouldn't pick an equestrian who has competed in the Olympics five times, winning ten medals (six of them gold medals) and holds the record for the most Olympic medals won by any equestrian athlete?

10. If you could ride in any international arena in the world, where would you choose?
Either at the Royal Windsor Horse Show or then at Olympia! I've been to both shows at least twice now and they are SO special to me, although not the easiest arenas they would be amazing to compete at.