Why horses?

I´ve always loved horses – as long as I can remember!

I´ve always been fascinated by the fact that you can get such a big, beautiful, powerful animal, which might be more than ten times your weight, to trust you and listen to your smallest aids.

I´ve always loved the swedish tradition ”midsommer”. Maybe because thats when my riding career started.

My mum lifted me up, 3y old, on a pony in my sommerdress. You could get a five minute ride for free. If my mum had known how expensive those five minutes could be later on, maybe she would have done differently. I was sold ☺
You had to be seven years to start at the local riding school. When that day came I was the happiest girl!

I had some fantastic riding teachers and the ridingschool soon became my second home. Later on, one of the teachers gave me the advice; ”If you want to be good, ride as much as you can. Take every possibility – even if you just get to walk in the woods, think of how you sit, etc. You can always practise and improve something. ”
I took that advice.
When the riding school was closed for summer I found horse jobs. Tried to ride dressage on half-broke arabians in the woods of Mississippi. Got a more serious horse job in Germany, where I sometimes was alone with 15 horses. The first time I found out quality was maybe better than quantity after all…

The last couple of years in school I sometimes rode before, in the lunchbreak and after school. But I didn´t quit school until I graduated at 19 years. I thought it was good to have an education, and subjects like biology, chemistry, physics, maths and sports is actually good to know, also in working with horses. You know how the body and muscles work physically for example and a lot is the same for horses as for humans.
Three days after graduating school I was lucky to start working in the stable of Swedish dressage rider Louise Nathhorst.
She is fantastic – as rider, trainer, mentor and boss! I´m still so grateful for everything she taught me.
I brought a horse with me – he was 12 years, really big, could do a little piaffe and a flying change to the left… But he had a big heart and Louise was a patient trainer. She told me later on though – if I had said I was going to get a bronze medal at the Europeans with the YR-team and then ride grand prix one year later, on that horse, she wouldn´t have believed me.

Louise really taught me to ”just train and do the best with what you have. If you put enough effort in, you´ll sometimes be amazed what results you can get”.
After five years with Louise, she helped me get a job at Rudolf Zeilinger in Germany. Zeilinger is really a proffesional rider and trainer. Always patient and consistent in his work with the horses.
I was really happy for the time in his stable and I learnt a lot!

One year later, I got a job at Blue Hors stud in Denmark, working with Andreas Helgstrand.
It was a great job! One of my dreams came true – I was riding all day and got paid for it!
And Blue Hors is such a proffesional stable in all areas, with a fantastic team behind!
I had horses all ages, from three years to grand prix level which I loved.

I have always found a way to teach the horses all the different movements. Maybe because I have good imagination ☺ or because my previous trainers have had good influence on me… But to really have the horses loose, supple and balanced, so they can show the best of their gates and that you not only can do the movements, but you can do them with real quality and expression – that I have learnt from Andreas!

At blue horse I got to educate several horses up to grand prix and I also competed on that level. I prepared and showed stallions, and I had a lot of placings and victorys in young horse classes.
When Andreas, after four years, got an opportunity to start his own business I went with him.
He wanted a stable not as big as Blue Hors, with quality horses and good time for each horse…
Helgstrand Dressage did grow a bit bigger…

But it was a fantastic experience to see how everything got built up from the very start – Andreas alone with a couple of horses, to the hugh company it is today with more than a hundred stables. And with fantastic people in a great team!
And really top quality horses!
I love to educate horses, but educating a horse with great natural talent is something special! It´s so much easier to teach them the difficult movements, and when they learn it, they can do the exercises with such great expression!
Also in the stable of Andreas I had horses in all different ages. I competed grand prix, showed stallions and had winnings and placings in a lot of young horse championships.
After another five years with Andreas I moved to the Netherlands where I met australian Will Rogers - today my husband!

Will has learned from some of the best horsemen in the world and has worked thousands of horses through the years, everything from ”problem horses”, breakers to sport horses, and he has developed his own system for getting the horses confident, relaxed and focussed. One of the things I like the most with Will is that if he does something good, he always ask himself ”How can we do it better, or in an even easier way, or a better way for the horse?” He can really get the horses to understand what he teaches them.

I´m thinking that if we mix the skills, takes the best from dressage and horsemanship, the end product can be great!!
I have had my own company since 2014 now and Will and I co-operate in the training of our horses.

In the Netherlands I found my top trainer Anne van Olst who is brilliant in all details of dressage training and she has ridden not less than 5 olympics!!! She also knows that it takes a whole team around horse and rider to make great results.

We want the best in feeding, physio, farrier, vet and mental training.
(for horse and rider…)

I have gotten super mental tools from danish coach Rasmus Bagger who I have worked together with for several years.
In between I also train with Morten Thomsen, who is an absolut genious in getting the horses to understand what we ask from them.
He breaks the excercises down into smaller steps, so that it gets easy for the horse to understand and learn it!

I rent stables at a yard with top facilities – indoor, outdoor arena, grassfields, walker, aquatrainer, close to a big forest with sand tracks, cantertrack along the river & great stables.

I really want to take the time needed for every horse in my stable and I´m trying to find the best pathway for each horse.

I love to educate horses from the very start in their lives all the way to Grand Prix!!!