Here a greeting from Reina Vikinga in Norway, she has had a tough recovery from a complicated operation and we are all very happy to see her now working again with her owner! 

RV was raised at our farm in Sweden and is now 5 years old by Firme AP and Reina XXXIV
                         

Snowy day today! Oh well, not a big deal, it will be gone tomorrow again. I put the boys in the walker whilst I took in the ladies for a good grooming. Boys back with winter rugs on and then ladies for some hairdressing. Nova is a highly strung girl, kicks and swings her toy ball if her routine is broken but then she's super cool with the trimmer, it's alright even inside ears. Pica is more delicate, she really prefers the scissors, and definitely no machine between or near the ears, no Thank You she says regally, one fine lady with a growing belly.... I so love that belly  

My dad has arrived, he and some friends are going to see his dream-team playing 'el clásico' - the Real Madrid-Barcelona game, now I know who Leo Mezzi is as we watched the game from yesterday. Retired people do know how to enjoy themselves, it's great. I am also taking my dad for a reset from Suzanne Powell next week, I hope it will do him good. Now I need to take extra care of him so he can help me with................... Our new horse home! Yes yes yes, the stables where mares are living right now will now be OUR stables, Picara's baby will be born in her own home!!! I have wanted to have my own place for a long time now, then suddenly this oportunity arrived, lookilook how things come to you when only you ask for it! The 'finca' is a small farm with 4 big stalls for mares and 6 smaller ones, a traditional spanish stable that has had pretty much no maintenance (ever) so we need to polish it up from scratch. Boys will get their own paddocks, we have 4 hectars under the beautiul spanish oak trees and fresnos for babies to grow and stallions to stretch out in, not sure who will enjoy most, me or them.. It will be a new life for horses and much work for us, but it will be worth it. This will be mainly be our base for our own horses and breeding but we also look forward to be able to have a small selection of horses we can offer our clients directly from our own hands. We do have a small but exciting line-up of horses to fill our new home.. So from now on you will be able to locate us in beautiful El Escorial, north west Madrid, 40 min from Barajas airport and 30 min to central Madrid, very welcome and you will always be recieved with a smile!   

Pastures in our 'finca', El Escorial, Madrid

I appreciate so much my life right now, the people around me my family, friends, my horses and my job. I decided to give all my energy to what is positive and rather than be upset or try to push away the negative parts. Instead I just ignore it, turn my back at it and give it no energy. I have have noticed to my surprise that like that unwanted things falls away naturally.. and I am abit surprised, I somehow thought I had to work hard for everything..? 
Having a very interesting and rewarding job helps alot to focus on the positive. I get to know so many different people, all passionate in their own special ways about horses, and it is pure pleasure to be able to share my own passion in this way. I try my best to answer all emails and inquiries in a personal way. Of course I make most effort with clients that are communicating openly and have a genuine interest in finding a suitable horse. And I can't help  getting very enthusiastic about finding the best possible horse and the best possible personal match, it's a very creative job!

Just as there are more or less serious and professional horse-mediators, there are also more or less serious horse-buyers. I see the buying/selling process as a cooperation. Many times I get emails asking about prices of horses and nothing else. But I take my job seriously and work in a personal/professional way and I need information to be able to match a horse sucessfully with a person. Most times I answer; Please send me your requirement in as much detail as possible. If a person is interested only in the price it will be very difficult to match them with a suitable horse. Some are just wanting to know prices and location to be able to locate the horse by themselves. I respect they want to do the job themselves, it is a different journey, but then my job has to be respected for what it is, a professional business. We don't go to IKEA to ask for the distributors prices and contacts, do we!?   

Breeders/horseowners and brokers doesn't just communicate about horses we also discuss clients and the horsemarket in Spain doesn't work like many seem to think. Horses are not a finished product ever and the prices can seem very difficult to understand. If we have sold horses from one particular breeder/owner we obviously have a better relation to this person and would be given better prices. They also know which quality horse we are interested in offering our clients. There are many ways to cooperate and we cooperate with many people. In Spain a very good reputation is required and I mean real reputation, no bullshit.
At times a person turns up at a stud get a much higher price than the one we have. This can depend that we have had a long time negotiation over this particular horse or with the owner in general, they can have a personal interest in us selling their horses, for different reasons. It is not the same to send your 'products' abroad to a prestigeous rider or studfarm as it is to sell it to the next door neighbour where it will be hidden away.
Sometimes a horse have one price one month and another the next. The reason for this is that horses get reevaluated and prices can only be maintained over a period of time becuase of new merits, level of training, keeping your horse in prof. training is expensive in Spain.

Our horses are selected with much seriousness, many years of work lies behind being able to source quality horses from professional people and achieve reasonable prices. And we are always able to justify the price of a horse that we offer our clients. And you are always very welcome to ask any questions!

Today a swedish client has made my job being an absolute pleasure and it makes me want to do my absolute outmost for that person. By now there have been quite a few of you, I appreciate you all alot and I want to thank you for making special horse-connections happen!

Nina-A's new pure carthusian passed vetcheck today, I wish you much happiness together, you have the possiblities but now it up to you to make happiness happen :) 

Today rain and grey sky all day long and I seemed to be like the weather and when feeling dull, as I have the privilege to be self-employed, I stayed in kept warm and caught up with work at computer. My body told me to and I listened. The horses had to take care of themselves and they do, with the help of Jorge &co. Mares did not go out today, why stand in the rain when you can be inside and keep warm munching hay. 
So after some phonecalls and emailing I confirmed a new vetcheck for this week, it is now beautiful Meleno's turn. This super talented horse now has a destiny for Finland and this luxurious finnish home, with heated stables and heated indoor arena, just what beautiful Meleno deserves :) 

Meleno

Winter rugs and now washed and folded away, spring arrived! So yesterday all got a sunbath. But today it seems spring came and went, grey sky and chilly again. Picara now has started on her last weeks od pregnancy and filled out her udders a little, so excited and a little nervous, can't wait to see the baby 
And talking about excitement, I have been working alittle also and now one horse is due for a vetcheck next week, a scandinavian young lady is now very excited :)

I have trained boys also as usual, Halagador got a super stretch workout, Start did so well he was finished in 15 min, he knew dinner was waiting.. I am sorry I never get around to do a proper video of Donoso, I am absolutely teqnically crap and I don't seem to ever get the time to sit down and learn. But I have a friend who offered to do some footage and perhaps it can hopefully be a video when there is enough material. So for you that has asked here is a unedited sneakpeak from today :)
http://youtu.be/tuxq0OBe64M

We have had a glorious sunshiny Valentine, I hope you had a good one, here some sillyness from our day, cheerio!

And beautiful 'Hagge' after work, black'er than his own shadow :)

And this was meant to be idyllic so just ignore the barbwire in the foreground.. 

Nr 641

Nr 640

Two days rush past real fast when you are having a good time, not too many kilometres but still a substantial amount of 989. Yesterday we came back with the snow which did not impressed the finnish visitors too much. Too our surprise and great amazement we passed several snowtrucks scraping the bare roads even though there was not even the slightest white powder the point of producing sparks?!............................................

We (me and dogggies) had a great time with S and her football husband (went to see Real Madrid at Bernabeu of course) for two intense days. S had never ridden a spanish horse so she had many new impressions to assimilate, some small fears to overcome and she did it all gracefully of course being a scandinavian woman :) She used me as 'crash-test-pilot' so I have also been riding this weekend, 3 of the horses were absolutely pure pleasure for me even in jeans and winterboots. My driving was not spectacular, I seem to get lost very easily for some reason even with the GPS, but all went well and we found all the horses. We also enjoyed a great spanish late sunday lunch in a typical in the middle of a 'no-where' village. S has a very good taste for the PRE and her type is definitely the pure PRE, a grey horse with a kind clear eye and the carthusian bloodline is what speaks most to her. 
The luxury horse that has it all! 

Pallarés PRE stallion, sensitive and sweet, will do anything for you if only you give him a pat and tells him he's a good boy :)
 
 

PRE stallion born 2008 100% pure carthusian cerrado en bocado with a very kind eye
 

Black PRE 100% pure carthusian artist that knows it all :)