Björndalens Quarter and Cattle

Next stop was in Tollarp just outside Kristianstad at Sara and her husband Palle's horse farm. I have seen lots of pictures of it on Sara's blog and I was so excited to see it live! I had very high expectations but it was even better than I thought. What and amazing place! Before going to the farm Sara and I met up for lunch in the city. When we got to the farm I got dressed in riding gear straight away and we did a tour of the place. The indoor areana is very very nice and every little detail in there has been well thought through.

They have 8 horses on the farm and who would not want to live here if you are a horse? I haven't seen the place in winter though but this time when everything is green and lush it is beautiful.

The latest addition to the family!

The entrance to the stables.

The house!

Sara getting CatOlena ready for me! Western riding is a completley new thing for me and I am so greatful that I got to try it.

The stables are really spacious and clean and very well organised. Not a surprise for those of us knowing Sara :-)

Riding in a western saddle is like learning to ride again, I felt like a beginner at least for the first 20 minutes. Making the horse walk, trot, canter, stop and turn is done in a very different way to what I am used to. Sara gave me some instructions that seemed simple but getting the hang of it was not easy. At the end of the hour I was cantering around in the arena without too many problems. As long as I was cantering I was ok but as soon as I had try and do something different I had big problems. Like getting the horse to take steps backwards. It looked so easy when Sara was doing it but I couldn't get the poor horse to move. Anyway, it was great fun, not quite as fun as jumping, but I can really see why people love it.

Sara and I finished off the ride with a walk in the paddocks in the beautiful summer evening.

Just when we were done with the horses Jessica turned up. We all had a drink in the sun, I can't remember when a beer tasted so nice last time. I also got to meet Sara's husband Palle for the first time!

The evening ended around midnight after having had a delicious dinner cooked by Palle, lots of wine (not sure how it happened but my wine glass always seemed full) and lots of talking and laughter. A great evening with great friends!

Waking up with horses and paddocks outside the window is of course a pretty nice feeling. One last photo of us girls before Jessica and I took off in different directions and Sara and Palle stayed on their beautiful farm.

Josefina picked me up in the morning and drove me to Älmhult. We had a few hours together at Ikea where we also had lunch before met up with Karin, checked in at the hotel and started getting ready for the wedding.