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Video of palace arena (sorry about the quality — little camera)

This will be my last blog entry from my Denmark ’07 trip. I just wanted to share my visit to Christiansborg (Christians Palace). It’s now where Denmark’s parliament is, but also the home of the Denmark’s Royal Riding School. I found out about it through one of the policemen that I met (last blog entry). He said it would be ok if I went to watch them exercising the police horses there. Due to an unfortunate bus transfer mishap (rrrr), I was too late to watch the police horses (disappointing because they were jumping). But on his way out, the officer introduced me to three of the Queen’s riders and one rider from the Danish military cavalry. They were exercising the Queen’s horses in the arena. The policeman, who I owe a huge thank you too, asked the soldier to please show me the royal stables and the antique coaches. He said ok!

First we went to the stables so he could saddle up what looked like an 18 hand giant to exercise. I looked around, and aside from the few Oldenburgs, I noticed that most of the horses were like the one he would be riding — towering, white, and beautiful. I’d never seen one before. They are called “Old Kladruby” horses and are still used by royal courts around the world as carriage horses on formal occasions. They have Roman noses, a silky main and tail, and look white, but when you get closer you can see that they are slightly flee-bitten. The original Kladruby stud farm (including the horses) at Kladruby na Ladem in the Czech Republic is on the list to become a World Heritage Monument because of it’s architectural and historical importance. Continue Reading »

I know this is off topic as it has nothing to do with reining. But I’m on vacation, so I might as well. I finally found some real live (as opposed to bronze or marble) horses in Denmark. We spotted them during the changing of the guard at the queen’s royal palace, Amalienborg. They were beautiful Oldenburgs owned and ridden by Copenhagen’s Finest, the mounted police. The two officers we met told us about the training they go through with the horses.

The police horses are tested once a week for their calmness (bombproofedness?). Guns and chainsaws are a few of the things used to make loud noises for this testing. They are taught to actually push crowds back with their bodies. They also practice jumping once a week. Busy horses! Continue Reading »

Leo and I are about to start our two-week vacation. Leo gets to lounge around the pasture while I head over to Denmark to visit my sister. I’ve never been to Scandinavia and am very excited.

I’ve heard that reining has become popular in Scandinavia, so while I’m there, I thought I’d check out a few reining facilities to see how they do things (maybe I’ll learn something). I did a little asking around and was given the name of a man who owns a tack shop in Sweden. I was told that he might know of a few reining facilities that I could visit in Denmark. Looking at his web site, I can see that it’s a dedicated full-blown western tack shop. It’s called Rocking B Saddlery. There is even a page about Les Vogt; although, I have not idea what it says (I’m sure it’s all good stuff). There are also a few photos of the owner, Haakan, who looks like he knows his way around reining horses and cattle. Continue Reading »