Linnéa Nordlund & Quick Quest

This has been my mantra the past few days.
On Sunday I decided to ride despite my illness, because I had no real choice. I have a horse to take care of. I almost fainted and Vasara was very upbeat after 6 days of insufficient training, but dammit, I gave her a great training.
Yesterday I worked from home and I can proudly say that I got soon much done, it worked so well. I don't think many persons can work efficiently from home, but I sure can. I think it's due to my mad discipline and experience from getting all those A's working from home at university.
Today I'm also working from home. And except for all that work, I've managed to close my penny girl membership and my Netflix and viaplay memberships. I have also called the healthcare line and asked for advice about my neck and shoulders, and following that advice, booked a visit to a physical rehab center for today (I'm on my way there now during my lunch break). I have also washed Åsa's blanket, and I …

I'm so sick it feels like I'm dead. I've had 39,5 degrees of fever two days in a row which has made me unable to do anything but lie in the couch and sleep.
Mathias took care of Vasara on Friday, and yesterday I went with him just to see that she was well and alive and then I fell asleep in the car.
Today I will have to go riding as I haven't got any choice, she needs to move. Friday was ok for her to rest as it is her resting day, yesterday I would rather not have had to have a second resting day as I've really been working on getting her in shape. So, instead of whining, I will just go and do it.

Since I was travelling late last night I didn't have to chance to see the first part of the show jumping world cup live... So I've got the short  summary in the background while working from home today.
Åsa is actually there, I wish I was too. it will be soooo exciting to see how our 4 finalist do.

I'm back home again, and Im really ill. All the joints in my body are aking, my head is dissy and sometimes it feels like I will faint.
The trip to Germany has gone really well and I'm happy with myself. But god it's good to be home, I've missed Mathias and Vasara so much,

When I turned 25  set up this list of 30 things to do before I turn 30. And now it's time to cross some things off.
1. Buy a horse. 2. Compete in, and win, a 1,20 show jumping competition. 3. Get my drivers license. 4. Marry Mathias. 5. Go on a roadtrip throughout Europe. 6. Resolve my issues with my dad. 7. Move to a new, bigger, apartment and design it according to mine and Mathias' wishes. 8. Learn to play the guitar or the piano. 9. Record an album in a studio. 10. Go to Italy with Mathias. 11. Go on a horseback riding vacation in Canada or another awesome place. 12. Dance all night and party like it's 1999. 13. Do some kind of charity work, preferable for women. 14. Start doing oil paintings again. 15. Write another monologue. 16. Really clean out the attic and get rid of all the stuff I don't want to keep. Live light! 17. Learn how to do crocheting. 18. Learn to do the splits and a front handspring. 19. Finish my laser treatments for permanent hair removal. 20. Go …

My new bag is amazing.

It's all gone very well!! This trip is nothing like the Borås one. I'm really enjoying myself and can say that I do have the most wonderful colleagues world over.
Tough I'm really tired now after talking for 8 hours, my spirit is high. I will go and have some dinner with Christian in the old town and then go to bed early and recharge for tomorrow.
But dear god I miss Mathias and Vasara!

I've been panicking for a while as mathias birthday is coming up and I haven't gotten a clue as to what to get him. Ad then suddenly, as few days ago I finally got it! Ad now I've found where to get it and everything else. So as soon as the paycheck arrives, I'll fix it!
Then it's the small detail of our two year anniversary which is coming up just 2 weeks after his birthday, and I am still clueless as to what I'm gonna buy... Help?

Waiting for my connecting flight to osnabrück. I've visited this airport many times but today I only got to see the boring parts of this huge airport.
Really tired, and ready to get some sleep.
I feel very calm before tomorrows first course day.

... I did some shopping at Arlanda.... Picks and details later tonight.

Once again I'm on the road, this time I'm headed to Osnabrück, Germany where I will teach a two-day course in KWS; Kwintet Webshop Solutions.

Second dressage lesson for Åsa. God I love her. It went so well!
I've really been working hard since the last lesson, and Åsa could really tell.
I myself has noticed how much better my balance has become, how much stronger and more flexible my pelvis and hips are and how me and Vasara has gotten to know and trust each other better and are more of a team.
And it was GREAT that Åsa saw all these things as well. She said that everything has improved a lot and that I'm a great rider :)
I love it when hard work pays of.

Hero-mode; ACTIVATE!
How on earth will I capture thee horses without halter a and get the to their stable 1 km away!?
Oh, wait.... I think I can see... Maybe.... Phew, there is actually an invisible fence. Thank god.
------- Then the same thing happened to Mathias.

Today has been a terrible day.
It started out with me having morning duty in the stables. Mathias was supposed to drive me, as he needed the car. Of course ha made me late as he's so.... Horrible in the morning.
When we arrived I rushed into the stable. (I changed clothes in the car as I had then home for washing yesterday). I took out Eragon, the 3 year old stallion. He's a motherfucker. To make a long story short, I was so stressed the I hadn't changed my shoes so I was wearing flats. And when the fucking stallion freaked out at the pasture gate, he dragged me into 30 cm wet mud. My flats got stuck BURIED in the mud, and I continued to walk 10 meters in my socks. And the day did not get better from there. To summarize a few thins; I burned my hand badly. Vasara got injured on her leg. I got the stomach flu. Etc.
I fucked the loose jumping, did dressage and then I went home and buried myself in the sofa. I'm still here, 8 hours later.

Friday: Jessica came with me to the stable, it was great to have her there and we had lots of fun!
Saturday: I borrowed Britt-Marie's jumping saddle and jumped several obstacles and and a mini-course. She was crazy hot and we both loved it, though the saddle was definitely not for me; REALLY uncomfortable and it didn't fit Vasara. So we only managed a short training and the we headed out into the woods and did some climbing.

On Sunday it's time for Lunda's first loose jumping of the season, and of course me and Vasara will be there!
Oooh looking forward to it!

Vasara looked very tired yesterday so I let her rest. Instead I took the chance to do some cleaning, which was originally planned for this weekend.
I pulled out everything from my locker and started sorting it into three piles; 'take home to wash', 'take up to the loft for storage' and 'back into the locker'.
I'm very happy with the result!
Before:

After:

I will try to visit IKEA this weekend, or next.
On the list:
- a new chair for work, as my current one is killing my neck and shoulders.
- 4 frames from work, so that me and Tomas can put our certifications on the wall.
- candles (as always when at ikea).
- a new lamp for the living room.
- a new lamp for the hall.
- towels for Vasara.
- new plates
- more rechargeable batteries
- some lunch boxes

All of a sudden today, my awesome boss and colleague Tomas came to me holding a laptop. And he said it was for me, to take home so that I could play all my old win95/98/xp games on, which I've been wanting to do for ages.
I was so happy and grateful, that's so amazingly thoughtful!!!
Thank you so much Tomas, you are the BEST!!!

We did some jumping yesterday, and as always it was great fun! Since I've been riding Vasara for a few weeks now, I have gotten to know her strides a bit better which is very useful haha ;)
I jumped a low 40 cm obstacle just to train on controling the strides and jump off. Then we finished of by jumping a 70 cm obstacle but that wasn't too easy in a dressage saddle... And since I was to lazy to shorten the stirrups we only jumped it once. I REALLY WANT TO JUMP SOME REAL OBSTACLES, like 1 meter. God I want my jumping saddle noooow! I think I will borrow Karolines this weekend and go for it!
The dressage is coming along better and better every day. I'm so happy :) I will call also now to ask her to give me a lesson this weekend.

In 8 days I'll get my next salary. This one is special as it will be the double amount! I'm getting my final paycheck from Bravura (who pays one month after the work has been done) and my first paycheck from Kwintet (who pays the same month) this means that I'll get a nice and fat salary, which will allow me to finally stabilize my economy and pay all big expenses (new saddle and sofa, credit card for work travel....) and still be able to save some money!!
Since I started working 7 months ago, all I've done is to first save every penny to buy a horse. Once that was done, trying to fill all holes, and now... I can start saving!!

Next Wednesday I'll be on my way to Germany, to visit our office in Osnabrük and hold a two-day course for our colleagues there. I will leve Sweden at lunchtime and arrive at my hotel around 8 PM.
I will return to Sweden after midnight Thursday night.
I'm thinking about taking Friday off, or at lease work half day.
Marre is taking care of my baby, so I know she'll be in good hands. But dear god I will miss her like crazy! I miss her everyday at work.

I've told Åsa that I want to buy her saddle. Yey! It's so beautiful! You can tell just by looking at it that it's from an expensive brand and made with care and quality.
I gave it a good cleaning yesterday, together with the bridle and the halter. Normally I only have time to quickly put some leather conditioner on it, but this time I used my soap for 40 minutes! Will try to use the conditioner today.
My plans for the weekend is to totally clean out my tack cabinet and put some stuff I don't use on the loft.
I seriously can't believe how dirty everything has become!
I will also need to bring one of my blankets home to wash, as Vasara rolled in the mud wearing it ^^
It's hard for me to watch all the dirt and unorganized mess, as I am a bit of a cleaning-and-sorting-dictator.

I could feel that both me and Vasara needed some change of pace. We've been working hard in the paddock every day, so it was time for some forest-fun! So; we heade out and trotted on the paths, galloped on the open fields and just really enjoyed ourselves. I could tell Vasara was having a great time and she was quite energetic, but as always, incredibly sweet and trustworthy.
Unfortunately, the pouring rain had made every inch of the outdoors into mud. And trotting and galloping in this... Well you can imagine for yourself. So when we got back to the stable, I had to give Vasara a good shower. She loved it! I have learnt that if I do not use quite warm water on her, she dislikes in and starts dancing a bit. But if the water is nice and warm, she really enjoy herself.

Mathias called my during lunch yesterday. He said that he needed the car, and would it be okay if he picked me up at night and that I walked to the stable? Of course I said yes. Problem was... I was wearing 12 cm heels, a see-through blouse under a trench coat. The wind was blowing like a hurricane and rain drops were just waiting to fall. Imagine the pain and the cold!!!
I wrapped my thin scarf around my head and by doing so looked like a Russian hobo. And I started walking.

1 h dressage. Went well :)
I ride until she is tired, which normally takes a bit under one hour. I have also increased her pellets amount as she is working harder now. She gets around 1,5 kilos a day and the recommended amount for horses doing normal work is 2-4, and light work 1-2.
Britt-Marie told me that someone had thrown a glass bottle in my pasture... So I had to spend quite some time pickin up small fragments of glass. She might well have saved Vasaras legs by seeing that bottle. Fucking drunks who throw bottles. I want to take their kids and let them play where they have thrown them.

Today was a big day for Mathias; it was time for his first riding lesson, and his second time ever in the saddle! It was so great, I really love having him with me in the stable and he did so good! He's really getting used to handle Vasara and he did so good. The lesson went really well, I'm proud of him!! And myself, I managed to be very pedagogical. And my sweet, sweet vasara... She is goodness itself.

Rainy rainy. No ridey ridey. Lots of grooming instead.

I've discovered a terrible thing; I'm crooked in my pelvis! My left side is a lot stiffer than my right. Unfortunately, Vasaras left side is also stiffer than her right... So; time to fix it!
Get stretching bitch!

Tomorrow is a big day; Mathias will ride Vasara for the first time! This will be his secon time on a horse, ever, and I'll give him a lesson! :D

While I was in the stable yesterday, Mathias assembled out new sofa. It's awesome, I really love it! The cozy corner in particular is really nice and I think I will spend all my time at home in it.

To pick up the sofa!
The traffic is crazy... I'm afraid that we won't make it to the store in time before they close.

The day of rest.
To begin with I had to stay home for 1,5 hours after getting home from work, due to the CRAZY traffic. I thought spring would be the time when people would bring out the bikes and stuff, but noooo; they bring out their CARS! So I will have to go by bus and train to the stable after work if I want to go there before 7.30.... Then Mathias will have to pick me up in the car or I will go by bike to the main road to take the bus.
Anyway, I was exhausted and it was late, so I took a day of rest from riding. I think Vasara needed it also.
Instead we spent a lot of time making her pretty <3

On a grey day - thanks for brining colors to the world!

ITIL + PRINCE2 = quite the package!

Yesterday was the last day for my old sofa. Thank you for these past 7 years, we've sure been through a lot together!
God I will cry when we throw it away today.

Very nice of EM to send us flowers as a thank you for buying our new sofa from them.

I've picked up my final pennygirl package. I will call customer service on Monday to cancel my subscription.

Wow. Wow wow wow!
I am happy beyond words. The lesson I rode for Åsa was AMAZING.
I don't even know how to describe it. It was magic. I learnt thing I didn't even know it was possible to learn.
Even Åsa was amazed at the end of the lesson, of how sensitive and responsive Vasara was to my helps and instructions. An believe me, so was I.
Åsa is a dressage instruktor who has just come home from a 2 week course in Portugal. He brought home with her emence new knowledge and I feel so privileged that I get to take part of this.
We focused solely on me during the lesson, my position, balance, points of pressure and sideways hip movement.
Vasara doesn't need any training, she knows her stuff. Actually, we four out that she REALLY knows her stuff. All I have to do is ask her in very small, almost invisible ways, and there is magic.
I can't believe how sensitive she is. I'm still a bit in chock.
At the end Åsa told me "that's a damn fine horse you've got there"…

I've been looking into getting my own domain. I want a .com but they are very expensive, so maybe I'll settle with a .se

When I got to the stable yesterday I was informed that the pregnant frieser mare had given birth to a dead foal one month before her due date. She had gotten an illness which is normally vaccinated against, but the owner hadn't done it.
This is such a tragedy. The owner had invested so much money in a once-in-a-lifetime meeting with an amazing and very famous stallion, succeeded in getting pregnant and now lost the foal. She must be so sad and I really feel for her, she is such a nice person.
But my heart goes out to the horse most of all. She was standing in her stall with the afterbirth still hanging out of her, more than 12 hours after the birth, and the veterinarian visited several times to give her different shots and medication. I hope she will still be alive when I arrive tonight. That horse is so beautiful and sweet, I just love her.

I've finally figured out how to change the horse owner in TDB. It took an email to the support team, and it turned out that I had been a bit blind. Either way, I can finally make myself the owner of Vasara in the official competition database!
It will cost 100 SEK so I will have to wait until the next salary, as I'm very broke this month...

I am really looking forward to tonight. I will ride for my new trainer, Åsa Sühr, for the first time and it will be my first training with Vasara.
Mathias said he'd come watch and film it if he won't have to pick up our new sofa or anything unexpected shows up.
I'm also a bit nervous, it's hard when people other than the trainer looks at you while training ;)

On the schedule: jumping.
I did a mix of dressage and jumping over small obstacles (I only have a dressage saddle after all) it's actually going really great. I'm so happy with Vasara, myself and my new saddle.
The dressage is working sooo much better than before and it's a joy. It will be even greater to ride for a trainer so that I can fast forward past this "getting to know each other" phase. As I've only been riding her for like two weeks, I see a great future!
When jumping, Vasara was extremely happy, which meant she wanted to charge forward. It's great to see how much so enjoys jumping. But I can already tell that my biggest challenge with her in jumping will be to keep her under my control. When she charges forwards it goes way way way to fast and she almost misses the obstacle itself. I've looked in her two competition results with Katja, and I can see this here also; she has the fastest time of all, but she has also knocked one or two bars do…

I've chosen to take the bus to the stable today, because I am absolutely exhausted and will not feel safe behind the wheels in the heavy traffic, not for my sake or for others.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how a responsible person acts.

This is what I see twice a day, on the bus to and from work.

On the schedule: 60 min dressage
Status: success!!
I still can't believe the difference on Vasara with this new saddle! Suddenly any looser can ride her nicely in dressage :) she can move so much more freely, her withers are free from pressure, the contact is even elsewhere... I said that the old saddle was the most comfortable I've ever tried. Well; this one is better, believe it or not. I can tell that this is one of those crazy expensive saddles on the market.
It's also really good to see that Vasara can work herself tired. Muscle building here we go!
I have had to wash down her legs and stomach every day now. And finally she's accepted this without any hustle.
The fungus is also a lot better, the ointment is working like a miracle!

... There was a snowstorm outside.

Today we went to Mathias sister to attend a name giving party for their daughter Lova.

I have a saddle again. Åsa the saddle fitter had spoken to Åsa in the stable who had a saddle for me to try. And it was... AWESOME!!! I could really tell tr difference both on myself and Vasara. She could move freely, which made it a thousand times easier to ride her and it was all just amazing. For myself, this is the first saddle where I don't have to struggle to place my seat correctly, it stayed where it placed it. Wow!
The saddle is from an expensive brand and have been used for several years. Åsa wants 9000 for it.
While I was riding, Åsa was looking and feeling to make sure the saddle was a perfect fit, which it was. She also told me that she used to work as a trainer and I basically jumped on her and asked her to give me a short dressage lesson, which she did. And I love her! And she loves me. So; we decided that she will give me a lesson each Wednesday night at 7 pm. Yey!!!
We also took the chance to do some jumping. Omg it was sooooo much fun!!! Vasara went crazy with h…

I no longer have a saddle. The saddle fitter came back out again to check if the saddle was putting pressure on her whiters, which it was.... So I aborted the riding, very sad, and drove by the store to drop it of on my way home.
I also tried the walking machine. Vasara thought it was a bit scary but she was sooo sweet as always.

The funeral is over. It has been really hard to see all the sad people, Mathias in particular. I held his hand all throughout the ceremony.
I am exhausted. Maybe a trip to the stable is exactly what I need.

I present to you; Vasara the mud wrestler.

Omg this is terrible. The paddock I still useless, although a bit less useless then yesterday, and I had a headache and was in pain due to my period. So I skipped riding altogether. Fuck!

Just picked up my drivers license! It been waiting for me since two days after I passed the test but I haven't had the time to go get it.
And now it's in my hand!!!! For some reason it was a great feeling just touching it!

On the schedule: 60 minutes of dressage.
Was it possible: NO
Why: fucking shit paddock
Replacement: 45 minutes in the woods, mostly trotting.

Today is my first day in this office as a real employee. I am hired directly by kwintet. It feels great. In these days of economic crisis I made myself valuable enough to the company so that they hired me permanently.
Tomas told me that Stig, our highest boss, had said that I was a gift from the gods.
Now that's being shown appreciation!

On Friday it's time to head out to Saltsjöbaden in order to attend the funeral of Mathias grandmother, his fathers mother.
The dress and suit is hung, workplaces are informed.
I will get to meet lots of new people from his family, under a bit pressed circumstances. I don't think people will be too sad, they have all been prepared for this for over 6 months. Nobody will be dressed too formally or sad, as Eivor didn't want that.
This will only be my second funeral.
My mother father died 20 years before my birth.
My fathers father is still alive.
My fathers mother committed suicide when I was around 7-8 and I wasn't allowed to go to the funeral.
My mothers mother died four years ago and I went to the funeral, my first one.

Darn you, stupid paddock!
Yesterday's planned training was jumping and cavalettis. I started out riding the trail around the meadow, trotting and galloping everywhere possible. This took about 20 minutes, a perfect warm up. Then we got back to the stable and headed down to the paddock. Disaster met us. I was the worst state I've ever seen it in, it actually was hard walking on it, forget doing anything more... So I had no choice but to leave directly. I tried out lunging paddock, but half of it was just as bad, making it impossible to ride there also. So all thoughts of training had to be discarded.
This sucks!
I realize now that it doesn't matter how much I like this stable, I will not be able to survive late autumn/winter/early spring without an indoor ménage. So unless there will be one built close by very soon, I will have to move.

We've just bought a new couch. Finally! It will be here in about two weeks. Awesome :)

Time flyes... The fouth month of this year begins. And with it, 2 things;
- I will try to document my time in the stable a bit better, so that I will have a proper training diary. - It's also time to set up the first set of goals.
So here goes.
Goals: * Every day until the 1st of May, I will do balancing excercises. * Vasara should be noticeable more flexible in her left side by the 1st of May. * By the 1st of May we should be able to do better leg yieldings, shoulder in and travers. * By the 1st of May we will have worked with cavaletti and obstacles 1-2 times a week.
Training plan: * Monday: 1 hour dressage * Tuesday: Jumping/cavaletti * Wednesday: 1 hour dressage * Thursday: 1 hour dressage * Friday: Rest * Saturday: Jumping/cavaletti + trail riding * Sunday: 1 hour dressage + trail riding

As we all know, big things are happening in our very own Gothenburg in less than a month.... Not only will Gothenburg Horse Show host the FEI Rolex world cup final in show jumping, but also the FEI Reem Acra world cup final in dressage!
It is less than a month away... oooh so exciting! 24-28 of April in our very own Gothenburg. I wish I could be down there!

It's getting close; the release of the new Nancy Drew game! Pre-orders start 9th of April and the game is released May 14.
Her Interactive has now released the soundtrack and the character profiles.... and said that this game will be the scariest so far. My oh my!!!!
Check out the teaser here

Spring is here for a minute, then gone a minute, the here.... But one thing which is constant is that our paddock is u-s-e-l-e-s-s due to it state as half frozen ice and half melted holes. So it was very hard to train today, I could only walk in the paddock. Luckily enough I was able to go and and gallop in the forrest! :D wii!

As with everything else my baby was so cool and sweet. <3