Instructor and young riders in Hittarp

The Hittarp riders have very nice paths where to ride. I shot this image of young riders and their instructor late this afternoon:

The Hittarp horse riding club celebrated its 40th anniversary

Hittarps Ridklubb celebrated its 40th anniversary on August 22 with a great show in their new indoor riding arena:

 

A white pony

A portrait of a local pony:

Two horses

Two horses at the Hittarp riding stable:

 

Her name is Alaska

 

And the chestnut is Waldo

Pony riding in Hittarp

Riding a pony can be fun!

 

Riding at the Hittarp stables

Today the weather was perfect for riding:

A rider at the Hittarp stables.

 

Ponies at the riding stable

The ponies are my favourites at the Hittarp riding stable:

 

 

Portraits of a pony

One of my favourites at the local riding stable:

Pictures from the Hittarp riding stables

Today I visited the Hittarp riding stables:

 

 

 

You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours - horses also do it

You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours:

 

 

 

At first sight you might think that this is a picture of a sleepy horse:

 

But in reality, this horse on the neighbouring Kulla Gunnarstorp castle grounds

was only resting for a few seconds after this:

 

 

A curious white horse in Laröd

This white horse was eating grass when I passed by on my bike. When I stopped, and grabbed my camera, his curiosity was awakened ...

In praise of Damon Hill (the horse) and dressage

Grand Prix winner Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill in Aachen.

Yesterday. I was planning to watch the British Formula 1 Grand Prix, broadcast from the legendary Silverstone race circuit. However, my plans changed accidentally, when I stumbled upon the German television channel WDR. 

The WDR took me to another Grand Prix, where the winner was Damon Hill, although not the former formula driver, but his German namesake, a horse.

The winners in front of the audience in Aachen.

The WDR showed the wonderful dressage to music competition from the World Equestrian Festival CHIO in Aachen. What a pleasure it was to see the best dressage riders in action! Germany's Helen Langehanenberg and her horse Damon Hill deservedly won all three main dressage competitions at the festival, including the freestyle dressage to music. 

Rodney Laver, MBE, knew how to dress.
(image wikipedia)

And thank God, there still is a sport where the competitors dress properly! The beautiful white dress code in tennis, which still was observed e.g. by such legends as Australia's Rodney Laver, is gone long ago. Fortunately the dressage riders have been able to resist "modernization". 

The organizers report that altogether over 360.000 spectators visited the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, which shows that people still appreciate quality and high standards in sports ....

PS 
Here you can watch Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill in action at Aachen last year:

Portraits of a white horse

Horses are nice to photograph. When they are relaxed, they pose rather nicely for the photographer. This fine white horse lives in a nearby riding stable here in Hittarp:

Jim, a semi retired senior horse, enjoying the nice early summer weather.

Horses braving the cold weather at Kulla Gunnarstorp

Today I walked to the neighboring Kulla Gunnarstorp castle gardens in order to watch the riding horses. The horses did not seem to mind the icy wind too much, but still they looked quite happy when it was time to return to the stable for the night.

Portraits of two Swedish horses

This afternoon these two nice horses posed for me at the local stable:

Millan (left) and Jim

And here are four individual portraits of the two friends:

Advanced cross country riding at the Italian Cavalry School in 1906

In the first decades of the 20th century the Italian Cavalry School at Tor di Quinto near Rome was - along with the French Cavalry School at Saumur - the leading institution for horsemanship in the world. Tor di Quinto was probably the foremost academy for advanced cross country riding. 

As you can see from the photographs below (taken in 1906) the elite of the Italian cavalry officers had to master some rather difficult situations, without falling from the saddle .....

Still in the 1930's the Tor di Quinto Cavalry School maintained its high standards, as you can see from this video: