Helgi's Life · 28. June 2024
When I bought my first horse, Sörli, I was still convinced that a horse has to obey its rider at all times. Sörli taught me differently.
These days, I want my horse to be my partner: A junior partner who gets to voice his opinion, but has to accept my decision once I make it.
Other Four-Legged Friends · 07. June 2024
Buying my first horse was a spur of the moment decision. Söril was anxious and recalcitrant, and training him turned into a challenge that cost me a lot of tears. Only when I understood that forcing him to obey would not work did things start to go better. I offered him choices instead of demanding obedience, and suddenly he started to accept my autority.
Here is how that happened.
Horsetraining Handbook · 26. April 2024
Getting a book ready for the printers involves a lot of steps of preparation.
I was lucky in that my editor involved me in every one of those steps, turning the process into quite an exciting experience for me.
Here is how my book developed from a raw manuscript to a finished product, ready to be printed.
Horsetraining Handbook · 12. April 2024
I get the call every author desperately hopes for: An editor of a renowned publisher wants to publish my book on training my young Icelandic horse Helgi.
A happy ending? Not quite yet, it turns out.
Here is the story of the bumpy road from that call to the point where the book gets turned in to the editor.
Horsetraining Handbook · 29. March 2024
Finding a publisher for the book is proving difficult. A leisure rider's view on training a young horse is a rather specialized topic, after all.
I soon start to doubt whether the book will ever be published.
Here's the story of a long and sometimes frustrating search for the right publisher.
Helgi's Life · 22. March 2024
What happens if the rider fails to check the fence before letting the horses out to enjoy an afternoon in the snow?
You guessed - the horse grabs the opportunity and canters off. At least he does, if he is named Helgi. Here's the story about an unplanned adventure, which fortunately had a happy ending.
Horsetraining Handbook · 15. March 2024
Having written and edited (and edited, and edited) the book, now the next phase starts: Getting feedback from beta readers.
A nerve-wrecking process, let me tell you!
Tandri's Adventures · 08. March 2024
Tandri loved doing circus tricks. He'd spend hours enthusiastically doing tricks to earn his treats, repeating them until everyone but him was tired of them.
Here's how he learned his first trick, fetching the bucket.
Horsetraining Handbook · 01. March 2024
How do you turn an untidy heap of notes about training a young Icelandic horse into a readable book?
This installment tells you how, over the course of almost a year, said heap slowly turned into the first draft of an actual book.
Helgi's Life · 23. February 2024
I enjoy riding my Icelandic horses. Doing liberty work with them is a lot of fun, and I love practicing circus tricks with them.
But it's the quiet times, the little moments of companionship, that make my heart warm the most. Here's an account of a sunny afternoon when Helgi and I spent half an hour just enjoying each other's company.