I think Kneist deserves to be the first on my list of horses
He is just such a personality!

Kneist was my first real introduction to Fjord horses. I met him when I lived in Oslo. The horse I was currently leasing was moving away with his owner, so this girl with the funny dialect (Anne-Karin) asked if I needed a horse to ride for the summer.

I said "sure, does he jump", having a very local club competition the upcoming weekend in mind. She said "yeah...wanna try?". And then things got rolling - he sure could jump but wasn't very experienced. I believed we even placed at the little club competition - and then Anne-Karin asked if I wanted to ride him in some open jumping classes at the Norwegian Fjord championships. She was bringing him in any case to compete in driving. Well, why not? Then I had to be a member of the Norwegian Fjord Organization, so I signed up last minute.

We ended up placing at the championships - one second and one fifth - and I guess most people will remember the red dun stallion that tried to mount the gelding next to him during the prize ceremony. Quite scary when it happened and very embarrasing afterwards. I learned my lesson that day!

Kneist's life and merits:
Kneist is the horse that opened my eyes to the world of fjord horses. Of course I'd seen them around when growing up in Norway, and even ridden some. I was under the impression that they were slow, boring, stubborn and not very athletic. I couldn't have been more wrong!

Kneist was born in Nordfjordeid in 1992, and was raised and trained by owner Anne-Karin Loeken

Link to the Fjord horse registry in Norway

The rest of the story...
Well, after all this success there was no stopping us! We didn't have a trailer but went to some local shows within riding distance and always did reasonably well. I think I even entered dressage once (LC) with a decent score, but this was before I really discovered dressage.

The next big success was the fall show in the local fjord divison of Oslo and surroundings. Anne-Karin managed to borrow a trailer, I drove to Hamar to exchange my tiny car for my dad's SUV for the weekend, and off we went. Anne-Karin and Kneist won the club championships in driving (cones course), Kneist and I won the two jumping classes we entered, and we won the first heat of a galloping race and did reasonably well in the final.

Over the winter, we signed up for jumping lessons at one of the fancier nearby riding centres with an indoor arena. Leave work early, tack up horse, lots of reflecting clothing / tack, one good hour's ride to the location of the lesson, in the Oslo suburbs, including crossing the huge motorway E6 by a bridge and going through some traffic lights, all in pitch dark. One hour of jumping lesson, try to put all warm/reflecting clothing/tack back on excited horse who wants to fight and/or mount the other horses, ride one hour back, clean stall, feed, home exhausted. I loved every minute of it. And Kneist was very proud of himself and started getting much more confidence when jumping.

Link to my local fjord club in Norway - Oslo og Akershus Fjordhestlag