ESMA Finalist!

Congratulations, you’re in the finals of the 2014 Equine Online Equestrian Social Media Awards!

You enrich the online world for thousands of equestrians globally and the ESMAs is our way of rewarding you for your effort.
We received 17,131 nominations from 5,109 individuals. We then had the tremendously difficult task of selecting 10-11 finalists in each category from over 395 entrants.

The selections were based on:

Strength of supporting statements made in nominations.
Degree to which they are active and engaging in their online efforts.

Up for grabs

For this year’s ESMAs there are two prizes up for grabs in each category. The first will be the Judges’ Choice ESMA, decided by an expert panel of the global equestrian industry’s most talented marketers and media professionals; the second is the People’s Choice ESMA, 100% decided by public vote. Voting closes at 4pm (GMT) on 7 February.

First of all: Thank you

I’d like to thank again each and every online friend who voted for NT earlier. It’s exceptional to be nominated as a finalist, it’s truly exceptional. It was already a great thing to make it to the semi-finals voting but this is something I never even thought would be possible. First of all I think this is a great opportunity to show our national horse to the world. :)

How to vote

Finnhorse – National Treasure is nominated in the category 20: The Best Use of Social Media in North-West Europe. See the voting page by clicking here.

You can cast your votes only once, so choose your favorites carefully in each category you want to vote before submitting. Remember to validate your vote(s) with your e-mail address at the bottom of the page! Otherwise they won’t count. 

Thanks again.

New Year Giveaway

It’s time for a giveaway! It’s been a while, welcome aboard. :)

Anyone is welcome to participate. Lucky winner will be awarded with a gift certificate to Viivi’s Webshop – a Zazzle shop online which sells my finnhorse inspired designs on various products from postcards and posters to T-shirts and iPhone covers.

Taking part is easy!

Click here to enter the raffle

• Submitting your e-mail to the raffle gives you one (1) ticket
• Liking our Facebook page gives you one more  (+1) ticket
• Following @finnhorse on Twitter gives you one more t (+1) ticket

So you have a chance to earn up to three (3) tickets for this raffle. More tickets – better chances!

Entries open on 1st of January and close on 15th of January, 12.00 AM Helsinki time (GMT +2).

The Prize

The prize this time is a $25 gift certificate to Viivi’s Webshop. The prices are shown in US dollars, but they ship all over the world.

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I got this blog award from Zanzana already a year ago, but couldn’t find the time to pass it forward (whoops). But now is the time! Thank you, Zanzana, for being the first of my readers to contact me with such an honor. Thank you.

Being a horseaddict, my blogosphere is more or less full of horses as well. Well, what can I say? It’s a lifestyle, not just a hobby.

I tend to read lots of different blogs, but my favorites are most often bloggers who I can learn from. In the riding sphere there are many good bloggers who share their philosophy and thoughts on horses and horse sport.

The rules for this award are the following:

• Display the award logo on your blog;
• Link back to the person who nominated you;
• State 7 things about yourself;
• Nominate other bloggers for this award and link to them
• Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.

Seven things about myself

•  I’m a versatile horse person and never understood people who could just stick to one type of horse sport -like for example those girls who were Dressage Riders and Dressage Riders Only. You can do so many things with horses, why wouldn’t you try out different things? It’s important to be passionate but there’s no need for blindfolding yourself. Just saying.
• I am currently owner of one finnhorse mare. She had her first foal in June 2013 and the next one should be born in May 2014. Needless to say I’m very excited to see how they turn out.
• In my opinion, one more reason to like finnhorses are the other finnhorse people -owners and fans. They work with the finnhorse in all its versatility. I love it how people from different backgrounds come along so well because they share this same interest. Most often these people seem to be also more laid-back than others…
• I am not a native English speaker but try to fix my flaws whenever I see them. I hate bad grammar just as much as you do.
• I hate unnecessary negativity. I do that myself but try to snap out of it. Also to remind myself that it’s ok to make mistakes and the important part is to learn from them.
• It often makes my day to see a new Like or good rating on a blog post. 1-2 star ratings are important as well so I know which posts my readers like and which ones are not as appealing.
• Lately this blog has been quite quiet because of my new job I started in September, but it’s not forgotten and I plan to keep it running. Right now I just have to readjust my schedules.

Check out these blogs

Horse Listening

How to become a better rider and horse listener.

Confident Horsemanship

Another good blog about understanding your horse and building up confidence when working with them.

SH Dressage

Finnish-born dressage rider Susanna Halonen, currently based in England.

Anna Kilpeläinen

Anna is a professional horse trainer who blogs about equine behaviour, dressage and horse training in Finnish. I visit her blog regurlarly and learn something new every time.

Hippola blog portal

Every now and then I just like to surf around a variety of horse and riding related blogs just for the fun of it, for inspiration, ideas or  just for networking. Hippola is a new equestrian blog portal of Finnish bloggers, an easy way to find something new to read.

Most popular posts of 2013

The year 2013 has been a bit more quiet than the previous -mostly because the posting frequency has been slower, I believe. It has been a year of changes for me, but now the biggest storms seem to have passed and it’s time to plan a bit further. :)

I’d like to thank all my loyal readers and welcome the new ones. The amount of followers has been growing and there are already over 900 of you all over the world. Your visits on this site are very much appreciated, likewise every like, retweet, share and comment. Thank you. :)

Like usually at this time of the year, I’ve taken a look at the statistics. It helps me to see what you guys like and plan the upcoming blogging year 2014.

The most popular posts of 2013

1. Stressed Mom?

Elyse had her first foal in June and she took the motherly responsibilities very seriously. This is a comic I drew about one of the fun moments we had in the summer.

2. Simppa is a rarity in UK

Article about our reader Annukka and her finnhorse gelding Simppa, who live in the UK.

3. Hakkapeliittas, the Finnish cavalry

The famous Hakkapeliittas and their small horses are still famous after all these years :)

4. Mounted Archery with a finnhorse

Photo post of Marko and his horse Luna Lukas training mounted archery.

5. Does the color matter?

Little something for color enthusiasts out there.

6. “Finnish woman is like the Finnish horse”

News anchor Arvi Lind gave this statement on Women’s Day. What a compliment! :)

7. Christmas Calendar day 6: War Horse

Finnish Independence day post 2013. For more photos from the Finnish war time photo archive, see SA-kuva.fi

8. What is the deal with pony-sized finnhorses?

This post is about the “finnpony”, one of the less popular but growing breeding section of the finnhorse.

9. Splashed White gene found in finnhorses

More treats for the color enthusiasts…

10. Interesting finnhorses for color enthusiasts

…and even more… :)

Vote National Treasure for ESMA!

This little heart attack I just got as I checked the ESMA nomination site… My blog got listed for ESMA open nomination!

Now’s your chance to nominate the equestrian personalities, brands, charities and organisations whose social media activity shines in the online world.

Select up to three nominees in the first set of categories, and a single nominee from the region in which you live. Each nomination must include a supporting statement explaining why you enjoy your selections’ social media activity.

You can only submit one set of nominations, so choose carefully.

from equestriansocialmediaawards.com

Click here to nominate your favourite equestrian social media sites for ESMA awards

Finnhorse – National Treasure is listed in the following categories:

1. Best use of Facebook

14. Best Blog

20. Best use of Social Media in North-West Europe (regional category winners will be put forward for the World Award)

This is an honor.

Getting listed is an honor itself. This is a worldwide event, so it must have taken more than a few nominations to get even this far!

Now all finnhorse fans also have a chance to get more attention for this awesome horse breed. :) So go ahead and cast your vote, tell your friends, let’s make it happen!

Elyse’s super mom diaries

We are doing great, thanks for asking. :) It has been one busy autumn, but in positive manner. I can’t help but praise my mare, she has proven herself to be a wonderful mother and a lifesaver as well.

Family portrait in September 2013

The foals have grown so fast as well -yes, we talk about foalS nowadays. Elyse adopted the six-week-old colt when his mother died suddenly of abdominal malfunction in July. So sad, but luckily even the darkest cloud has a silver lining. Elyse took this little orphan under her wing right away and has been feeding and looking after those two ever since and all three of them have coped the situation extremely well. If the mare wouldn’t have accepted the other foal, we would have been in serious trouble since he wouldn’t take the milk replacer.  This was truly a silver lining, we could have lost them both without this! :)

The two have got their own fan club already -most people think they are twins, and wonder how it’s possible when we tell them that actually these two have the same sire but different dams…

At Anjala show in September, photo by Satu Pitkänen / Rozpravka Photography

We went to an unofficial finnhorse show in Anjala in September. All three received first prize ribbons and the mare that won Elyse’s class was the overall Best In Show II, so you could say we were kinda proud of our trio! At first we were a bit worried how we could fit all three in the same car but all three behaved themselves SO WELL, they just stood there and wondered what this new box was all about. Of course Elyse is an experienced traveler but the foals were a mystery until we tried.

Double studbook mare and her proud owner. Photo by Satu Pitkänen / Rozpravka Photography

Fun trivia #1: The colours in the ribbons are the heraldic colours of the two regions where this horse breeding association works: Kymenlaakso (black and white) and South Karelia (red and black).

Now the two are quite experienced travelers for their age, in October I took Elyse to two Hippos shows in Kouvola and Lappeenranta to show her for two studbooks -both for riding horse (R) and trotter (J)-studbooks. She didn’t receive any prizes since she only did the ridability test for R-studbook and had so many gallop markings from races that she didn’t receive any for J-studbook either even though her record would have been enough for third prize. Anyway I was happy to have her accepted and most of all to have her conformation evaluated by professionals. It also doesn’t hurt to have comments like “very humble and pleasant to drive” in her evaluation. ;)

“Hold on, mommy’s working!” Photo by Satu Pitkänen / Rozpravka Photography

It was a tiring two-day experience, but  worth it. Now Elyse is a double studbook mare with a brand new register number 2018-05RJ and the foals were also microchipped in order to have their own passports next year -you could say we hit two, or three, or four flies at once.

Right now the three have had it a bit easier, we haven’t traveled anywhere after the shows, this week a vet came by to give the foals their first vaccinations and checked how Elyse’s next foal is doing – all seems to have been going well and we’re still expecting the next little champ for summer 2014, sired by Vieskerin Valo. :)

Fun trivia #2: The two foals’ nicknames are Peppi and Ukko (he received this nickname due to the heavy thunder there was that night he was born (Finnish for thunder is “ukkonen”)).

Only after naming them we realized that those two are also characters of the well-known Swedish children’s book Pippi Longstocking (Pippi’s horse is named Lilla Gubbe = Pikku-Ukko = Little man), so the next foal Elyse is carrying goes by the nickname Tossavainen (Finnish translation for Pippi’s monkey, Mr. Nilsson)

Little filly’s pedigree

Our little filly was born on 19th of June 2013, just after midnight (00.01). She is the first foal for her dam and the last one for her sire, which makes her quite exceptional, and also the special first one for me as a breeder! It’ll be so exciting to see her grow up.

And guess what, she’s already on Sukuposti, too!

Read more posts about the little filly:

• It’s a girl!
• Experiencing foal fever…

Pedigree

Sumiainen 1482-99R prt 157 cm s. 1999† FINsh	V.T. Akseli 1642-84R tprt 159 cm s. 1983 FIN 42,1ake-40,0ke sh	Vekseli 324-74J P prt 157 cm s. 1971† FIN 21,4aly-24,1ly sh	Vekkuli Jo 101 P 25,7aly-29,0ly prt s. 1964 FIN	Vesseli 6440	Eri-Ote
					Lissu
				Pelho 100053 Valio	Mutri
					Ullo
			Vekkuli 100606 Vj 37,6 prt s. 1956 FIN	Valokko yh 1034	Valokas
					Eva
				Virkkuli 33030	Vorna
					Siro
		Kulon-Tähti 1082-77 svrt s. 1976 FIN 2.11,0 sh	Vilan-Tähti 849-72J 29,8aly-34,8ly trt s. 1969 FIN	Ero-Vila Jo 2	Ero-Lohko
					Raisa
				Teija 37976	Tuupo
					Lolita
			Kulotar 1782-75T P tprt s. 1965 FIN	Aro-Paana 5552	Aromus
					Leivo
				Siri –	Roope
					Sirotus
	Sisilia 1027-92 tprt s. 1992 FINsh	Paavin Into 3025-84J tprt 156 cm s. 1984 FIN 25,3aly-26,6ke sh	Hovi-Paavi Jo 74 P 29,2aly-33,2ly tprt s. 1964 FIN	Eri-Hovi 5469 Valio	Eri-Aaroni
					Lieska
				Paavitar 503950 Vj	Paavi
					Tutteli
			Ilo-Pilleri 275-73J Valio 38,4aly-38,4ke prt s. 1970 FIN	Erilo 5731 Valio	Eri-Uljas
					Ilo
				Pulitar yh 61969	Eri-Puli
					Magge
		Missisippi 2491-84J tprt 148 cm s. 1984 FIN 29,8ake-31,2ly sh	Ero-Ruuti 568-74J 24,9aly-26,9ly prt s. 1971 FIN	Ero-Lohko yh 1160 Valio	Lohko
					Sirkka-Lintu
				Veera 101800	Aro-Veli
					Vilin-Mimmi
			Turon-Missi 2082-79R tprt s. 1979 FIN	Turo 144-71J	Tarmi
					Hulikaani
				Tähti (i. Eri-Hovi 5469 V)	Eri-Hovi
					Laskun-Piirto
Elysetar 2018-05 prt s. 2005 FIN 35,3ke sh	Suikun Ralli 2290-94J prt 159 cm s. 1994 FIN 22,6ake-24,4ke sh	Suikku 1810-78J Valio prt 163 cm s. 1978† FIN 24,3aly-26,9ly sh	Vekku-Lento 555-74J Valio 26,7aly-28,2ly tprt s. 1971 FIN	Vekkuli Jo 101 P	Vesseli
					Pelho
				Mutrin-Lento Jt 57	Mutri
					Tuju
			Aritar 101057 Vj 40,2 prt s. 1960 FIN	Ari yh 1054	Eri
					Samu
				Suhina 18767	Akapeetus
					Askel
		Silkki 2145-84P trt 147 cm s. 1984† FIN – sh	Vilkki 1400-77J 27,3aly-27,9ly trt s. 1969 FIN	Vilperi Jo 18 Valio	Pisteri
					Mutrin-Lento
				Eritta 123-71T Pj	Ero-Lohko
					Erikka
			Säde 1798-80J 32,8aly-33,4ly tprt s. 1970 FIN	Ero-Lohko yh 1160 Valio	Lohko
					Sirkka-Lintu
				Säle 503152	Vihun-Pisko
					Tilma
	Elysee 1016-88J prt 157 cm s. 1988 FIN 27,7aly-29,4ly sh	Hikupoika 1012-82J tprt 158 cm s. 1981† FIN 27,9aly-30,4ly sh	Hilun-Hiku 1228-76J 30,0aly-34,4ke tprt s. 1975 FIN	Hilu Jo 65 Valio	Vihi
					Eri-Pulu
				Ero-Liinu 1028-74J Valio	Ero-Lohko
					Ponnetar
			Lissu 1179-76T H tprt s. 1967 FIN	Hovitus 6094	Eri-Hovi
					Sopeva
				Ruska 37807	Aro-Rusko
					Eri-Silkki
		Puhe-Ami 1096-82J prt 156 cm s. 1981 FIN 40,7aly-37,3kp sh	Puhemies 6572 Pj Valio 26,0aly-27,8ly trt s. 1957 FIN	Erilo 5731 Valio	Eri-Uljas
					Ilo
				Funkis 57189	Volker
					Flora
			Tähti 46913 Valio prt s. 1963 FIN	Eri-Ylpeys 5841 Valio	Eri-Aaroni
					Mona
				Hulmu 45934	Moottori
					Ritu

Pedigree information

Inbreeding coefficient	5.868 %	Full generations	7	Furthest generation	22
Combinations
Vekkuli Jo 101 P	(4) + (5)	Erilo 5731 Valio	(5) + (5)	Ero-Lohko yh 1160 Valio	(5 + 6) + (5 + 6 + 6)
Eri-Hovi 5469 Valio	(5 + 6) + (6)	Mutri 5360	(6) + (6 + 7)	Aromus yh 586 Valio	(6 + 7 + 8) + (7 + 8)
Eri-Aaroni 3423 Valio	(7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 8 + 8 + 9) + (6 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 8)	Eri-Vili 4057 P	(7 + 8) + (7)	Vorna 3098 AA	(6 + 7 + 9) + (8)

Maternal line’s production

1. dam 2005 t Elysetar 2018-05		Suikun Ralli	35,3ke	380 EUR (29.1.2013)	6% / 19%
	2013 m Elysetar tammavarsa	Sumiainen

2. dam 1988 m Elysee 1016-88J		Hikupoika	27,7aly-29,4ly	13 757 EUR	11% / 25%
	1998 g Uusi-Vokkeri 1294-98	Vokker	33,3ake-32,5ke	2 185 EUR	5% / 19%
	2000 g Uusi-Vieskeri 1304-00	Viesker	28,9aly-31,7ke	5 005 EUR (11.4.2013)	7% / 19%
	2001 s Vauhti-Viesker 1596-01	Viesker
	2005 m Elysetar 2018-05	Suikun Ralli	35,3ke	380 EUR (29.1.2013)	6% / 19%

3. dam 1981 m Puhe-Ami 1096-82J			Puhemies	40,7aly-37,3kp	1 673 EUR	3% / 19%
	1988 m Elysee 1016-88J		Hikupoika	27,7aly-29,4ly	13 757 EUR	11% / 25%
	1989 m Misha 1115-89J		Hikupoika	28,4aly-30,7ke	6 635 EUR	4% / 27%
		1997 m Misker 2202-97J	Viesker	28,7aly-30,3ke	6 357 EUR	0% / 14%
		2002 g Miskan Tähti 1543-02	Johto-Tähti
	1990 g R.H. Ruuti 1351-90		Ilo-Tähti	–
	1991 m Amiska 1287-91		Vinkaus	–
		2000 m Amiskan Tyttö 1224-00	Linjaari
		2002 m Amiro 2074-02	Turtuma	42,0ke	69 EUR (19.2.2013)	0% / 11%
		2005 s Auvo 2316-05	Päistäre	32,3ke	1 245 EUR (4.3.2013)	25% / 50%
		2009 m Aulikki 246001S00092387	Turkka K
		2011 m Askel Voitto 246001S00112333	Niko-Vokker
	1992 m Amoriina 1383-92		Kirmori	–
	1993 s Nonni 1333-93		Uno	–
	1994 g Errumi 1308-94		Ero-Mori	–
	1995 m Miami 1212-95		Mikker	–
		2001 m Misti H T01-1228	tuntematon ori
		2002 m Tähti-Mimosa 1541-02	Viltti	kl40,2ke	0 EUR (4.1.2013)	0% / 0%
	1997 s Merkkari 2226-97		Hilun-Merkki	–	0 EUR	0% / 0%
	1998 g Tähti-Vekkuli 1603-98		Johto-Tähti	–

What would you like to receive as a giveaway prize?

The first giveaway went well, so I’m already planning the next one for the summer. What to do, how to do it, and most importantly, what would be a good prize?

I have a few ideas in storage, but I would like to hear your suggestions. So please, tell me what would make you click that submit button?

 

Giveaway winner announcement

First of all, thank you all who participated the giveaway! I will organize more of them in the future, so stay tuned, and if you have any ideas regarding the giveaways, don’t be shy to share your ideas.

And the winner of the 4-piece poster set is…

Pirkko M.

I have sent an e-mail to Pirkko, be sure to check your e-mail! :)

Reader survey 2012 results

I held a reader survey at the end of the 2012. I have to admit I was hoping for more answers… But still got a few, thank you for your tips and feedback!

 

You were hoping for more articles that have not been published in English before and try to find even more riding, work horse and history related articles for you as well as even more nice photos. I will keep practicing my English too, sometimes I have to struggle with the translations… It has got better already but is still a foreign language for me. Thanks to those who have helped me!

Do you agree with these results?

Blogging year 2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 14 000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

Flag Counter Statistics

Flagcounter Statistics 1.1.2013

Thanks to every visitor and all followers!

Setting goals for 2013

“This year I’m going to take more photographs and use them on my blog”

It seems we are always waiting for something -better weather, better times, summer, winter,  next year… Well, now that we all have survived that horrible end of the world, we can take anything, right?

Amanda blogs about her experiences as a plus-size rider and she wrote a good post about setting goals. A simple but very effective way to reach your goal is to have a list. Put it on the paper, refrigerator door, start a blog, anywhere you feel is the best. Put them in order and start from the first smaller goal on your way. It is cliche to say that small steps are those you need to achieve something, but it’s true. There always has to be that first step and it often is the hardest one. Once you have a direction, you have to keep with it.

A list is a good way to map the path to your ultimate desired end result, and an excellent way to be able to look back, midway through your journey and say “look how far I have come already”. If you don’t give yourself credit for the journey, how are you supposed to enjoy the destination?
—
Figure out what you want – what you really want… whether it is to ride at all, or to ride a dressage test with your horse. Figure out the steps that will get you there and write them down, and then work toward each component on your list. It is easy, when you are far away from your goal, to get mired up in how long it is going to take you to get there or how many hurdles you have to go over to make it to the desired end result. I find that breaking things down into smaller, managable targets to achieve helps you not to get frustrated or discouraged, and allows you to feel success and bolster your self confidence sooner, which I think helps you to continue to achieve your goals. Once you have accomplished something and feel good about yourself for doing it, the next task becomes that much easier. (Amanda)

My personal goals would include getting the best out of my time in Ireland, horse-related goals would be to try out different things, spend time in the saddle and enjoy it without always trying to achieve something but also keeping in mind that there has to be goals or otherwise that competitor inside won’t settle. The golden middle road, as they say.

The blog visitor statistics have grown remarkably this year and hopefully reached new interested readers, welcome to you all newer and older visitors! It seems there are many good reasons to keep blogging and promoting the Finnish horse to the world.

During this new year’s eve I am also doing something that is very rare for myself -look back and think about what was good in this year. There were a few things, but for once I am counting the successes instead of failures. Like Amanda there said -“If you don’t give yourself credit for the journey, how are you supposed to enjoy the destination?” So it’s not only about the goals -it is also about congratulating yourself for reaching them.

What are your goals for the upcoming year? With your horse, your life?

New blogs on links page

I have added quite a bunch of new blogs to the link list, go ahead and check them out! :)

Some blogs I follow

Lately I have found a few very interesting blogs that I would like to show to my readers as well, just in case you haven’t found them yet. Mostly riding oriented blogs this time, but I’ll keep looking for all kinds of horse related blogs to read, feel free to suggest if you  have a gem to share!

SH Dressage
Originally Finnish dressage rider living in UK at the moment, training and schooling horses for dressage and writes inspirational blog posts when she’s not in the saddle.

Confident Horsemanship
“Putting you & your horse in good hands. Building trust, respect & confidence between horse & human.”

AnnaBlakeBlog
Interesting texts about horse philosophy and riding.

Rosie Jones Horses
“Going global…7 months travelling around the world keeping an eye out for horses and horse people as I go…read our latest news here”

Anna Kilpeläinen
About riding and schooling horses (in Finnish).

For more horse blogs, try Haynet!

Why wouldn’t a finnhorse be good for riding?

Terhi wrote an interesting and heartwarming post on Kisamatkalla blog a few days ago. She wondered how some people are still claiming that finnhorses have no use as riding horses at all.

Sigh. I thought we were pass this already.

Honest, reliable, strong.. and other positive features to describe the finnhorse. (Helpin Tyhti, photo by Heini Luttinen)

Ok, let’s face it: finnhorse is not a Grand Prix horse. I give you that. BUT, how many Grand Prix riders are there? Not that many either compared to the number of riders overall. Not everybody even wants to compete. For the vast majority of riders, a finnhorse is most often just as good as any other horse. They can do it, it’s a matter of schooling and training. Plus they have a bunch of other features that make them so loved by their owners.

Hear it from a competitor:

Finnhorse is honest, brave, versatile, trustworthy and steady to ride.
—
Then who is a finnhorse rider? A rider, who values honesty. Working with a finnhorse is rewarding, even more than with other horses. Finnhorse wants to co-operate. Of course nothing is free, but they give more than they take. Finnhorse is good for anyone, regardless of age, level or chosen discipline.
-Terhi (translated)

They can. And they can also look GORGEOUS doing it! (Haavekuva, photo by Jasmina Sulkumäki)

There are horses that have made their way to open national level dressage, show jumping and eventing competitions, even won them. Yet again, not every finnhorse can do it, but amount of those who can is increasing. There are different horses, different riders and different goals. What is remarkable is how many different needs one horse can meet.

Not every horse or horse breed is for everyone. But just like it’s not okay to judge reindeer by its red nose, it’s also not okay to judge a horse breed to be good for nothing just because you don’t like it. Let’s just ride and let others ride as well. Or are these judging people afraid that somebody riding these “lazy, stubborn front-heavy drafts” might win them in a competition? ;)

 

Related articles

• The profile of the Finnhorse Consumer
• Finnhorse: Progress of breeding within the riding section
• What class would you show a finnhorse in?
• Riders have found finnhorse

Reader Survey 2012

If you have a few minutes to spare to help me improving the National Treasure Blog, please take this short reader survey.

Thank you for your help!

Vote for your favourite post in September

September was a busy month on (finn)horse events, both trotting and riding. Besides those I got to do more personal blogging and a few art & culture posts, which seem to interest visitors in the blogosphere, at least according to statistics. My translations on work horse clubs “Horse of the month” -articles (e.g. this month “Vinpotar the versatile”) seem also to be quite interesting, should there be more posts like those? These polls are here just to make your work easier on suggesting what kind of posts would be good or better to interest you, the reader. Remember that constructive comments are always welcome.

10 000 visits!

The blog has 10 000 visits today! Thanks again for all visitors, newer and older!

Vote for your favourite post in July

As always, you may choose several posts if you want to. This will help me choose topics for future posts, so please have a minute to view this month’s posts and vote for your favourite(s). :)

100 followers!

I  can proudly announce that National Treasure  has got over 100 followers now!

Thank you all:

83 Facebook followers

17 WordPress.com followers

4 Twitter followers

 

Vote for your favourite post in June 2012

Don’t worry, you can choose several if you want to.

National Treasure listed in BlogCatalog

Lately I have been adding NT to different listings and social medias to reach more audience.

Latest one is BlogCatalog, where bloggers unite. See NT’s page here. You may also review and follow the blog there if you like.

And look at what cool badge I got! ;)

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Achievement unlocked -some milestones

I love this system WordPress has to encourage more good posting -there are goals for posts in amount and these little “trophies” for likes and followers.

Thank you!

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Vote for your favourite post in May 2012

This poll will be open through June. This time I wish to know, which post was your favourite in May? Don’t worry, you may choose several if it is hard to decide.

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