31/12/2025
Another year has come to its end. Let's go through the highlights of the year, and let's forget about the rest. I will just quickly mention my two greatly missed and loved mares that had to pass on this year. Lukka was planned, she was getting old (24y) and got arthritis in one knee, while Fjöður came as a surprise, she got colic and had to be put down in the horse hospital after we had tried until it was no longer possible. Two great mares that have taught me so much during our 16 and 7 years together, and that also have meant a lot for my breeding. They'll be deeply missed.
But let's move on to the more fun and happy memories. And of course, one of the highlights isthe foals born this year. All three of them from Fálki frá Flekkudal, big, beautiful and nice-minded. Two stallions and one mare, Valkyrja, Svaðilfari and Árvakur. For next summer I'm waiting for a full sibling to one of them, from my former competition horse Smætla.
This year's competition season with Hátign has been fun. We qualified for FC already last fall, so that made it a lot easier for my nerves. The feeling on the track, and also the comments from both judges and other riders/spectators, showed we've made progress from last year even if the marks weren't so much higher. But the fast tempo tölt we’ve finally started to find balance in, that at least did show in the marks. And every competition we took part in that had finals, we did get to the finals, and the competitions without finals we went straight to the podium. Later in the summer it was the Finnish Championship where we competed in T1 and V1. In T1 we ended in 13th place and in V1 we qualified for next year's FC and also the B-finals. The final was really fun to be in, and I'm so proud of my Hatti, she's been improving so much during the season, and she's always doing her best, even in hot weather with a million flies or thunderstorms. I'm so happy to do this journey together with my friend!
In fall Liam competed with Hatti for the first time. He's been waiting for so long to compete himself, and he was so happy and proud of his blue-white ribbon that he won. It was amazing to watch him, he was just shining as bright as the sun. I also took the opportunity to try a couple of unofficial T2's with Hátign just for fun. It was great to be able to let go of the pressure to perform and just enjoy being on the track for once.
During summer I showed two young stallions from my own breeding, both got good results and one of them even got first prize in the building assessment. He did after that cover two mares that got pregnant, so exciting to see how his foals will turn out!
In spring I finished my studies and became a lymphatic massage therapist for horses. A great treatment, and I love being able to help horses also in this way. A calm, gentle treatment that boosts the horse’s well-being and natural healing. You can read more about that on my page (http://www.fiabergman.n.nu)
In the beginning of fall a new horse arrived, Starkar frá Egilsstaðakoti, a first prize five-gaited stallion with, for example, 9 for pace. He will be available for breeding this summer. You can find more information about him also on my page and Instagram, it’ll come more info about him also on Facebook later. He's a big and nice-tempered stallion that I can't wait to get my own foals from!
And during the year I also finished my final thesis, so now I have a Bachelor’s degree in Equine Science, and I'm now also a FEIF instructor level 2. It was a bit of a tough period with writing the thesis and at the same time being a single mum to a four-year-old, having my own company, plenty of horses to take care of and train, studying to become a lymphatic therapist, and watching over my mares that were in foaling times. So I was mostly writing during the night for many, many weeks, while watching the mares through the window until early morning around 5–6 o'clock. So yeah, happy I'm done with it, finally!
So those were the biggest things that have happened this year. Exciting to see what will happen next year. But before ending this long post, I want to thank all of you! Thank you for making it possible for me to work with what I love the most! I love both teaching and being able to train horses and help them through the massages. I'm forever grateful that I can do this. Thank you, and Happy New Year! ❤️
