Emma Wold

The deal is simple; you ask, I answer!

Yesterday I posted the news about my new blog on Lillens Instagram Account, and asked you for questions. I recieve a whole lot of questions on a day-to-day basis, but boy I had NOT expected the amout of questions I would recieve once I asked for them! You guys rock! Many of them was sent by DM, but some also appeared in my post. Let’s gooo!

Where did you get Lillen? question from @marlee.sip (IG), @audreywalke (IG) and @madi_275 (IG)
I found Lillen’s ad on the Swedish site hastnet.se – a place to sell and buy horses and equipment. There aren’t many Shire Horses in Scandinavia, and I frequenty searched all the pages I could find for a good looking and handsome Shire. I sent Lillens ad to my mother, who fell head over heels for his slighly ugly (yet very charming) looks. Not very long after he was bought and on his way to Norway.

How long have you had Lillen? question from @audreywalke (IG) and @x.mia.and.roo.x (IG)
Lillen came to us in May 2012. So about 5 years and 4 months or something.

Lillen, two days after his arrival in Norway. Look at that babyface! His bum is so much larger than anything else! He has no neck! Aww, adorable!

How old is Lillen? question from @audreywalke (IG)
Lillen is 10 years old.

How much did you pay for Lillen? question from @thehappynouille (IG)
Asking how much someone paid for their horse is quite the personal question, in which I feel a bit uncomfortable to answer. I also didn’t pay for him (he is officially my mother’s horse), so I have no exact number 😛 His previous owner asked quite little for him, as he was a bit behind on his education, as well as having some issues in his body. However; take into consideration what we had to pay at the border to get him in to Norway + transport, and he was no cheap horse at all! We fixed him up and have taught him a lot of things, and now he is probably worth double as much as what we paid for him five years ago.

How do you plan things around the horses once the darkness of winter comes around the corner? question from @tinyastroide (IG)
There is not a whole lot of planning to do, actually. The horses stay outside until it gets late (we pick them in around eight in the evening), and are very used to everything being dark. Our riding arena is equipped with huge lights, and mucking the field after work is no problem with a good headlamp. Riding out in the forest is also easy once you get a good headlamp to put on your helmet (just take your time to make the horse familiar with being half blind, as you will shine light into his eyes every now and then).

During the “worst” periods, it’s daylight for maybe 6 hours a day. If you go to school, or have a dayjob, you will miss those 6 hours! But that’s no problem for us norwegians, we just put on some hi-viz clothing and some good headlamps, and life proceed as normal.

I’d like to know how you have time and energy to reply to everyone’s comments individually to make them feel special! wondered by @czarneckigirl (IG)
Haha, well, first of all; thank you!

I talk A LOT. I read quickly, write quickly, and spend a lot of time online. Replying to people on IG gives me energy, actually! 🙂 I also wholeheartedly live by the belief that if someone take their time to write to me, the least I can do is to write back. It’s not that I feel like I owe it to anyone, but I feel some sort of weird responsibility to be kind and loving to everyone. You guys are not just any followers, you guys are MY followers! I’ll always do my best to make you feel special. Unless you’re an asshole. Because I’m good at being mean and sassy whenever needed x)

Jumping or Dressage? question from @aizha134
Dressage! Forever and always!

Why do you get so mean when someone ask F4F, ‘self-advertize’ (as you call it) in your comment section or tag you in their pictures? questioner wanted to stay anonymous (which I will respect).
Good question! However; saying that I am ‘mean’ is pulling it a bit far, I think. I mark the comment as spam (which will delete it), and I send a short and fairly neutral explaination of why I did it to whoever posted it. Because I think they deserve to know why, as they are persons just like me. And why, you ask? Because I don’t believe the amount of followers define you and your content. I also believe that going around and openly seeking attention is a negative thing, and will have negative input on people around you. I don’t want all the young girls following me to see that craving for followers is a completely normal thing to do. Because it is not. And I refuse to pretend it is.

As far as tagging me in random pictures just to have me see it (i.e. a post with no correlation to me whatsoever), I get annoyed because IG alerts me of a comment or that I’ve been tagged in something, and I immediately go and check it out so I can give a response. Given the amount of time and effort I put into replying to EVERYONE who says someting to me, being spammed with random shit (sorry, not sorry) is very bothersome. It takes away my ability to see those who actually try to get in touch with me. Those who spend their time and energy in writing a comment or DM, only do have it drown in attention seeking people’s posts.

And YES, I get that you probably want me to see you and that you want to share your content with me. Because you are proud of something. And that is nice. And I do appreciate those of you who want to share your content with me, because you think I will enjoy it. I wholeheartedly feel honoured that people think of me apart from when I’m spamming you with pictures of Lillen.

But A LOT of the stuff I’m tagged in is purely “hey look at me, give me attention”, with  15-20 other super huge accounts tagged too. And THAT is attention-seeking, annoying, and feels like spam.

And that is the very long answer to why I do not like self-advertizing and delete it from my account 😛

Do you have a personal account? question from @anneliewallin21p (IG)
No 🙂 I don’t have time for that! I think…

Why do you ride without stirrups? question from @anneliewallin21p (IG)
Well, this is also something that might take me some time to answer 😛

Because I ride without stirrups more or less only whilst riding Lillen. When riding Brego (unless we’re bareback) and Diego, there are always a good pair of stirrups involved (Sprenger 4 System; I love you).

There are mainly two reasons for why we ride without stirrups on Lillen though; 1) His “saddle” and 2) Our leg length. Let me demonstrate:

With a stirrup on, you need a certain angle in your knee before the stirrup can offer any actual support and be helpful. The more defined angle in your knee; the “shorter” your leg will appear. And be. With stirrups on, there is no way for us to offer him any actual support – nor will we be able to use the leg aid in the desired position. We have to communicate with his tummy mucles, not poke ribs! 😛 (Yes I know one pic is bareback and one with the saddle, but you get the idea. And we can talk about the spurs another time ;P)

The other reasen as of why we don’t use stirrups all that often, is because of his “saddle”. He has out-grown his dressage saddle, and now all we’re left with is a cheap, brand-less treeless saddlethingy. With no actual tree, the weight distribution is poor, and we don’t want unneccesary preassure points on his back.

Besides, we don’t need stirrups when riding Lillen. When he spooks, it is in slow motion (surely, it’s a large spook to sit through, but slow? yes) 😛 And any rider should in my opinion have the strength, balance and flexibility to ride without stirrups on a regular basis.

Fun Fact; I can’t get Diego to do leg yields when I have stirrups on, they ruin everything.
Fun Fact 2; If Diego spooks and I don’t have stirrups on, I’ll die.

How much money goes into a huge ass horse? question from @my.pony_star (IG)
Haha! Well! Even if he is a large horse, he doesn’t eat that much food. Think of him like a (huge) fat coldblooded pony. They get thick just from looking at grass 😛 And yes, it takes a bit of hay to feed him, but he eats about the same amount as Diego to be honest.

Now, food is one thing. The only farrier in the area who is willing to shoe Lillen want’s about 4500kr (about $570) for the job, and due to his weight he need new shoes every 4th week. Now THAT is expencive. And of course we will not pay that much 😛 So we trim him ourselves. Equipment is a pain to find within the norwegian border, so whenever he need something like a rug, we need to pay the prize of the rug + quite a lot to get it through customs. If he need to go anywhere, we need to book him a full size lorry, he need twice as much medicine then an ordinary horse, he break things about ten times as easily as an ordinary horse… etc.

I have no exact numbers on how much he costs us a week, but he is in no way a cheap horse to have around 😛

What is your favourite breed? question from @my.pony_star (IG)
I don’t have a favourite breed, I am more of a personality and potential-kind of person. Any horse with a good temper and a nice body is good looking to me; wheter it is a Shire Horse, a slimmer sport horse, a chunkier and smaller draft, an iberian etc. The only horses I “don’t like” are extremely fragile-looking horses, such as arabians, thin thoroughbreds, slim ponies etc. I like them heavy!

Would you get another Shire after Lillen? question from @my.pony_star (IG)
I probaby would! But I would not be in a hurry. I take my time to find the”perfect” horse, and if no perfect shire is around whenever Lillen decides to ‘move on’, I’ll just have to wait.

Is there anything you would like to change about him? question from @my.pony_star (IG)
He could use a little more mane and tail!

If you could invent one horse/stable thing, what would it be? (Either tack, props, machines ect) question from @my.pony_star (IG)
There’s a lot of things I’d like to have, but I think most of it is invented already. But automatic water buckets for the horses would be nice, with heated pipes so they don’t freeze and break during winter! I HATE carrying water all over the place…

And whew!!

I think I’ll draw the line there, seeing as I’ve already written a small novel about myself here. I’ve warned you, guys; I talk wayyyy too much! 😛

Hope you learnt something new, and that I answered what you wondered! Many asked the same questions, but I tried to get you all in here 🙂 And if there’s anything else you want to ask me about; reach out!

Emma