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About Us
Hi, my name is Hannu, I live in the southern region of Finland and I raise Trotters and have for many years. My first contact with horses was on my father's home farm. We moved back to my parents' hometown when I was 14 years old. My father bought our first horse when I was 17, so I've spent 27 years, more or less, with horses. ...Time flies with horses...
From horses I get my pleasure. In my experience, I strive to make the best lives possible for the horses I care for. I know that, the better your horse is feeling, the more easily and affordably you can enjoy success, or just enjoy being with your co-worker, your friend, The Horse.
In finnish we have a saying, "When a horse fly bites you, there is no return, the horse is with you for good." Translation - Once you´ve raised, cared for and/or been around horses you will love them for life.
As a novice, quite soon I started to notice that having and training a horse is not just sunshine. Different kinds of problems such as the one previously mentioned can occur, and I had to interrupt vital training to heal the horse.
There was nowhere to easily get information when I actually needed it. No information or help learning how to deal with the horse to minimize the risks such as getting joint problems, ligament injuries, etc., or, when something had already happened, learning what you could do at home to help your horse before the problems grew worse.
Visiting vet clinics, I soon noticed that all kinds of horses had problems 'saddle horses, walkers, trotters, thoroughbreds, etc.' and with time joint problems were increasing and ligament and tendon problems were decreasing among horses.
From vets and trainers, I got some information by asking for details, but who had time to explain 'everything' about horse problems?
So, the only way was to try to find out the information myself, by asking several successful professionals 'vets, trainers, experienced horse owners' and by reading all that I could find written in understandable language.
I started to talk with trainers when I used their services, for example, asking from them how they handled certain problems, and the more I started to know them, the easier it was to get information from them. Actually, with some of them we started to be friends.
Same thing with vets. I all the time asked them what and why they were doing to my horse. I really put my nose very close to everybody and asked and asked, because I wanted to learn more about horse problems.
I noticed that vets actually liked that I showed so much interest. I think they were more motivated with my horse when they noticed that the owner tried to do his best with his horses. They explained very much to me about horses: why this thing affected that thing, why they were doing certain things to my horse, and so on.
Because I did this asking and digging, I got more experience and knowledge, and I could do more myself for my horses. |