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Sweden vacation high on horseback


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Endless nature, much more equestrian trails than highways and whole equestrian villages instead of just a horse farm: So are riding holidays in Sweden

Pippi Longstocking would certainly like to go on holiday here. In the riding village of Kyrkekvarn, not far from Sweden's second largest lake Vättern, the red and yellow wooden houses are scattered along riverbanks, over hills and in the woods, so that everyone can be as crazy as he wants. Pippi would not have to park her horse on the porch because every second front yard here is a pasture. And she could gallop along forest trails with all the girls who come here to ride, grope her bets, or show jumping at simple obstacles.

But Pippi was probably king at Taka Tuka Country this summer with daddy. Never mind, we moved into the red wooden house Tallboden in Kyrkekvarn, which was built so long ago on the hillside, that we also have a ground floor door outside on the first floor. From the veranda we look into the green of old trees and meadows surrounded by flowers.

Always follow the signs with the moose

With the gleaming white TT ferry "Nils Holgersson" we were gently rocked overnight from Travemünde to Trelleborg and then driven nearly 400 kilometers north. After felt endless forests and countless traffic signs warning against moose, we reached our house in Kyrkekvarn. In the supermarket, we quickly stocked up with cartwheel-sized crispbread, Polarbröd (the nutritious toast of the rag), and marabou chocolate, then finally the barbecue was cheered on. While the first tender reindeer steaks are sizzling on the griddle, we feel finally arrived.

Fortunately, Freya is the gentleness on hooves

No, riding has not been one of our everyday forms of locomotion so far. But that does not matter. Emelie, who looks after our group, briefly explains the most important things you need to know in the saddle: align the length of the stirrup at the arm's length, the right rein position, and then go up to the ponies with their patience and strength look. My chestnut mare is called Freya after the goddess of love in the Nordic sky and is the gentleness on hooves. That's just fine with me, because I have a lot of respect for horses and I was never sure if they really do what I want them to do up there on their backs.

On the way on ponies and by canoe

But after only a few hundred meters along the partly lily-covered river Tidan I realize that we understand each other. I relax and enjoy the gentle bouncing in the saddle, the view from up there on the deep green nature, in which we come soon, and admire the skill with which the horses move uphill and downhill over hill and dale. Occasionally I have to pull Freya away from the delicious greens that she turns towards the roadside as our little caravan moves deeper and deeper into the forest.

58 ponies and foals live in the riding village, says Emelie. About 160 beds can be found in the surrounding houses. Many Swedes, but also Germans, Dutch or Norwegians, even entire school classes, spend their holidays here. Near Kyrkekvarn you will find almost endless riding trails that are hardly interrupted by roads.

The Reiterdorf started 30 years ago as a canoe camp. Still, the waters of Tidan and nearby Mullsjö Lake are another good reason to spend your holidays here, as we experience on a long paddling tour. Actually strange that Pippi always goes to Taka-Tuka instead of here.

You can book riding holidays in Kyrkekvarn all year round via Katja van Leeuwen-Reitferienvermittlung, Tel .: 02244/9279248, www.reitferienvermittlung.de. One week self-catering holiday home (including electricity, excl. Final cleaning) cost from 273 euros. For five days of riding are added 321 euros, but it can also book less riding days.

Worth seeing is the place Jönköping on Vättern (about 35 km from Kyrkekvarn) with its beautiful promenade, from the excursion boats on Sweden's second largest lake drop. The only matchmaking museum in the world is here, because Schwedenholz sets up the still visible wealth of the city: Tändsticksmuseet, Tändsticksgränd 27.

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