The Tölt Tales

Episode 5 - James Bóas Faulkner

• The Tölt Tales • Season 1 • Episode 5

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Already at the Episode 5 for us and today we have another great guest for you. 

Meet James Faulkner owner of Paceland in the south of Sweden and one of the most successful rider in the world. He is not only breeding horses but also champions throughout the world.

We hope you will enjoy as much this episode as we had fun recording it next to James's riding house.

You can follow James and Paceland using these links


Music by Cob.
Follow us on Instagram and TikTok, @the_toelt_tales.

Lionel:

Hello everybody, and welcome to the Tölt Tales Podcast. Hello, James, how are you?

James:

Hello, fine, thank you.

Lionel:

So, for the people who do not know you, what is James doing in his life?

James:

Right now, I'm training and running the station Paceland at Hörkabighet, where we have training facilities for Icelandic horses, all from young horse riding up to the elite level of any kind of sport in guiding, breeding, whatever. And then, of course, we do a lot of clinics and courses for other people. But mainly, right now, it's training time. It's that time of year where you're training the material that you have and working through the material that you think might be worth either showing in competitions or breeding shows or some selling. It's very different. So now it's time of the year of checking on things, how things are.

Lionel:

Yes. And can you tell us a bit about you? Where do you come from? How did you end up riding? And how did you end up riding Icelandic horses?

James:

I'm born in Iceland, in Húsavík. If you've seen the film Eurovision, then that's my hometown. So, yes. And my parents are actually both British, and they moved to Iceland back in 86. And I was born the following year. And there is a story of them going out to a farmer. Now, my parents are music teachers.

Lionel:

Yes.

James:

And this farmer was a singer. So, my mother accompanied him on many CDs, and did some music work with him. And when I was a couple of months old, this farmer showed up with me in front of him in the saddle, and he rode off into the winter snow, and my mom panicking over her child being robbed by this Icelandic farmer on an Icelandic horse. And apparently, I don't remember, I was that small, but apparently we came back, and I had the biggest smile on my face, and after that, I've been riding since, and the smile hasn't really gone.

Lionel:

No, no, I can see. You still have the same smile.

James:

Yeah, I hope so.

Lionel:

So, this is how you end up meeting the Icelandic horse. Is the story true, though, or is it...

James:

The story is true.

Lionel:

The story is true.

James:

So, that is how it all started. And this farmer actually gave me my first horse. My mother played in on a CD for him, and we got the horse in payment. Let's not talk about the quality of the horse. It took me from A to B, but I learned many things, good things and bad things. But that's also part of the development of any rider.

Lionel:

Was he training you as well?

James:

Yeah, sometimes. And then I was lucky, I had a lot of good trainers around me that could help me as well. And I got kind of the best of both worlds because of us traveling so much backwards and forwards also to England. I was riding a little bit of dress charts and a little bit of other times, other things that were developing for me as a rider. I was very lucky. I rode a lot of horses when I was very young. My parents, of course, had no sense or skills when it came to this. And for some reason, I just got madly in love with it. And it was the best thing that I knew was to go on ride every day 24-7, if I could.

Lionel:

Because your parents are not horse people. You are the odd one in the family.

James:

I'm the odd one in the family. Yes, my parents are both musicians educated from the Royal Academy of Music in London. So I was supposed to be the wonder kid, which I probably was. For some reason, I can play a song pretty much straight afterwards I've heard it. All right, okay. So me and my mom used to cheat. Mom used to play the song for me, and then I used to play it afterwards. And dad always thought, oh, it's fantastic, it's fantastic. Until he realized that I can't read notes. Notes for me is just like black dots on a piece of paper. I don't see the music in it. So that kind of was a turning point in my musical career.

Lionel:

You're a short musical player.

James:

Yeah, it was. I still play today. I can play quite a few instruments, but I don't maybe have the passion. I mainly do it for myself. I played in a band in many years and all kinds of stuff like this. But it was not my passion. No, not in that way.

Lionel:

You were born in Iceland. You did a lot of back and forth between England and Iceland. But correct me if I'm wrong, we're in Sweden, the south of Sweden. What is the story? How did you end up from the last part of the Triangle?

James:

Yeah, isn't it always, like we say, love takes you into mysterious places? And at that time, I had a Swedish girlfriend, and we had been looking at farms back home in Iceland to settle down at. The market in Iceland was very hard in finding a farm for a young person to be able to buy and start the business, and this, agriculturally, is very tough, is very tough. So we had a look around, and she turned around one day and said, why not Sweden? And yeah, well, I'm here now. Unfortunately, the love went in the wrong direction, but I'm still here, and I'm very grateful for the time that we had. And I've been here now for roughly 10 years. So yeah, I guess Sweden are stuck with me for now.

Lionel:

Yes, yes. Can you describe a bit Paceland? Because this is where we are. Can you describe what does the operation look like?

James:

Yes. So, Paceland was founded first on our old place called Hannes, and was mainly thought of as a training and sort of teaching facilities. Of course, mainly focused on Icelandic horses. It grew very fast. It kind of grew a little bit too fast, if I'm completely honest, because the farm that we had there was too small, and the opportunity is very limited. Luckily, we were close to a riding arena area where we had an agricultural school called Bolurup, and I got access to the riding arena there, so we could have some teaching there, and also close by another very nice arena. And then we started to figure out that the scale of the operation that we wanted, that the place that we had was too small.

Lionel:

Okay.

James:

So two years afterwards, we found this place. We are mainly focused on the same things, but in a bigger scale. So a lot of coaching of riders of all levels, both here at home, and then I do a lot of traveling. I travel around most of Europe to do teaching.

Lionel:

Last weekend, you were in Norway.

James:

We were in Norway last weekend. So that was fun and a long time since I've been in Norway. So that was good. And then of course, training, like I say, breeding the whole versatility of the Icelandic horse. We try and evolve into the company as much as we can. But coaching and training of horses and competing has been our A game or what we are focused on the most.

Lionel:

Okay. And breeding also?

James:

Yes, the breeding that we have a breeding name that I got given by a fantastic man called Bengt Dahl and Elisa Linniborg. Unfortunately, Bengt has passed away, but they have bred world champions themselves and had the breeding name Dahlgården. And so that's where our breeding is recognized from today. So I took over that breeding name before he passed away to try and keep their name alive and their memory. They have helped me a lot through the last couple of years, and I'm very grateful for that. And a lot of our main, broad mares are from that breed. And then we have a couple of mares that we have both bought from Iceland that I had with myself. And then my partners have also some other mares. The newest edition is of course, Valsa from Breslaugskorten, the world champion, multiple world champion, fantastic mare. So she's here and breeding as well. So hopefully we see that the breeding goes good as well in the future.

Lionel:

Yeah. Do you have any link with Iceland still?

James:

Yes, I have my, if you can call it, my bonus family at Leikamot. So the story is that when I was at Hålar, I was struggling finding a place for practicum. The trainers that I used to train for had either moved abroad or weren't able to take anyone into that. So Yssolver, who I call my brother from another mother, today he said to me one day, oh, would you be interested in going to Leikamot? And I said, yes, of course. So he drove me there and I met with his father, Þórir Yssolsson. Fell in love with the place and the people and was there for about eight years. They're fantastic people and fantastic horse people, of course, all of them. And they really, I got very close to them and they are family to me. And I still have a lot of contact with all of them. I've just taken out most of my breeding mares now because I felt like the prices in transporting horses is so expensive from getting them from Iceland to mainland Europe. Even though that I love it much more for the horses' sake, the upbringing is much bigger, areas and running and development of the horse.

Lionel:

I think it's their natural habitat as well.

James:

Exactly, exactly. But like I say, I still have at least half a horse with Horir, a young stallion, a brother to my Nordic champion Lekur Flakemott. So he's still there. But yes, I have a lot of contact with him on business, of course, and reading and visit him as much as I can.

Lionel:

Yes. What is the last horse you bought? And when, obviously?

James:

That I myself bought or that I bought with someone?

Lionel:

I will not be picky on the answer, so choose the one that have the good story.

James:

I would say it is probably El Teotnon Halmoni over the time of COVID was just coming.

Lionel:

Okay. So 2019. Yeah.

James:

So we started looking, I got an opportunity with people that I felt quite safe with to do something quite special.

Lionel:

Yeah.

James:

And so I started head hunting horses, which I thought would fulfill what we were after. Yes. Both for myself in competition, and then looking in the breeding section.

Lionel:

It's the two things, the two angles that you will look for, you will look at.

James:

Yes. So mainly, of course, Halmoni is a gelding. So he was, of course, mainly bought to try and get me into the world championships fight, of course, and of course marketing strategy and so on. It's a fantastic horse. Yes. I had kept my eye on him for quite a long time, and I know Jakob and Helguna very well. So we had discussed sometimes if it would ever be an opportunity, if he might come up for sale then. But it was a bit special to that extent that both Elton and Halmoni are horses that I never rode before we bought them.

Lionel:

Oh, wow. Okay.

James:

So because of COVID, then traveling, of course, to Iceland was a little bit complicated. And so Esolver was sent off and filmed and rode both Halmoni and Elton. And I guess that I can't say anything else than that. I'm extremely happy and proud over the whole scenario through that. It was a bit special the first time I rode them here when they came here. It was, yeah, a lot of excitement. And also, you don't know what you get. Is this really good? I've just said to someone, let's buy horses for so and so much money. And the first thing you try, you go like, oh boy, you know, is this. And I remember with Eldiott, he had been in Mers back home in Iceland and came out. And I was so excited. I put shoes on him when he had been about here about two weeks, just resting and so on. I couldn't wait anymore. So I put some shoes on him and I rolled out on him. And I almost panicked because it did not feel like I was hoping in the way of course that the poor horse had just traveled and been in Mersle summer, not in any training or anything like this. And I remember I got a little bit pissed off at myself. I was like, of course it's not going to feel like, like he's some kind of a superstar straight away. He's, you know, this is unfair, you know. So I got off and I remember walking back home. And usually when I get off a horse and walk them back, it's usually because I'm extremely happy and really, you know, wow, I want to do, you know, I can walk many kilometers back if the horse felt really good. And I remember coming into the farm and people, oh, was he that good? He was that good. Yeah, he was, yeah, wow. Oh, shit. But a couple of weeks later, when he got into shape, he was fantastic. And he. So those are the two last horses that I would say I bought in that way. Yes.

Lionel:

Just a little segue. You said when you're happy with your horse, you tend to come back walking. Can you explain a bit the reason why? I can imagine why, but can you explain a bit why?

James:

I'm very old school, I guess. And for me, the biggest reward that you can do is to get off.

Lionel:

So at this peak, I guess, yes.

James:

So if I'm outside training and I maybe have a plan in my mind, and outside it's quite a long way to walk sometimes because sometimes, oh shit, it's a couple of kilometers home. But yeah, if I have an idea or if I have decided what I want to do in the training session and feel as that the horse has already given me that, and almost a little extra, I like to reward the horse extra much by just getting off, loosen the girds and walk home. Sometimes I even call the girls and say, could you come and pick up my saddle because I take the saddle off completely and just walk, have a long time with my horse. And it's become, when you have a big company like this and you're training a lot of horses, every day you sometimes forget this moment of connection with a horse. And that's something that I try to keep in mind, these aren't robots, you know? They're living creatures, they have emotions and so on. And every time when I compete, so it's funny, my first World Championships, I remember it very well. I walked in the arena with my horse the second they opened up for the morning, it was really early, the tracks were open, and they had this free training and there was no one there. And seeing the whole stands empty and you could hear the birds and the sun coming up, and you being there with your horse, that for me has become kind of like a ritual. So every morning before I start and every evening, I always go out alone with my horse and walk in the area and just sort of a little bit of bonding time, I guess. And that has become a ritual. I even did it now at the last Nordic Championships and the same at the Swedish Championships. It also sort of puts your head in focus and in perspective of things sometimes. I think it is good to take a step back. It's difficult to find this balance of also finding time for yourself. Yes. I'm very hard on my students in the way that the horse always comes first.

Lionel:

Yes. OK.

James:

That is the rule. The horse always comes first. And it's a difficult line. You're working with young people sometimes. You're working with parents. You're working with, you know, it is a lot of pressure, but the horse is well-being. And that is always first. And I think that people realize in the long term, if they have built up their horse correctly, then a competition is actually a piece of cake.

Lionel:

Yes. OK.

James:

But I think that there's no such thing in my world as quick fix.

Lionel:

Yeah.

James:

All right. That's what I'm very old fashioned in, that I try to make sure that each individual and each horse is so well prepared that when we arrive at the competition, we know what we're going to do. We have a plan. We have a system. Same thing for myself, like I say. That's maybe the biggest challenge is to find the time for myself. I think that we should give people our time and our knowledge. You know, that's our goal. A fantastic person once said, his name is Eil Rieselsson, one of, if I may call, the godfather of Icelandic horse riding. And of course, Thor is brother, so I got to know him quite well when I was at Laikimotor course. I remember very well when I was at Håla when he once said that the horse is perfect. It's never the horse is perfect from nature and how it is. And that your goal is to help as many horses and riders to come into a better understanding of each other.

Lionel:

Right.

James:

And that is kind of what I have taken as my, if we can say mantra or whatever to, my goal is to try and help people to become better trainers and to get better understanding of the horse and the development of the horse under the process of training. So he always said that it was our responsibility as trainers to keep this message going. And that is something that I admire very highly. And he still today is developing himself and his knowledge and education and teaching. So that's a role model I really appreciate having had in my life.

Lionel:

Is it to say that it's more than just the gate or more than just a better transition? It's more than that.

James:

Of course. I've said for quite a while now that what scares me in today's horse world is that I feel that we're losing a little bit. In Icelandic, we say, Það vera góður herstamaðr, to be a horseman. I think that this general knowledge of good horsemen.

Lionel:

Horsemanship.

James:

Yeah, just not a rider or anything like that, but just general knowledge of how a horse works, the fundamentals, this extreme deep knowledge of shoeing, of different bits, of using this and using that, and the feeding, and what is the horse's needs in certain areas. It's not just about getting the horse from the field, getting up, riding, and then saying, bye, thank you, next. It's this common horse knowledge, which I think that we have to be careful that we don't lose. There's a big discussion now, of course, with horse welfare, which I think is fantastic. It's going really good. But again, it's all about education. And I think that we have to take that by the horns on and say, look, we are educating, we are trying to do this better and better and better. There was one of the first person that wrote a script about framing Xenophon. He wrote that the human being will never understand or fully be able to develop a horse to its capacity in their lifespan. And this is, I mean, thousands of years ago. And we are still today figuring out. And probably in my lifespan and many other people's lifespans, we won't ever reach that, that we feel that we have figured it out.

Lionel:

We cracked the code. Exactly.

James:

The day when a rider feels like he knows everything, that he's the best, that's maybe the day to stop. Then you're on the wrong shelf. But what I think often is connected to, you know, really excelling in our sports, to being there at the very, very top. It's this relentless hunger.

Lionel:

For more.

James:

Always want more. And it doesn't mean that you have to win. You always want more. You always want to develop. You always want to find new ways or changing something. Just very slightly to get an even better result. And that's the wonderful thing about the horse world is that, that you know deep inside, you maybe won a big championships and you feel like you're the king of the world. But you have this little thought in the back of your mind. Enjoy it while it lasts, but be ready for next year because it's game on again. It's year after year, new horses. And the only thing that you can control in this whole scenario is yourself and your horses. That's the only factor that you can actually develop or change or take forward. You can't do anything about if someone else buys themselves a fantastic horse or they have a good day at the office and you don't, or if something happened in your program, it didn't, you know, that you can't change that.

Lionel:

No, no, no.

James:

And I try to think of it that at least when I compete myself, I try to think of it as that I'm competing against myself.

Lionel:

Yes.

James:

Whatever happens, that happens. But at the end of the day, the only thing, like I say, that I can affect is my own, you know, competition.

Lionel:

This is what is beautiful with the horses competition. You don't fight someone else. You are doing what is what you believe is the best. And the other rider will do exactly the same, and the judge will decide, we believe this one or you or someone else is doing better.

James:

Of course. No, it's fun. And what I love about it is that I often remember a story of a young lady that came off the track, absolutely like she had won the world championships. And I remember I looked at her points, and I was like, wow, that's cool. Why is she so happy? It didn't go that good, but yeah. But for her, it was her personal best, and that's something that we have to remember, that we are, that's also, like you say, the wonderful thing about horses, we're all different levels. It's all different expectations and what you want from what you're doing. Some don't even want to compete, but that's also fantastic. And that's the wonderful thing about the versatility, sort of the difference of the Icelandic horse. They're so versatile that you can have all from fantastic, nice riding horses out in the woods to the highest elite competition horses. And I think that that's something that other horse breeds should look into a little bit more. I think that we have been very smart in the breeding and the way that we have developed our breed for the multipurpose of it.

Lionel:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you described it a bit, but what is a day and a week in your life looks like?

James:

Chaotic. No, well.

Lionel:

Is it training, training, training?

James:

Pretty much. Mondays to Friday afternoons, usually I am in the stable. From around 9 o'clock in the morning to about 9 o'clock in the evening. We have our lunch breaks and coffee breaks and so on. But for me, it is training, training, training 24-7. A lot of people come here for lessons and so as well in the afternoon, usually. But no, from Monday to Friday, it is mainly training. And then Friday afternoon is usually when I set off traveling.

Lionel:

Okay. You do travel a lot?

James:

Yes. I'm away almost every weekend from about middle of September until the middle of March. Okay. It's pretty much every single weekend that I'm fully booked. I even left this year, the last year that just passed, the 22nd of December was my last teaching weekend. I said, I have one weekend left. This is this weekend. It said, if you guys want it, you can take it. And they've booked the course. It just said, yes, straight away. So I was like, wow. So Christmas for me is, yeah, yeah. It is what it is. But of course, when you have a lot of horse care of, then of course it's a 24-7 work. Monday to Friday at home training horses. And the only reason, no, I can't say that. The reason why I teach is that my horses also get a break from me. And if you're a horse nerd like I am, then the teaching thing is fun because of course, like I say, you get to help loads of people. But I think it's good that my horses also get two days away from me a little bit.

Lionel:

Can you tell us how many horses you train in a week?

James:

We have around 50 horses in training.

Lionel:

Okay. Okay.

James:

Okay.

Lionel:

You don't train them alone, right?

James:

No, no, no. We are.

Lionel:

I mean, you're good, but still.

James:

I'm not Superman. There are not enough hours during the day to get that, no. But we are a good bunch of people here that are here training and working. Most of them have been here for quite a long time. Yeah. So I know them very well and I know what skills they have and what kind of horses. And we have a fantastic teamwork and we've always been hopefully known for that, that we have a good working morale and we are very helpful and trying to develop all the time, all of us. And a lot of the people that have been here I think have shown that, how you can develop and how things have gone over the last couple of years. So I'm very grateful for the fantastic people that have been here for many years. But yeah, it's around 50 horses that we train.

Lionel:

So we discussed about training. You go out training for giving a break to your horses. Can you maybe describe, you mentioned it before, but can you describe your approach to training? Like, you know, we say like system or methodology. Do you think you obey to one system or methodology? And if so, or if not, how do you approach your training?

James:

I don't think that I have any special way rather than anyone else. Of course, I'm educated from a whole lot. So I would guess that that's kind of the basics of my training system is from that. And then, of course, every instructor has their own little twist to things and does it a little bit in their own way. I guess that I always try to find a positive. That's the first thing, that when I look at a horse and a rider, I always try to find a positive. It's very easy to find the negatives. And often when you ask people, you know, what can you describe your horse, they always take the negatives. It's very rarely that they say, oh, but my horse is good at this or good at that. It's a lot of the negativity. So I guess that I always try to find the positive and find like a base where I can help the horse and rider from an area where they feel quite safe. So trying to find something that is like a safe zone. Where I can work through.

Lionel:

And then to expand after the... Yes, yes.

James:

And then slowly building on that. I often say to my students, in competitions at least, but also in training that I often try to tell them that it's not about getting the horse to be at its best. It's about getting the horse to raise its lowest level.

Lionel:

Yes, yes.

James:

So that the lowest level always gets higher and higher and higher. Because often, we are so focused on the top.

Lionel:

Yeah.

James:

But the way from the top and down to the bottom is quite far. But if your lowest level is very high, then the top is much quicker.

Lionel:

You reduce the span. Yes, absolutely.

James:

You're not falling to the ground. So again, very long-term sort of thinking. And I often laugh. A lot of the students that I've had for many years have always asked me a couple of years later, was this your plan? Was this where you were seeing us in the next couple of years? Yes and no. I try to always visualize and see where I would like to see them in the next two or three months in the training and how I want to see the horse develop. But I would say that my system is like most of the classical system in training horses. It's the so-called training pyramid that I work a lot from. And then like I say, I'm very much mental. I'm very, very strict on the mental approach to the horses and how you are in the stable.

Lionel:

Endling the horses?

James:

Yes, handling the horses. And if I may use the word leadership, it's all about the balance. It's about the harmony between the horse and rider. And I often say to a lot of people that what do you want the horse to see when you walk around in your stable? Do you want the horse to see the goody's tunt that gives all the candy all the time? Or do you want the horse to see the tyrant that is hard and strict and quite violent or mean to you? What image do you want the horse to see when you come to the stable? And often the girls say, laugh, that when I come home on Monday morning, when I come down the steps from my apartment in the morning, that most of the horse's ears are already starting to search for me into a connection where, James is back, okay, well, you know. So that's kind of the vibe I want. You want this connection. You want to see a companion. Not the other things, at least, that's not my opinion. And I think that that's how I've always been brought up with this real big respect for what creature we're working with. And when I'm teaching, I guess that's what I think is the most important thing to come through. My goal is to make people better horse people. Yes, overall.

Lionel:

Yes, so you really think over a long period of time.

James:

Yes, yes. I mean, I think that training a horse, as most of us know, is a long-term project.

Lionel:

Yes, it should.

James:

It should be. And that's how it is now. We humans, unfortunately, are very impatient. It should happen yesterday, if possible. So I guess that it's not in our nature to, it has to take some time. We want to see development quick. It is how we are, and it is part of our DNA. Now, the horse's DNA is not as quick, and it happened so quickly. Of course, you can see it in different individuals, that they take, that they're quicker in the training.

Lionel:

Yes, they pick up faster.

James:

Exactly, and then, of course, certain qualities in the breathing, that you can feel that the horse has easier for this, or leg action, or tult, or pace, or you know. So there are definitely some factors that are playing this game. But I often say, in at least my breathing and my experience, that I would rather breed an individual that takes the training, not just the quality of the gates itself, but takes training well. That you really feel a development, a very positive and easy development over a long term. Many horses have a lot of qualities, and from nature, they're bred and they have amazing gates, and they have, oh, it's so easy. But it's like it's always stop. You don't, the horse doesn't develop more than this qualities that it has. So I've had horses through all my life that have had maybe amazing qualities, but with training they have become so much better. Now, is that the sign of a good trainer? I don't know. Is it also that? But that at least is one of my philosophies, is that I want to see the horse develop in the training all the time, in the correct way. And I think that's something like, again, that people are not, we're not impatient, we're too impatient, and it has to happen so quickly. We don't give them the time enough sometimes. Sometimes I'm wrong, and sometimes I work them a little bit too long, I guess, but it's this belief in that it's going to get better.

Lionel:

Yeah. Do you have a go-to exercise, an exercise that you give to your students? You know, it could be do a...

James:

Yes, I know. I guess that... Go-to exercise.

Lionel:

Usually, when we ask that question to trainer, they say no, first of all, and then after a while, like, yes, I tend to do that, but maybe you don't.

James:

I guess that my biggest problem is that the go-to exercise is very different after each individual.

Lionel:

Ah, okay. Yes, you tailor it.

James:

I don't think that I have any kind of favorite exercise that I do all the time. I mean, I think that... I guess that if there's something that I always go to, is no matter how good of a rider you are, and the first lesson is pretty much on repeat.

Lionel:

Okay.

James:

I say the same thing to every single person. If you're a world championship rider or a completely new beginner...

Lionel:

Is it to set up the...

James:

Is to set up the mindset and the frame of how I want to approach this lesson or the horse. And it is about their nature. It is about the flight animal, the herd animal, the way of learning, the process, the DNA and so on. And that, I guess, is the goal to... That is like an old cassette player that you just press play and it just keeps going.

Lionel:

But that set up the students as well. Ah, okay, this is what it's all about. This is...

James:

It gives you a little bit of an idea of the mindset of how I want to think and how to approach it. And also often sets the students up in a sort of curious, yeah, I know this, but where is this leading to? You know, it gives you a little bit more of, yeah, sort of curiosity. And then it's easy to sort of push them in the right direction.

Lionel:

Yeah. Some of the trainers, I should say, are saying like, when they reach their peak, it's good to stop. And maybe the peak is at 20 minutes, it's at 10 or 30 minutes, but it's super useful to stop, because the horse will take that, like you said, as a reward. But also some of the trainers say they will remember, like, ah, that was good. It went well, that was good. And I think it's important to just not work on the gait and okay, this is the technique. It's more than just technique, I guess.

James:

Exactly. And that factor of you saying, I know that when you pay for a riding lesson, you expect to get your 40 minutes. You're saying, hey, you know, really? But I've had scenarios, just like you're describing, where you feel like you have accomplished what you wanted to do, and you've maybe got 10 minutes left on the clock.

Lionel:

That's it.

James:

And rather take a discussion with a rider afterwards about the development and so on, rather than riding more. Yes. I often take a metaphor that it's like baking your own cake and eating it. So you bake the cake and you get so greedy because it looks so good, I'm just going to take a little bite.

Lionel:

Yes.

James:

And then before you know it, the cake is finished.

Lionel:

And it's done.

James:

And then you go, shit, I've got to bake another one for the course tomorrow because I ate it all up. And it's the same with the horse. You want to leave the horse in a sense of, yes, still curiosity and development in their mind, that you're leaving them in a good place.

Lionel:

Yes.

James:

That if you get off, how would the horse be when you take it out of the box the next day? And that's always an important factor never to forget. You know, there's this expression that practice makes perfect. You've heard this before, yes. Now I'm going to say something that people might think that I'm crazy. Bullshit. There's no such thing as perfect according to who. You know, why? If you think something is perfect, then I might say, but that's perfect in my mind. That's the wonderful thing about the human brain, that we can have different opinions, and we can agree to disagree. But in my world, nothing is perfect. Now practice makes something permanent.

Lionel:

Oh, wow.

James:

Because the more you practice, the more good you get at it, and the more permanent it becomes, because you repeat it in your brain, and so it becomes a permanent thinking process. Now, if you... That then turns into something that's perfect in your world. Fine, wonderful. But for me, practice makes permanent. Not perfect. Like I say, it's all different from that. And that's something that I take with me, that the more horses I train, the more development of riders I see, you can see that the practice makes the things and the exercise is more permanent.

Lionel:

Permanent, yes.

James:

But not perfect.

Lionel:

Yes, yeah.

James:

I've never seen a show, both in breeding or anything, where the marks 10.0 have come out as the final mark.

Lionel:

No.

James:

You have seen moments.

Lionel:

Some of them, yes.

James:

That are perfect in that moment.

Lionel:

Yes.

James:

But I've never seen, yeah, I've seen amazing horses and amazing.

Lionel:

And for sure, they practice a lot. Exactly.

James:

And so that's what I mean, with that practice makes things permanent. And it's the same with us. The more we practice, hopefully, the better we become, and the more permanent that becomes. It's the same, as sad as it sounds, it's the same in the other direction. You can just as well practice something that is not good, and you can make that permanent.

Lionel:

Permanently bad, yes.

James:

So, yeah, that's at least how I try to think of it.

Lionel:

I have a question. Do you yourself take lessons?

James:

Yes, I sure do.

Lionel:

Yes?

James:

I take a lot of writing lessons. Both for, of course, my family members. I even record myself quite a lot.

Lionel:

All right.

James:

And then I go upstairs and lock the door, and then you can hear me probably kicking and shouting at myself what I'm doing.

Lionel:

You review your own tape?

James:

Yeah, I can look at myself, and I'm very self-critical on my own writing and work. I think that often you are the best critic of your own, if you can have a state of mind. But mainly, I write a lot for Eyal Rilsson. Okay. I've had the privilege of managing to find places where he comes to, where I have managed to get my nose into the pool of people. I have a lot of help sometimes from Agnar Snorri-Stefansson from Denmark. He has sort of been within reach always in big moments, at least competitions and sort of giving me sort of small comments here and there to help me get the most out of my horse in that scenario. Johan Hekberg comes here from the judges point of view, gives me a good input on little higher, little lower shape here, work more a little bit of this and that. And then of course, Isolver Lindahl Thoresson. I speak to him a lot and we always discuss training and what we can do better and where we're heading. And then I would say that my biggest mentor and sort of influencer in my riding over the last couple of years has been Thore Isolson, Isol's father. Yeah, he is for me an amazing horseman and has this wonderful of approach of teaching of. I remember when I was there in practicum, he used to say to me, Oh, well, work a little bit more on this or do a little bit more like that. And then he used to go and close the stable and go. Or go. And then I would see him sort of peeking through the barn door. Is he doing what you said? So, again, curiosity. Okay, he never said do this.

Lionel:

No.

James:

But he said, Oh, you should maybe try a little bit like this. So those for me are definitely the sort of forces of people that I use a lot sort of as ballplanks, where I get ideas back and I get inspiration back. And so I think it's important to always have someone with you that has knowledge and can help you develop, of course. But I would say that if I'm completely honest, I'm my hardest teacher myself. When I look at things, I can get really pissed off at myself that I don't think my writing is good enough, or I want to do something different, or why did I do it there? But I'm my own hardest critic.

Lionel:

Yeah, I saw you writing. I can give you some tips if you want. I'm happy to do that. But you record yourself? Yes. Okay. This is super interesting. That way you get this external point of view, I guess.

James:

Yeah. A lot of people do it when they're competing.

Lionel:

Yes.

James:

But I feel as the competition part, yes, it's good to see, and if something went bad or good or so on, you see certain moments. But all of this you can prepare already in the training at home. And so that if you are on your toes, at least how I see it is that if there is something that you feel is not working good enough, then why wait until the competition track to, oh, now I can see it.

Lionel:

Yes.

James:

Then rather record at home and check where is it going wrong?

Lionel:

Yeah, we have all the tools at our disposal, iPhone or the phone or whatever.

James:

So I think that's important. And then when it comes to other trainers, I speak of course a lot with Jacob and Helguna over the last couple of years as well. That's been a big turning point when it came to at least Halmoni, of course. And I remember the first writing lesson I had for Eyal Isoson on Halmoni a couple of years ago, and he kind of grinned at me and said, you didn't buy yourself the most easiest horse. Well, thank you. So no, he knew him of course from when Jacob had him as well. So it was fun and it's not often that Eyal forgets the time, but this one time we suddenly found ourselves 10, 15 minutes over the time that the lesson. Oh, we're finished now. We have to carry on tomorrow.

Lionel:

Okay. This is so cool though.

James:

It's funny. And it just goes to show that, you know, horse people, we say this, that horse people, they're not very good on the clock. But when you're training and you're in your moment, then time is just irrelevant.

Lionel:

Yes. And the horses, they don't have a clock.

James:

Exactly.

Lionel:

They know when the feeding is coming. Yes. When you ride them, they don't have a clock. So we are in the winter and you mention it is like, it's where you prepare. What are the steps you're taking to prepare the season?

James:

Right now, it's a lot of basic work with really getting the horses soft and well ridden through their body, building them up slowly, so that slowly putting more and more pressure. And I try to think, people sometimes talk about breaks and so on, giving the horse a break. I try to think that it's not about the breaks themselves, but it's about trying to develop my horse better and better, so that it's going to grow under the whole season. Right. But right now, I would say it's a lot of basic training in that way for that. So yeah, I try to always think that I want to have two horses in each discipline of quite a high level.

Lionel:

Oh, right.

James:

So that I can feel that if this horse is in A shape, then he goes. If this horse isn't, then I take another horse. So like at the Swedish Championships this year, at the Gecko Championships after Nordics. And so I felt that the horses were good, but the day before we went, I rode Eldeod and he had been covering a lot of mares and he was just finishing. And I remember having a long discussion with the girls that I was really pissed off at, oh, he doesn't feel like he's good enough. I know, I just leave him at home. No, it's not fair on him. And I've mainly just been working basic work. And I thought, oh, I'll take Leikur and this fantastic horse, Holpjartur, that of course took a silver at Nordics with a young rider. So that was really fun. Luckily, the girls persuaded me in the morning after that I'll take him with, you can at least train him on the track and see how he feels. And he's anyway finished with a mares this season.

Lionel:

It doesn't cost you so much.

James:

No, exactly. So I did. And that just goes to show how important it is to have two or three horses at a high level in each discipline. That he, the night before, sort of offered me something magical, something special, and you felt like he was really on A game. And on the other side, unfortunately, me and Lekur were not. We don't misunderstand me. He still made it to A finals and so on, but there was something there. So I guess that's why I say I like to have at least, preferably two horses in each discipline where you can really give the horse the benefit of the doubt also. No, this horse is not feeling up for it now, and then the other one will step in hopefully. So yeah.

Lionel:

Thank you, James, for welcoming us in Paceland. And thank you, everyone, for listening. We will come back soon with a new episode. In the meantime, do not hesitate to share this episode. Thank you again, James. Thank you.

James:

Thank you for having me.

Lionel:

And before we leaving you, we would like to mention that you can follow us on Instagram, The Tölt Tales for more news and stories. Goodbye.

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