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We continue our popular series ‘That Special Bond’, and this time we speak with Peder Fredricson’s former long-time show groom Malin Henlöv. Malin now works for Evelina Tovek, however the horses closest to her heart are still from her previous job. 

“My special one is H&M Christian K and I miss him every day,” Malin says – clearly emotional.

“Christian has such a huge personality and is the most intelligent horse I have ever met. He is more like a dog than a horse. Christian always ended up a bit in the shadow of Allan (H&M All In) but was always there performing really well. If his career wouldn’t have come at the same time as Allan’s, he would probably have gotten more recognition. 

The special one can often be a horse that has been a bit difficult, but Christian is the total opposite – he is extremely easy to take care of and he loves all humans. He is just the nicest horse ever. Christian is very strong though, so if he wants to walk in one direction, he does – but since he is so genuinely nice, we could let him have some bad habits. 

I met him in St. Tropez after I stopped working for Peder and I didn’t expect Christian to recognize me the way he did. It was both heart-warming and heart-breaking to see his reaction.”

“Christian of course, but also H&M Sibon that is an extremely nice horse. Christian and Sibon are a bit similar, with the difference that Christian has had the same personality during all the years he has been at Grevlunda and Sibon changed over time. Christian came with a self-confidence and you could clearly notice that he had been very loved by his former team. Sibon came to us when he was seven and he was quite insecure, shy and sensitive and at the same time wild and fresh. During the years he developed and got very social and safe, even though he was always a bit wild. I have actually never met a horse with more energy. However, Sibon was never difficult to handle, he almost got better the more energy he had. And he only had a happy and very positive energy, not a stressed energy. 

Every morning when we let him out on the field, he took off bucking. Even though he was sensitive to ride and had such an amount of energy, he never got stupid. Sibon learned how to kiss and charmed everyone to give him candy.”

“Definitely Allan. Even at the end when I worked at Grevlunda, after I had been taking care of Allan for seven years, he could still surprise me with his reactions. You never knew where you had him. Things you thought he would react on he didn’t care about – and other things you thought would be fine could become a catastrophe. It is not a secret that Allan is difficult, and he is really hard to read. His reactions could also change from day to day. Everything had to be on his terms. 

Allan is very introvert. Several horses show affection for one person or more, but Allan never did. I’m sure he felt safe with Peder and myself, since he knew us so well, but he never gave me the feeling that he cared about any of us. It’s not like he dislikes people; he just doesn’t seem to care about us.

Allan has his own huge field and we let him out there first thing in the morning. He even had his breakfast outside. We only took him in to ride and then he went back out on the field, to be taken in before we left the stable in the evening. He couldn’t care less if we took in all the horses around him and sometimes, he wouldn’t let us catch him. He just loves his field. 

Allan has a huge personality, but a very difficult one. Regardless, I have experienced so many fantastic things thanks to that horse.” 

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