April 2009 . Hello I will write about our new life in France. I will tell a little about riding in Sweden as well. We have been here in France with the horses more then a year now.

We live in the French countryside near Lyon. Here is lovely we like it but its colder and more windy then expected but lovely. Its peaceful and people are very nice. Many speak English and I speak a little French so we are ok. Food is nice lots of vegetables and fruits.

The trees are blossoming now the cherry trees, plums, apricots and peaches in the orchids fields its very pretty.

We have the horses  in the hills on ca 800 m level if it will be hot in the summer the horses have a good woodland for protection for cool and shade. We also ride in the forest for shade and cool in the summer and for good protection in the winter. Its very beautiful here but hilly so rather tuff I think. Lots of paths every where. France has many marked paths. Its very popular to go on really long rides here. There where more families with horses in Sweden though.

In Sweden its more of a family thing having horses many families have horses in the Swedish countryside. Perhaps there is more land available in Sweden so its easy to have a horse.  So there are many small horse pensions you can have your horse with a family in the country in Sweden.  Here in France we are lucky I think to find a good place a good pension. As there are fewer places here. Its much farm land in this part of France yes but also much farming and much cows.  So finding a place for the horses close to home was tricky. We hope to have the horses closer to home soon. 

The horses are in a pension its best for now as we are leasing a house. We hope to get our own place soon enough. We hope to move closer to the lakes it would be so good in the summer. So hopefully we will find a place closer to the Alps where the lakes are.