Relating to Fjord Horses: Rory and Kristin Miller
The Norwegian fjord horse or fjording is one of the oldest breeds of domesticated horses known from 4000 years ago. “Fjords” are masters the mountainous terrain on farms in Norway – surefooted, and pound for pound, the strongest breed of horse in the world. In this podcast, we meet Rory and Kristin Miller of Strawberry Hills Fjords in Chehalis, Washington, who train their horses in driving carriages or carts and in performing challenging routines in what’s called “dressage” riding. Come along with us as we learn about these gentle and extremely intelligent horses, tour the Millers’ stables, and discover how the humans relationship with a horse must become deeply personal to succeed in riding and driving. Finally, we investigate the poem Rida, Rida, Ranka, which some Nordic parents still use to take their young children for a horse ride, on their knee. Unless you’re already on this site, visit https://nordicontap.com/relating-to-fjord-horses-rory-and-kristin-miller/ to see images of Rory and Kristin’s dressage, pictures of their stables, and various versions of Ride Ride Ranka, including a video. You get extra credit for leaving a comment below, writing us an email (nordicontap@gmail.com), taking our survey, or buying us a cup of coffee (see the yellow button below). 🙂
A transcript of this podcast is being developed and the link to it will appear here before 6-20-23. Thanks!
Links
A video of Kristin performing a dressage routine on Nils at the Peteton Farm Dressage Schooling Show in Olympia, WA, in 2017. Note the dressage markings on the arena wall, of alphabet letters. These markings evolved historically from the Imperial German Court, the German horse cavalry, and the Olympic Games…or so it is believed. Starting with the center marking, A, in a standard arena, the order of the letters clockwise can be remembered by “All King Victor’s Expensive Show Horses Can Manage Really Big Plastic Fences”. Video: Moving Images NW.
There are many great websites about fjord horses. Wikipedia is one. There’s a nice article (2020) on fjord horse history in the USA at Horse Journal. The five colors of fjords are well described in the Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry.
The Millers’ bunads
The bunad that Rory wears is from Hadeland, an area northeast of Oslo near the Randsfjord. Rory got his bunad from Kristin’s cousin. So he is wearing a bunad connected to his greater family.
The bunad (traditional folk dress) that Kristin is wearing was designed by painter Alf Lundeby in 1932 for a woman friend. Originally only relatives of Lundeby could wear this design, and Lundeby was a cousin of Kristin’s grandfather. The Lundebydrakt is not derived from traditions from a specific area, but is considered to be “from” Vest-Oppland/Solør-Odal since that was the location of the Lundeby farm (near Elverum and Hamar). It has black (like Kristin’s), blue, and white variants. Kristin’s family is actually from the Oslo area.
Jesper Jespersen’s Danish version of Ride Ride Ranka based on the J. Gebauer version with the “Hop, hop, hop, hop” introduction to each verse (see last images on this page).
Here’s some different variants of Ride Ride Ranka that I was able to find. See the last images on this page for melodies.
Article on Blanche of Namur, by Birgitta Tingdal for the Swedish Women’s Biographical Lexicon in which Ride Ride Ranke is mentioned.
Images
Fjord horse (Silje?), Kristin Miller, Rory Miller, and Eric Stavney on the Miller Strawberry Fjords Farm. Eric holds his digital field recorder. Photo: Dana Stavney.
Lana? the fjord horse, showing the clipped buffy mane with the black center stripe. Note that the stripe continues all the way down the back to the tail, as is typical for fjord horses. Photo: Dana Stavney
Looking into the tack room with saddles and blankets on a saddle tree, and bits and reins on the far wall. Photo: Dana Stavney
Rory and Tabitha ride a carriage pulled by the pair, Liv and Silje, through a water hazard as part of a driving competition. The water hazard is just one of many things that could spook a horse, and their training with the driver enables them to drive straight through it. Note that Rory has his “whip” on Silje’s right side, gently guiding her to the left. Rory never uses his whip for punishment, rather as a guide, since such subtle communication can’t be communicated through the reins that go to both horses. Photo: Rory Miller.
Rory drives Silje and Liv from a carriage during a driving competition. Note the formal attire that drivers must wear. The caption says SH Silje for “Strawberry Hill (Fjords), Silje (the horse I think in front). Photo: Rory Miller via Dana Stavney
Rory prepares a “stone boat” which is a sled made for having horses transport rocks out of a field. Even without the rocks, the boat is heavy! Photo: Eric Stavney
Silje the fjord horse pulled off her mask, so Dana Stavney and Rory put one back over her head. The mask has screening around the eyes to keep out flies – a constant irritant of horses. Photos: Eric and Dana Stavney.
Kristin lays out poles in the arena which will be used to train Saundra t to pick up her feet straight while walking. If she flicks her feet to the side, she’ll hit the pole (a form of feedback for both horse and rider). Part of dressage training. Dana Stavney looks on. Notice the letters “E” and “S” on the wall used to align horses in training. Photo: Eric Stavney
At left, Rory Miller and Linnea Stavney stand next to Silje, who the Millers brought to at a Sons of Norway Heritage Day in Bothell (2014). At right, Eric (yours truly) and Linnea stand next to Silje. This is the first time we met the Millers and saw a fjord horse up close. Linnea is wearing a Vestfold district bunad. Photos: Eric Stavney.
Rory Miller and Linnea Stavney talk in a fjord horse-drawn carriage during the Syttende Mai (17th of May) Parade in Seattle in 2014. Rory wears the Hadeland bunad, and Linnea wears the Vestfold bunad. Photo: Eric Stavney
Rory and Silje have a moment together at left. Kristin looks over Lana (?) in her stall.
Ride Ride Ranka
Albert Edelfeld’s painting Ride Ranka shows Queen Blanche of Namur with her son Håkon on her knee.
A Swedish melody for Rida Ranka.
The version of Ride Ride Ranke that I sang in the podcast, but with Norwegian words.
A Danish melody version of Rida Rida Ranka, also known in Sweden.
There are other songs with “Ride Ranka” in the title that aren’t related to riding knees, so to speak. One of them is Finn Kalvik’s Rida Ranka (1975), which is a cover of Harry Chapin’s Cat’s in the Cradle (1974), except in Norwegian. I mention this because I’m a Kalvik fan. And Chapin’s song (in English) is such a poignant, cautionary tale for fathers everywhere.
My father found a trivet with one verse of Ride Ride Ranka on it and hung it on the wall, remembering his riding his father’s or grandfather’s knee to that poem. I did it with my kids too.
We fist heard of and saw fjord horses in our first trip to Norway 2016. Thought they were lovely and majestic. Thank you for the interesting insight into this world!
Thank you so much for writing, Cheryle. They are indeed lovely horses, and it’s neat you saw them in-person in Norway.
This weekend I’m going to see trainer I interviewed, Rory Miller, compete in a “driving” trial through traffic cones and shallow water hazards. I’ll take lots of pictures and post them on the episode site – I’m so psyched to see Rory, Liv, and Silje (the horses) in action.
If you have any other ideas about what you’d like to learn about, I’d welcome your suggestions. You can send them directly to me at nordicontap@gmail.com or fill out the listener survey (takes about 15 min). Thanks again!