Zvezdana isn’t an ordinary mare. She lives in Norway, but she was born in Serbia. Nobody understands her because of her peculiar, “Serbian” temper. Nobody except her owner Biljana Ćulibrk Fredriksen. She is the only person Zvezdana allows to ride her.
In 2012, Biljana and her father bought two horses: Zvezdana and her best friend Maza. Their plan was for the two horses to live in a humble estate near Belgrade with Biljana’s father, while Biljana and her son live in Norway. However, Biljana’s father had a different plan all along.
– The two mares were “bait”, so to say, to “lure” my son and me to visit Serbia more often. And so it was: since the summer of 2012 until the summer of 2013 we visited Serbia six times. And after that we moved Maza and Zveki to Norway – Biljana told “24 sata”.
After long a long preparation and a long journey, Zveki travelled abroad for the first time. They found her good accommodation in a small private stable near the place they live in. There were other horses there and the owners were very responsible. This was very important for Biljana as she had to leave for a three-month long post-doctorate trip to America in autumn of 2013. The owners of the stable did their best to make this separation period as good as it could be for Zvezdana. But, when Biljana left, the Serbian mare revealed her Serbian temper, which isn’t quite clear to Norwegians.
Namely, Zveki was never trained in Serbia, she was only loved and cared for. This is why, when they tried to ride her and when her training began, she started to rebel. A month after Biljana left for the United States, Zveki threw off her rider and the girl was seriously injured. The Norwegians continued working with Zvezdana, but she kept on throwing off her riders.
– When she noticed people were afraid of her, she got more and more aggressive and willful. When I returned from the US in the January of 2014, she was difficult to lead as she bit people on the arm, when I put saddle on her she wouldn’t budge, she wouldn’t go in horse trailers and she chased by-passers either to kick or to run them over. That is when my horse behaviour studies began – Biljana remembers.
Biljana used her knowledge as a professor of pedagogy to better understand this “deranged” mare. In time she realised that Zvezdana has an odd temper firstly because of her genetics and secondly because of the way she was “brought up” in Serbia. In Norway, horses are trained for the very beginning, but in Serbia Zveki had been well cared for, loved and a bit – spoiled.
Determined not to let her dear horse suffer, Biljana started slowly working with her, and today she is the only person Zvezdana lets ride her. Biljana jokes that it was a matter of her Serbian temper, but the fact is that Zvezdana was much alike a child, she only needed to establish some trust.
– When people started avoiding her, she took the role of the boss. She behaved aggressively, but was actually very insecure and felt lost because she didn’t have anyone to lead her. For the past year Zveki lived with a big mare called Lilemor. Lilemor is 15 years older than her and even tried to raise her as she did her previous five foals. However, Zveki never stopped trying to take the lead even though she is 8 years younger and 200 kg lighter than Lilemor. We had to separate them after Lilemor was left with a bloody thigh as a result of their “unresolved disputes”. She acts the same way with me: if I happen to have a headache, she’ll use that day to disobey me, to steal some hay or something of the sort. She can be a bit tiring, but when we’re both alive and healthy, and in a good mood, we get along splendidly, that is of course if we show each other trust and respect. – Biljana concludes.
Even though she works as a professor at the University College of Southeast Norway where she teaches students, her own greatest teacher is, in fact, Zvezdana.
Source: www.24sata.rs
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