My Side Job!
When I lived in Mörrum, I had my own farm. It had been subdivided, but I was able to rent some land next to it, which gave me both a paddock and grazing for my horses. I loved living there, and my large house had plenty of space for my saddlery workshop.
However, living alone meant I needed a steady income to cover all the bills. Even though I had customers in my saddlery business, it wasn’t always enough. The hourly wage for a saddler wasn’t very high, and sometimes I only had small repairs to do. On top of that, I wasn’t very good at charging for my work. So, I often took on extra jobs to afford keeping my horses.
For many years, I didn’t have a car—it was simply too expensive. I rented out a few stable spots and sometimes got a ride with my boarders to the village to buy groceries. That way, I got to know a lot of people, and many were helpful in their own ways.
One day, I got in touch with a dairy farmer who lived a few kilometers away. He asked if I wanted to earn some extra money by working as a relief milker for him. Of course, I said yes! But how would I get there? I didn’t have a car, not even a bicycle… but I did have a horse!
I asked the farmer if he had a spare stall where I could keep my horse while I worked. He did, and he thought it was a great idea! He had a North Swedish horse himself, but he said it wouldn’t be a problem—he could turn her out while I was there.
And so it was settled! I started working for Aldo and rode my stallion, Mackay, to the farm every day. It was a perfect arrangement—Mackay got exercise and built up his fitness, I had a job, and Aldo got the help he needed. On top of that, Aldo was a true animal lover, and he didn’t like the idea of Mackay standing there without food. So, he always gave him some silage, which meant I saved money on horse feed as well!
It was truly a win-win situation, even though it wasn’t always fun to head out in the dark when it was -20°C. But it worked! Mackay got silage, which was quite unusual for horses at the time. However, Aldo’s silage was of the highest quality, dried in a silo, and Mackay thrived on it. Aldo had even won awards for his dairy cows and high-quality milk, so he was very particular about what the animals were fed.
It was a great job, and I stayed there for a long time.
