Oil painting

The painting was painted by the cavalry officer, the hippologist and artist Sam Arsenius (1857-1912) in 1897. Arsenius became a horseman at Norrlands Dragonregemente in 1894 and passed into the voyage in 1907. Sam painted horses from Norrland’s dragon regiment, which is why all horses on the squadron were consecrated as watercolours. His father, Johan Georg (1818-1903) and his brother Karl Georg (1855-1914) were also known animal painters. The horse Freij was Major General Gabriel Thorén’s service horse for a large part of the years he was an officer at Svea artillery regiment. Tavlan later belonged to his son, Carl-Axel Thorén, who ordered that after his death it be handed over as a gift to the Armémuseum. Frej was a brown walack also known as “Frey” and born at O.G. de Maré on Mauritzholm near Lköpping in 1888. He was the case after Warrenby xx, a thoroughbred stallion imported from England in 1876, (after The Palmer xx, the Amine xx, after Pompey xx), and the Swedish half-blood mare Svalna (after Calcas). Frey was Major General Gabriel Thorén’s service horse for a large part of his years as an officer at Svea artillery regiment (A1) in Stockholm. The Distance Drawings had a manifest military justification beyond the purely sporting purpose, as was also noted in countries such as Germany and Austria, where the branch had a great impact in the military context, such as the Berlin-Vienna distance drawing. “Newspaper for sport” reads in February 1895: “The chivalry is the will and a firm will is the basic condition for a good soldier! Thus, from a molalic point of view, these knights as well as the races are the greatest importance for our officers.” The first distance drawing in Sweden was the Södertörnsridten, a 120 km long track which was interred on 8 February 1895. For the first time, representatives from most regiments of beridna weapons teams gathered for a longer distance trip, including Captain Thorén and Frej. A total of 17 riders participated, 13 of whom completed the race. The time span varied between 8 and 11 hours. A persistent snow weather during the race day meant an extra challenge for horses as well as riders. If Frej reported Newspaper for sport the following: “But the bright frune poppy is just six years old and has recently been reached opaque, the horde it probably becomes the rider’s energy that will precipitate the rash.” Frej felled the race in 8 hours and 46 minutes, rewarding him with a fifth place. In October 1885 Frej won the distance drawing in Jönköpingsridten with sub-lieutenant Per Carlberg in the saddle. Carlberg had trained Frej for two and a half months before the race with daily marches ranging from 30 km to 150 km. During this period, the transport could vary between 16 and 27 litres of oats per day. The tenancy during the competition was one hour trot, ten minutes of springmarch next to the horse, three minutes walking next to the horse and then one hour of further trotting with the horse. Four longer breaks were made, the longest in one hour. Apart from a cover ride in the vicinity of Askersund during the night when Frej trampled faults, Carlberg passed the strapate without incident. After his arrival in Stockholm on Saturday morning at 0530, Carlberg himself took care of his horse before dressing and taking up his breakfast. At 8, he then reached the Gymnastic Central Institute for regular service after two days of uninterrupted riding. Frej and Carlberg were clocked in 44 hours and 22 minutes as they crossed the finish line as victors. About the race, Newspaper wrote for sport: “The proudest memory of the now executed distance riding is the beautiful feat of the first three riders, and today’s hjelte is the first laureate, sub-lieutenant P Carlberg. Their horses voro on their arrival at the goal in perfectly good condition.” / AF through Robert Lindgren FVM 2011-02-07.