Best for both horse and humans

– Quality for me means when we use products that create a good environment for the horses that are sensitive to dust. But the same argument also applies of course to the personnel as well. 

Pleasure bath in the box

The morning work is in full swing at Vindeln’s Riding Club. While the horses are munching away at their feed in the pastures the personnel are working at getting everything in the 33 stalls clean and nice. When everything is cleaned and fine, then it is time for the final finish – new bedding.

– Previously we have had three times as large bales to contend with but Norra Timbers’ bedding, which only weighs around 20 kilos, is considerably easier to handle and, moreover, has both a better price and quality, Petra Karström believes.

Her Swedish half blood, 8-years old Linus, seems to agree. When he enters the box and discovers that there is new bedding there is a wonderfully spontaneous bath which means that the new bedding is whirling around him.

Life’s passion

Petra has operated as operations manager at Vindeln’s Riding Club since 2005. Inside the premises saddles, helmets and other materials in different sizes and good order are hanging up. The club has 200 members and 18 horses are used in the riding school activity. In addition to the daily work in the stall Petra and her colleagues arrange camps, courses and, in addition, 2-4 competitions a year.

– All this fills my life every day from morning to evening, says Petra with a big laugh and continues to describe life in the stall as the great passion of her life.

Here I have my friends, my job. I have always loved animals; I myself rode as a child but didn’t become a horse-owner myself until 2000.

Three out of three possible

As a self-employed person and horse-owner Petra possesses good knowledge and well formulated requirements in respect of the products that are bought in. The bedding that Vindeln’s Riding Club previously used sometimes included unwanted contents but the worst thing they had to deal with was an uncertain delivery time.

– Previously we had to wait a long time and often had to arrange the freight here ourselves. But now Norra Timber delivers the orders within two-three weeks without any problem and the difficulty of having to go to town 50 km away in order fill up the stock yourself, is but a memory. What I look for is good delivery capacity, sustained quality and a good price and that is what I have now, explains Petra Karström while she follows her horse Linus out into the pasture again.

Unique cleaning process

Göran Mattsson has worked as a salesman of Stallströ since 2017 when Norra Timber built up its production line and where the manufacturing process involves 100 per cent clean, fresh and dried timber without bark, from northern Sweden. Stallströ from Norra Timber contains no trace of dust and fungal spores thanks to a unique cleaning process and the fact that the shavings are transported directly after planing to fully automated packaging that takes place in a completely enclosed system.

– Our bedding is as close to being a dust-free product as it is possible to get. It is cleaned right down to the smallest particles which make a soft and airy bed possible, with less risk of fungus and mould growth. It is especially suitable for sensitive horses, poultry or clinics with high cleanliness requirements, explains Göran Mattsson.

That the planed timber is environmentally certified in accordance with PEFC, that the packaging used for the bales is made of recycled and recyclable plastic, plus the fact that the clean wood in the pallets is able to be energy recovered, are additional arguments for certain customers, according to Mattsson. He pats Petra’s horse once more before getting ready to meet up with another customer.

– ‘Get in touch if you need help Petra’, he shouts

– ‘Yes, you know that I always come back with orders’, she shouts back and directs her steps towards the office and one of the day’s administrative sessions.