Bodø: Northern Lights Horseback Ride with Nordland Horses｜Norway

Just outside Bodø, on a farm at Tverlandet, we breed the Nordland horse, also known as the Lyngen horse. It is one of Norway's oldest native breeds, still classed as endangered, and a living piece of Northern Norwegian cultural heritage. In winter we take our horses out after dark, away from the lights of town.

The evening starts in the stable. Your guide introduces the farm and the breed and gives a safety briefing, then matches you with a horse suited to your experience. You groom your own Nordland horse and get to know it before setting off. Every horse here is calm and used to first-time riders, and the entire ride is done at a walking pace.

You then ride out for around an hour on quiet forest roads. This is a working landscape, dark and still at this time of year. On one stretch of the forest road we regularly pass a spot where moose bed down for the night. And when the sky is clear, this is where you look up.

The northern lights are a natural phenomenon and can never be guaranteed. Clouds, moonlight and solar activity all play their part, and some evenings the sky stays quiet. We take you out into the dark regardless, because the ride itself is the reason to come. If the aurora appears, you will be sitting on horseback in an open landscape with no streetlights around you, which is as good a place to see it from as any.

Back at the farm you help care for your horse and feed it porridge. You then meet the rest of the herd, and there is usually time to spend with the foals and young horses. If you would like to help feed the herd, you are welcome to.

The evening finishes with a hot drink and something to eat in the warmth.

Groups are small, with a maximum of eight riders, so there is always time for questions about the horses and the breed. No riding experience is needed.

Please note that this is a walking-pace ride on gravel and forest roads in winter conditions. It is not suited to riders looking for speed. Dress warmly, as temperatures after dark in Northern Norway drop well below freezing.