We drove this evening, to the Kamisak Arctic Horse Center at the Arctic Resort Kakslauttanen. I was particularly excited by this trip because of the song Jingle Bells and its reference to dashing through the snow on a one horse open sleigh, something I have always dreamed of but never done.
It was a great evening to go on an aurora (Northern Lights) hunt too, as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the amount of stars we could see promised good aurora watching!
On arrival we went into the stable building and were offered warm snowsuits, gloves and hats. We had our own but opted to borrow some gloves as experience has shown us that the Lappish mittens are far superior to any English ski glove!
When everyone was kitted out how they wished to be, our guide took us outside to the horse sleigh. It was a large sleigh attached to two horses and there were blankets incase you needed them to keep warm.
We set off into the night to the middle of nowhere. I resisted the temptation to sing Jingle Bells, as apparently that would be embarrassing, and instead, gazed at the thousands of bright stars in the sky. I’m glad I did because as soon as I looked up I saw a shooting star whizzing by!
The sleigh came to a halt at the special aurora viewing area and we all got out. Our guide lit some candles and made everyone a drink of hot juice and handed out some really nice cake. He then proceeded to tell us all about the Northern Lights and some traditional stories about them.
For ages there was nothing and we thought perhaps we weren’t going to be lucky, but then all of a sudden, green lights started to appear in the sky! It wasn’t as impressive as I had perhaps imagined but there was a definite rainbow of green above us.
We stood and watched a while and then boarded the horse drawn sleigh again, and headed back to where we started.
Taking a child with Autism on a horse drawn sleigh to look for the Northern Lights?
My son had a melt down on the way due to the amount of layers he was wearing but soon calmed when he was in the snow.
The horses are great for children who love animals.
The sleigh has no seat belts but high sides on one side. It is not too fast.
There are candles at the stop.
My son mostly threw himself around in the snow and climbed the small snow mounds while the man was talking but this was ok.
It can be very cold for young children.
The trip was not private, there were other people with us.
Kamisak is located at Rovaniementie 915, FI-99800 Ivalo, Finland. Their phone number is + 358 (0)50 570 7871 and you can email info@kamisak.com for more information or booking. We drove there as we had hired a car but they will also arrange to pick you up from Ivalo or Saariselka.
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Wow! This looks amazing. Tell your son he looks like an ice ninja! Xx
Haha he liked that comment!
Thought ‘he might! 😉 have a fabulous time.