The professional trainer Janita Luttunen, has moved with Team Luttunen’s twelve trotting horses to Boden from Tornio. Here the whole family, with husband Jani and their four-year-old twin girls, have created a new life, with Boden’s fine training tracks and Sweden’s northernmost trotting track on the doorstep.
Several industries are growing and attracting more and more people to Boden. Trotting has been a strong industry in Boden for many years. At Bodentravet, there are both local and visiting professionals who have chosen Boden as the base of their business. Now professional coach Janita Luttunen and her family have also moved here.
“This move has been a project for two years. We have discussed with several racetracks in Sweden and felt that Boden is right for us. We wanted to move to better training facilities and Boden has always had nice courses”, says Janita.
Team Luttunen is used to moving among their horses in the stable they have just moved into at Bodentravet. Some of the horses feel at home here, like Janita, after many racing visits to Boden.
There are currently twelve horses in Team Luttunen’s stable. Team Luttunen is co-owner of three of them and Janita has one of her own. The others are other people’s horses that Janita trains. She is also a driver, but prefers to drive horses other than those she has trained herself.
“When I drive my own horses, it’s easy to think too much.”
She sees it as a tempting challenge to take on young horses with potential and the opportunity to develop into really good racehorses. She has several young horses but also older ones that she has followed for longer. One example is six-year-old Ivar Journey, who came to Team Luttunen as a three-year-old with 20,000 in his account. Since joining them, he has raised half a million.
The horse town of Boden
The horse town of Boden offers a wide range of equestrian activities, from trotting to private riding and western riding. Both the trotting and riding clubs, and from the very beginning the horses in the Armed Forces, have characterized Boden and cultivated the interest in horses here. Together, the various horse facilities make Boden the most horse-dense town in northern Sweden, both in absolute terms and per capita. Boden is known today for its excellent training courses, used daily by both professional and amateur riders. With transportation routes that are also passable for the horse teams, there is a 22 km trotting trail as a possible training route all year round.
The Midnight Race
With the move here, Team Luttunen becomes part of the big trotting family in Boden. Janita Luttunen participated directly in a race on her new home track. Then Midnattstravet with V75, which is one of Norrbotten’s largest folk festivals. The event takes place every year just before midsummer, when the nights are at their brightest and the sun shines around the clock in Boden. The V75 competitions feature some of the best horses and drivers in Sweden, with high class and exciting races.
“It’s great to be part of Midnattstravet when Bodentravet is our new home track. We hope to see a lot of people there”, says Janita.
Photo Mats Engfors Fotographic
Exercise with quality of life
Both as a young skier and later as a harness trainer and coachman, Janita has spent a lot of time in Boden. Now she has settled down for real, to get the best possible training opportunities and quality of life. The Luttunen Lamminparras couple has just landed with their moving ship in Boden. The move was only 14 miles long, but spanned a country and language border. It took a long time and a lot of preparation to get everything ready for the move of the 12 horses in their stable. But moving your family and home to a new country also requires a host of practical solutions for housing, childcare and more.
“Our girls were very curious about moving and have already started learning Swedish”, says Janita.
They have swapped their villa life with their own stables in Tornio for an apartment in Boden.
“It feels great to have an apartment, now we feel that we have time and opportunity to do something else with the children.
We are so grateful that everything has worked out so well for the children. It has gone very well and we feel very welcome everywhere.”
Are you also thinking about becoming part of our #närhetsliv in Boden? At Move to Boden you can find out everything you need to know about moving here, getting matched to jobs, finding accommodation, leisure activities, schools and much more.
Photo: Mats Engfors/Fotographic and KOMM/Boden municipality
