Stride by Stride with Antonia Ax:son Johnson

Text: Lily Forado

Wellington is the great epicenter of equestrian sport: an upscale Palm Beach County community known as the “Equestrian Capital of the World”. Thousands of people gather for four months every year to enjoy, compete, and work with horses in this emblematic place. World-renowned athletes, business gurus, celebrities, and influential people of all sorts come to take advantage of what Wellington can offer; one of them is Antonia Ax: son Johnson

For those who don’t know her, Antonia is a Swedish woman who exudes elegance, education, and above all, distinction, and class. During the past decades, she has been a comprehensive force behind dressage and Jumping in Sweden. Her involvement with dressage programs and competitive horses have put her at the forefront of the sport worldwide.

Her father was the one who introduced her to horses: Morgans were the first horses she had contact with, and since that moment, she has never looked back. At a young age, she took the reins of the management of the family’s company Axel Johnson Group.  As an executive director, she has always been linked to the world of horses. During her business mandate, she did not have much time for them, but after her 50th birthday she resumed her daily hobby of riding horses.

Equestrian Legacy
To this day, Antonia is a benchmark in equestrian sport. She could be termed as a great visionary. Lövsta Stuteri is her equestrian legacy. The vision of it is  to improve the Swedish equestrian sport through breeding, training and competing in both dressage and jumping horses with sustainability, horsemanship and sportsmanship as guiding stars and with an international outlook. In other words, Lövsta Stuteri is as a landmark for the development of the equestrian sport (dressage & Jumping) worldwide.

Lövsta Stuteri has  Swedish staff members in their equestrian facilities; Sweden and Wellington. Antonia spends the winters in Wellington and the summers in Sweden. The love for horses, respect, and above all magic between horse and rider, is what she tries to capture with her sponsorship programs worldwide.

She has developed a strong, emotional bond with the Iberian horse: you can feel it when she describes her first Pura Raza Brasileiro horse: “Talento” of which she keeps great memories for his intelligence and generosity, as well as her grey Lusitano Trevo.

Her Two PREs
Antonia perfectly knows the sport lines of the Dutch, German, Danish and Swedish horses, but for her own delight she has two Purebred Spanish horses.  Fandango and Falso Nadales are the horses that she enjoys today, whether in the arena, track or out in the field for a walk. Her devotion, respect, and love for these horses come out in every of her words describing them.  Antonia praises her PRE horses as very intelligent, thoughtful, wonderful, caring and very comfortable. “You can’t compare to anything else.  There is nothing else, that is the answer about my choice of PRE, that is it”.

For most of her life, Antonia has been surrounded by horses. She has a very distinguished legacy in the equestrian community. Brazil, United States and Sweden are the three countries that reflect her life. “Talento”, the Brazilian horse that passed away recently, influenced Antonia’s life metaphorically, symbolically, and truly. It’s a mirror of her life. A life devoted to passion for horses, passion that she continues to radiate with two gorgeous PREs.

Antonia Ax:son Johnson with Falso Nadales

Fandango PRE horse owned by Antonia Ax:son Johnson

Fandango PRE horse owned by Antonia Ax:son Johnson