– You can love someone you hate.
The words are Sophie Jahns, and that’s the first thing that comes to mind when she describes her father – better known as the riding instructor at the horse farm.
He was convicted in 1991 for several sexual assaults on the riding school students on the farm, and the events at Ekerö have previously been depicted in the P1 documentary “Hästgården”.
Now the story is relevant again, when it is interpreted freely in the drama “Night Riders”. Seeing your upbringing in a series was a dizzying experience.
– It was extremely touching. It felt like I was thrown 20 years back in time and became the little child Sophie again, says the 34-year-old to News24.
Sexual abuse, alcoholism and death – that’s what happened to the horse farm
Sophie Jahn grew up on the horse farm. Photo: PrivatNatryttarna in real life – that’s how it was growing up on the horse farm
Sophie Jahn describes her upbringing as filled with mental and physical abuse, where the alcoholic father ruled the family with an iron fist.
The riding instructor maintained throughout that he did not commit the sexual abuse, and many parents and riding school students took his back. Within the family, they didn’t talk much about the verdict.
When other kids at school told Sophie she had a nasty father, she didn’t understand why – until one day she found a VHS tape at home.
On the cassette it said “Doomed in advance” (an SVT documentary about the riding instructor that came out in 1994, ed. note).
– I sat there completely shocked. I didn’t really understand.
After a while, Sophie’s mother arrived Anna Bohlin into the room and ripped out the tape.
– She tried to explain that my father was not that person at all. Then I began to suspect that something was not right. I was probably nine years old.
Sophie understood early on that her father was not like other fathers. Photo: Private Who was Sophie Jahn’s father?
Growing up, Sophie and her sister were forced Stephanie to night rides where the father let them ride unmanaged horses and jump high hurdles.
– It was with life as a stake. Dad could do terrible things to us, but that was the worst I knew, she says.
Sophie noticed early on that her father was not like other fathers.
– It has meant that I have not taken on any debt. I knew it wasn’t my fault but my father’s, she says.
The 34-year-old describes his father as a man many were impressed by, and wanted confirmation from.
– My father was extremely charming. He scanned people, and knew exactly what to do to wrap them around his little finger, says Sophie and continues:
– He was totally fearless, felt no shame and never excused himself.
Here you can read about the night riders in reality – Sophie Jahn about the horror nights in the riding house.
Already at an early age, Sophie was forced to ride at night. Photo: The private riding instructor died of cancer – refused to see the children
In 2018, the riding instructor died after suffering from cancer. The ending was not as Sophie wished, as the father refused to see his children when he was ill.
– It was really, really, hard not to be able to meet him. I was hoping to get an apology or an explanation as to why he had been this way.
After the father’s death, the siblings got some time with him.
– It felt like he was there, and then I could say anything I wanted to him without him getting angry. It was a very nice ending for me.
Have you forgiven him?
– I have forgiven him, but will never think that what he did is okay, says Sophie Jahn and continues:
– It might sound crazy that I can forgive a person who did such terrible things. But he would never change his mind. For my own sake, I have forgiven him.
True or false in the Night Riders – does it match the reality at the horse farm?