New Icelandic rider!

[timarti]

Well, I'm a pretty new rider, 53 and riding for the past one and a half years. I've been part boarding a draft/QH cross but last year fell in love with Icelandics after riding one. Took the plunge in May and bought an Icelandic foal! He will live at the breeders (about 3 hours from me) until he is grown and will be trained there. I will be going up to ride some of their other horses as often as possible. Part of me (sensible part) thinks I'm nuts, (58 with a green horse?) the other part (kid who never got pony) is over the moon! The Icelandics I have ridden that were bred and/or trained by this breeder have all been lovely, sensible horses with great gaits, so I'm not totally crazy!
Tina from Canada

[Showjumper]

Awwwwww! He's soooooo cute! I WANT! I'm so jealous lol - well done you! What's his name?

[timarti]

Forgot to say! His name is Thokki fra Clear Lake Farm. Thokki means "one with a good disposition" LOL His sire is Nattfari vom Wiesehnof (a 1st prize stallion imported from Germany) and dam is also a German bred Icelandic who came over in utero and was born at Clear Lake Farm. Thokki is her first foal. I think she did pretty well!

[floppy]

oooo how cute..i bought myself an icelandic last year and im already planning on either my first foal or buying a second horse. Very addictive icelandics are and i dont know anyone who has just one icelandic...they all started off with one and as the years went on they ended up with a small herd :D:D:D:D

Wiesenhof is the largest icelandic horse farm here in germany.

But the horses that are produced are very good and usually very expensive..it was also one of the first farms here.

Wiesenhofs biggest customers are canada and american and lately one of their stallions was exported to england.

[Arabs4Eva]

Aaawww your foal is too cute!! :D

[ali cat]

awwwww how cute is he????
and i dinna think you're mad--i think you're very smart to buy an icelandic

[Alex]

aww he's absolutely gorgeous!
welcome to NR Tina! :D It's great to have you here!

Love,
Alex

[liz--y]

that is sooooooooooooooo cute

[Wally]

Oh dear me:( , you have done a dreadful thing, you know that don't you? Icelandics never come in ones, they may start as one, but you will fall for another one before your baby is ready to ride and you'll buy that one too!

I started off with one! lost count now!:D :D

Hang on I must have an add up

Magnús and Rossi are retired now so they don't really count.

Then there's
Ugla
Flippi
Ljóssie
Fákur
Hákon
Randolin
Kvikur
Iacs
Torfa
Sæla
Súla (but she's been sold to a young lass)


I think that's the sum total of our Icelandics.

You are not mad at all. Icelandics train to be the horse you want. If you want a mad forward going competition horse you can train him to be that. If you want a kind, steady horse with brakes he can be trained to be that. So long as he is trained appropriately you and he will be fine. We train our lot to be kind and steady with brakes and a brain. The gaits come once they have learned to walk...Walk is by far THE most important gait ANY horse can have especially an Icelandic.

The old school of Icelandic training was for speed, more speed and fast! They stopped in Iceland when they ran out of energy!:D :D

You are but a spring chicken in the grand scheme of Icelandic horse riders.

By the way welcome to NR, we are a daft bunch on the whole!:D

[Wally]

Floppy!

Was the Stallion you mention from the Weisenhof farm "Sleipnir" by any chance?

I think it is him on the IHSBG web page demonstrating a fast tölt. I may be mistaken.....he would not have been cheap! well over 4 figures I estimate!

[floppy]

I believe so...i cant find anything on Sleipnir I found it by accident not long ago and cant fidn it anymore..but what i do find interesting is a Picture of Jolly Schenk on the IHSBG... funny!

yes wiesenhof...one doesnt buy a horse there unless one wants to buy either a horse that is not worth the £££ you pay for it, or if you want to splash out money :D
You have be careful because they see people coming and the more you want a horse the more expensive it gets. Then also get alot of warnings when their group goes to competitions due to various reasons.

And if you go to a competition and the wiesenhof gang are there you know fully well your not going to have much chance in the non sport classes as they like to enter their second best but still good quality sport horses into the happy hackers classes where the horses are just too darned good!

but sayign that they do alot of work for the youth of today encouraging them to compete more etc

[Wally]

.....Yes, the rule book (FIPO) is so huge due to the antics of a certain country's riders and trainers!;) not go so far as to say cheating was going on, but the rules got "interpereted" very differenty by one country!:D

Now, you can only use a bit if there is a picture of it in the rule book. Because there was not a picture of a full cheek eggbutt snaffle in it I had to borrow a bit for the British Championships! The fact that it was a snaffle was not enough.

[notpoodle]

(hello! i'm new here, so hopefully i don't get too confused about how to use this forum ...).

awww, congratulations to your first icelandic! he looks lovely! icelandics really are fantastic horses. i used to ride them all the time before i moved to the uk (i used to live in germany, but moved over here a couple of years ago).

ive recently started riding again, on 'big' horses though, because i seem to be unable to find anywhere around london/surrey where you can ride icelandics or anything a bit smaller for that matter ...

julia

x

[galadriel]

Ohhhhhh, he's PRECIOUS. Congrats on taking the plunge. I think you've done it in a very sensible way :)

[Wally]

Notpoodle, there are a few Icelandic owners down in that area. Get onto the Icelandic Society of GB and look at thier website. You can ride Icelandics in Dorset and Wilts, but that's a bit of a jaunt for you.

There is still a great deal of prejudice against adults riding small horses in the UK.

[notpoodle]

i've looked at the society's site. unfortunately, i'm yet to acquire a driving license, so wilthsire and dorset are indeed a bit of a jaunt for me.

i guess that the 'you're a grown-up, why the small horse' thing happens anywhere. unfortunately!! although i found there's an awful lot of cob-types around!

julia
x

[timarti]

Just went up for a ride last weekend. I rode Elja, Thokki's dam. She was lovely. I'm going in August again with my husband, WHO IS ACTUALLY GOING ON A TRAIL RIDE WITH ME! He has never shown any interest in horses or the barn before. Must be something about Icelandics. Amazing! I finally convinced him that the breeder/trainer is a guy over 6' tall and he rides them, so my 6'3" hubby won't feel too silly.

[notpoodle]

timarti ... your husband is going on a trailride with you? fingers crossed - especially if he hasn't really shown any interest in horses before - he'll still be able to walk afterwards :D


julia
x

[Wally]

Icelandcis do have a wierd effect on folk.

[Peace]

Wow. If I thought Icelandics would have that effect on my husband, I'd seriously consider building a refrigerated menage to ride them in.:D

Do let us know how the trail ride goes. And BTW, I think that is the cutest foal I've ever seen!:)

[notpoodle]

yes, they do have quite an effect on people! And I miss riding Icelandics terribly! This is why I've come up with my little plan (1. learn how to ride properly again 2. Get proper job 3. Move out of London 4. Get an Icelandic - or two!) ....

julia
x

[Wally]

.........or three.......or 23!:D :D

[notpoodle]

hur hur ... well, back home i didn't know anyoyne who had under five! most of them started out with one or two and then it was like 'ah ... just *one* more won't do any harm ....' ;)

julia
x

[Wally]

Yeah, that's what happenend to me, I got one, then another ONE, then ONE more. Icelandics don't tend to come in ones! ..Well they DO come in ones, it's just they tend to add up after a while!:D

[notpoodle]

still, at the moment I'd be happy if I could just get *one*. on the other hand, serves me right for moving to london (where a 'hack' is two rounds round wimbledon common .... oh dear)! I really should have known better.
wally, do you keep all your horses at your house? you must have sooo much space!!

julia
x

[timarti]

Erm, could get very expensive if they multiply as I will be boarding him (city dweller :( ) Fortunately, pasture board is available 24/7 at a lovely barn where there is another Icelandic. Sign, I wish I could afford to let the number grow, but unless I win the lottery it won't be in the cards.

[happyhorse]

ahhh so cute! he looks so adorable!

[timarti]

Took my husband Ted to see Thokki for the first time and also out on a hack. (He is not a rider, yet!) Ted really enjoyed the ride, we travelled thru forest, up and down trails with steep and muddy patches, lots of rocks and smooth paths for tolting. He was amazed how 'big' and surefooted these little horses are, and I could hardly drag him away from the pasture with the mares and foals.

[floppy]

lovely foal :)

we got a lovely new born colt on the yard, chesnut brown with black mane and tail and a star on his head...very nosey....very cheeky...a few hours after he was born i went to see him and he right up to me and starting nibbling me all over. :D

[notpoodle]

awwww :) quite a difference from the last picture! he appears to be growing rather quickly. or is that just me?

julia
x

[timarti]

The first photos were at 7 weeks and the next from the past weekend. Thokki is 4 months old today! Quite a difference in 2 months. His baby coat is pretty much gone now. I, of course, am sporting my silly 10 year old's grin, which seems to appear every time I get near him. ;)

[notpoodle]

nothing wrong with a 10 year old's grin :D with such a lovely horse, I bet you're grinning 24/7!

julia
x

[Wally]

Oh the silly grin! it is the expected thing. Everyone who works round Icelandics has a silly grin on thier face more often than not.

They come up with different things to make you laugh with them so much. You think you know your Icelandic, then he does something to make you laugh.

The silly grin happens too when folk try them for the first time. Either folk won't get on them at all because they "don't ride ponies" But when folk do try them with an open mind they end up buying one in the end! after the silly grin first go.

[notpoodle]

i know what you mean! when i rode an icelandic (called Soerli) for the first time, i couldn't stop smiling either :) i'd only been on 'big' horses before, and had spent most of my lessons being yelled at by my instructor ... quite frustrating really. with the icelandics, it was all so different. the ones i rode seemed to enjoy going forward, the instructor/icelandic trainer taught me tons of useful things my previous instructor had never told me ... all in all, riding icelandics was the best riding i ever had!

here's a little piccie of my favourite Icelandic, Vaskur, I used to ride (a looong time ago ...)



http://mysite.freeserve.com/Vergho/vasketier.jpg

(i only just found the picture again! the horse must be well into his 20s by now ...)

julia
x

[Wally]

Show me an Icelandic with a white blaze and I'm a sucker! What a sweetie.

[timarti]

Only 20? Why, he's just a young'n! :p