SCOTTISH ICELANDIC HORSE ASSOCIATION

Home	Icelandic Horses	Breeding, Training and Sales
Local Riding Groups	Join SIHA	Links

NEWS AND EVENTS DIARY

SIHA EVENTS IN 2006

STORIES AND PICTURES FROM OUR RECENT EVENTS

Members - please let us have your news and photos. 
No apologies for some longer articles this time, as they really help to convey what being a member of SIHA is all about!

                        Eldur Training Course, Spring 2006

The recent re-emergence of the Eldur group in the north continued this spring with a 2-day training session with Andrew "Frank" Carson on the 4^th and 5^th April, at the Seaforth Riding Centre, in Maryburgh.

This first training event was opened up to all Icelandic enthusiasts in the area. Participants included Silvia Hufnagel who had travelled all the way from York and was riding Frigg, Gundula Sharman from Aberdeen on Yrsa, and Melanie Spirit from Caithness on Drottning. More local to Ross-shire were Martin Hind on Raesir, Sheila Lockhart on Valur, Liz Kraft on Magnus and Victoria Hutchison on Ossian.

Training was tailored to the experience of each horse, and each participant had 4 half hour sessions over the two days, when Frank used various strategies to help and advise each individual with their horse. In between times the riders feasted on the delicious snacks very kindly provided by Sheila and Martin or else took advantage of the good riding in the vicinity of the River Conon.

Frank followed his practical training up by producing reports on the horses for riders who requested it, which included useful tips & advice for advancement.  Possibly the star of the event was Victoria riding Ossian. Up until autumn 2005 Ossian was running with the Camster herd, and he had received little handling prior to then.  With Frank’s help, Victoria had Ossian tolting beautifully around the sand school!

Melanie Spirit  

Shona & Iona’s Iceland Adventure

Well we finally made it!  It has been 6 years coming for me and several failed attempts to reach Landsmot but suddenly we were packed up (do we really need all this stuff?) and after a frantic drive to Glasgow (several car crashes delayed us) we got checked in and as we were last to go, got business class seats (who says being on time is always a good thing!)

Our first views of Iceland were somewhat bleak, low cloud and rain greeted us and we were glad we brought lots of ‘stuff’. After a trawl through duty free we collected our many items of baggage including our scary round tent and headed to pick up our rental car (perhaps the smallest car in Iceland).  We drove north in lashing rain and had some interesting encounters with the largest 4x4’s known to man! The site was easy to find and after frightening some locals by driving on the wrong side of the road briefly whilst staring in amazement at the Vindheimamelar, site we had arrived!

We drove around a bit and settled for a quiet (not for long) spot on the lower camp site next to the river – very interesting to unpack our pop up tent to find we had no tent pegs (mmm wonder if it will get windy?). A short climb up the hill revealed the most stunning setting and the main riding track! There were horses all over warming up for the Breeding Farms presentation and we didn’t know which direction to look in – it was the start of a wonderful weekend.

Well what can I say - the horses were just stunning and after briefly feeling slightly depressed at the lack of leg action from my own horse, I settled in my folding chair on the bank to watch the many, many talented horses and riders. The weekend went past in a blur of no sleep (light all the time and lots of parties!), shopping and eating not to mention many hours on the grassy banks watching all the entertainment and classes.  The highlight for me was the Tölt A finals held on the Saturday night. After a really heavy rain storm the sky opened up and the sun came out just in time to watch the famous Diddi clinch the title – his horse was amazing and it was great to have Hemmi and Solly providing useful info along the way.  It was great to also meet up with some SIHA friends, Peter, Sheenagh and Emily!

 Feeling slightly sad we headed off on Sunday afternoon planning to spend the rest of our short trip with friends recently moved from Scotland to Iceland, Meike, Ralf and their daughter Anna. The drive south was nice, weather improved and we got to take in the hundreds of horses and the lovely scenery.  The next few days were filled visiting many tack shops, eating some lovely food and visiting some of Iceland’s more famous sites. On a very rainy wild day I drove the 15 mins from Meike’s village to visit Hemmi and Solly.  Their farm is great and the horses were lovely – very quickly fell in love with a recently gelded stallion – sadly Hemmi was not parting with him!

All too soon we were packed up (how  we ever fitted all the shopping in I will never know) and flying back to a sunny Scotland. We had an amazing time and I am now planning a week long trip to just ride as soon as I can!  Thanks to Meike and Anna for their hospitality and to Hemmi and Solly for making us feel at home at Landsmot and showing us their lovely home.

Sletta Spring Training

Hemmi came to us from Iceland at the start of April for the regular Sletta Spring Training course.  It took the normal format of a 4 lessons over 2 days, either Friday & Saturday or Sunday & Monday, with the now obligatory group lunch in the local pub each day.  In total, 29 riders and horses participated over the weekend, split into groups of 3 or 4 depending on the stage of development and ability of the horse (& rider!). 

I can’t really talk for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did the rest of my group (I think!).  On paper, we were a bit of a strange combination of horses (although people-wise we were a brilliant group), but it all worked out beautifully.  Bangsi was just starting to progress in tölt (but still almost at walking speed) so I wanted to speed him up; Emily was hoping to slow down Alfta’s tölt to smooth it out a little; Lynne was hoping to keep Skima interested for the full 4 lessons (which she did & Skima was going great guns); and Sara had only just recently bought Ljufa, her gorgeous young mare, and was still getting to know her.

At the start of the first class, we discussed with Hemmi what we hoped to achieve, and he tailored the classes around that.  We had loads of fun, but all of us made progress.  For me, the highlight was the 4-gait at the end, where although our tolt was by far the slowest, we completed a whole circuit of the school without breaking, then finished up with a lovely circuit of dressage-style collected canter.  Everything seemed to be coming together, nicely.  And loads of time to practice before Hemmi came back in the autumn, or so we thought…..

Then Hemmi’s planned visit to Stonehaven was postponed at the last minute, and rearranged for September (see Calendar of Events for dates & details), and as his flights were booked, we invited him to come back to us instead.  It was all very “seat-of-the-pants” stuff, but in the end, the horse-owners based at PHI were given the opportunity to book 2 private lessons with Hemmi.  Fantastic is the only way I can describe it.  I got so much out of those lessons, as I’m sure did all of the other participants.  My first lesson was in the school, and Hemmi shouted at me like he’s never shouted before - but not in a bad way!  Drive! Drive! Give! Take! Legs! Drive!  By the end, my wee legs were shaking & my head was spinning, but what a buzz!  My second lesson involved riding out with Hemmi to see how Bangsi went outside, and there was less shouting involved, thank goodness.  Loads to work on, but loads of encouragement too.

I only hope he can spot all the hard work and practice I’ve been doing when he comes back in October!

Gill King

Have Horses, Will Travel…..

“You are an Associate Member of this Society,” Gill said, “and there are quite a few of you out there, but we never hear anything from any of you.  Would you like to write something?”  As you are reading this now it was obviously an offer I couldn’t, or didn’t dare, refuse!

The trouble is that I am not sure just how typical Ted and I are of your trusty associate membership.  Our CV starts normally enough.  We own Icelandic horses but don’t live in Scotland.  Nonetheless we do have a strong affinity with that country, with me being Scottish and our daughter and son-in-law and grandchildren living there.  There are also zillions of Icelandic Horses that we have owned or bred living there.  Our British home is in North Wales and it is quite a drive from here to Scotland and if you are towing a trailer it takes even longer.  We have done it quite a few times and have decided that it is something best left to the young and fit, or the retired – or anyone whose life isn’t as hectic as our own and who has the time to enjoy the experience.  We actually organise the National Sweet Itch Help-line, admittedly with superb assistance from wonderful office staff, but none-the-less it is no small under-taking and takes up a fair chunk of our time.

What this means, of course, is that all us non-Scottish dwelling horse owners can only drool with jealousy and envy when a copy of the SIHA Newsletter drops through our letterbox. You have such FUN up there and what wonderful imaginative ideas you have to keep horses and riders involved in such a wide range of activities.  We would like nothing better than to join in …..  However, we do something different that may interest you:: we take our Icelandic Horses with us when we go to our house in France – for six months each year.  We can do this because the afore-mentioned wonderful staff are here to man the Help-line, feed the cat and keep an eye on the Icelandics who remain here.  Our two dogs also accompany us to France.

Many Icelandic Horse owners travel their horses all over Britain.  Generally they are very good travellers and enjoy visiting new territory as much as their owners.  Many of the horses currently living in this country have already made the long journey from Iceland, or elsewhere, to their new homes and the majority appear to take it in their stride, adapting quickly to their new lives.  At least this is what I told myself when we decided to take Titou and Dyna to France with us last spring!

Some of you may have met Titou, our loyal, trustworthy piebald gelding.  Last year he was twenty years old and had been everywhere and done a little of everything during the previous fifteen years that we have owned him.  He is reliable.  The same could not, unfortunately, be said for his dizzy younger full sister Dyna.  I chose to take her to France chiefly because, like her brother, she doesn’t suffer from Sweet Itch.  She can, however, be prone to laminitis if her diet isn’t monitored carefully so it meant less work for the staff here if we took her with us.  We had only owned her for three years, purchased on the strength of Titou’s superbness, but sharing few of his attributes!

So there we were, passports perfect, chips in place and export papers organised.  All we had to do was collect together enough horsey feed, gear, electric fencing, etc. etc. to last for six months, load the horses and be on our way.  It would take two days to reach our home in the northern Dordogne.  Despite my terrible grasp of the French language I had managed to find and book an overnight stop at a hotel in Normandy that had its own paddock, which our ‘ponies’ would be welcome to use.  The journey was just the start of our ‘great adventure’.  During the following months we had many exciting, hilarious and scary experiences and, despite my mount being so spooky, (it made no difference whether Titou was in front or not she still believed that the wild forest boars or dangerous deer were out to get her), we did have a marvellous summer.  The riding in our area of France is fantastic.  We rarely had to ride on roads and the French country folk were fascinated and impressed by our little horses, and we made friends because of them.  At the end of the summer we left Dyna in France with neighbours and brought Titou back here to Wales.

So – we’re about to do it all again this year – with different horses.  We leave at the end of April.  Neither of the horses that we are taking has been sat on yet!  One of them is a ten-year-old chestnut gelding that we bred ourselves, so he does at least know and trust us, and the second is another Titou relative – a sensible six-year-old piebald gelding.  It will be a steep learning curve for them – but they are Icelandics – they will cope.  We start the trailer training tomorrow and for the next four weeks they will go everywhere with us – Tesco’s, the Garden Centre, the bank, the shopping precinct- you name it they’ll be there in the trailer behind us, perfecting their balancing skills for the long journey south.

Jennifer Greaves

The Scottish Icelandic Horse Association is a charity registered in Scotland