The Viking Song by Kill the Wabbit

My friend Meg flagged this video for me.  Finally a video in which I could have been a featured dancer.  Enjoy The Viking Song by Ken Eckert, filmed in Newfoundland.

Icelandic Team pulling Sleigh

Pat Dunn posted a lovely video of her team of Icelandics pulling a sleigh through the snow.  What fun!

Felted Animals and My Knight in Shining Armor

Here's Mykisa (My knight in shining armor) that my friend Nancy brought me from Iceland. He is the protector of my zoo of felted animals that I have needle felted over the years. Don't worry Mykisa the tiger just wants to be friends.

Scary Ozzie Continues to Scare Horses

Mickey Santano has posted the fourth video of her pinto horse Ozzie and the mayhem he innocently creates on trail in British Columbia, Canada.  The reactions of the much bigger horses is quite funny.  I still don't understand what the horses find so scary about Ozzie.  Horses on the trail have never reacted that way to Blessi.

The Dawn Horse

Beautiful, poetic, and scientific--a tribute the dawn horse and its place in paleontology.

Dawn Horse from HorseDrawn Media on Vimeo.
Or you can click on the following link to go to Vimeo.
https://vimeo.com/207450994

Research Why Regulating an Icelandic's Weight is So Difficult

Regulating an Icelandic horse's weight is almost always a challenge unless they are in full time, intense training. Two studies help us understand why.

In 1982, NANA (a native Alaskan corporation) purchased an Icelandic mare and seven geldings to help with the summer herding of reindeer. NANA is located in Kotzebue, Alaska, which is 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Over the years, Alaskans had discovered that maintaining large horses over the winter was too cost prohibitive considering the feed and care that they needed so NANA decided to experiment with Icelandic horses.

Observation by University of Alaska showed that the Icelandics would eat a much wider range of tundra vegetation than other breeds and their energy requirements were 20 % less than other breeds, a fact of which the researchers were initially skeptical. In the summer, the horses needed additional zinc and copper provided through mineralized salt. Other vitamins such as D, B12, and thiamine were believed to be sufficiently provided by year round grazing. Researchers note that food needs to be increased if work load is upped; and pregnant mares also required increased feed.

As another study shows, when you reduce the food to 30% of what they are normally fed (ie, reduce food by 70% which no responsible owner would do), thrifty breeds like Shetlands (and I would imagine Icelandics) go into a state of hypometabolism in which the body metabolism slows down and other physiological changes occur so the pony can maintain its weight. This is a primitive adaptation to enable wild animals to adapt and to survive seasonal variation in the amount of food available. Most domestic horse breeds have lost this ability.

So when you severely reduce the amount of food for Shetlands (and probably Icelandics since they are so closely related), you may be inducing hypometabolism, not putting them on a diet. The study does not mention if the reduced core temperature, lowered activity level, and reduced heart rate has any impact on the comfort level or long term heath of the horse.

No wonder we struggle to keep the weight off our Icelandics.

https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2012/06/29/shetlands-retain-ancient-temperature-ability-control/#axzz459c2LgZK

Photo from: Icelandic horses on Breiðamerkurjökull in Iceland around 1900. Icelandic and Faroese Photographs of Frederick W.W. Howell, Cornell University Library

Why Finding a Western Saddle for Icelandics is so Difficult

Why it is difficult (but not impossible) to get a properly fitting saddle, especially a Western one, for
an Icelandic horse. Below are wither tracings for 8 horses. The top tracing is for:

A. Blessi, my 14.1 hand Icelandic. Note the upside down U-shape which typical for an Icelandic (there are exceptions). His gullet (width of tracing measured 3 inches from top) is 9 1/2 inches.
B Clydesdale 18 hands gullet = 11 inches
C Mustang 15 hands gullet = 6 1/2 inches
D Warmblood 17 hands gullet = 8 inch
E. Quarterhorse 16 hands gullet = 6 3/4
F. Grade pony 10 hands gullet 9.5 inches Blessi's saddle fit him through the shoulders but the saddle was too long on the back
G. Paint stallion 17 hands gullet = 6.5 inches
H. Quarter horse 16 + hands gullet = 6 inches

Most manufacturers for trees used in Western saddles are designing them for A-framed horses like Withers example E. Saddle manufactures may call a tree used that would fit this gullet size semi or full (there is no standard from saddle manufacturer to manufacturer). Blessi would theoretically take a draft horse size Western saddle but the rock, angle of the bars, flatness of the back, etc., would not fit him. Blessi has a custom made Western saddle.

If you are looking for a Western saddle for your Icelandic, Crest Ridge Saddlery explains how to do a 3-D mapping using wire for your horse. You can take this mapping and lay it on top of the saddle to find a few saddles to borrow for fitting.

http://www.crestridgesaddlery.com/build-a-back-map.html
And some people have found off-the-rack Western saddles that fit their Icelandics.

Cross--Tennessee Walker and Draft

I do know of one Iceland-Draft cross, but I don't have video.  Instead, here is an example of a Tennessee Walker and Draft cross.  Theoretically such a cross would always carry the genetic potential to gait since all TWs tested (at least per studies so far) have been AA.  So AA X CC = 100% AC.  Of course the quality of the gait will be impacted by conformation, training, native ability etc.

This is an interesting cross.  Note I am not advocating for crossing pure bred Icelandics with other breeds.

Another Amazing Icelandic Jumping

Some Icelandics are amazing jumpers. Check out this flying Icelandic

Blessi and the Bags of Bedding Pellets

During my visit with Blessi today, I took advantage of some industrial sized excavators and back hoes to walk Blessi past these obstacles. No problem. Without any hesitation, he walked up to each, touched the tires, walked with head down around each of them.

Guess what caused the hold up? One of the boarders was unloading sacks of bedding pellets.
As I walked Blessi by, he froze about four feet away and refused to walk past the van. He gave me this look of enthrallment. "They might be bags of oats? Horse treats? Dog food is OK too? Pleeeese can I open these bags."

The family dog was hanging over the back seat also. And I have to admit it is exceeding weird to explain to the young boarder why you would like permission to take a photo of the back of her van.

Theodore Roosecolt Cup by Romano

If you have ever subscribed to the USIHC Quarterly, you have laughed at one of Chris Romano's cartoons. Her art is inspired by both the cuteness and attitude of the Icelandic horse and by general equine quirkiness and humor Chris may be making her art available through Zazzle soon. I am lucky enough to have purchased a prototype. Be prepared to laugh! Who would not want to drink their morning coffee out of a mug like this?

Origin of Western Canadian wild horses

Just came across this study about the origin of some western Canadian wild horses--stock from the French king, some Spanish, and the Russian Yakut pony. And the Yakut is distantly related to the Icelandics since the Vikings took some Yakut/Mongolian sourced stock to Iceland at its settlement from 800 to 1000AD. Who would have ever guessed?

http://www.vancouversun.com/News/10704085/story.html

Blessi Tries to Make Friends with Super Kitty

Blessi loves cats. Here he is trying to make friends with barn cat Kitty, who wanted nothing to do with him. Kitty followed Blessi and me into the arena, crying for attention. I picked her up and put her on Blessi's back. Kitty started kneading Blessi's back--voila happy kitty, happy pony. Blessi took a few steps and Kitty jumped off--not expecting her sofa to move.

How to Say the Alphabet in Icelandic

Here's a great introduction to how to say the alphabet in Icelandic "voiced by 3 adorable Icelandic boys."   As a special bonus, many of the words are related to horses like hesta or traditional Icelandic horse names like Dreki.