2020 Merry Christmas

 

Did you know that Blitzen has a sore hoof this year?  Blessi volunteered as replacement to pull Santa's sleigh. When you watch the skies on Christmas eve, look for a pudgy, hairy Icelandic running with the reindeer.

Blessi invites you all to a game of Christmas ring toss.  It's only costs a peanut for each attempt.   If you get the ring stuck in his mane, you owe him two peanuts.

Happy Holidays to all !

Pamela and Blessi

 

 

 

 

*Photos by D. Shrimplin

 

 

Icelandics playing in the snow in Germany

 Bernd Attner spent the day photographing Icelandics playing in the Snow in Germany.  Blessi used to play like this when he was a younger gelding.

Icelandics at Crosscountry

 Here's Aveh and her Icelandic Trissa running a cross country course.  Icelandics are amazingly versatile.

 

Icelandic Horses at the Former Berlin Wall

Preston Lau captured Icelandic riders from several nations riding in a parade to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Icelandic Mule

There aren't many Icelandic mules.  Here's a video of Cocoa grooming the full Icelandic mare Minning.  I believe both equids are owned by Robert Eversole of Trailmeister.

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Icelandic Review on Holar University

Because of the Coronavirus epidemic, The Icelandic Review has made part of its latest addition available outside the paywall.  Holar University, an agricultural college in Iceland, specializes in research and training of the Icelandic horse. 

Per the article, "It’s been years since horses were the primary mode of transport, but that’s not to say they aren’t of use to us today. “Working with horses is good for you, that’s what the psychology says. Everyone is looking for mindfulness these days; well, the horse gives you that. It calms you down and forces you to be in the now. If you’re stressed and preoccupied, you’ve already fallen off and are lying in a ditch. You need to pay attention to what you’re doing because you need to be in control. It opens whole new paths in your brain.”

You can read an excerpt from the article via this link but you can also follow a link to read the magazine in its entirety.

https://www.icelandreview.com/society/raising-riders/

Keep dancing in Iceland with horses or ice

Ryan Wood produced this funny, beautiful video.  He intersperses some goofy, yet endearing, dance routines amongst photos and video clips of a recent tour of Iceland.  Around minute 1:39, he dances with the Icelandic horses.  Thankfully he is a better photographer than dancer.  But then, dancing on ice must crimp one's style.  Enjoy!

Modern song, norse lyrics about horses

Flamsparks created this wonderful song set to a catchy beat about horses.  Combining lines from Icelandic Rune Poem, the Poetic Edda, and the Prose Edda, the song is a fascinating look into the glory and joy that the Norse felt in riding their horses.  You can see the lyrics in runes, old Norse (I believe), and English.  Remember to enable subtitles.

Here's a Norse riddle for you from the song.   What has three eyes and ten legs?

Icelandic and Gypsy Vanner Cross

Here's a short clip of Loki from Silvercrest Farm at the beginning of his under saddle training.  He is a cross between an Icelandic and a Gypsy Vanner.

Icelandics Herding Mules

Here's a fun video about involving Icelandic horses in something different.  Tim Seldin and his Iceland try to round up escaped donkeys in a vineyard.

Icelandics bringing Easter Cheer to Senior Home during Coronavirus

On Deerfield, WI, local horse owners brought their Icelandics to a senior home.  The horses, dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny, went round the outside of the building to bring holiday cheer to the residents.  

As Melissa Meboe, community director at Home Again, said “We walked around the building and each resident got to have a horse experience.” 

I don't own the rights to the photo so you'll have to check out this link.

http://www.hngnews.com/cambridge_deerfield/article_59064add-5a0a-569a-8011-b496294462f0.html

How to Pronounce Norse Runes Set to Music

SKÁLD | Rún has created a video in which a singer recites the Norse runes to a catchy tune.  The verses quote one of the poems in the Prose Edda, a collection written in Iceland in the 13th century.

By following along with the Icelandic subtitles you can sharpen your pronunciation of those difficult vowels.

Mornings on Quatrain Fish

Quatrain Fish only publishes poems of four lines or less.  The site published my "Mornings" about a little girl on the beach.

If you like your poetry in morsel sizes, you should check out this site.

https://quatrain.fish/

Reading to your horse

Bradley reads Someone to Watch Over Me by the Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir to his Icelandic horse Gus. I definitely recommend the author and the practice of reading to your Icelandic horse.

The River of Horses, Iceland

Norbert Kardos and his girlfriend Denisa produced this haunting introduction to the land of Iceland.  The combination of poetry, music, and video footage is stunning.  One keeps expecting those lone stone boulders to turn back into trolls upon the setting of the sun.  

The title River of Horses is great but a bit misleading.  Icelandic horses don't show up until minute 7:00 out of 9:00.  And the way they maximize the advantage of drone footage with slo mo, reversing footage adds such dimension.   

We get to see aspects of the Icelandic landscape via drone  we would never see in person.

Hark, Hark the Dogs of War Do Bark

Scarlet Leaf Magazine just published my short story "Hark Hark the Dogs of  War Do Bark."  I am writing a book Raising Rough Riders in the White House: Theodore Roosevelt and His Sons Archie and Quentin and Their Pony Algonquin.  While researching the death of Quentin during WW I, I discovered serio-comic maps as both art form and propaganda devices. Examining the 1917 map Hark, Hark, the Dogs Do Bark, I wondered what would happen if the characters could talk.

You can read this story and other pieces of great fiction at:

https://www.scarletleafreview.com/short-stories19/category/ps-nolf

Galloping with a jaw harp

Olena Uutai from northern Russia manages to wow the crowd and the judges in Britain's Got Talent.  Using her unique vocals and jaw harp, she conveys the joy of cantering a horse--or just weird techno dance music--along with amazing horse vocalizations.  Even Simon Cowell is impressed.

Icelandic Horses Holding Up Tourist Cars

Some tourist must have fed these horses.  The car occupents actually debate calling the Icelandic equivalent of 911.  Can't you just hear the horses thinking "Treats or we'll take apart your car."

Orville Peck, The Unknown Ranger and His Icelandic Horses

Orville Peck is an up and coming singer who always wears a mask. His outfits are a combination of Zorro and the Lone Ranger.  As Josie Gaitens describes his work in the Reykjavik Grapevine, "But it’s the artist’s songwriting and lyrical prowess that seem to garner the most appealing to his fans. Orville’s songs are vulnerable, full of longing, hope and hopelessness, love lost and never gained in the first place. ‘Pony’ is the album you imagine playing at night as you cruise down a dusty, Southern highway away from the love of your life, or as you watch your high school crush slow-dance with somebody else at prom." 

His album "Pony" features Icelandic horses, another reason to check out his work.
https://grapevine.is/icelandic-culture/music/2019/08/01/the-unknown-ranger-airwaves-2019-star-orville-peck/

Emma Massingale posted this lovely video of her adventures with her friends riding across the Moorland of England.  Her friends happen to be a cat, a dog, a baby lamb named Lily, a pony, and a horse.  Periodically, they stop and feed the lamb with a bottle.  Notice Emma is riding bridleless.

Just Another Water Crossing for Icelandic Horses

Going on a horse riding trek in Icelandic will probably involve a lot of river crossings.  Even the loose, remount horses cross all kinds of water with aplomb as you can see in the video below.  Blessi is a wonderful with water crossings.  One of his breeding lines is known as the Water horses of Iceland.  (This info comes from a conversation over eight years ago so I may have some of the details incorrect.)

Globen 2007 Icelandic Horse Theater

Here are Icelandic horses performing at the international horse show Globen in 2007.  Lots of drama, fire, and sparklers. 

Weave a Wicker Fence

Here's a lovely landscaping idea from the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island in WA. Cut standard lengths of saplings 5 feet in length. Drive sapling stakes into ground every 4 feet. Weave cut lengths between stakes. I think Bloedel Reserved used cherry--could easily be wrong.

Corvid Queen Publishes My Poem Night Troll

What a wonderful way to start off 2020--to be able to read my poem The Night Troll on Corvid Queen. Please take the time to read the other works on this site.  Sarah Chevalier identifies Corvid Queen as the space "to celebrate the magic of feminism and the feminism of magic.  I am so happy my poem found a home here.


https://corvidqueen.com/stories/night-troll-ps-nolf