70 Unhandled Icelandic Horses Rescued in Britain

Who ever thought that Britain would experience a similar challenge? 

 https://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/blog/the-rescue-of-70-unhandled-icelandic-horses

Over the past fifteen months in Devon, three animal rescue groups worked with the owner to take ownership of the animals.  "We discovered fields of pregnant mares with foals at foot living alongside colts and stallions with insufficient space for all the horses to safely express normal behaviours. Years of uncontrolled breeding had led to this highly pressured environment with ponies incurring life threatening injuries as a result of infighting for resources."

Considerable fighting among the stallions over mares resulted in sometimes serious injuries and most of the horses had worms.

"On my first visit to these horses in May 2024, I saw a yearling colt isolated at the bottom of the paddock and clearly terrified. He was trying everything he could not to be noticed, trying to hide in the bushes, the whites of his eyes showing and his breathing fast and shallow. As I watched, a large stallion left his herd and ran down the paddock and smashed into him, causing the colt to scramble into the hedge to try to escape. We managed to get him to safety, but it was a scene being repeated all over the paddocks. " 

All of the horses at the rescue groups and will be up for adoption after evaluation. 

Icelandic -- Pygmy Parlor Ponies

 

At the turn of the 20^th century, Americans and Europeans were fascinated with the exotic, the extremes of size--both the giant and the extremely small--and beasts from far away places. In 1906 to 1909, the British aristocracy, such as the Marquis of Stafford, Prince Adolphus of Teck, and Baron Alfred de Rothschild, were obsessed with pygmy parlor ponies. 

Mr. Albert Jamrach, an exotic animal vendor in Britain, described them as “the funniest little things imaginable. They are as wooly as a sheep and quiet as lambs” and “well mannered in the house.” But then he was in the business of selling what he called “freaks” such as “tiny ‘teddy bears’ [from Borneo], queer kangaroos, ‘crowned’ cranes, and other weird specimens.”

He claimed the source of his 28-inch ponies were the few stunted Icelandics that appeared in every shipment of ponies from Iceland–stunted supposedly due to lack of nourishment on the bare grazing lands on the island. 

The reader might suspect these were foals due to his caution that “They do not naturally breed as pygmies.” In other words, don’t breed two of them and expect a lap pony.

(EO, p. 6; MNA, 1909, p. 36, Washington Times, October 18, 1908, p. 36.)

Topic of Imported Icelandic Horses Addressed in Irish Parliament--1897

 

Hay Train in Iceland 1911
Iceland Photos of FWW Howell
Cornell Collection

Per the Icelandic Bureau of Statistics as reported by Bjőrnsson and Sveinsson in their 2006 The Icelandic Horse, 138,014 horses were exported from 1850 to 1925.¹ Some years as many as 10,000 to almost 20,000 horses were shipped, the majority intended for mines in Scotland and Britain.

In 1886, the invasion of imported Icelandic stock was addressed by The Commission on Horse Breeding in Ireland to both Houses of Parliament. J. F. Bomford, a witness, suggested banning the import of Iceland ponies to Ireland that were brought over as “ballast” to Dublin. He called them the “worst possible description of an animal” with “no action, no shoulders, no strength whatsoever.” If bred, they would spoil the ponies of Ireland. But then Bomford also believed all the American horses he had seen imported to Ireland were “so bad and so ill formed” they did not need a brand to distinguish them from the high quality Irish hunters. 

Note: In 1908, much to the consternation of the British, Rubio, an American-bred thoroughbred for the first time won the steeplechase at the Grand National in Aintree, England.

The testimony for the day broke down into a heated discussion on whether Ireland or England bred the better horses. On a later day, Mr. Wrench maintained harsh weather conditions, rough countryside, and ill-maintained roads would require a hardy horse. “If I had to give an opinion,” he said “I should not go to a Hackney…but I think a strong or rougher Shetland or Icelandic pony would suit the people.” (Commission on, 1886, pp. 260 – 261, 431)

Commission on Horse Breeding in Ireland. (1897). Minutes of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the horse breeding industry in Ireland, Alexander Thom. And Co., Dublin.

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¹  Statistics on Icelandic horses in this article are from Bjőrnsson and Sveinsson’s The Icelandic Horse.

Icelandic horse and Greta Thunberg on Vogue cover

 

Greta Thunberg and an Icelandic horse named Gandalf appear on the cover of the first edition of Vogue Scandinavia.  What a perfect pairing to illustrate concern for the environment.  

Here's a link to more information about the article and additional photographs featuring Gandalf.

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/greta-thunberg-vogue-scandinavia-cover/index.html

Could there be wild Icelandics roaming the Appalachian Trail?

 A herd of 100 wild ponies (10 to 12 hands) rove about the Grayson Highlands State Park in the Appalachians of Virginia.  Local inhabitants say the ponies were released in the 1970s (some sources claim the 1940s)  to graze down the meadows.  The wild cattle who are pastured on the mountain sides are brought in during the winter, but these ponies do quite well foraging for themselves over the winter.

Certainly some of the herd look like they have some Icelandic breeding, although many look just a bit taller than a Shetland.  There is a silver dapple herd stallion that looks quite Icelandic.  And there were Icelandics in the US in the 70s, not so many in the 40s.

Use this link to check out the photos.  What do you think?  I was unable to find any genetic studies of the origins of this herd.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/more-than-100-ponies-roam-free-this-park-virginia-180959786/

Filming Icelandic Horses Swimming from Underwater

 Here's a great video of the leg action of Icelandic horses filmed by scuba divers.  It looks most of them are tolting.  I wonder if there is any efficiency to tolting while swimming or each horse has an individual preference?

 

Origin of DMRT3 the Gaited Gene--6000 years ago?

Ancient Chinese horse performing
flying pace

In 2016, a study reported that the earliest finding of DMRT3, indicating gaitedness or ability to rack or tolt, was in York, England around 850 AD.  Since that time, there have numerous articles crediting the Norse of selecting gaited horses from England and moving them to Iceland and spreading the DMRT3 gene across the Europe and then the world.

The original study did not include the many historic, genetic samples from Asia and across the world.  It did not consider the pre-850 AD written descriptions of gaited horses in Greek and cuneiform and the numerous artistic representation of horses ambling in ancient Egypt and Roman times.

Staiger et al published "The evolutionary history of the DMRT# 'Gait keeper' haplotype in 2017.  This study compared genetic sequences of DMRT3 across 26 breeds to estimate how long it would have taken for the haplotypes to change.  "We used the pattern of sequence variation int he DMRT3 region to explore the evolutionary history of the haplotypes."

"The low sequence diversity among mutant chromosomes demonstrated that they must have diverged from a common ancestral sequence within the last 10 000 years. Thus, the mutation occurred either just before domestication or more likely some time after domestication and then spread across the world as a result of selection on locomotion traits."

In other words, it is likely that the mutation for gaitedness occurred sometime after the domestication of the horse from 6000 to 10000 years ago.  

No conclusive evidence was found about the geographic origin of the gene.  "For instance, the mutation could have been spread widely via the military exploits of Alexander the Great (3rd century BC), Attila (5th century) and Ghengis Khan (13th century). Furthermore, the Romans, and their use of Greek horses, could have helped spread the mutation throughout Europe and the Middle East (Antikas 2015)."

Source:  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/age.12580

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/