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.)

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?

Icelandics carrying live sheep and piano

No Icelander walks when he can ride! Wherever they have to go, even a short distance, they jump on their handy little pony and skim away to their destination...The funniest loads are put on the ponies' backs. I have met a worthy couple jogging along driving a third pony carrying a spinning wheel! Ponies carry planks and iron for building, tools, provisions, and I have even seen a live sheep having a ride! A piano is carried out to the country between two ponies; and sometimes milk or cream is carried in tins, in wooden panniers. "

Mrs. Disney Leith, Iceland, 1908, pp. 39-40
Sketch is from Hesten i Nordboernes Tjeneste paa Island, by Daniel Bruun, 1904, p. 92.

Brúará River in Iceland circa 1900

Ever wonder why Icelandics tend to be calm, confident, and agile? These riders are crossing a bridge in (not over) the Brúará River in Iceland, circa 1900. Photo from Cornell University, Frederick Howell collection.

Walking Hayricks Iceland 1908

From the book Iceland by Mrs. Disney Leith, London, Adam and Charles Black, 1908, p. 38.

The Pony that Turned the Water on

A few weeks back, Blessi and I returned from a clinic. I took him to the wash stall to hose down his legs. I almost always offer him a drink direct from the hose. That day I was running a little behind schedule so didn't let him have a drink since he was going back to his paddock with a big tub of water.

It was a relatively hot day and Blessi must have been thirsty. After I shut off the water, he reached over to the taps and twisted one to turn the water back on (there was no shut off at the end of the hose). Now he must have been observing how this works for months because he turned the tap in the correct direction to start the water flowing. If you turn that particular tap too far in the open direction the tap itself falls off. So Blessi got his drink of water.

Blessi's actions remind me of an Icelandic horse story collected by Shirley Hibbard in her 1868 book Clever Dog, Horses, Etc. with Anecdotes of Other Animals. Under the section title I borrowed for the name of my posting, she quoted the following paragraph from The Scotmans newspaper article "Extraordinary case of equine sagacity".

"An almost unparalleled circumstance was noted at Muirhall, near West Calder. During the great heat that prevailed on a recent day, an Icelandic pony, the property of Mr. John Waddell, contractor, was for a time left to its own free will during the temporary absence of its driver. The pony, which had been driven for a considerable distance, and was seemingly actuated by a craving for water, was observed by the proprietor of Muirhall, and others who chanced to be in the vicinity, to deliberately walk a distance of fully fifty yards, and with its teeth turn the cock of a water-pipe projecting out of the road embankment, supply itself with a draught of the refreshing beverage, readjust the cock, and return to the position in which it was left."

Now Muirhall and West Calder at that time were noted for the quality of its breweries and distilleries, which may account for the absence of the Icelandic horse owner and, possibly, the trustworthiness of the witnesses. However, I was able to verify that The Scotsman published said article because I could see the title in an archives search of 19th century Scottish newspapers. Since I am not a citizen of Scotland, I could not view the individual pages of the newspaper to validate the actual quote. Interestingly, The Scotsman of that year published a newspaper article almost monthly about a new shipment of ponies direct from Iceland. Many Icelandics were purchased for use in the coal mines of that period. The book The Icelandic Horse by Arnarorsson, Sigurthardottir, and Guthlaugsson reports that 107,000 Icelandic horses were exported to Britain from 1850 to 1949.

New Norse Burial with Bridle in Denmark

Danish archeologists have found a burial of a rich equestrian dating from around 950AD. The grave chamber contained several harness and a bridle with gilded mounts. The Skanderborg Musem set up a wonderful website about the burial. Check out the wonderful artwork of a mounted warrior on what is a tolting Nordland/Icelandic like horse sporting a reconstruction of the bridle. Blessi says I need to make him a bridle like this to join his collection of Norse bridles.

This link takes you to a slideshow providing more details about the site, the burial, including photographs of the bridle mounts and a drawing of the reconstructed bridle.

https://www.slideshare.net/dkmuseer/merete-bagge-ryttergraven-i-fregerslev

Here's a link to an article in English:

http://cphpost.dk/news/archeologists-make-sensational-viking-discovery-in-denmark.html

http://www.vikingfregerslev.dk/Forside-2938.aspx

Caution: Icelandics and Sedation

Many Icelandics can be sensitive to sedation.  Blessi usually takes about 1/3 the dosage
recommended for his weight.  Once, the vet gave him a full dosage and Blessi experienced breathing problems.  For cases like Blessi, it is better to have the recommended dosage "to effect" permanently noted in your horse's vet records in case you forget to mention it to your vet.

Some Fjord horse owners have experienced the same problems with sedation.  Here is a link to an article by a veterinarian experienced with the breed.  He typically gives a lower dosage for this breed.

https://www.mail-archive.com/fjordhorse.../msg46358.html

This interesting sedation study by Pfizer Animal Health (note drug company for both humans and horses) indicates that the equine dentist or vet will lose money and time if they need to re-sedate during a procedure. Hummm..I would re-consider my use of a vet if he or she would not at least try to use a lower dose to start with.

https://www.zoetisus.com/_locale-assets/mcm-portal-assets/widgets/le/advantage/pdf/equine/dor0111001-the-cost-of-re-sedation.pdf



Here is a vet report that sedation dosages will very by both individual horses AND BY BREED with cold blooded breeds typically requiring less tranquilizer.

"Donkeys and mules typically respond differently to sedatives and tranquilizers. They tend to be less sensitive to the drugs and thus require higher doses to achieve the same effect. Different breeds and individual horses also show different sensitivity to these drugs. In general “hot bloods” like Arabians and Thoroughbreds require far more sedation than cold bloods (draft breeds), for the same effect."

http://horsesidevetguide.com/drv/Treatment/2/sedation-amp-tranquilization-generally/

Some Icelandics do well with suggested doses of sedation calculated by weight.   But if you are new to Icelandics, talk to your vet about sedation dosages.

Kerry Bogs as the Last of the Hobby Horses

Dr. Ruth Bennett identifies the Kerry Bog as "probably the last population in the world of nearly pure Hobby extraction," a horse breed that she argues is the world's most important horse breed. The Kerry Bog horse is an ancient breed from Ireland. They have long adapted to the bogs and moorelands of Ireland over which their ability to amble is especially useful in traveling over soft, unstable ground. Some herds have historically run feral. Rarely attaining 12 hands*, the Kerry bog breed has traditionally been used to haul peat and pull carts in Ireland. Genetically the Kerry Bog is closely related to the Icelandic, Shetland, and Dartmoor breeds. Between 300 and 400 are recognized the breed registry. But why would Dr. Bennett declare the Hobby horse as the world's most important breed compared to Arabians, Thoroughbred, or Quarter Horses? (*Hobby horses might have been taller than 12 hands based on geographic location. Today's Kerry Bog horses are rarely above 12 hands.)

Last year we read with interest, the research study that proposed the first gaited/ambling horses derive from a mutation from York in England around 850 AD, a mutation that was spread through the horses of Eurasia as the Viking traded and raided across Europe. In the November 2014 edition of Equus magazine, Dr. Bennett proposed a different theory for the origin and spread of the easy gaited horses that, perhaps, better accounts for the pre-850 AD written and pictorial representations of ambling horses.

Around 1100 BC, Lydian and Danuvian traders from Western Turkey and Phoenicians from Tyre started trade routes from the Eastern Mediteranean to what is now the coastal areas of Spain, France, and even as far north as England. One of the trade goods were the native, domesticated stallions from the subspecies equus caballus pumpelli (think AkhalTeke not Arabian which is derived from a different subspecies) which carried the mutation DMRT3 for gaitedness. These imported stallions were then crossed with the native horse breeds which derived from the subspecies equus caballus caballus (think Kerry Bog or Icelandic looking) which carried the sprint speed gene. These new crosses ended up being called by their region of origin--Breton, Asturian, Galician, Merens, Scottish Galway, and Irish Hobby among others.

As Dr., Bennett states, "Explosive speed suited them for the ancient style of cavalry warfare...A knack for ambling at the same time made them comfortable mounts for travel..." During the Roman empire, hobby horses were taken from Britain back to Rome where they proved especially successful in chariot racing as shown by the horse portraits of the time. Other than a fully trained destrier or war horse, an easy gaited ambling horse or palfrey were among the most valuable horses of the Middle Ages. Henry VIII maintained a stable of racing Irish and English hobbies.

Source: Wikipedia

But whence comes Dr. Bennett's claim that "by far and away, the Hobby is the most important horse breed ever to have existed"? The hobby horses with their unique combination of speed and gait formed the genetic foundation of the Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Morgan, and gaited breeds derived from the Morgan. Recent mtDNA research has shown that the genetic input of the English thoroughbred is about 60% native British and Irish mares (hobby horses) outcrossed with Turkomen and some Barb stallions. Very little genetic input comes from the Arabian.

""The results suggest that the founders of the Thoroughbred breed imported fast Middle East and West Asian stallions into an already thriving racehorse breeding scene, then bred them with the best mares available at their stud," added Dr Bower. The most surprising finding was that, contrary to assertions by some influential breeders that Thoroughbreds are purely Oriental (specifically Arabian) in origin, these results argue strongly against this claim. Instead, thoroughbred maternal lineages most likely represent a cross-section of female bloodstock available at each stud participating in the foundation of the breed -- with a minimal contribution from Arabian horses. "[M]ost of the founding mares came from Britain and Ireland. They are not these exotic foreign creatures everyone thinks they are," explained Dr Bower. "Having said that, they were not just any mares. They were themselves descended from the fastest horses in the country." "
https://www.theguardian.com/…/punctuated-equi…/2010/oct/18/3

1896 Irish Parliament Hearings about Icelandic Horses

In 1896, the Irish Parliament conducted hearings on the state of horse breeding in the country. At that time, the view of Icelandic "ponies" was not very favorable.   Mr. J. F. Bomford testified about the ponies who came over from Iceland as ballast to Dublin and Belfast as not being worth very much.

One witness stated, "What do you think of them ?—I think they are the most wretched animals you could imagine of the equine race." Another witness said, "I think a strong or rougher Shetland or Iceland pony would suit the people" in rough, boggy parts of Ireland as opposed to a more delicate Hackney pony. 

The Irish speakers didn't like American horses either.  As one speaker noted,  "I have seen some American horses and they were all very bad; they were so bad and so ill-formed that I do not understand why anyone wanted a brand to distinguish them." Although he had seen some good Canadian horses.

If you read the "Minutes of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the horse breeding industry in Ireland," you will find that the speaker's point of view is heavily influenced by the intended use of the horse. One speaker was concerned about breeding hunters; another, cart horses on rough roads.

The photo above, from Hayes' The Points of the Horse in 1893, shows what was regarded as a "typical" Icelandic foal (shown at top of page) vs. Shetland pony.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433006036754;view=1up;seq=445

Ponies Mules and Penquins at the Poles

There should be an Olympics designed for the "power ponies"-- Fjords, Icelandics, Yakut, Mongolians, Pottok from Basque, etc.--compact, powerful, thrifty creatures that carried men and goods through fire, ice, desert, flood. I have been "researching" a posting as to what such a event would look like based on historic equitation events.

Obstacle number one would be penguin herding at the poles. Here is a photo of Himalayan mules, a gift from India to to Britain, for Scott's Antarctic exploration. The same journal describes how Russian ponies were offloaded from the ship onto ice, which broke up, and the ponies and handlers had to jump from floe to floe. Later, one handler and pony were out on a floe and a pod of killer whales started hunting them. The whales had a technique of ramming the floes to dislodge seals. Earlier the whales had tried this method on handlers and dogs. Luckily the later attempt on man and pony failed due to the whales coming up on the wrong side of the ice.

Icelandic horses were one of the few breeds involved in polar explorations.

Let's face it--none of the horses currently in the Olympics would pass the first event in the Ninja Warrior Power Pony Olympics.,

Icelandic Horse Games--600 kilometers in 8 days

In this video, Anita (not sure of spelling) is proposing Icelandic Horse Games, a 600 kilometer race across Iceland in eight days with 300 horses and 30 riders.  Each rider with two to three changes of mounts needs to ride 80 kilometers a day to be competitive.  Each day there will be vet checks.  The race, inspired by the Mongolian Derby at 1000 kilometers and the South African race, is intended to bring the adventuresome and adrenalin junkies to Iceland.  The race organizers already have 300 horses available and are looking for corporate sponsors.  Planned kick off date is fall of 2017.

2015 WorldFengur Report

In March 2016, WorldFengur, the Icelandic horse world registry, published a report on major trends in the registration of these horses.   Here are some highlights (in my humble opinion).

Subscriptions to WF, currently 19,060 are up by 5% in one year.  Over the past three years, the greatest number of users is in Germany 5,173 or 27% followed by Iceland at 4,028, Sweden 3,617, Denmark 2,639.  Members are up by 11% in Germany and Sweden and down by 40% in Norway.  (US is not mentioned.)

If you are a WF subscriber, you can purchase a service to view videos from Lansmot this year.  WF is also adding videos from previous Lansmots that you can view for a fee.

Different countries now have different criteria for approval of stallions for breeding purposes.  Iceland allows breeders to choose any stallion they want.  Other countries have different criteria.  WF continues to discuss if there should be standardization in this area.

There are 142 registered Icelandic horses in New Zealand.

“Should Icelandic horses always carry Iceland names? There are various takes on this topic: some studbook associations allow only Icelandic names, others are more liberal provided the name chosen is not offensive. In general, most horses get Icelandic names. At a WF meeting in Malmö in 2013, WF registrars discussed this topic and the outcome was that based on legal grounds, it is not possible to set stricter rules to the use of Icelandic horse names only, since this would infringe on the breeders´ freedom of choice.” P. 6  Personal note:  I sometimes get kidded about misspelling Blessi’s name (his barn name to me is short for Blessing).  When I did a search in WF, I found about 17 or so mares named Pamela and 1 mare in Iceland named Pamela Anderson.

 

The number of foals born and assessed on a world-wide basis continues to drop steadily over the past 8 years.  In 2008, 16,454 foals were born and 3,119 registered.  In 2015 those numbers were 8,164 and 2,155 respectively.

 

In 2015, 1360 were exported from Iceland, compared with 1,269 in 2014.  Export numbers: Germany—529, Sweden – 219, Denmark 165,US – 39.

 

You can view the full report at:

 

https://www.feif.org/Service/Documents/Breeding.aspx

The Grágás or Gray Goose laws referring to horses

My previous post referred to the commonly held but false belief that Iceland banned the import of horses around 1000 AD to prevent the spread of disease into the herds.  In reality such a law was not passed until 1882.

An ivory Lewis Chessman or knight
depicted as mounted Viking
warrior--dated 12th century

I thought it might be interesting to look at what the laws in Iceland  related to horses were around 1000 AD.  Grágás or the Gray Goose Laws are the early laws dating from the founding of the Althing in 930 to the assumption of sovereignty over Iceland by the Norwegian king in 1262.   Originally the speaker of the Althing recited one third of the laws at each yearly session.   Current knowledge of the Gray Goose laws comes from two small incomplete volumes Konungsbók written down around 1260 and Staðarhólsbók written around 1280; laws from these books may compliment each other, support, or even contradict.  Below is a partial listing of the laws related to horses.

• A heir for inherited property was regarded as mentally incompetent if he could not identify the front versus the back of a trough-saddle or type of wooden saddle.
• A husband had to provide his wife with a fit horse if they were riding to a meeting with the Archbishop, regardless of which spouse initiated the meeting
• Mounting and riding a horse without the owner's permission called for major outlawry.
• If a man hires a horse to ride to the assembly and it gets galled, the horse has to be rested for two weeks.
• If a man shakes a rattle at another man's horse at a baiting while that man is on an assembly trip and the rattle scares the horse, the law calls for lesser outlawry.  If not on an assembly journey there is a fine.
• Docking a stud horse's tail calls for lesser outlawry.   Docking the tail of horse travelling to an Assembly or a wedding is lesser outlawry.  Docking a tail and touching bone is lesser outlawry.  Otherwise docking a tail is a fine of three marks. 
• Wounding a horse with no harm is a four ounce fine.  Wounding a horse with over five ounces worth of damage is lesser outlawry.
• Men of a household are to provide their own horses if they have them; otherwise the house owner is to provide horses if they go to assembly.
• If a man owns woodland on another's property, he may not keep horses there overnight.

Early Icelanders valued their horses, viewing them as major assets related to their personal honor.  However, I would like to point out that there is no mention of a law that bans the import of horses.

Riding to Valhalla--The Vendel Bridle Reconstruction

My latest project is the reconstruction of a Vendel bridle from grave # 3, boat burial of a male, Sweden circa 700s.  Three horses were also found with the burial. The original bridle mounts were enameled metal.  I attempted to cut and gild and tool leather to simulate the bridle mounts.  

As you can see by the picture of Blessi, the side pieces are a bit too long and the bit is clanking on his teeth.  I took a quick picture while the poor boy was being so good.  He got some dried blueberries as a reward.  The bridle will be adjusted.

If you look closely at the original enamel mounts, you will notice that the bit is composed of entwined serpents and the rein attachment is a serpent's head and the brow band is covered by pairs of entwined serpents, which seems odd for a horse bridle.  I was curious so I did some research.

Here is my speculation.  Please take it for what it is worth--a non-scholar doing 15 minutes of google research. I could only find two references to a Norse entity using a bridle/reins made of serpents.   

In the myth about the death of  Baldur (I highly recommend reading Nancy Brown's Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths to understand this story in its wider context and the contribution of Snorri Sturluson of Iceland since I am only relating the part referring to  reins made of serpents), the Norse gods in their grief stowed so much treasure on Baldur's funeral ship Hringhorni that nobody, not even Odin or Thor, could push the ship into the sea.  

What is believed to be Hyrrokking on
the runestone from Hunnestad Monument
in Sweden.  Uploaded to Wikipedia
by Hedning. 

The immensely strong giantess Hyrrokkin was summoned from Jotunhein to help.  She arrived riding a gigantic wolf controlled by reins made of serpents. ("Troll-woman's horse" is a kenning or poetic reference frequently used by the Norse to mean "wolf.")  She pushed the ship into the sea causing the earth to quake.   Thor wanted to kill Hyrrokkin but the other gods otherwise persuade him.







You can read the full myth on Nancy's blog God of Wednesday.

God of Wednesday: Seven Norse Myths We Wouldn’t Have Without Snorri: Part VII

			God of Wednesday: Seven Norse Myths We Wouldn’t ... Snorri, complained one scholar, irresponsibly turned myths like the Death of Baldur into "novellas." Maybe that's why we remember them.
			View on nancymariebrown.b...	Preview by Yahoo

In the poem about Helgi Hiorvardson, Hedin is traveling at Yule time and meets a troll-wife riding a wolf with serpent reins who demands that Hedin "attend" her.  Hedin refuses so she curses him.  

So considering the relationship of Hyrrokkin riding a wolf to Baldur's funeral and launching the funeral ship, I am wondering if a craftsman made the bridle mounts specifically as grave goods.  Such a bridle would be perfect for the warrior to ride to the feasting halls after sailing to Valhalla. 

Algonquin, Icelandic Pony in White House Elevator

Quentin Riding Algonquin.  Roosevelt Family Photo

Theodore Roosevelt owned a family pony named Algonquin, who was famous for riding the White House Elevator so he could visit his friend Archie who had the measles.  Was this pony a Shetland or an Icelandic?  You can judge for yourself by reading the research I posted on my new page listed at the top of the banner.

http://blessiblog.blogspot.com/p/icelandic-pony-in-white-house-elevator.html

Theodore Roosevelt and his family off for a family outing at Sagamore Hill, the family estate near Oyster
Bay, NY.  Roosevelt Family Photos

Photographs of Icelandic Horse History

The poster Lythorse created a slide show of the heritage of the Icelandic horses from photographs of the early 1900s.  Icelandic horses were the work machines of the island--drawing plows, hauling timbers on their backs, helping with hay harvest, deliverying mail, treking with visitors, crossing rivers in open boats or swimming, and so on.  This is a must see!!!

The Icelandic Pony in William Morris' Kitchen



The rose bower from Burne-Jones series of the Briar Rose 1890--Wikipedia

"Here lies the hoarded love, the key
To all the treasure that shall be;
Come fated hand the gift to take,
And smite this sleeping world awake."
For the Briar Rose by William Morris      





Elizabeth Wein's wonderful short tale "For the Briar Rose" (in the anthology Queen Victoria's Book of Spells) is in the new genre of gaslamp fantasy or steampunk or what I would label as just plain science fantasy.  Margaret Burne-Jones modeled for Briar Rose in her father Edward Burne Jones' series of paintings about that fairy tale.  Wein imagines a tale in which Margaret encounters the supernatural rose briar patch itself in her quest to become woman, wife, and mother.    Based on her considerable research, Wein depicts the social and family life among the artists Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Rossetti, and William Morris, who were leaders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement in the latter part of the 19th century. 

William Morris textile --Wikipedia

At one point in the tale, Margaret teases her "uncle Topsy," William Morris.  "Now, Uncle Topsy, it's true, Papa has never much liked coarse fishing, and I do sympathise with him.  Don't you think these robust fellows look terribly damp and miserable?  But what really made his mind up was when you turned the kitchen into a stable for the pony you brought back from Iceland..."  (Wein, p. 111).

Wait!!!! Hold your horses!!!  How did an Icelandic pony get into William Morris' kitchen in the late 1800s?  William Morris (1834 to 1896) was an artist, writer, painter, illustrator, textile designer, translator of Icelandic sagas, and poet.  He experimented with many art forms including medieval weaving and embroidery.  He made two trips to Iceland in 1871 and 1873. 







Burne-Jones caricature of Morris
riding in Iceland --Wikipedia

In one of Morris' letters home, he talks about trying to bring a little, gray Icelandic pony Falki home to his children.

"Give dear love to the little ones and tell them I am going to try to bring my pretty grey pony home; but if I don't they must not be disappointed, for there may be difficulties, or he may not turn out well.  His name is Falcon, and when he is in good condition, he ambles beautifully, fast and deliciously soft; he is about thirteen hands high.  I wish you could see us to understand how jolly it is when we have got a good piece of road and the whole train of twenty eight horses is going a good round trot, the tin cups tinkling, and the boxes rattling."  (Mackail, pp. 261-262) 

Morris' travel journal to Iceland contains many vignettes about the ponies he encountered there--describing how the only thing that would scare an Icelandic pony is one of the pack bundles coming loose and scattering items all around him; the horses taking riders safely through rough terrain of bogs, scree, and cascades; and how one horse safely jumped its rider over a hidden ravine even though Icelandic horses are not known for their jumping abilities.

William Morris--self portrait Wikipedia

Nancy Marie Brown in her blog post "Bilbo's Ride Through Iceland" draws some thought provoking comparisons between William Morris (a short, round man) trekking through Iceland as described in his journals and Bilbo Baggins (a short, round Hobbit) riding to Rivendale as described by Tolkein. As Brown (para 8) points out, "Each sets out on a charming pony ride that turns dreary, wet, and miserable. The wind is cold and biting. The landscape is 'doleful,' black, rocky, with 'slashes of grass-green and moss-green,' Tolkien writes. Chasms open beneath their feet. Bogs and waterfalls abound. The pony stumbles, the baggage (mostly food) is lost, the fire refuses to light. The rider nods off on the last leg and is astonished: There was 'no indication of this terrible gorge till one was quite on the edge of it,' Morris writes."  Brown's full essay as to whether Morris' account of his trip to Iceland influenced Tolkein is well worth the read at: 

http://nancymariebrown.blogspot.com/2012/07/bilbos-ride-through-iceland.html

William Morris' daughter Jenny (Alice Jane) also saw both her father and the horse he brought back as a direct link to the fairy-tale like atmosphere of Iceland.  "Iceland had begun to be one of the familiar fairy-land places in our imagination..."  When her father returned "with all that burden of adventure and travel upon him--coming back out of the land of trolls and awful mountains.  Then closer knowledge of the strange place came to us through him...Iceland became and has been ever since a real thing, at once overpoweringly beautiful and overpoweringly melancholy...One of the links between us and that far North was Mouse, the intelligent sure-footed little animal my father rode all through this first journey" (Morris, pp. xxvii-xxviii). (Aside: Many of us who own Icelandic horses today feel that the horse itself is still a direct link to "the land of trolls and awful mountains.")

Kelmscott Manor, as illustrated in Morris'book
News from Nowhere --Wikipedia

Back to how the Icelandic pony got into William Morris' kitchen....as hinted above Falki or Falcon never made it to England.  Unfortunately, Falki was lame by the time Morris returned to Reykjavik so he sold the pony.  Morris had ridden another Icelandic named Mouse almost exclusively during his first six weeks in Iceland.  He described Mouse as "the bravest and best tempered little beast: you should have seen him picking his way in one of those dismal bogs, where if you sneeze, the earth, or rather the roots of the grass, trembles violently; they say, however, that Icelandic ponies get lazy among the fat pastures and soft air of England--small blame to them" (Mackail, p. 274).  Morris brought Mouse, instead of Falki, back to England for his children May and Jenny. 

On September 10, 1871, Morris and Mouse arrived at Kelmscott Manor, the country home initially co-leased by Morris and Rossetti, near Oxford.  Morris eventually found shelter for Mouse by converting a dovecote.  "The upper floor was still occupied by pigeons"  (Hughes, p. 2).


May Morris; Margaret Mackail (née Burne-Jones);
Sir Philip Burne-Jones, Jenny Jane Alice Morris, 1874
by Frederick Hollyer
copyright National Portrait Gallery--used with permission*

Mouse--fat, lazy,and clever--was much loved by the Morris children. Morris' daughter Jenny wrote up a little biography to give her father, which mentioned Mouse. "He was gentle and quiet, though not without slyness: for I remember there was one gate-post against which, when I went out for a ride, he used often to try to rub me off his broad back. I'm ashamed for my horsemanship to think how often the rogue had his way. Father used to ride him about the country a good bit at first. Then I jogged about with him, and he used to be put to a little basket-carriage, and go meandering along in a meditative way. He got enormously fat on our coarse thick plentiful English grass, with little to do; and I used to imagine him lonely, and yearning for the fun and clatter and hardships of his Iceland life among his friends, as he stood there with his head stretched forward looking intensely meditative. One day, when the hunt passed through our home-meadows, the excitement of horses and hounds was too much for the lonely philosopher: he threw up his head and, fat as he was, bundled over a hedge and actually followed the hounds a good way. " (Mackail, pp. 274 - 275).

Few English children were so indulged as to get their own Icelandic pony.  In his letters home, Morris wrote such charming stories about the ponies that he encountered during his trek in Iceland that Mrs. Alfred  Baldwin  asked Morris to bring back an Icelandic pony for her son Stanley.   Stanley, first cousin to Rudyard Kipling and nephew of Edward Burne-Jones, regarded Morris as an honorary uncle and was welcome in the Morris and Jones' studios even as a child.  However, Stanley never got his Icelandic pony.  As he explained,  "...it was natural for my mother to ask him when he paid his first visit to Iceland to bring me back an Icelandic pony which he tried to find me but came to the conclusion that it would cost so much to ship that I must be content with a Welsh one" (Weinroth, p. 57).  Although Stanley Baldwin did not get his own Icelandic pony, he did become Prime Minister of England--three times. 

Mouse may have been kept in a barn like this.
Interior of the tithe barn at Great Cokkeswell
Photo by Frederick H. Evans circa 1896
© Janet M. Stenner. www.metmuseum.org Non-commercial use only

The fate of many exported Icelandic ponies at that time was not so kind.  As Jenny explained, "It was long a grief to us children to know that the fate of many of his fellows when sold to the Scottish dealers was to go down into the mines, where they never saw daylight again--the squalor, the desolation of it, after the wild free life between firth and mountain" (Morris, pp.  xxvii- xxviii). 

From 1871 to 1875, 7868 horses were exported from Iceland--many intended for the mines in Scotland.  Life for horses in the mines was tough, some became blind. A contemporary of the time, Schrader argued that the Icelandic horses in the Scottish mines were at risk for blindness but at least they received continual care and feed unlike the horses in Iceland who had to fend for themselves over the long winters.  According to Schrader, many mine ponies in Scotland lived into their twenties unlike Icelandic horses at that time (Bjőrnsson & Sveinsson, p. 98). Perhaps the pit ponies did get adequate care but they were subjected to the same ups in downs in fate as the miners themselves.  Pit ponies were often the victims of mine strikes, frequent accidents, and abandonment.  The sympathy of Jane Morris, William's wife and Jenny's mother, lay solely with the pit ponies. In a letter discussing a mine strike in Scotland, she exclaimed "Those poor ponies! I see in one pit that 400 have been left to their fate"  (Marsh & Sharp, 2011, p. 372).

Rossetti''s Pia de Tolomei--Jane, Morris' wife,
is the model--Wikipedia

And the trip from Iceland to England could be perilous also.  H. Rider Haggard, author of the Lost World novels King Solomon's Mines and She, stopped to visit William Morris to obtain advice on local travel before taking his own tour of Iceland, home of the sagas that inspired some of his later work.  Haggard sailed home on "the Copeland, now laden with hundreds of ponies, among them that named Hecla, which I had bought near the volcano, and I think another which I had also bought" (Haggard, Chapt. 12, para 12).  The Copeland sailed through several days of gales and some of the worst weather Haggard ever experienced.  The hatches had to remain open so the ponies had enough air so many ponies died from exposure to the cold water.  Delays because of the bad weather forced the voyage to extend longer than expected and ponies began to starve. 

On the seventh day of the voyage, the ship was caught in a current and stranded on rocks near the island of Stroma.  The passengers were saved by a local boat from that island. "Rescuers got aboard of her and saved many of the ponies, though many more were drowned, including poor Hecla, which I had bought upon the slopes of that volcano. Others were thrown or swam out of the hold and maimed. One of the saddest things I remember in connection with this shipwreck was the sight of a poor animal with a swinging leg, standing upon a point of rock until the tide rose and drowned it. Many of these ponies swam ashore — being Icelanders they were accustomed to the water — and probably they, or rather their descendants, now populate the Orkneys (Haggard, Chapt. 12, para 31).

Ponies waiting for export in Reykjavík. 
Frederick Howell Collection, Cornell University

Mouse encountered no such misadventures in his travel from Iceland to England.  He became a well loved fixture at Kelmscott Manor--several visitors and residents made references to the pony from the northern island.  As Morris had predicted, Mouse ate himself to fatness on the rich English grass.  Dante Rossetti, who co-leased  Kelmscott Manor with William Morris at that time, descibed Mouse as follows in a letter to his mother: "There is a most comically fat and stolid pony here  which Morris last year brought from Iceland.  He is more like Sancho's donkey than anything equine, and was never seen but twice from the window to do anything but eat in his private field.  On two occasions only he was meditating with his back against a tree" (Rossetti, 1895, p. 264). In another letter, he refers to a "tremendous gale" at Kelmscott Manor that took down "six important trees--three in the avenue in Mouse's field, and three in the island by the boat house" (Rossetti, 1895, p. 268).

Mouse was taught to pull a cart.  Finding a harness for this pony was difficult.  In an 1872 letter to Alfred Hake, Rossetti discussed Morris' plans to buy a chaise trap and the challenges of finding a harness to fit Mouse.   In a later letter to Hake, Rossetti said that Morris was delighted with the chaise trap when it arrived but that the harness did not fit Mouse so a custom harness had to be made.  And no wonder!  As Rossetti exclaimed in a postscript to Hake, "PS. The Icelandic pony in question has the impudence to be four feet in girth around the neck!" (Rossetti, 2005, p. 292).

Finding saddles to fit Icelandics seemed to be a problem even in the 1800s.  In a letter to George Hake, Morris talks about taking a day visit to Kelmscott Manor with a stated purpose of trying a saddle on Mouse.  "...[Morris] says he will be coming down in the morning and 'I shall want a bit of breakfast when I get down'. He also asks Hake to 'let Phi1ip [Comely] meet me with Mouse saddled as I want to try a pack saddle on him and needn't lug it all the way to Kelmscott'"  (Sharp, n.d., p. 45).

Morris would have driven Mouse around the country lanes like this one leading to Kelmscott Manor.  Photo by Frederick H. Evans circa 1896 © Janet M. Stenner.  www.metmuseum.org  Non-commercial use only

Visitors were often picked up at the train station by Morris and Mouse and the aforementioned chaise trap.  In his 1896 obituary for William Morris, Theodore Watts-Dunton describes meeting Morris and Mouse for the first time, the beginning of a 25-year old friendship with Morris.  Watts-Dunton was visiting Rossetti, who invited Morris to join them for a fishing party.   Morris and Mouse the Icelandic pony came to the Lechlade railway station to greet them.  "And then I saw coming towards us on a rough pony so diminutive that he well deserved the name of 'Mouse,' the figure of a man  in a wideawake--a figure so broad and square that the breeze at his back, soft and balmy as it was, seemed to be using him as a sail, and blowing both him and the pony towards us (p. 488)."  

A Victorian basket carriage, Punch 1859,
from the Dictionary of Victorian London

So my brief essay at research confirmed that William Morris brought an Icelandic pony home from his trek in Icelandic.  Mouse the pony was so beloved and memorable that he was mentioned not only in Morris' Icelandic journals but in Morris' obituary, correspondence among the Pre-Raphaelite artists, and in Jenny's memoir of her father.  As  Jenny mourned, "I missed the gentle funny little animal much when he died" (Mackail, p. 275). 

May Morris never forgot her father's tales of travel in the land "of trolls and awful mountains" and Mouse the pony that linked her and her sister to this magical land.  May made several trips to Iceland to see the sights that her father mentioned in his poems and depict them in water colors.  In 1922, visitors to Iceland still traveled by Icelandic pony.  May Morris and her friend Mary Loeb rode up to the manse of the family of Gudrun Jonsdottir.   Since there were no hotels outside cities, travelers frequently asked for accommodations homesteads sure to be welcomed."Ministers, doctors and country judges were the only people likely to understand foreign languages and the ministers were easiest to approach, the doctors being too busy and the country judges less hospitable. Most of the travellers I had seen however, had been gentlemen and two ladies travelling alone were unusual" (Jonsdottir, p. 17).  Besides touring by horseback, May Morris spent her time sketching landscapes and flowers.   See below for a link to a photograph (which unfortunately I do not have permission to use, of what is probably May Morris riding an Icelandic pony in Iceland during one of her visits.

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw170816/May-Morris?search=sp&sText=may+morris&wPage=2&rNo=56




May Morris's Sketchbook from Iceland
(MS.2010.009--William Andrews Clark Memorial Library)

Returning to Kelmscott Manor in England, May shipped a box of books, watercolors, and drawings
for the Jonsdottir family. Even the paper the books were wrapped in were a treasure to Gudrun--"What a joy for a girl who was always writing when there was any paper to be had" (p. 19).   

In 1924 and 1929, Morris and Loeb visited Iceland and stayed with Gundrun's family again.  Each time, Morris thanked the family with a gift of books.  As Gudrun reminisced, "So many memories ate linked to the name Kelmscott-memories of years when the books Miss Morris had sent made my otherwise bleak life bearable-and memories of a lovely lady who was kind to o a shy and awkward girl in an old Icelandic manse" (p. 20). 

So after all that research originally inspired by a fairy tale, I could not confirm that Mouse the Icelandic pony ever lived in William Morris' kitchen.  I bet there are more mentions of Mouse among the correspondence of the Morris, Rossetti, and Burne-Jones families found in the volumes of the Bodeleian Library of Oxford--a visit that Wein conducted as part of her research into her modern fairy tale "For the Briar Rose."  Who's up for a trip to Iceland to ride horses with a stopover in Oxford for some research and a visit to Kelmscott Manor?


And many thanks to Philip Brown who writes the fascinating blog http://janeymorris.blogspot.com/ about Jane Morris and her daughters and sent me the link to the Jonsdottir memoir.

Also if you have enjoyed reading about Mouse and William Morris, you can go to the http://www.williammorrissociety.org.uk/ for more information about Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites.  Penny Lydon, the librarian for this Society was kind enough to forward me more references about Mouse--which I have yet to work into this essay.  ;-)

Sources:

Bjőrnsson, G., & Sveinsson, H.  (2006).  The Icelandic Horse, Edda Publishing, Reykjavik, Iceland.

Brown, N.  (2012).  Bilbo's Ride Through Iceland. God of Wednesday blog.  Found July 22, 2013, at http://nancymariebrown.blogspot.com/2012/07/bilbos-ride-through-iceland.html

Haggard, H.  (1912).  The Days of My Life: An Autobiography, The University of Adelaide, South Australia, Found on August 1, 2013 at http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/haggard/h_rider/days/index.html

Hughes, D.   (Autumn, 2006).  "Kelmscott 2006,"  The Oxon Recorder, Issue 28, pp. 1-3.

Jonsdottir, G.  (1981).  May Morris and Miss Loeb in Icelandic, Journal of William Morris Studies, Found August 13, 2013 at http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/AU86.7.1.Jonsdottir.pdf

Mackail, J. (1901). The Life of William Morris, Longmans Green, and Co., London.

Morris, J., and Sharp, F. (2011). The Collected Letters of Jane Morris, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK.

Morris, W.  (1911)  The Collected Works of William Morris: Journals of travel in Iceland. 1871. 1873, Longmans Green, and Co., London. 

Rossetti, D.  (2005).  Chelsea Years, 1871-1872.  D.S. Brewer, Cambridge.

Rossetti, D.  (1895).  Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Family-letters, Ellis and Elvey, London.

Sharp, F. (n.d.)  William Morris's Kelmscott connections.  pp.44- 53.  Found August 3, 2013 at www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/SP99.13.2.Sharp.pdf

Watts-Dunton, T.  (1896). "Mr. William Morris" in The Athenaeum: A Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama, eds. Buckingham, J., et al.  Found July 22, 2013 at
:http://books.google.com/books?id=t7A5AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA488&lpg=PA488&dq=william+morris+%2B+mouse+pony&source=bl&ots=RdI94bhmgM&sig=-iO6ts-MSNJzu8Iz_SfnvA-I90w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=udX0Ub63CqKsjALg14CQCg&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%20mouse%20pony&f=false

Wein, E., (2013). For the briar rose. (pp. 107-129). Appearing in Queen Victoria's Book of Spells. Datlow, E., & Windling, T, eds., Tom Doherty Associates Book, New York.

Weinroth, M.  (1996).  Reclaiming William Morris: Englishness, Sublimity, and the Rhetoric of Dissent, McGill-Queen's Press, Quebec, Canada.

* Photo is from this site and used with permission for non-commercial, one-time only use 
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw134064/Margaret-Mackail-ne-Burne-Jones-May-Morris-Jenny-Jane-Alice-Morris-Sir-Philip-Burne-Jones-2nd-Bt?LinkID=mp66104&wPage=0&role=sit&rNo=2