Blessi and his camel hair coat

I bet you were thinking that this post would be about the thick winter coat of an Icelandic horse.  Sorry to disappoint you but today's post is about Blessi's new cooler.  I made it from camel hair wool found at Goodwill for about $1 a yard. 

I didn't have quite enough of the camel hair so I used some burgundy melton wool which gives the coat a kind of a harlequin effect.  How do you like the bellywarmer?

The pattern is from www.suitability.com.  I used tailor's chalk to make sure the curve of the back and the darts were custom fitted to Blessi.  And the embroidery was done by Monograms By Coleta of Silverdale, WA.  She did a fantastic job!

Blessi and Shannon A Musical Freestyle with an Icelandic

Shannon Lockwood and Blessi performed a musical free style at the Northwest Horse Expo.  They demoed some lower level dressage movements such as shoulder in, shoulder out, walk pirouette, leg yields in a zig zag, etc.  Blessi is "volunteering" some tolt--after all he is part of the Icelandic horse demo.

PS The glitzy "headband" is a $3 belt from Goodwill that I tied to the browband.

What if Icelandic Horses Were in Cavalia

I always wanted to know how Icelandics could be incorporated into a large scale equestrian production like Cavalia.  Here is one possibility--put a herd of Icelandics in front of simulated volcanic activity and see what happens.  Unsurprisingly, most of the horses are so comfortable that they just roll in the lovely dirt in front of thousands of people and the video screen.  It takes an Icelandic sheepdog to move them around the stage.

I wonder how Iceland feels about the implication of riders drinking and riding?