f.Örvar frá Hömrum, m.Grána frá Litla-Dal
1984 grey gelding, 14.2hh
Kalsi was imported in 1995. I knew him for several years before we imported him, and did a few long rides on him including one memorable ride from his home farm near Reykjavík to the 1994 Landsmót at Hella, around 100 miles each way across the mountains. He did well in competitions in Iceland with his trainer Guđmar Pétursson. He´s a true gćđingar with a wonderful character and superb gaits, and he´s been British champion in 5-gait, Pace Race and Pace Test several times over. He´s not the most beautiful of Icelandics, being tall and very heavily built, but a nicer horse you couldn´t find. These days he takes life a bit easier and is more or less retired. He gives the young horses lessons in manners and is boss of the herd. Kalsi means "Shiver of Cold".
f. Merkur frá Miđsitju, m. Gjöf frá Hemlu
1986 chestnut gelding, 14.2hh
Sölvi came here from Iceland in 1993. He´s a real gćđingar, a wonderful 4-gaited horse who´s brilliant in competitions as well as a great everyday riding horse. He´s quite a sensitive lad, and very handsome, red chestnut with white socks and a big blaze, and half of his right eye is blue. He´s been British Champion in 4-gait and Tölt T2 (loose rein tölt) several times; I´ve ridden him in three World Championships and we narrowly missed getting into the finals of the T2 in Switzerland, 1994. When he was in Iceland he also did rather well in dressage. He spent a few years on loan to friends in Holland, but is now back to stay with me. He´s Kalsi´s best mate and they love playing together. Sölvi means "the Pale One" and is a name for a sea god.
f. Bliki frá Svínhólum, ff. Flosi frá Brunnum, m. Tinna frá Svínhólum, mf Hrafn 583 frá Árnanesi
1987 dun mare, 13.2hh
Molda was imported as a four year old in 1991. She´s a real character,very friendly and cuddly towards people but a real firecracker to ride. Very comfortable and with easy tölt, her brakes are sometimes a bit unreliable, but she´s totally bombproof. Her action in all gaits is quite good, and she´s been assessed at a breeding show with reasonable 2nd prize marks overall. She´s has 4 foals so far, a cremello colt (Matti, left), a buckskin filly (Drift, right), and a palomino filly (Elding), and she´s continuing her career as a brood mare. She had a beautiful filly foal in April this year who we've named Mist. Molda means "Dun Mare" (very imaginative!)
f. Vídalín frá Sauđárkróki, m. Brúnka frá Gíli, mf. Gramur frá Vatnsleysu
1989 grey skewbald mare, 13.2hh
A beautiful, well-bred mare, Ísafold is a joy to ride. She´s now almost totally white and it´s hard to see that she´s a skewbald except when she´s wet. She´s a good 2nd prize mare with wonderful high action, and a bit of a drama queen at times! She´s had three foals so far, a chestnut skewbald filly (Randalín, left) a blue dun colt (Fróđi, right), and a black filly. She´s great fun to ride, fast and forward going but with good brakes, and she loves doing Viking reenactment. I´m sure there´s a warhorse or two somewhere back in her family tree. Ísafold is a poetic name for Iceland.
f. Dropi from Salisbury, ff. Stefnir frá Sandhólaferja, m. Ísafold frá Gíli
2002 blue dun colt, 14hh and growing!
This tall and elegant homebred colt, born on the 31st May 2002, will certainly not be gelded for a while, as he seems to have potential as a stallion. He has lovely movements and temperament, and a gorgeous colour, and we´ve got high hopes for him. He´s currently enjoying growing up with the other other youngsters, spending most of his time playing. He covered a very small number of mares this Spring. Fróđi is a king´s name from the Icelandic sagas.
f. Svalur frá Kárastöđum, m. Vinda frá Sólheimum
1990 silver dapple black mare, 14.2hh
Dögun is a tall and stunningly beautiful mare who has introduced a lot of people to the joys of Icelandics. She prefers going in tölt, though she´s actually 5-gaited, and is a willing, forward-going ride, brilliant in company but a bit spooky on her own. She was imported in 1997 and has done a bit of competition work, and got a good 2nd prize at the breeding assessment. In 2003 she had her first foal, a silver dapple black filly we´ve called Freyja. Dögun means "Dawn".
f. Dropi from Salisbury, ff Stefnir frá Sandhólaferja, m. Dögun frá Sólheimum
Born on May 25th 2003, Freyja is our first foal born at Tresais Farm, and Mic´s 30th Icelandic foal all told. She wasn´t particularly big when she was born (she´s Dđgun´s first foal) but is growing like a spring weed, and will I think be just as tall as her mum and dad. She also has their elegant build. Her preferred gait is tölt, though she has shown some trot, and she has high action. She´s friendly with people she knows, but wary of strangers, and she loves children. She will be the same colour as her mum in the long run, but her foal coat was pale mushroom and looked like a black horse that had been through the washing machine too many times on a boil wash! Freyja is a Viking goddess of fertility.
Bay mare, 13hh
Rósa was imported in 1993. She´s not a pretty horse, but she has a lovely character and can be ridden by absolutely anyone. When first imported, she went to a lady in the New Forest for pony trekking, but her former owner has since retired and she´s now come back to us on permanent loan, and is a real treasure. As well as being a lovely bombproof riding horse, she´s also good at driving. She has terrible sweetitch and the most sensitive skin of any Icelandic I´ve ever met, but her gentleness and friendliness more than make up for the bother of looking after her. Since we´ve moved to Pembrokeshire her skin´s been much, much better anyway. Rósa, not surprisingly, means "Rose", and she´s usually called Rosie.
Jenný is a silver dapple bay mare, 15 years old and imported from Iceland several years ago. She´s about 14hh, and has super high action in all gaits. She´s now a more-or-less full time brood mare. She makes wonderful babies and is a real sweetie who loves people.
A weird and wonderful pale smoky black in colour, Tíbrá is a gem. Easy to ride for anyone, and bags of tölt. She´s about 13.2hh and was born in Iceland in 1988. She´s a real character, completely bombproof but with quite a bit of presence when she wants. She´s also extremely intelligent and quick to learn - good or bad things! Sadly she had cystic ovaries which mean she can never have a foal. She´s Maria´s main riding horse.
Týr is Jenný´s 2004 foal by Dropi
A young horse by a first prize stallion (Örvar frá Efri Ápavatni), Galdur has a nice temperament and good movements.
These two girls came from Iceland just before Christmas 2004. They were part of a special project on the island of Viđey which aimed to breed Icelandics which were not only talented and beautiful, but also special colours, in particular the colour splashed white, which is one of the most rare horse colours in any breed. It gives a white face, blue eyes, white socks or legs, and white on the belly. The project had to end as the government wanted the island back for tourism.... so we ended up with two of the mares. Both are in foal to the splash white red dun tobiano (!) stallion Engill:
Engill (above)
Aska is a 14 year old blue dun splash white mare with 2 blue eyes. She´s a good 4-gaited mare who has had several nice foals, easy to ride and with nice tölt though she´s very clever and if she has a beginner, will do pretty much what she feels like. A very cuddly character!
Depla is a 5 year old chestnut tobiano splash white mare who also carries the silver dapple gene (silver dapple does not show on chestnut). She has one brown and one blue eye, and is one of the biggest Icelandics we´ve ever seen, getting on for 15hh. She´s 5-gaited and a very promising riding horse.
Óđinn (Aska x Engill), Ómar (Depla x Engill) and Mist (Molda x Fróđi)
Horses that have moved to pastures new....