Set the Pace Issue 84 July 2019 by mo hall

CONTENTS A Warm Welcome ICEY Friends Location Map - July 2019 Brave Pants Cup

3 4 5

Achievements

Personal Perspectives How do you capture Sunshine? Tina Wooff Building Confidence Charlotte Day CARPE DIEM (Seize the Day) - Patricia Barber HOW I BECAME AN ICEY OWNER Dressage Luan Crawford Endurance Elaine Rannie Foreign Breed Showing Galashiels Gallop Laura Curran Home to Hella ODRC ANNUAL SHOW & BEER TOLT – Lesley Dellar Summer Pastimes TREC Jenny Sheen Event Organisers Young Riders & Leaders – Summer Update A HUGE THANK YOU

6 9 16 18 22 24 26 29 31 32 35 39 44 53 54

Opportunities

Data - & Sweet-itch Research by the Royal Dick Veterinary College - Please complete the survey. 71 Banter in the Haunted Old Hills Barn June 2019 As overheard by Fi Pugh 72

Autumn Deadline 20th September 2019 Front Cover: St Stali & the Dragon – Photo: Henry Bucklow Back Cover: A final farewell to Anna– Photo Tina Wooff REPRODUCTION PERMITTED WITH PERMISSION OF ARTICLE AUTHOR/PHOTOGRAPHER

Remember anything that is blue and underlined is a live link, click on it for more information (right click or equivalent if you want the link to open in another window on your browser or use the menu facility on your phone to open it in the browser). NEW – if you would like the e-magazine delivered direct to your kindle let Set the Pace have its email address via PM.

A Warm Welcome The weather has been somewhat chillier than we like for spring – we had the log burner lit for our June course! Looking forward to more relaxed summer days and the fun of summer camps and Viking raiding. We particularly welcome Tory Bilski whose book, Wild Horses of the Summer Sun was published in early May. More of that later in the magazine. As we have been getting outside and doing things with our horses, the chat group has taken a quieter turn. We have still seen news and information requested and shared, highs celebrated and lows offered comfort and sympathy. We are so lucky to have such a supportive and responsive group. I hope you enjoy the news round up and original articles and thank you all so much for your continued support and willingness to share your triumphs and disasters both on the chat group and in more detail in the magazine. Mo Hall Since the last issue, we welcome a mixture of old friends and first timers in order of joining, most recent first: Cora Jovanna Claas, Katharine Drees, Nicky Palin, Diane Phillips, Claire Peach, Julia Gaspar, Helen Brodie, Svenja Schmidt, Elizabeth Darwin, Josefine Christensen, Fiona Varian, Michael Frear, Maria Score, Mylie Freestone, Tory Bilski, Karis Mikaelsdóttir, Katherine Frazier, Kainn Hornet, Sophie Nichol, Jane McDonough, Sarah Hanspal, Katy Dunn, Julia Jones, Jane Driver, Carol Lewis, Alexandra Pandiux, Eileen Hoey, Elly Pink. As you can see from the map below we are very widespread in the UK, literally from Land’s End to north of John O’ Groats and one member on Orkney (not on the map yet). You can add yourself to the map: (PC, Mac & ipad only, you can view and edit on a phone but not add yourself.)   

Click here and enter your postcode in the search bar Click add to map Click on the edit icon (pencil icon) change postcode to your name, add details you want in the box below (add photos with the camera icon) click save. You don’t need to do any more than that but if you want to change your icon from a teardrop to a horse or something more interesting you can do that by clicking the paint pot. If you get stuck, just drop me a PM and I will help you out. Back to Contents 3

ICEY Friends Location Map - July 2019

Brave Pants Cup Helena has kindly allowed us to use her Brave Pants cartoon to make a Set the Pace Brave Pants Cup. Actually, it’s a personalised mug, more practical, but cup sounds more trophy like. We award brave pants mugs for each issue to the people the editorial team thinks has stepped out of their comfort zone. (Editorial team are Mic, Lu & Mo) You have to be in it to win it which means talking about your challenges on the chat group or your personal or group pages (the ones we belong to or are friends with). 4 cups awarded for this issue.  

 

Jackie Alex – (see picture) Tricia Barber – who put on her brave pants, made it to the British Championships only to be floored by an episode of Vertigo and have to go home again! Ellie MacMillan(see below) Ann Rodger for getting back on after a nasty fall. Gruesome pictures on Ann’s Facebook page but she said today that even though she can still feel the effects of the fall, she has had the all clear from the dentist that she isn’t going to have any long term effects on her teeth which is a relief.

Well done all. Fancy colour changing brave pants cups on the way or new posh porcelain ones if you prefer (I have to try out a new wrapper!).… We search for “Brave Pants” in your posts as well as just taking an interest as we usually do, so tell us about your adventures. Back to Contents 5

ACHIEVEMENTS We like to celebrate all the achievements people on the chat group share with us. Some are nationally and internationally significant; others only mean anything to the people involved. Regardless of their wider significance, it’s great to share them and celebrate them within our Icelandic horse community, most of them are related to our horse activities but a few are significant in other ways. It also helps for you to know what there is out there to join in with – so we put the opportunities to join in up as we come across them too.

Personal Perspectives From time to time there are personal announcements, achievements and news from our community which doesn’t directly relate to horses but we like to share these as well. Mostly they are happy moments in the lives of our community but occasionally we have to share sad news of the passing of our friends. The older members of our community will remember Dorothy Burton. Cedric Burton left his job as a master at Eton College after the death of Stuart McIntosh on an expedition to Iceland and took over the stables Stuart had run and he and Dorothy went on to manage Woodhouselea. Pat Proctor knew her well and Pat, Gennie & Nick (Dorothy’s children) are putting together an article about her for the next edition of Set the Pace in the autumn.

Sadly too we mark the passing of Anna Wheel. Tina Wooff has written about their friendship later in the magazine. Anna wasn’t known to many of our community but she was a firm advocate of the Icelandic horse and introduced several people to the breed. She will be missed. 6

I am sure some of you will have been following Monika & Peter RudinBurgess’s “Adventures in Shetland” I think it’s fair to say that it has not been an easy time for them and for me it has underlined the remoteness of life on Shetland. Monika wrote us a quick update about the last couple of very difficult months. Just a few lines about our recent time in Shetland. I took Peter to A&E in Lerwick, Shetland on his birthday of all days, as he was in pain and had difficulty breathing. He had been suffering from a cold ever since we arrived and hadn’t seemed to be able to shake it off. He was given a bed under the impression that he would stay for a few days, but soon there was the talk of a transfer to Aberdeen. Unfortunately my parents who were visiting at the time left the day Peter was transferred to Aberdeen by air ambulance and I couldn’t accompany him due to the animals at home. It quickly became apparent that the stay in Aberdeen could be a long one. Friends we had made through the Icelandic horses in our short time on Shetland came to the rescue, looking after the horses and finding a dogsitter. I will never forget their kindness and support for us. I was able to visit Peter in Aberdeen twice for a few days also thanks to my mum who came back to Shetland to look after the dogs for my second visit. Peter eventually needed surgery to help his lungs to get better and after 4 weeks in hospital I made yet another trip to Aberdeen to get him home on the ferry as he wasn’t allowed to fly. Recovery is slow but steady, so back to enjoying Shetland and our adventure…

On a much cheerier note we send our congratulations to Caroline Roberts who was appointed a Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nurse last week.

As you can see from the numbers of Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nurses on the map, this is truly a huge achievement for Caroline. We had the pleasure of meeting her, Tim, Dala and Mickey on our first obstacle training course at Oakfield in May and are looking forward to seeing them again soon.

How do you capture Sunshine?

Tina Wooff

I asked Tina to write a little about what Anna meant to her as they shared many horsey adventures. Tina wrote: My head is still all over the place, I’ve been staring at a blank screen all week.

Anna Wheel 9th August 1971 - 5th June 2019 Anna’s sudden passing came as a shock to all who knew and loved her. Anna beat thyroid cancer in 2017. It made her even more determined to live life to its fullest. Sadly Anna became ill again earlier this year and was diagnosed with lung cancer in April. Anna’s health deteriorated at an unstoppable speed. She passed away peacefully on 5th June surrounded by her family. Anna was one of life’s most beautiful and kindest gems, her zest for life, positivity and bubbly ease to get on with people rippled like a ray of sunshine wherever she went. Anna joined the Icelandic horse community with Aspar. She fell in love with our little Viking horses when she first met Sprettur. She was just about to retire her previous horse and decided that her next and last horse had to be Icelandic. Nothing else would do. Anna asked me to look for a suitable horse with her. We decided to go and see as many horses as possible before committing to buying; definitely not buying the first horse we tried. Our first stop and horse to try was Aspar at Iris Ashman’s. The minute Anna sat on Aspar it was obvious that all those good and sensible intentions were going to go out the window. Aspar was the one! There was no point in trying another. 9

The adventures that followed will always remain some of my fondest memories. We spent uncountable hours enjoying every imaginable route along our stretch of the Ridgeway. Their bond and trust in one another made them perfect partners. When Annaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ill health became a strain on being able to look after and enjoy Aspar, she decided it was time to hang up her riding hat. She missed him terribly but often talked about the joy and happiness he brought into her life. She leaves an unfillable gap in so many peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives, especially her children William and Kirsty, her partner and rock Andy and her parents. Anna knew her time was limited and often reminded me to take an extra 5 minutes. An extra 5 minutes to count your blessings, really take in life, look for its beauty, run your fingers through a mane, bury your nose in silky fur. She will be remembered with love and gratitude. 10

Art & Artists

Nanine D’ Onofrio

Nanine D’ Onofrio continues our series of artists of the Icelandic horse. We are blessed with many talented people who are able to catch the likeness of our favourite animals and it’s lovely to be able to include their work and hear a little about how Icelandic horses came into their life and art. I first came across Nanine’s work at Christmas when Dorothy Thomas used her lovely picture of Mey as her Christmas profile picture. I had already come across a little of Nanine’s story as I follow Back to Berlin (the FEIF Virtual ride). Nanine is based in Pennsylvania, USA and has Rocky Mountain horses (they are also gaited). After ill health through the winter and the last 3 months busy selling her house, downsizing her hoard and moving into her new place and unpacking she found some time to write a little about herself. Nanine wrote: I don’t have my studio set up yet. No scanner or light box ready so I have chosen to share these four little paintings with you. I took these photos just now in natural light. Right now we're having thunderstorms. These 4 are scenes from the first week in the life of Aesgir, an Icelandic colt born 3 years ago at the farm where I board my horses. His mother was a grullo called Kolja. They're mixed media pieces done in watercolor, colored pencil and ink.

At the moment I'm reworking my website & social media, so Facebook is the best way to reach me. As a self-taught artist, my primary area of interest is equine art. I have been drawing and painting from a young age, expressing my love of animals, especially horses and the Pennsylvania countryside, through line and color. My studio is Wayside Artist when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up and running again. I just love to paint landscapes and wildlife in multiple media, finding a mixture of watercolor, ink, graphite, colored pencil, and pastel to be my most expressive tools. Recently I have been exploring rendering animals from myth and legend to tell visual stories. You can see some of these that I did for Inktober 2018. The charming and enchanting Icelandic horse features in a lot of my art and I love painting them as commissions or presents for the Icelandic community in the USA and around the world.

Series of Norse Mythology (and other studies) from Inktober 2018 Nanine dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Onofrio 15

Building Confidence

Charlotte Day

At the end of May I attended a horse confidence course at the centre of horseback combat. I went on this course on the recommendation of Faye Litherland - she had found it very helpful. It was advertised as 2 days of confidence building practical lessons and rider psychology and I must say it didn’t disappoint. The two day course only runs once a year although there are regular 1 day courses. There were 7 of us on the course - most of us lacked confidence due to experiences we had with horses. The very brave and only chap on the course came as he wants to do knight reenactment and jousting and wanted to be better at it. It started with a chat about the weekend and how we let our minds and other people’s opinions form us. There was lots of myth busting such as “Horses are dangerous”- how many of us drive cars and don’t think of the “what ifs” we just get on and drive and if something happens we deal with it and carry on driving to where we are going and don’t think about but not with horses - cars are more dangerous than horses!! Then there was a talk about perceived and imagined risk versus real risk and that our primitive mind (brain stem cerebellum etc) can’t distinguish the two we process this during REM sleep but often don’t sleep well due to anxiety this a cycle starts - how does this get stopped ? So into the first practical session - how to prevent a fall if possible- bottom line is hold on! We learnt to find our centre of gravity and practiced on 2 fabulous horses - Niagara and Bullseye. We deliberately threw ourselves off balance and had to regain balance at halt walk and trot whilst answering questions to engage the intellectual part of the brain and how to get off safely with the horse still moving. We also talked about desensitising the horse to touch - as things happen when you get in and ride and also scouting what you would hold onto if needed stability (hint - not the reins but almost anything else - mane saddle pad OS strap etc) 16

The afternoon started with rearing and learning to sit the rear - luckily Bullseye did this on command - it actually is quite stable but small tip is to sit up with the rear. Some people lose confidence with rears but for those of us who don’t it was another example of perceived danger which is a myth so really useful. We then had a session to discuss any issues that had come up through the day. Next day was a recap of the previous day including rearing - I had gone from an 8/10 “oh shit” to a 1/10 “I want another go” and even sat the rear bareback (whist holding on tight to the mane plaits) After lunch we had a theory lesson on falling and learning to become cylinders and roll - this stops things sticking out (these tend to break) and the energy is absorbed via a larger surface area thus less pressure on any point - we practiced bailing out (i.e. choose to get off with movement) and falling off the lovely Nellie (she was a bit static and wooden lol) Then was a great demo on what to do if they horse falls - do you get off or stay with the horse to get back up with them - the answer is really whether you can keep your centre above the horses and whether your feet are in the stirrups hint for falling off - get your feet out of the stirrups first - being dragged causes serious injuries. The final part of the day was a guided visualisation / hypnosis which went through relaxation and a ride with everything happening but it was not disastrous and no injuries occurred and the ride continued. The point was adrenaline is good and can be excitement not anxiety but even with anxiety you can still do something and not freeze. I think the course was so good as it accepted things happen but they don’t have to define you or shape you or stop achievement Take home messages:  Success is good - the opposite of success is learning (NOT failure)  Hope for the best and deal with the rest  But mainly HAVE FUN There has been a lot of talk on the chat group about confidence building and Karl has just started a youtube channel with very helpful videos. Read more about it later on in the magazine. – Mo. 17

CARPE DIEM (Seize the Day) -

Patricia Barber

HOW I BECAME AN ICEY OWNER When I was turning 50 my father was dying and he told me not to put off doing anything that I really wanted to do. His words resonated with me as I had always loved horses and regularly had lessons at the local stables and went on occasional riding/trekking holidays. Having been afraid of purchasing a horse and then losing confidence in it and having it as a field ornament I began some research. My friend Lucy Norval told me about Icelandics and then search began for my first ever horse. I went down to Pitton in Wiltshire where Smari was based at the time and tried several horses out and did not Pat at the Maikke Burgraffer Clinic at "click" with any until on my third visit I was Spalding this weekend introduced to Lysa who was a 13 year old 12.3 chestnut mare. I had hardly set off on our test hack when I knew she was the one for me, not too forward and very calm yippee! Lysa arrived in March and things began to progress, I attended an enjoyable Easter course with Ragnar at Pitton with a hired trailer and drove down with trepidation and I learned that my car/trailer ratio was illegal (not enough weight and power in tow vehicle). I was advised to find a very light trailer to be legal and safe. Realising that to participate in any Icelandic events I needed to travel so I bought a Bateson basic trailer and the adventures began! In the June I drove 300 miles to West Tarf on my own with Lysa on board and competed in the BC's in some basic classes and dressage. What fun we had. 18

Then my livery yard owner who was keen on endurance riding encouraged me to join the EHPS (now defunct) and we participated on pleasure rides all around the East Midlands. Lysa was a star and took me safely over many miles. We also did the RDA 6 day charity ride organised by Ruth Aitkin and Heather Morrison in the Scottish borders.

Naturally one Icelandic is never enough, and later on I purchased Judy from Anglesey from Kjartan Davidson, as I had seen her on the RDA ride and thought she was a sensible horse she was looked after Kjartan's daughter Anna on the trip. Lysa and Judy also became quite proficient at Le Trec, with my chum Joan on Lysa, we had many adventures including getting lost in Sherwood Forest and diverting through a large car boot sale and complete with bouncy castles, burger vans etc which were all passed with aplomb. Next I had to have a third Icey as Lysa retired, this was Freya who I bought from Christine Driver when only a 4 year old she is a strapping lass the biggest of my trio. I did a lot of basic ground work with her and she was started by Janice Hutchinson at Teebay, I found it quite a challenge to have a green youngster and had many wobbles with her. However, she has been on two long distance rides in Scotland one in the borders and one in the Cairngorms she never failed to cope with whatever she was presented with, bogs, gullies, rivers etc.

Freya at the picnic during a riding adventure near Carlisle Sept 2012 20

Sad to say these days I have lost a lot of confidence (old age does this to you!) however, I am still riding about 4 or 5 times a week, basic hacking up to about 4 or 5 miles and on regular routes. As you will gather I have always sought out steady sensible horses and luckily I found three treasures who I love dearly. Lysa was born in 1986 and is keeping well at present. Judy is now 23 and has some arthritis but still hacks out and Freya is 14. Good luck to all fellow owners of Icelandic Horses and may they enjoy them as much as I have.

Tricia taking the Trophy at the British Championships 2012

Photo: Catherine Holland

Dressage

Luan Crawford

It’s summer at last, trying to go to dressage with a white horse and endless rain/mud has been bit of a pain, I never encountered these life issues doing normal Icelandic horse stuff ha ha! Since the last update Merkur Bjort and I have been to Oakfield spring show where we did very well indeed, well! Bjort and I did, Merkur did 2 lovely tests for me in T1 and 4 gait but unfortunately this dressage diva rider and her little white horse managed to do a whole round of canter on the wrong lead without knowing it  It felt lovely, he never gives me the wrong lead I asked correctly too, I did beat myself up over it for a few hours afterwards, mainly total embarrassment and angry at myself but once I got over it I looked at the positives, our counter canter is improving greatly and his balance is immense. We have also been going out to our British dressage My Quest novice events to get points, we have been out 4 times so far (top 5 scores count) we are on 19 points and are in 4th place on the leaderboard at the moment in the south west region (top 20 go to the regional championships in October) out of 72! I plan to go out another twice before the end of August but there are a couple of extra competitions if I have a bad day,  I have discovered that if I have a test riding lesson with my dressage friend Lucy within the week before the competition, we can pick up extra points which is great, it helps focus us both…. I really hope we get through, it would be just fantastic to take Icelandic to a proper big horse dressage event, it will be in Gloucestershire, if I do get there I’d love some support from any local Icey people  Erider online dressage wise, last month Merkur and I booked onto a flatwork and pole clinic, it was run by one of the Erider judges Judith Murphy, and it was local to me so I thought what a great opportunity, to my great surprise Susie that runs the Eriders online was also on it with her horse, she was on holiday staying at her friends local to me for the week, so this was a great PR 22

opportunity and to get to put virtual friends faces into real life, Merkur was a superstar I truly think he loves his outings and fame, We also qualified for the Eriders summer championships by getting 4 scores of over 64% in novice (JanMay) so we have just filmed our 2 tests for this, they will both be judged by 2 different judges and the scores will be averaged for our overall mark, fingers crossed as I felt they went really well, our medium trot is coming very slowly, more hit than miss now which is brilliant too, Florrie my icecob also qualified in prelim, our stories are on my Facebook dressage page if anyone is interested…….last bit of up to date news is Merkur and I also went to our local pony club open summer dressage series, they are running 3 competitions and a championships in September, we managed to qualify in our first outing so that’s something else to look forwards to………. Next STP edition I hope to have My quest results….. eeekkkk can’t wait, not that I’m wishing the summer away 

Endurance

Elaine Rannie

As the World Championships draw closer (August 4th – 11th) and Back to Berlin, the FEIF supported Virtual Ride draws to a close Elaine Rannie, arguably the most travelled Icelandic horse rider in the UK (certainly in recorded miles for Back to Berlin so far) gives us the highlights of her last couple of months in the saddle. The Three Amigos have been busy in the last couple of months clocking up the miles between them with me riding nearly 330 miles in the two months since the start of May. I am very lucky to have a couple of good friends who sometimes ride with me as I love getting my three amigos out together. We have all had great fun and most importantly are keeping the horses fit and healthy. The grass is really growing this year which is a worry. Sara and I have taken part in several EGB Endurance rides and she loves them! I was devastated when she was diagnosed with PPID last year but it hasn’t held her back.

Elaine & Sara, Kelly Thomas & Abbie Photo: Andrew Ray Photography

The highlight was a two day ride in North Yorkshire we attended solo without our trusty companion Abbie. 46kms over the two days completed in a very respectable average 11kmph despite the challenging terrain and weather (high winds, hail and rain at times – true endurance.) We have several more rides planned this season and you never know, may be in with a shout for the EGB Pleasure ride trophy at the end of the season 24

Elaine often posts the most amazing photographs on her facebook feed. This cleverly framed celebration of the solstice was one of my most recent favourites.

Foreign Breed Showing

The first of the APHS Foreign Breed shows took place in May. Icelandic horses are slowly finding a place in foreign breed showing in the UK. Kathyrn Wogan with Reykur and has qualified again at the May show for this year’s final. Taking a friend (Nina Witek) with her for the experience showing Reykur & þokkadís, what a great time they had. (Photo credit: Wayne Hanlon). Congratulations to you both. 21st July - APHS London Counties Horse Show. Pachesham EC,Surrey. http://lynnusauk.wixsite.com/londoncounties 19th - 21st July - Royal Lancashire Show www.royallancashireshow.co.uk 24th - 26th July - New Forest Counties Show: Brockenhurst, Hampshire. 2018 FBS Qualifying show. www.newforestshow.co.uk 1st September - Equifest - USA-UK World Breeds Ring. East of England Showground, Peterborough. www.equifest.org.uk 26

Galashiels Gallop

Laura Curran

I look forward to these events every year. I think they are great events for Icelandic horses to join in â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Laura quickly penned some words last night to share this great opportunity with the rest of us, if you are in the area â&#x20AC;&#x201C; why not go along and join in. Laura wrote: The Border Common Ridings date from the middle Ages and essentially mean an annual check of the boundaries of each town's common lands. As the 20th century dawned many of the newer towns (post-1500 ish) also started to celebrate their histories and traditions, starting their own festivals and rideouts. Every weekend from May to September sees a rideout somewhere in the Scottish Borders with up to 400-500 horses taking part.

Leading the ride and ceremonies - the Braw Lad and Braw Lass. Each town selects a Principal, traditionally a young unmarried man but we are changing with the times and some even choose a woman!! 29

Since buying Skjor in 2005 (and then others) Icelandics have become well known participants, always recognisable for their flying manes and spectacular movement. The rideouts vary from 12 to 26 miles over the hills with plenty fast work, so well suited for our horses, and usually there are parades through the town to start and end each event - Skjor adores the pipe bands and silver bands, and is convinced the crowds come out just for him! This year my friend Lynsey Smith also joined the ride on Vedis. Laura and her yellow waistcoats are always very prominent in the photographs and news reporting of the events. Keep an eye out for her and her friends.

Home to Hella Elaine and the Three Amigos along with approximately 60 others are about to complete this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s virtual ride. We will post the link for the new virtual ride in the next Set the Pace in early September. Why not form a team and have a go?

Back to Contents 31

ODRC ANNUAL SHOW & BEER TOLT – Lesley Dellar Lesley has been an inspiration for me in all sorts of ways since I took up Set the Pace and Tolt.Club. She has been a trailblazer with ideas for how we could promote the breed and expand the involvement of Icelandic horses in the wider equestrian world. I have been thrilled to help her and support her efforts at Over. If you are a member of a local riding club who might be able to follow Lesley’s example, please do get in touch. It’s so exciting working with her; I never know what she will come up with next! In September 2018, I joined the committee of our local riding club in Cambridgeshire, after the existing committee all resigned. As a completely new committee we wanted to bring the club back to life with lots of events, clinics etc etc! So far we have had Dressage, Jumping, Trec clinics, as well as an Easter Fun Day already this year. In May 2019, we held our first Annual Show and two of the classes, In Hand World Breeds and Ridden World Breeds, were sponsored by our very own Tolt Club! I thought that this was a perfect opportunity to showcase our Icelandics! I’ve only shown at this show over the last couple of years and, to be honest, I’m not very experienced and there wasn’t much competition! In fact, there was usually only a couple of foreign breeds that entered…..I was always going to get a rosette of some colour! I decided that I wanted to make this a competition, as well as show everyone what beautiful horses the Icelandics are! So I called up the Tolting Angles troops! I was very fortunate that I had a brilliant response! I was joined by Nev Baker & Freydis, Ann Savage & Prestur, Martine Bye & Lois, Harriet Bye as support, Alison Webb & Stali and a young rider, Emily Bronstein with Kiljan. 32

We certainly made our presence known as between us we entered:  

World Breeds In Hand World Breeds Ridden – we won all places!

- we won all places!

Nev Baker & Freydis won a ‘Special’ for looking the best horse amongst the younger horses in the class (she is 27)    

Veteran In Hand – Nev Baker & Freydis (27), Emily Bronstein & Kiljan (26) Veteran Ridden – Nev Baker & Freydis (27), Emily Bronstein & Kiljan (26) Clear Round Jumping - Emily Bronstein & Kiljan, Ann Savage & Prestur, Alison Webb & Stali Fancy Dress – Alison Webb & Stali won first place! (see front cover)

So, besides entering some of the classes, we decided to do a showcase. We planned to show the crowd what Tolt looked like. In a break between classes, we all dressed in black and rode in pairs, with Ann & Prestur leading us round the arena! Harriet Bye was our commentator, & explained who we were and what we were doing. It certainly drew attention!

We then did a Beer Tolt competition, much to the hilarity of the crowd! managed to keep the most ‘beer’ in her mug, and won, and consequently Martine had to drink her concentrated apple juice! No water had been added!! Finally, Harriet judged and awarded the beautiful Tolt Club rosettes that had been donated to us:    

Best Icelandic Alison Webb & Stali Best Newcomer Emily Bronstein & Kiljan Most Improved Lesley Dellar & Siour Best Partnership Ann Savage & Prestur

I think we certainly let everyone know we were there! We had a fabulous reaction from the crowd and lots of questions from them afterwards. We certainly showcased our breed! Once seen, never forgotten! Hopefully we will be invited back!!

Summer Pastimes We are looking forward to longer slower days over the next couple of months and hopefully most people will get a chance to relax at home or away. Here are a few ideas that have come through the chat group over the last couple of months.

Summer Videos For a rainy day –an hour long documentary about our favourite horses… https://vimeo.com/344434937/1c168656a4

Summer Reading While preparing the magazine I had a chance to do a quick interview with Tori Bilski. She is a new member of the chat group and has just released her book, Wild Horses of the Summer Sun. There is a preview and some great reviews on Amazon, so you might like to have a look and consider it as summer reading. My book is all about my love of the Icelandic horse and the annual trips to Iceland I would make with a group of friends. I think for people who aren’t familiar with Iceland or their horses the book will act as a good introduction to the breed and will get them interested. For people who are familiar with Icelandics, I hope they’ll appreciate the common bond we have with these horses. For people who aren’t interested in horses, I hope they just enjoy my story and can connect to the transformative moments I have had riding in Iceland How did you first come across Icelandic horses? On the internet. I had recently gone back to riding and was googling around and stumbled on the Icelandic horse page. I looked for Icelandic horses around me. But there weren’t any nearby. So I went up to an Icelandic horse farm in Vermont to and took a three hour trail ride. I fell in love. I just felt like the seat fit me. That the horse fit me. 35

What made you make it a regular thing and then to write about it? I had to go to Iceland and see what they were all about. But I couldn’t find anyone to go with me, so I signed up with an Equitour company and went alone. It was trial by fire. We rode 20 kilometres a day in all sorts of terrain. I was in over my head, skill-wise, but it was the most thrilling thing I’d ever done. After that I came home and searched around for anything related to the Icelandic horse. And only two hours away I found a small Icelandic horse farm. I started going up there to ride. They often had Icelandic trainers fly in and give clinics. I made sure I took all the clinics to get to know the horse and it’s abilities as best I could. And then I heard the women who ran the farm were organizing a trip to a trainer’s farm in northern Iceland. I asked if I could go. At first there wasn’t really enough room, but I squeezed myself in the van. We didn’t know we would be going every year at the time, but we did. Is there a reason its only women or just circumstance? At first it was just circumstance. And then it just became our thing. Have you ever heard or read of Olive Murray Chapman? Wow interesting! She wrote about it in the 30s. Very interesting. I read Auden’s book Letters to Iceland. And he complained about the horses. There still are not any Icelandic horse farms in my area. I live in town so can’t put horses in my backyard. I’ve gone through a series of Ieasing horses at Icelandic horse farms farther away and ride as much as possible. And then even though the group broke up, I try to get to Iceland every year to ride. There’s nothing like riding in Iceland for me.

As well as Olive Murray Chapman’s Across Iceland, The Land of Frost and Fire Which I reviewed last summer. I recently was recommended another historical travel documentary about Iceland. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. Iceland by WSC Russell There are no reviews online so it will be an adventure when I get time later on in the summer.

Summer Podcasts Karl Greenwood has begun a podcast series about enjoying your horse.

Because of Horses â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a weekly free podcast with riders from around the world. If you have Netflix you can watch the Harry & Snowman documentary https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80105342

TREC

Jenny Sheen

Rebekah Spowage has been our usual TREC correspondent over the last year but I am very pleased to introduce Jenny Sheen who tells us about her experience of TREC with Icelandic horses north of the border. We look forward to following her adventures in Alford in July and Peebles later on in the year with Jen Roy. Introducing Jen and Solfari fra Innie. Jen met Anastasia Weiner at a TREC event 3 years ago. With much reluctance she took on loan Anastasiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 6-year-old green Icelandic gelding called Solly who Anastasia had bred on the West Coast of Scotland. Jen wrote: After a few years of not having a riding horse I really didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want a young green horse, but Solly is special (as all Icelandic horses are). He came, and we got on immediately, he is just perfect for me. I started by introducing Solly to TREC obstacles. We went to the North East Scotland TREC (NEST) Winter Series and practising all sorts of obstacles including gates, bridges, flags, tarps and scarecrows to name but a few.

Solly showed his character early. He would turn and seem to ask “REALLY? are you joking!!!” and when I said yes really, he would just say “OK then”, shrug his shoulders and off we would go. That attitude has stayed with us through all our adventures. The following summer I took the plunge and off we went to the Borders to enter our first full TREC competition on our own at level 1. A big deal for us driving for 5 hours, corralling in a field for the weekend, passing the burger van with a generator. This wonderful boy took it all in his stride. He went through rivers, fields of cows and was a star. In 2018 we aimed to compete in the TREC GB Level 1 Championships which was held in Pickering, North Yorkshire. We managed to qualify and attend the event which we had great fun at even if we weren’t very successful - far too nosey and interested in everybody’s business but his own. Jockey made several silly mistakes too. With neither of us having jumped much before, we learned together. We joined Ladyleys and competed in the winter jumping league. We felt quite intimidated in the warmup arena with lots of wonderful children charging around on Shetlands, fun to watch but oh my, did I have to compete against them? The shame of it. Fortunately, we were judged doing x-poles 40cm & 50cm in the adult class, phew! This was a game of familiarization to make it our comfort zone. I had some great support from friends - the 2 Clares grooming for me (moral support) and fellow competitors at Ladyleys all being supportive and started looking forward to the competitions. Amazingly we came joint 1st in the Ladyleys Winter league.

The snow came, and we had to have some snow fun too. For the first time we had a go at skijoring in a crude manner pulling my husband along on his skis. It took a few minutes to get Solly used to ropes around the back of him, with clicker training working a treat - no pun intended! We had such fun and he was a natural. Its excellent exercise on a sunny winter’s day, it’s just a shame we don’t get that many of them as they are usually wet and cold.

We plan to buy proper towing kit for next winter and we will be praying for snow days, so you can blame me when it comes.

In April, we met up with fellow Icelandic owner Liz Phillips with Moldi at the Dunecht pick a fence event and went around the cross-country course together. Wow! what fun!

Although I am sure many spectators must have wondered what the legs were doing as we tolted out through the woodland. I also arranged a ride with another Icelandic owner Helen Douglas who came over to Aberdeenshire. We had originally met on a beach ride in December organised by Gundula for the ICI crowd. Helen rode Solly down to Tarland to take him on a surprise visit to cheer up an old friend who was staying in Alastrean House. It made her day coming out to see the horses while saying hello, and the horses behaved perfectly around the wheelchair. For 2019 we decided to move up a level in TREC to level 2, where we could ride out up to 25kms, with a max height of jumps 70cm (80cm in the championships). We went to Lanarkshire for a TREC training camp in April. Great training including a bit of night time orienteering on foot and phew we made it back in one piece, just took a bit longer than planned.

The two Jennys at Hopetoun

Doing our first level 2 together we opted for safety in pairs and teamed up with Jen Roy and went to Hopetoun TREC in May as the driving trials people had invited TREC to share the venue. This was a huge experience.

The driving horses and ponies were stunning and just a little bit terrifying! We came a healthy 3rd and qualified for the National champs 2019 at Peebles as a pair. 42

May was a bit of a disaster when my Equi-Trek trailer had to go in for repair and I am still waiting for the parts to come through. I have had to beg, steal or borrow lifts and it has curtailed trips out. Surprisingly we often bunk in with someone and Solly just pops in anyone’s trailer with another horse in there and he is never any bother. We have still managed two TREC competitions, the one at Hopetoun, and one in the Borders. A trip to Southside around the lovely tracks. Cross country training at Padfield and Mosswood. The Deeside RC camp, plus trips out route checking for the TREC Scottish championship being held in Alford in July of which I am part of the organising team and getting Solly fit enough to compete with another rider for 40kms. In June I decided to team up with Clare Lane to do another Level 2 pairs TREC competition in the Borders but unfortunately Clare’s other pony became ill on the day she was due to pick Solly up and had to stay at home to be vet nurse but lent me her trailer and off I went to do my first Level 2 individual competition. It was quite testing and very nerve wracking, but we did it and got home in one piece on day one after the orienteering. Day 2 Solly was a star and we scored a massive 142 out of 160 on the obstacle Course. Placing us 3rd. which also meant we have also qualified to compete at the National Championship on our own. I now have to learn to jump up to 80cms. Eek!! The practising starts. There aren’t usually many jumps in TREC and you can choose to stop and tell the judge you want to miss any obstacle. You don’t get eliminated; you just don’t gain any points. We still have lots to do;  Our slow canter is more like a pony express gallop but makes me smile every time. 43

 Our fast walk is great if Solly could stop being nosey & concentrate on me.  Our Trot/Tolt transitions still leave a lot to be desired  My map reading skills have room for improvement At the end of the day, I am going places I wouldn’t normally go. We are meeting lots of new friends both Treccies and ICI people are fabulous to be around and Solly, well what can I say? I don’t think I would want any other breed now I am just so comfortable with my boy. Oh, and the best news; I have finally purchased him so he is all mine! Here is to many happy days working together, going new places and meeting new people and next on the agenda is giving tölt online a go with Shona’s support.

Event Organisers Devon & Cornwall Icelandics (Harriet Vincent) Several Endurance Rides available locally organised by South West Endurance GB See our facebook group for who is going.

Dragon Riders (Mic Rushen – Wales) For those of you not heading to Berlin for the World Championships, why not head over to the Westest Wales and join us at Solva for camping, beach ride, swimming and a mini Have a go Show. 3-4 Aug -Summer Camp & Have-a-go Show

Contact: Mic Rushen

Houlls Horses & Hounds , (Dorothy Sales – Shetland Isles) Halfkey Icelandic Horses (Lu Crawford – online covers whole country) May Moments Luan has been organising monthly Halfkey challenges for quite a while and I have been helping her set and mark the challenges this year as life got rather full with the amount of dressage and other riding activities she is now participating in. We have quite a group of regulars from around the country and a few from abroad, many who don’t have horses so we try and make the challenges inclusive for those as well. May’s challenge was to highlight their May Moment and I have kidnapped the announcement of the winner for Set the Pace. Drum roll please…… Natalie Dingle. A rosette and voucher for Chiron Equestrian are on their way to Natalie. Natalie wrote: Many of you will know that I took a back seat from riding in the last year. In part due to confidence/motivation issues and in part due to the unfortunate strains of grown up life. I built up a mental block about getting on Vinur. I was never nervous of riding Vinur, I just procrastinated and procrastinated until it became a massive issue, and I felt increasingly guilty. Not guilty that he wasn’t doing anything (he’s quite happy munching away in the field with his friends). But guilty that I was so hard on myself for not doing the things I thought I should be doing with my horse, the things I used to enjoy. 45

This year has brought many new beginnings so far. A new job, a new city, a new house and last but not least a new yard. Two weeks ago (Mid May) I bit the bullet and took Vinur for a hack around the glorious off road tracks that said new yard has to offer. A short, quiet hack to rebuild our relationship and settle my nerves. Sod’s law resulted in my first fall from Vinur since he was a four year old, not so good for the nerves! But we persevered. I got back on, we had a canter, and we strolled back to the yard like nothing ever happened. Fast forward a few days and we were on our way to the South Devon Camp, my only aim just to stay on, and have fun. Well, we didn’t just have fun, we laughed, we tölted, we ‘TREC'd’, we tried drill riding and we smiled...a lot! Apologies for rambling so much but my ultimate May Moment was Vinur being awarded the Tölt Club rosette for ‘Best Icelandic Horse’ of the weekend. Not only was it confirmation of what I always believed ( ) but reassurance to me that my year or two of being out of the game hasn’t been to the detriment of my incredible horse

Liz’s entry made me laugh so I have shared it here for a giggle. I am sure you all sympathise if you haven’t been in that situation yourself!

Jumping June June’s challenge is an online chase-me-Charlie and will be marked in the next week or so with the results being posted on the Halfkey facebook page at the end of the week.

If you don’t have any events near you and you fancy a fun challenge why not join the Halfkey Icelandic Horse community. 47

Icelandic Horses in Scotland (Lothians)-IHSGB Affiliated (Delia Marriott) 28 July TREC Taster Event, Temple Farm, Midlothian. Contact Delia Marriott

Icelandic Horse Society of Great Britain (FEIF registered body for governance of UK Sport Competitions & Breeding) (see other event organisers for IHSGB Events)

Ingleby Hall Livery (Rebekah Spowage )

Oakfield Farm â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Verwood Dorset (Nick Foot- Mo Hall, Verwood, Dorset)

New Over & District Riding Club â&#x20AC;&#x201C; (Lesley Dellar) 21

ODRC Gymkhana & BBQ Contact:

Lesley Dellar

Old Hills Icelandics (Ian & Fi Pugh- Malvern, Worcester)

South Central Icelandic Horse (Barry Laker/Thalia Colyer, covers Hampshire, IOW, West Sussex, Surrey, East Dorset, Wiltshire & Berkshire.)

Take it Isi (Gundula Sharman, Shona Stewart)

TĂślting Angles (Dave & Ann Savage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Pinchbeck Icelandic Horses, Lincolnshire)

Tölt.Club (Mo Hall, Shona Stewart, online hub for coaching & competition, worldwide) Six months in to our bold experiment to find out how we can be a widely spread but actively interacting community we have

  

a growing online agility competition, a new three part online TREC competition with gait, map reading and TREC obstacle competitions. The Tolt.Club Wall of Fame has a lovely crop happy faces and well appreciated rosettes, awarded for merit not points at have-a-go shows, local shows and Foreign Breed classes around the country.

The blog which has been well supported is quiet while the weather is so lovely outside, much better to be doing than writing about it, the writing will come back again later on in the year! The facebook page is very active. Come on over and see for yourself what we are up to and join in.

Viking Horses of Yorkshire – IHSGB Affiliated (Bethany AF)

Young Riders & Leaders – Summer Update FEIF Youth Camp Iceland 7th – 14th July 2019

Liz Phillips

It feels like an extremely long time ago that we were looking at the logistics of getting the 4 girls and myself, from the opposite ends of the UK, to Iceland, yet, in less than a week’s time, we’ll be there! For me, the main task over the next few days is to get everything on the farm as low maintenance as it can be, in my absence. This involves ensuring there’s enough feed for those that require it - humans and animals, making sure that all electric fencing batteries will keep on ‘kicking’, and checking that my 15yr old son knows how much to move the strip fencing each day! As for the actual trip, our current, fantastic weather is lulling me into a false sense of security - I popped into Aberdeen this morning, and came home with 2 lovely pairs of shorts, and a couple of sheer shirts! Whilst it’d be wonderful to think they’re going to be well worn, I should probably wade into the back of my drawers, and reacquaint myself with some of my more wintery wardrobe! (Casting my mind back to the Baltic conditions we endured at The Landsmot last year, while back home, the UK was basking in record temperatures!) Despite the girls having not all met each other, I’ve been aware of some very excitable ‘face timing’ going on, (which Pippa unsuccessfully tried to involve me in - to say that I spent a few years performing stand-up comedy, I get ridiculously self conscious when a phone with 4 teenage viewers, is thrust at me!!) I’m looking forwards to seeing our wee team meet the youngsters from other Icelandic horse communities, and see what they make of it all. We’ll keep you updated! 53

A HUGE THANK YOU Libby, Mylie & Issy were at the Oakfield show where they poo picked for 14 people and surpassed their £400 each fund raising goal which we have match funded from the Young Riders fund. Such generosity from all of you. Pippa was lambing and so couldn’t attend. And that wasn’t all…..

Four Nations Young Riders Camp – Ingleby Hall, Lincoln 25th – 29th July 2019

The other four 13-17 year olds who are coming to the Four Nations camp raised £560 towards their camp costs which left them with £70 each to pay. Rather than match their funding the Young Riders Fund decided to pay for chaperones and travel to the camp at the end of July. That took the money donated by the chat group and others up to about £2300. Along with another couple of donations we were able to give the young riders going to Iceland £400 each and the adults chaperoning them a little to help defray their unexpected expenses. We can’t thank you enough for your support. Our young riders are our future and it’s a privilege to be able to support them. 54

And now…

Its Aidan’s turn. He was selected last week to represent the UK at the world championships as a young rider along with Svenja Rumpf. All participants are self funded. Thankfully we had a good surplus again from the catering at the Oakfield Spring show and there are several camps and courses coming up over the summer so once again we are able to offer match funding to him (and Svenja if she chooses). Being a young rider, he has no financial resources to draw on and with such a short timescale, working and training it’s hard for Aidan to find time to raise funds himself. If you feel you could once again put your hand in your pocket to support our young riders, it would make Aidan’s life much easier and enable him to focus on training for the competition (he is on his way to Sweden as we go to press so we will be keeping an eye on how he gets on this week0. He has been having a great season so far – see his update on the next page. The fundraiser is only two days old and already has seen £630 donated which is so very generous.

The link for donations is here. 55

Onto the updates….

Aidan Carson

You can check on how Aidan is doing here…

Isabel Day As I write this time, I am preparing for Iceland. I would love to thank everyone for donating and helping me get to the goal I needed. I also did a lot of preparing for the BCs. Örvar has been really good and I’ve been getting on with him well. This past month I’ve been very very teenagery and I don’t think my mum’s been appreciating it but I am starting to get out of it and I’ve really been thankful of Örvar because not only did he do amazingly at the British Championship he also showed me how much he makes me smile. He also has now got his amazing summer coat and I love looking at it. Örvar is very very happy at the moment and has gained a lot of muscle. We have been trying some new places or places I don’t normally go and looking for some canter tracks so he can let go of some more energy. I have been working on muscle development and getting him as comfortable as he can be. We have changed up Örvars feed so that he has a lot more calories in his food so he has more energy and it really working in getting him much less stiff. I rode Örvar out today and just took him around the beach to have a nice canter and he gave me a really nice tölt which I was very happy with. He was also very responsive to the voice today which meant I didn’t have to squeeze him as much. At the moment me and Örvar are doing really well and he’s loving life and very happy to be out in the field. He also loves to be ridden. In most of my hacks in mainly tölt with a bit of walk and a bit of canter and it’s what works best for him as it also helps him gain more muscle. I am also doing the finals preparations for Iceland all I need now is some hiking boots and to wash my air jacket and everything will be ready. I am super excited and I couldn’t be more thankful for this opportunity and to the Young Riders Fund for match funding, you are incredible!!! 58

Crissie Edwards It’s been a busy couple of months down here in Solva. Before the shows started I worked hard on getting Kvika much fitter and willing which I think paid off after getting decent marks in the Oakfield show in May. Linnie Frith had then left Fjola with us in Solva to ‘put some miles on her clock’ we ended up entering and winning the ‘Futurity Gaits’ class at the BC’s! Linnie, myself and Fjola's new owners Claire and John Simpson were all so happy with the results! (and also shocked as I only entered to give her the experience) I was also super happy with Kvika’s results and we had a great time! I did some jumping with Fjola, Kvika and Kizzy (Linnie’s big horse) this last weekend while Linnie was here farm sitting for Mic & Maria. This summer I’m looking forward to (hopefully) enjoying the nice weather, the sea and spending lots of time with the horses! I also look forward to helping out at the youth camp in Lincolnshire at the end of July and the September show at Oakfield! 59

Pippa Phillips

- Lambing is over and Pippa has been making up for lost

time… Since lambing my highlight so far was 2 weeks ago, me and my Irish sports pony- Roo, took part in our first ever horse trials! It was at Burgie and I was in the BE80 section. In the lead up to Burgie I was rather nervous as I didn’t know what to expect or know how he was going to be. The few weeks prior to Burgie weren’t very smooth either, as Roo had given himself silly little injuries, meaning we weren’t able to get out and about to practice cross country. It was all quite nerve wracking since we weren’t even sure if Roo was going to be sound for the event! I was also getting quite worried around a week before Burgie, since the weather was HORRENDOUS and there were rumours that it may be called off. As if all of that wasn’t bad enough, I hadn’t even jumped in quite a long time and Roo was a fatty since he was recovering from his injury. At last Burgie was just around the corner and there wasn’t anything else we could do to help boost his performance, so we just went for it. We arrived the night before, and he got the luxury of staying in a stable (and of course he loveedd that)!

My dressage was at around 10am, I then had a huge 4hrs30min gap, till my show jumping, luckily my dressage went quite nicely and I knew where I was going (thank god ), so for the massive wait, Roo just got loads of treats and cuddles. When it was time for show jumping, the rain started- badly!!! I was dreading having to ride in it, luckily it stopped just in time to warm up. Our show jumping went well, slightly sticky, but we went clear, which is all that matters. Finally cross country time. To say I was feeling slightly sick would be a massive understatement! Cross country is our weakest point, and loads could have gone wrong. Luckily since I was first, the warm up was quite quiet, so I could really focus. I knew that if I got him over the first 5 jumps, he would be fine for the whole course, so I really made the first few jumps count! I must have looked crazy, as I was kicking and shouting “get on Roo” from the top of my lungs! I felt sick for the whole thing; I was desperate to not let him down. As I came over the last jump, I was so so incredibly proud of my wee pony, that I criedloads !! A whole year of getting ready to start eventing had led up to that moment and we had made it! I went to Burgie just hoping for Roo to be well behaved, but it was very, very unexpected to finish 8th out of 43! I have never been prouder of him ever before, he truly did give it everything he’s got! From one extreme to the other, I’m really looking forwards to going to Iceland at the end of this week; I can’t believe the times finally come! I better start packing! 61

Robyn Philpott The last couple of months have been a mixed bag but no moment has passed without a lesson being taken away from it.

The Spring Show at Oakfield Farm was a massive high for me and Tindur, he performed the best he’s done and we came away with personal best scores in both V1 and T1 which got us two 1st places with me and Harriet on Rispa in close competition throughout! Breki was his usual well behaved self but I know he has more in the tank which was proven last weekend at the British Championships at Connegar Farm. So, Breki excelled at the BC’s. He moved from 4th to 2nd in the F1 final thanks to his consistency and transitions in pace. He really felt great and his pace test showed me that he has huge potential in these classes. He’s my horse of a life time; he always manages to make me smile. Tindur, well. He performed fantastically after he bucked and got us disqualified in the T1 preliminary but I was still pleased he went around the track without too much trouble which on Friday you would have never thought would have been possible. 62

The V1 preliminary went really well and we landed a spot in the A-Final but unfortunately had to withdraw after the trot section due to over excited-ness and me not wanting to ruin anyone else’s performances. We came away with a lot of lessons learnt and a lot of things to improve and work on but hey, it would be boring if there was nothing to work on I’m away staying with my best friend in Sussex for a week now so the horses are having a well earned week off and time to chill out in the field enjoying the sunshine we are having at the moment. Thank you everyone who has helped, hosted and supported. It’s always much appreciated.

Malte Cook continues to shine â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Charlotte is a very proud mum. In case you missed Charlotteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proud post at the weekend...

Rachel MacKinnon I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t manage to catch up with Rachel this time round but she posted yesterdayâ&#x20AC;Ś

The Roberts Family You will have seen Caroline & Tim at the beginning of the magazine – now we hear from a couple of new members of the Young Riders group… Such lovely children, they sent us some fab home made thankyou cards which were most appreciated. Hello my name is Mickey I have been riding our Icelandic`s for a few years now. When I heard that the Young Rider’s Fund offered to pay for us to go to Oakfield Farm this was going to be the first time I’ve ever been to a horse show. I have always dreamt of going to a horse show. Oakfield Farm was the best first experience I could have ever had, I loved it. Thank you Mo and Nick for teaching us so many great skills you really boosted my confidence now I know how to stop Thrafi from eating grass when I don’t want him to. It was lovely to see so many people there. Izzy and Libby were great friends and inspired me to want to join the young riders club. It was lovely to see how kind everyone was, and thanks to what every one at Oakfield Farm has done for us you helped me win a 6th place in-hand rosette. I would definitely recommend Oakfield Farm to anyone who wants a first experience or likes Icelandics. Thank you once again. From Mickey(a horse lover) Hi, I’m Dara and I am part of a family of four Icelandic horse lovers. I have a wonderful Mum and Dad, and an annoying (but funny) brother. We have loads of animals, but our horses Thrafi and Fluggi are the best. We backed/brought on Fluggi who is now 7 years old. We bought him from a wonderfully kind and generous lady some of you may know – Linnie Frith. I am very proud of how well he has come on. I have been riding for as long as I can remember. Thrafi was the first horse I ever rode and Icelandics will always be my favourite. 66

I have ridden, many horses including my Mum’s friend Lucy’s BFG. He is enormous and a champion in the showing world. It was funny when he used to come out on hacks with his little furry friends, but their little flying hooves always kept up with him! I met many great friends at Oakfield Farm on our first course last month and everyone made me feel very welcome. I met Issie and Libby, who are going to Youth Camp in Iceland soon, and I am very jealous! I’m going to work hard on my riding so that I might be able to join them next time. Ruth and Bridget very also very kind and let me ride Solvi and Alfur, who were both very different but lovely. Everyone at the course was very good to me. This has inspired me to go out and try new things with my baby Fluggi, but I won’t forget Thrafi too. I owe a massive ‘thank you’ to Mo & Nick who made us all feel very welcome at our first weekend away with the horses. These are the rosettes:

If you are under 27 (or a parent or sponsor) and are interested in telling us about your adventures with your Icelandic horse, whatever it is and wherever you are, please do get in touch. Back to Contents

OPPORTUNITIES Most events are now hosted on the Set the Pace Facebook Page and shared weekly on the chat group. We cover local events shared by chat group members, shows with Foreign Breed Classes, camps, organised rides, clinics, as well as Icelandic specific events. More details are available on each event on Facebook. Those that either are not events yet on Facebook or have not been shared with Set the Pace are shown in ordinary type below with contact details. If you want to advertise an event that is open to Icelandic horses please share it to the Set the Pace Facebook page or make Set the Pace a co host.

The link for all facebook events is here. July 21 ODRC Gymkhana & BBQ Contact: 28 TREC Taster Event, Temple Farm, Midlothian. August 24/26 Old Hills Summer Camp 25 Oval Track & Filming West Tarf Edinburgh October 24 Happy Hacking at Pentland Hills â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Edinburgh

Lesley Dellar Contact: Delia Marriott Contact: Fi Pugh Contact: Delia Marriott Contact: Delia Marriott

A Question of Confidence The new Karl Greenwood You Tube channel provides fantastic resources to help you address your own questions of confidence in the comfort of your own home.

Karl says: I'm currently calling it the "Riddle Me This" series, and it's open to everyone, so get thinking of your main issue, question or comment, and send it to me either by email or Facebook post. Basically, riders send in questions and I answer them. If you're shy, an animation can be fun. Or maybe a voice-over a video of your horse. Why am I offering this as a free service? Because it is important to think about the negative, but NOT do negative thinking! I call this changing the "What if's" - which can seriously ruin a great ride intoâ&#x20AC;?If - then's" simply because we've thought about it. And it's in the fun format - to A) remind us that horses are fun, and B) to remind us that it's fine to deal with serious subjects, without being grim. Anyway, this next video came from a phone call which I failed to capture in time, but I thought I'd put up the answer anyway. How to be brave on your horse , or, "How do I put on my Brave Pants!" and move up to the next level. (10 minute video) 70

Data - & Sweet-itch Research by the Royal Dick Veterinary College - Please complete the survey. At the IHSGB AGM Last November Icelandic horse owners in the UK were asked to fill in this survey. Please do take the time to help this important project. At the Oakfield May show we had a weighbridge and a discussion arose on the chat group about how we could make this data more useful so I contacted Ruth Morgan who is running the survey above and although she doesn’t need the data at the moment, she encouraged us to start keeping height, weight, gender and age data. It will also be useful for our own community to have a good idea of where your horse is in the range with regard to height and weight. We will be doing a more thorough job in September and plan to create a database of this data for future reference. Fiona Tyson kindly analysed the data we had (very sketchy but a baseline) Bodyweight was recorded using a weighbridge on a sample of 17 Icelandic horses, 11 male and 6 female. Height was recorded as an owner estimated figure. Mean (±SD) overall bodyweight was 376 kg ± 24 [Males 385 kg ± 25, Females 359 kg ± 8] Mean owner-reported height was 136 cm ± 6 [Males 138 cm ± 7, Females 133 cm ± 3] Mean age was 13 years ± 5 Overall there was a significant correlation between bodyweight and ownerreported height (p < 0.01). Taller horses were heavier. Male horses in the sample were, on average, both taller and heavier than female horses. There was no significant correlation between age and bodyweight (p = 0.96). The correlation between age and height was not measured, as the horses were all adult and not likely to be continuing to grow.

For those not familiar with p values, the p value is the chance of finding a correlation by random chance. So p < 0.01 means that there’s a less than 1% chance that the relationship seen between height and weight was caused by random chance (and therefore a greater than 99% chance of it being a true relationship).

Banter in the Haunted Old Hills Barn June 2019

As overheard by Fi Pugh

Maron You’re lying down a lot, Radius, something wrong? Radius My legs are tired. I had a really busy weekend. I’ve never done so much running in my life. Helgi Been away again, have you? It’s that time of year. Competition? Radius I think so. There were quite a lot of other horses there – proper ones – Icelandics, like us, and some VERY pretty mares. There was a lovely one the same colour as me but with a blaze, Rispa, I think she is called; she was amazing, and very fast. I think she liked me, she kept looking at me in that – Maron We’re not interested in the mares. What happened next? Radius (sniggers). No, not any more, are you Maron? We had to go round and round that track that never ends. As soon as you’ve done one lap you are on the next before you know what’s happened and then you have to go on until you come to the end again, but as soon as 72

you come to the end you’ve gone on to the next lap and it just goes on and on and on…... Helgi There’s only one way to deal with this competition lark. You either have to be really good, so you win everything, and then you don’t have to do it again, or you have to be really bad, and then you don’t have to do it again! Erró That’s not strictly true, Helgi, I used to be really good in my younger days, I was British Champion in nearly everything over the years, and I just had to go back and do even more. I didn’t mind as I like to go really fast, and once I’d taught her how to ride pace we had a lot of fun, and won lots of red rosettes. I seem to remember you winning the occasional red rosette too. Helgi I did, but I’m too modest to go on about it. Not just the occasional one, either. Becca and I had a great deal of success when I introduced her to competition riding, and we won combination trophies as well as just winning classes. On more than one occasion. Maron (interrupting) I thought you said you were too modest to go on about it, Helgi? Anyway, not winning doesn’t always mean you don’t have to do it again. Radius No, it doesn’t. She said something about “next time” while we were there. It was quite good fun, though, and we even got our highest mark for racing another horse my colour in the gallop round. 7! She was really pleased! Erró I got a 7 for pace once. That isn’t just racing, you have to be really clever to do that, very technical, you know. Radius Well, anyway, I got some rosettes and she seemed very pleased. I don’t know if I could manage doing this competition stuff too often, though. Helgi You don’t have to. Eldur told me a story once about – Erró Eldur? No, no,no! Is he back again? He’s not having my stable. Or my special stud muffins. Helgi No need to panic. Erró. He hasn’t come back. Radius He did come back. He visited me last night, and told me something amazing. He was at this competition once, and they had to go up and down a mountain - well, he called it a mountain, but he obviously hasn’t been to Norway where they have real mountains… Helgi Get on with it. We’re not interested in mountains. But don’t mention his name too much. You know how Erró takes on so. 73

Radius As I was SAYING – the ancient old horse told me this story where he was at a competition and really tired and couldn’t face any more running round the track, so he waited until she was picking up the poo from his paddock and then quickly put his front leg between the shovel (metal in those days – he was REALLY old) and the wheelbarrow and got a nasty cut below the knee. He said it did really hurt, but it was worth it. No more running round the track, a nice, ostentatious bandage and lots of special treats for the weekend. Helgi Oh yes, he told us that one. Stupid horse, he could have been lame for ever… Erró Yeah, and the man with the long needle and the falling-down-neverget-up medicine would have been visiting him, too. That sounds a bit risky to me. Radius I’m not going to try it. I like running most of the time, but I am a bit tired now, though. I might just lie down again for a while. Erró I wouldn’t, Radius. It’s evening hay time in a moment. You don’t want her to call the long needle man…. Radius Oh no. Here she comes. I’ll have my hay and wait for a while. Best to lie down in the dark when no-one is watching! Erró Cute expressions, everyone, here she comes!