Icelandics and endurance
Endurance with
an Icelandic horse
Kim (centre) with daughter Catriona (left) and friend Moira forming an Icelandic trio at the Longnewton ride in 2018
T
here are quite a few Icelandic horses taking part in Endurance in Scotland. I can think of 15 or 16 I’ve met at venues in the time I’ve been a SERC member and there are usually a couple at most rides. I’m not an expert on either Endurance or indeed on Icelandic horses, but it’s been interesting riding my two in Endurance events over the last seven years and I’ve learned a lot about both over that time.
What are Icelandic horses?
Icelandic horses are a gaited breed (walk, trot, canter/gallop, tölt and pace) and while there are only about a thousand in the UK, there are many more in other countries, where many weekends these small horses show their gaits on a long, slightly banked oval track, race in pace and compete for high honours. These are not cute little ponies but serious (and expensive)
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sport horses. Competitive Icelandic horse events are few in the UK and I don’t want to do Icelandic competitions, but I like the variety of gaits in the Icelandic and I do want to spend lots of time with my horses, riding through the countryside; Endurance is perfect for that.
My Icelandic horses
I have two Icelandics: Ess From Pentland Hills, now 20 and retired from Endurance, and the snappily named Guðröður Jósef fra Skjöldólfsstöðum, who is 10 this year and Bronze Thistle Final qualified. With Ess, I did pleasure rides with my Icelandic pals which was a lot of fun. He’s now semiretired, hacking 8-10km a couple of times a week. I imported Josef in 2016, a 6 year old from Iceland. These horses are brought up running in a herd with minimum – or even no –
intervention and are trained a little at 5, usually over winter, then turned away. His passport says he was gelded the day he left to come to me, which explains some of his behaviour when he joined our mixed sex Icelandic herd. Lots of things are new to young horses but it’s not usually trees, which are unknown and scary if you’ve never seen them before, especially when they move or bits drop off (including leaves). Also, trolls hide under rocks in Iceland, so these need to be avoided. Monsters live in the sea to nibble the unwary hoof. Gates are terrifying with their horse-eating jaws. We spent a lot of time on the ground getting used to things.
Going competitive with my Icelandic horse
Josef had a year doing pleasure rides, seeing the countryside and learning to trot and not tölt or pace for the vet (‘what is your horse doing with his legs?’). We had our novice competitive season in 2018. Supported a lot by my many knowledgeable SERC friends, I was catapulted into my first competitive 30km ride, in the Eildon hills, as a more or less last-minute
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