Ice-Ice-Landics

Really wanted to stuff this one in my purse.

Last week a dear friend of mine drove down to visit and to "casually horse shop." She is looking to add another horse to her family and has an interest in Icelandic Ponies. She asked if I would be interested in taking a riding lesson with her at a farm about 30 minutes from me.

YES. DUH. PONEHS. Was my answer.

It was snowing and freezing cold that morning but we were not deterred.

I have lived in KY for almost 6 years now and STILL the farms in some areas are mind blowing. As was the case with Lettleiki Icelandics. Absolutely gorgeous farm. They have a straight track on one side of the property that was clearly for TOLTING PONEHS REALLLLY FAST that just about made me squeal.

Our riding instructor was really lovely and nice, kindly answering all of our questions. We took a tour and got to meet a number of insanely adorable ponies.

This is Svali fra Tjorn 

Check out more on Svali. He is a Breyer horse, too! Super sweet stallion.

This forelock is just a damn blessing.

Then she assigned us our steeds for the day and we quickly tacked up and headed to the - also insanely gorgeous - indoor arena. I was assigned Leifa, a 20 year old pinto mare. She did not look 20 and surprisingly I did not feel too big for her, even though she was maybe 13 hands? I could tell she was a schoolmaster type - she wasn't going to put in any effort that was not required. But when asked, she was more than happy to work. My friend Steph had a more green mare, Rimba.

Me with Rimba, left, and Steph with Liefa

Icelandics are either 3, 4 or 5-gaited. They walk, trot, canter - and tölt and pace are the bonus gaits.

I found the tölt to be really similar to the slow gait in Saddlebreds. I was able to get Leifa to tölt easily but simply picking her head up, slowing the walk and basically making her really lateral. Then with a cluck they simply fall into the tolt.

The footfall of tölt:
1 = left hind foot
2 = left front foot
3 = right hind foot
4 = right front foot

Entrance to the farm

After giggling like a 12 year old, I played with more buttons. I actually had a hard time getting her to trot. The aid for trot is to give a super long rein, and lean forward a bit. I would say that the trot was pretty flat, and has very little suspension. And I got the impression that the canter was pretty ignored in their training. In order to canter, you had to ask in a corner to get the right lead - again lean forward and make your seat light. Leifa cantered right off but it was flat and strung out. Kind of like the Saddlebreds, I think the canter is sort of ignored and treated as a necessary evil. They don't really work on it, because it starts to interrupt the tölting. If I had an Icelandic I wouldn't canter either. I would do nothing but tölt lol!

But the ponies were well educated. They took a nice contact, and Leifa knew some lateral work.

I am always fascinated by how different people manage their horses. At this farm, they have double fencing. Which is not uncommon, but how they use it is something different! They will run small herds of ponies in between fences and chase them with an ATV to simulate running in the herds in Iceland. Great exercise!

I had a total blast and would def go back again for another lesson. Learned a ton about a new discipline and different training methods.

And as for Steph ... she is starting her search for an Icelandic!

More information about Icelandics:

The 5 GAITS

MORE ABOUT THE TOLT AND FLYING PACE