August 2012 Skógarrönd Newsletter www.vikinghorse.co.nz Issue 3 Wet winter I guess everybody here in New Zealand has to deal with the joys of a wet wet winter. The advantage is that we only had to start feeding out in July because of the wet Autumn and higher temperatures, the grass kept on growing. Although there seems to be plenty of hay, the prices unfortunately are still high around the country. We have had small wrapped haylage this year. Our friends who keep sheep and cattle, make very nice hay for us each year but due to the wet summer they had to make haylage this year. It is very nice and sweet stuff but when there is only a tiny little hole in it, it will have mouldy patches. You should not feed this to any animals but if it is not too bad, cows are OK with it since they are ruminants. For horses is it an absolutely no no! The advantage of haylage is that is not dry and dusty. The downside is the bales are heavier and not so easy to carry; they are very slippery when wet. Inside this issue: Wet winter 1 This issue of my newsletter is a bit later then usually due to several unforeseen circumstances. The next issue will be in a months time! Our Horses 2 In this issue exciting information on our New Zealand handmade bridle, our horses, the stable and more. Aki in Tikokino 2 Enjoy reading and I wish you all a good winter and happy riding! Breeding 3 NZ handmade bridles 4 Fun with the horses 4 Our Outpost stable 5 Jennie August 2012 Riding with Biskup and Thótti, the dogs Óðinn and Jake enjoying it as well! Skógarrönd Ltd  Small scale breeding with excellent pedigree horses  Stunning Stallion at Stud, fully tested on spavin  Benni’s Harmony Stübben range gear special for Icelandic Horses  book and DVD's on training Icelandic Horses  Pre-purchase advice  Trainings advice, on location and through video  NEW: NZ handmade bridles Our Horses Our riding horses now have a bit of a holiday. They are enjoying themselves, playing and rolling in the mud and are very very dirty. You have to give your horses a break every now and then, just let them be horses! On the picture the ‘boys group’; Biskup standing, the stallion Thótti and his son Dvalinn lying down. The stallion has had some extra training alongside other mares and stallions. He thought it was all very exciting. The trainer who helped us out and his family all loved him and he now has some new admires and proved once more to be a great ambassador for the breed! It is so important to go out and about with your horses. The more people get to know them, the more they will like them! Our ‘girls group’ is grazing at the Waterfall Gardens. The mare enjoys herself with her little herd of two daughters. We leave the foals with her as long as possible. The mare is still the best one to teach the foals manners and feed them. Efridís is now 6 months old. She already grazes a lot and eats the additional vitamins and minerals but still loves to drink with her mum. We hardly handle the foals till they are weaned. For the first halter training I usually ask assistance from a very good (natural) horse handler; Vanessa Randell. You have to be with two persons and I find it very important they will have a good start. After the first work is done it is a breeze. Last years colt had to be caught and transported in a horse float within a couple of hours since I saw him trying to serve his full sister one day. I immediately called Vanessa and the next day at 1pm we started to halter train him and at 3pm he was in the paddocks at home, safe and sound and not stressed at all. The less you interfere with the foals, the better it often is and the more they respect you later on. We try to let them just be horses as much and as long as possible. If you would like to have a look at our horses, please feel free to contact us for an appointment and we are happy to show you around! We might have something for sale for you! Áki in Tikokino Last month I went to Christine in Tikokino, Hawkes Bay, to see Aki at his new home. And he is doing very well down there! He has made some nice friends with the Shetland ponies Christine breeds and is in good company of Hnagur, Christine’s other Icelandic horse, and the visiting Vinur, a 17 year old Icelandic gelding owned by Elizabeth from Waipawa. After the long journey to Tikokino, Óðinn, our Icelandic sheep dog and I were welcomed by Christine, her family and her dogs. Óðinn was very happy to stretch his legs and started playing with one of Christine’s dogs. It was already too dark to see the horses but inside a surprise awaited for Óðinn: his breeder Elizabeth and one of her dogs, Óðinn’s dad Thorri was there to greet him. At first they were not so friendly towards each other but after the protocols where followed, they started playing not to stop anymore! The next day I met Aki and he looked great! He loves playing and hanging out with the Shetland ponies and will be started under the saddle in October. Later in the morning we had a nice ride on the big farm directly opposite of their place. What a view (and wind...) from these hills, see picture! They are so lucky to be able to ride there! I rode Vinur and Christine her trusty Hnagur. In the afternoon we saddled the horses again and this time I rode Hnagur and Elizabeth her Vinur. What is more nicer then together tölting along with Icelandic horses in a great area! Thanks Christine for the lovely time at your beautiful place and we are looking forward to hear more about Aki! Page 2 Skógarrönd Newsletter Eiðfaxi (advertisement) Eiðfaxi is THE international magazine for anyone interested in the Icelandic horse. Whether you are a breeder, trainer, competition– or leisure rider, there are interesting articles catering for all; training, breeding, trekking and many more. Very useful information, especially for us down under and far away from where it all happens!! Eiðfaxi also offers an online subscription. Visit their website for more information: www.eidfaxi.is For a subscription on Eiðfaxi magazine, email isf@eidfaxi.is or ingibjörg@eidfaxi.is Breeding at Skógarrönd: the natural way Þótti is a pure bred 5-gaited brown black stallion. Imported in 2003 from the Netherlands, he presents very good bloodlines from famous Icelandic stallions like Hrafn frá Holtsmúla and Sörli frá Sauðarkróki. His half-brother Trúr frá Wetsinghe is one of the highest assessed four gaited stallions in the world. Their mother, Hrefna von Wiesenhof has showed she is a really good broodmare and produced several highly assessed stallions. Þótti’s father is the friendly Pruður frá Wetsinghe. Pruður is praised for his high movements and supple back, which he consequently passes on to his offspring. Several of Pruður’s daughters received awards for their confirmation and offspring. Þótti’s offspring in New Zealand tölt, and easy going character. In combination with our imported Hrafn frá Holtsmúla), he has proing Áki, the rising 3 year old filly filly Efridís. Áki is a five gaiter and Dvalinn are supple four gaiclear four beat tölt with very nice already shows he passes on his steady four-beat The breeding season will start soon: at your service Þótti frá Wetsinghe! mare Hugför frá Kopavógi (grand daughter to duced four great foals; the rising 4 year old geldBrynja, rising 2 year old gelding Dvalinn and the with expressive and supple movements, Brynja ters with high leg movements. Efridís prefers a and supple movements. At Skógarrönd we prefer to do the serving the natural way; in the herd. The stallion is then able to sort out the right time and moment for serving. Þótti will not interfere with a mare when she is not ready. If for some reason you are not able to bring your mare to our stallion, please contact us and we try to find a solution. Are you are interested in Þótti’s services or would like to know more about our breeding, please feel free to contact us! Thótti tölting and Óðinn following in canter. Lífland (advertisement) The web shop of Lífland in Iceland has a good selection of gear and gifts related to Icelandic Horses. Check out their website www.lifland.is with an interesting range of products. Page 3 Lífland will be the main sponsor of the coming Landsmót in Reykjavík, Iceland. Skógarrönd Newsletter Bridles & New Product! The traditional Icelandic horse bridle is very simple and consist of a headstall with a loose dropped noseband and (platted) reins combined with a snaffle bit. A Cavesson noseband is used in combination with an Icelandic bit (slightly similar to a Pelham). If the horse is well trained you can even leave the dropped noseband and ride with headstall and reins only. The Icelandic bridle traditionally has no throat lash or brow band. Makes life easier as well with all those manes! A dropped noseband has to be fitted in the correct way, no difference here with any gear you put on your horse! A dropped nos eband should stay clear from the soft nasal tissue and it should not pull the bit upwards, see also pics. You have to allow room for two fingers width between the nose and noseband. The dropped noseband takes care of a proper fit of the snaffle bit in the horses’ mouth and prevents the horse from opening his mouth wide. If a horses tends to open his mouth, the bit will not lie correctly in its mouth and there for not act how it should do, could hurt him and cause resistance against the bit. Using a Cavesson noseband with a snaffle bit is actually more for show, it does not really prevent the horse from opening his mouth, unless you use the flash noseband. The flash noseband is a combination of the Cavesson and the dropped noseband. We like a bit of tradition and now have some exciting news; we have found someone local in Waiuku who makes the most beautiful leather gear for horses and was able to make a traditional Icelandic bridle for us! The result is great and our own line of Icelandic bridles was born. We named it ‘Falkí’ after my good old competition horse. This sturdy bridle is hand-made out of very good quality leather and comes complete with platted leather reins for extra grip. The basic colour is black but can be ordered in different colours. Please contact us for more details. Thótti was happy to show the new bridle: Fun with the horses on a nice winter day We have had really sunny winter days and what is nicer than to take the horses out for a ride, together with the dogs! Riding the stallion with our gelding Biskup as a hand horse is so much fun. Fun for the rider as well as for the horses. They love it and both like to show off. The manes are waving in the wind and the tails are flowing nicely along as we cover the ground in tölt. We have a nice sloping driveway with wide verges of grass where we can have a good ride. Canter and trot uphill's and tölt down the hill. Using the gradients to practise the gaits is a great way to improve the gaits. Down hills it is easier to tölt since they already bring their hindquarters more underneath their body. Great for teaching young horses a proper four beat tölt. Canter and trot uphill's makes them stretch their top line. Use you fantasy and you can do all sorts of exercises out and about! Page 4 Skógarrönd Newsletter Our Stable Although you do not need to stable your Icelandic horse, having access to one is very handy! Here in New Zealand you at least have to provide shelter from the sun. In the Netherlands we used to have a stable where they could freely walk in and out. Although the winters there are often cold and wet, they hardly used the stable. Rain, hail or snow storms, they stayed outside, their backs facing towards the wind. They only went indoors in summer time when the flies were too annoying! After having done without a stable for a couple of years (we have trees and shade cloths for shelter against sun), we finally were able to look into building a stable. As soon we discovered the Outpost stables and shelters we never looked anywhere else. They look nice and robust, have the perfect size for our horses and come in a kitset. If you are handy and have a bit of experience with building, you can set it up within a couple of days! We needed two weekends with 2 persons (and sometimes and extra hand to set up larger parts) .You can even choose a matching colour for the roof. They are moveable, even relocatable if you are planning to move. You do not even need a building consent (check with your council to be sure). The whole set up is very sturdy and strong. Outpost has a wide range of models to choose from. We choose the one with a stable on each side and a tack room in the middle. We have one stable open constantly, the other one is used for hay storage at the moment. The tack room provides plenty of room for food storage and gear, see pics. The stallion tried to see if the tack room was also suitable as a stable... When I came home one day he was not in the paddock in front of the stable where I was sure I had put him earlier. The gelding was not worried so he was close by. I then noticed a bucket outside which was normally in the tack room. The door appeared to be slightly open. As soon as I opened the door out came the stallion. He looked at me as if saying 'what took you so long'...He must have opened the slide, as handy as he is, then opened the door and walked in there. The door must have closed on him by the wind. Next to all the gear I have an old freezer in there and some buckets with riding stuff . Thank goodness he could not open the freezer, instead he inspected all the buckets on the shelves and decided to mark this territory as his and did some poo's. He must have turned around in the narrow space because he was facing me when I opened the door. He did not damage any of the gear, nor was he very impressed being locked up in this space for quite a while. Cool as a cucumber these Icelandic stallions...The tack room is a little tight to be used as an extra stable but at least this proved the flooring of the tack room is very sturdy as well! We now have the door properly fenced off as you can imagine. If you are interested, I am happy to give more details on how we set up our stable. For more information on these great stables, see the advertisement of Outpost below. Issue 3 Page 5 Skógarrönd Ltd 112c Findlay Road RD 3 Mauku Pukekohe 2678 Phone/Fax: 09 2364145 Cell phone: 021 2681301 Email: skogarrond@slingshot.co.nz We are on the web; www.vikinghorse.co.nz At Skógarrönd Ltd we have a passion for Icelandic horse. We are breeding and selling quality horses on a small scale, promoting the breed Down Under, selling tack, training DVDs and books related to Icelandic Horses. If you have any questions regarding the Icelandic horse, would like to have advise on keeping and training or would like to visit us, please feel free to contact us. We are looking forward to hearing from you! Skógarrönd is on Facebook Visit our Facebook Page ‘Icelandic Horses NZ,Skogarrond”. We will update it on a regular base with news from our horses, horses for sale and interesting news on Icelandic horses.. Benni’s Harmony (advertisement) At Skógarrönd we sell the high quality Stübben range of Icelandic saddles and bridles, stirrups and bits: Benni’s Harmony is especially designed for the Icelandic horse. Please contact us for more information