Sorry… tangent incoming!

Categories and classifications can help guide buyers toward the right future partner. With that in mind, we felt it was important to create clear, thoughtful categories for the horses in our portfolio. The challenge, of course, was deciding what those categories should be and how to name them. In that process, we realized two common misunderstandings we often see in Icelandic horse sales.

The first is the familiar phrase: “All I want is a trail horse.” The challenge with that statement is that, quite simply, all good Icelandic horses are good trail horses. We train our competition and breeding horses extensively outside the arena, and we won’t list a horse in our portfolio unless it has a good mind and can be ridden confidently on the trail. That means every horse we offer is, at its core, a trail horse.

What’s often overlooked is the word “only.” Being calm, confident, and responsive in any situation, weather, environment, or with different riders is not something to minimize. A truly reliable trail horse is developed through years of experience and strong partnerships. In other words, you aren’t “only” riding your horse on the trail — being a great trail horse is actually one of the most impressive and valuable qualities a horse can have.

The second misunderstanding is the idea that one category excludes a horse from fitting into another. One of the great strengths of Icelandic horse breeding is the ideal that a horse can do many jobs well: a safe kids’ pony and a first-prize breeding stallion, a pace racer and your most dependable partner at a tricky water crossing, a top competitor and your go-to horse for ponying youngsters. Of course, not every horse meets that ideal, but when we select horses for our portfolio, we intentionally seek individuals capable of multiple roles. These horses are the most worthwhile to import and suit the widest range of riders. At the same time, we carefully assess each horse and note any limitations honestly in their descriptions.

Because of this, we’ve divided the horses in our portfolio into five categories designed to help guide you toward the partner that best matches your goals.

We are calling these horses “family horses” because they are for everyone in the family. We believe these horses are the ones most able to tolerate beginner riders of all ages, whether it be your child or your grandmother. With a lack of direction from the rider, these horses typically choose to stop rather than go, and they may have relatively limited speed capacity overall. These horses are likely candidates for anyone in the family.

These horses are the go-to riding horses for most folks. They are cooperative and responsive while still being calm and confident. They make a great entry-level horse for a variety of jobs. This group of horses is a great place to start if you are transitioning to Icelandics from another breed. These horses have often been used extensively in Iceland as riding, trekking, and working horses.

These horses can generally do everything the leisure riding horses can do, but with higher-quality gaits and more advanced training. They are lovely riding horses on the trail, yet also have enough movement, training, and overall quality to compete successfully at the lower levels. They are happy to go slowly, but they also have greater speed capacity in their gaits. These horses strike a balance, offering the capacity for multiple roles without the price tag of higher-end horses. They have often been used in a variety of roles in Iceland.

These horses have the capacity to excel in competition. Competition horses often have a specialty, meaning they have a type of class in which they particularly excel, especially at the higher levels. Our competition horses also tend to be our go-to luxury riding horses—because if you can tölt on the trails, why not do it in a truly luxurious tölt?

These horses have fantastic character, and many of our best competition horses are also our best lesson horses. That said, with greater capacity comes more to shape and understand in your riding.

These horses will be exclusively mares and stallions with a proven record or clear potential in international breeding assessments. They generally come from proven, exciting bloodlines and are suited to be both broodmares and breeding stallions. These horses also excel in competition and may even have multiple competitive specialties.

These horses are the whole package: great conformation, great gaits, and, of course, great character. Our safest, most reliable horses are often of this caliber. They truly are the complete package—whether on the trail, giving pony rides, competing in a variety of classes, or serving as ambassadors for the breed as a whole.