Photos of the 1960's Imports continued ~

Toppa fra Stóru-Ökrum IS1954258636 (Also in Dyfra's pedigree)

Mosa and Rhefna were the only two horses that were rideable of the imported mares. Margaret Ashelman was the wife of Sam Ashelman who imported the horses and owned them until 1966.

A young stallion pulls a sleigh in West Virginia. 1966

By the early 80's, the horses were getting old. My kids called them their "pony uncles" and lounged around on their backs. Annie' children.

Annie Shields, spent a summer working for Peter Strong getting horses ready for endurance rides in Vermont. He wanted to have a big Icelandic horse farm in Brattleboro, but it never happened.

Siri Ashelman and some kids checking out a foal.

1960's Import Photos

Annie, has been finding her photo and has allowed them to be shared on this Blog. It will take me a few days to match photos with captions, so please bare with me.

Valur ~ 3 gaited Icelandic Stallion imported from Iceland. Can see a lot of Dyfra in him.

Annie's friend Molly Warner riding imported mare Gletta. They had no saddles and the bridles were dry-rotted pieces of junk they found hanging on nails in the barn.

An endurance ride in Vermont in the early '70's.

This imported mare, Tinna, was wild as a March hare, couldn't be gentled, so Annie brought her to Washington D.C. and against city ordinances, she lived with Annie for months so that I could spend time with her.

A young stallion pulls a sleigh in West Virginia. 1966

The imported horses were not trained. Annie and her friends helped her get them started, then they rode for fun.

A few months after the mares arrived, they began having foals. Anne Dunbar and Annie Shields.

16 year old Annie.

Bonnie Weiss helped Annie with the Icelandics for years, first in Ashton MD, then later , after Annie bought the 50 horses in West Virginia.

Blesi was the stallion who came from Iceland in utero and was among the first batch of babies. He wasn't related to any mares (except his mother). Here he is pictured as a three-year old.

Blesi as an older horse. Annie always have thought he has a debauched look about him in this picture

Here's a puzzle ~ 1966 and 1968

The Icelandic foal Deca with Brenda in the summer of 1966. In the other photos of this set the Icelandic's Geira and Tata. These Icelandics were in North Royalton, Ohio.
Brenda's grandfather's neighbor had a cousin that was stationed in Iceland, married a native gal and when they returned to the US they brought several mares (some of them bred) back to the states about 1960/1965.

Geira is one of the original 1960/1965 import born in Iceland and shipped to Canada or the US and ended up in Ohio. Tata and Deca are her purebred offspring.

This photo was taken in the summer of 1968.

Deca a couple of years old in this set of photos on the bottom left, then Geira and Tata.
Brenda's grandfather's neighbor let her play with the Icelandic's and she showed the young horse Deca in 4-H.

Brenda told me, the back portion of both her Grandpa's and the neighbor's property was fenced as a whole and Grandpa had helped with the care of their earlier horse (an Appaloosa mare). As a former trainer, Grandpa was tickled to just be involved with the horse and later the ponies, and made an agreement with his neighbor Mr McCollough that he would care for and train the ponies in exchange for my use of one as my own.
But the name of the neighbors Cousin who brought these Icelandic's to the US is unknown for now.

So another piece of the puzzle.. leaving more questions.

I want to Thank Brenda for allowing me to share these priceless photos and information.

Added note: the one imported from Iceland could possibly be Geira fra Gufunesi

Problem is, I seem to be unable to find any thing about her in any registry to confirm or deny wither this is her or not.

Skutla of the Long Island Herd

When people come to visit our farm, we show them Ogri, the beautiful black, and Mosa, the staunch blue dun. And then we bring out Skutla, a small, elderly paint mare. "This is Skutla", we say, "She is 32". She doesn't mind meeting people, she's used to it. Her ears are up and her greying face is happily expectant that somewhere in this group will be something to eat. She'll be glad to have that extra half of a tunafish sandwich, and if you don't want all of your dill pickle, she'll have that too.

She came over from Iceland in 1977 in a group of horses to be used for a handicapped riding program. She was very, very good at her job.

Cindy Dunne wrote to me about Skutla:
"I knew Skutla when she first came from Iceland in 1977. She was imported for a Handicapped riding program where I was working. I had two favorite horses from the herd and she was one. She and I spent a lot of time together. I had a severely handicapped sister (cerebral palsey) who would ride Skutla. My sister was a quadraplegic and extremely spastic so we would ride Skutla double on a bareback pad. She loved it so much and had such a good time. One day I even rode
Skutla to my house and into my living room to visit Laurie. Skutla was perfectly behaved (even my mother didn't mind) and my sister got a big kick out of it. Laurie has since passed on and I cherish those memories of her very much."

The handicapped riding progam was ended, and the "Long Island herd", as they came to be known, was sold and entered some very bad times. They were neglected and some of them starved to death.
Anne Elwell writes:
"When the [Icelandic Horse] Federation was formed in early 1986 we wanted very much to do something about this group of horses and were working on several plans when one of the
members, Dr. Jane Borish, impulsive and gutsy, just went romping down to Long Island and
presented herself to the guy [who owned the herd] as a sweet but gullible horse-lover from Pennsylvania who heard he had some of these rare Icelandics and bought twelve of them for $5000. There were three that remained with him and I do not know what became of them. The
twelve that Jane bought were sold for $400 each to various people."

Stefan Sigurdsson, from Vesturbaer in Connecticut, bought Skutla and one of the others and took them home. Skutla raised 3 good foals for him, and helped raise his kids also. When we saw her at Stefan's, she was not for sale. In fact selling her had never been considered at all. Stefan rode
Skutla for us, even though she had an unweaned foal and hadn't been ridden for many months. As they tolted toward us, a tall elegant man on a bright-eyed, not-so-beautiful little old mare, I said to Larry "That's the horse I want". When we got her home I told our son and daughter that we had gotten a pony for the grandchildren. Since neither of them was married and we didn't have any grandchildren,they were not fooled for a moment. She was our first Icelandic.

She has been a wonderful horse for us. Stefan made me promise that I would never sell her, but it doesn't take a promise to keep this grand old lady. Lots of 4-H kids learned to clean feet on patient Skutla. We taught her to pull a cart, and she was so calm that our instructor could hardly believe she had never been driven. If something got tangled around her, she just waited until us
idiots got it right. With handicapped riders and small children, she is patience itself. She steps back under them if they lose their balance, and when they excitedly ask to go faster, she cocks back an ear and says, "You're not ready to go faster." When you are ready, though, this lady can tolt!

She's retired now because of heaves. But if a little child needs her first pony ride she's ready to lend her hooves, and she takes her job just as seriously as ever. She gets the best of everything.
If there is only one pancake, she gets it. She gets to go out and mow the lawn and drink from the pond and sleep under the apple tree. She has her own stall with her name on the door and her own yard for when the other horses get too pushy. We have her son, also a paint, and the two
of them enjoy hanging out together. She pushes him around unmercifully. She has an award named after her, the "St. Skutla Award for the Icelandic Service Horse", which we give out each year to those special Icies all over the world who perform special services. It's our privilege to give Skutla's story a happy ending.

A big Thank you to Stephanie Shar for allowing Skutla's story to be shared with the World!

The Story of Amma of the Long Island Herd.

Although Amma was rescued, not sold, we decided to include her. On Christmas Eve 2001 we rescued Amma, an approximately 20 year old red dun flaxen Icelandic mare from a sleazy back yard barn here on Long Island. Amma was born on Long Island and a descendant of imported horses known as the “Long Island Herd”. Like the herd she came from Amma had quite a rough life. We felt that she deserved a better life and brought her home. Her original name, Taffy, just was not a proper Icelandic name. So, we renamed her Amma, which means “grandmother” which seemed to suit her generous nature and aged appearance. She may not have been treated well in the past, but that didn’t dampen her sprits any. Always full off good cheer Amma was a pleasure to be around.

In January of 2002 we found Amma a great home in Pennsylvania with Lynne Alfonsi. Finally she had a home that loved and appreciated her the way she should have been all these years.

Sadly, in January of 2003 Amma passed away from a sudden illness despite valiant attempts to save her. It was just her time. Amma’s “mom” Lynne was at her side and comforted her in her last moments. She was a special girl and will be missed greatly by all that knew her.

Thank you Andrea of Sand Meadow Farm for allowing Amma's story to be told.
http://www.sandmeadow.com/index.htm

Bill of Sale for some of the 1960' imorted Icelandics

Bill of Sale for 13 of the Imported Icelandics, with some interesting notes on the side.



Bill of Sale and Import paper for Valur. He came in 2 months after the Mare's arrived.

Thank you Annie again, for allowing this information to be published. ;O)

Friends for Life

These two colts found each other in a field full of mares and foals at a very young age. They formed a friendship which continued until they died at age 35. They are probably among the first Icelandic horses to be born in this country. Their mothers came from Iceland pregnant by different stallions in February 1960. This picture shows them at about 5 months old.

Here are the same two colts 35 years later and still best buddies.

I want to Thank Annie Shields again for sharing this rare insight into the 1960 shipment of Icelandic horses.

Do you have an Icelandic with the 1960's lineage?

If you do, email and let me know. Would like to post photos, stories and lineage of your Icelandic that has the early blood lines.