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!