News Archive 2009
2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
To all our friends and family Merry Christmas and all the very best for a wonderful New Year. 2009 was busy, with a
touch of chaos for us but on reflection it was also extremely productive, rewarding and fun. Thank you to all the wonderful people we have met and also to old friends who have shared their time, company and experience with us this past year. The last few days of 2009 were passed in relaxed chaos with horses still in training and the weather fluctuating from mid 30's to storms and rain.
Laena (Amys' favourite mare) went to Neles' to be served by Dagfari from Clear Lake farm. Already we are excited and impatient to
see what the results will be!
Christmas was celebrated in typical Haldane style. Relaxed and with plenty of food!
7th December - Visit from the Clydesdales:
Janet and her lovely Clydesdale X horses came to Byaduk for a ride. It was the first time our Icelandics' Sola and Læna had seen or ridden with other horses, let alone two who were so big. It was lovely to see how calmly they all reacted. We had such a great ride out. The weather was perfect, the scenery stunning and the horses behaved themselves beautifully. Karen had the opportunity to ride Jingles, who is a little bigger than the Icelandic's
she is used to training back home. We are looking forward to the next ride, thanks for a fun day out Janet!
Sola, Karen, Laena, Amy, Janet, Jingles and Ponto get aquainted.
Karen: it's a long way down!
Icelandic Horses : A religious experience! Exploring the local church.
Fun, Fun, Fun!
15th Nov 09 - Visitors and Pleasure rides :
Thorun and Estelle came all the way from Queensland to visit for a few days. They both own and breed Icelandic horses and are passionate about the future of the Icelandic Horse in Australia. Estelle had visited the stud many years ago when our Uncle Clyde had the horses and felt disappointed by the fact our
original stallion Galdur could not be ridden. So it was a treat for Estelle on this visit to see Galdur under saddle and have the opportunity to ride him. He's now 15 and was started as a 13 year old by Christianne at Narrawin stud. Karen and Gwen are working with him this year. They are both interested in his pace potential, and why wouldn't you be when he's the son of the famous Galsi frá Sauðárkróki?
Tandri our young German bred stallion is also going very well with his training and Thorun and Estelle were able to have an enjoyable ride on him. Karen used the opportunity to give a great lesson on practicing transitions into the tölt on a young horse.
Karen & Læna, Thorun & Stirling and Estelle on Melodia
The weather was hot but absolutely stunning in the evenings, perfect for riding out! Thanks for coming to visit ladies. We wish we all lived a little closer!
14th Nov 09 - Icelandic Horse Open Day : What a fantastic
day. It was wonderful to meet all of the lovely visitors who came to our open day. The weather was perfect and so was the company!
Karen and Gwen did a fabulous job with the two gait demonstrations. Melodia and Laena performed like stars ... Melodias' pace
is just being trained and the taster we had on the day has left me wishing we'd had more room to see her really step on the gas!
Melodia showing us some speed! An interested crowd listening to Karen
Cheryl brought Neles' beautiful new stallion Dagfari down, and he cruised his way through the day. It was such a treat to have him on show and to see him under saddle when the day was over.
We are truly lucky to have such dedicated and passionate people involved with the industry. Thank you all for your time and the pleasure of your company.
Nele and Dagfari warming up
12th Nov 09 - New Foals
Miska and Tandri have again produced a gorgeous little filly. I'm constantly amazed by the colour variation in the breed. She is so different in colouring to her full sister Dis.
New Foal checking out the prickles! Big sister Dis - born 2008
Little Von - was born on one of the hottest days we'd seen for a long time. Unfortunately it was also stinking hot the next day and she was starting to show early signs of dehydration. So we milked mum and gave her a few top
ups from a bowl. She amused us by polishing off the bowl of milk, then walking a couple of steps to the trough and having a good old slurp of water. Some foals are born smart with a strong survival instinct and she has that in bucket loads. Now a couple of weeks old she is very sweet and showing lots of tölt in the paddock. It's rare that we have had to help or intervene with foaling or to feed a foal, but sometimes it does happen. Although sometimes stressful at the time it's always a valuable learning experience and makes
us appreciate how resilient and robust the icelandic horses are.
11th Nov 09 - Icelandic Horse Association meeting and visit to Litli Stadur Icelandic Horses : Thorun and Estelle (Queensland Icelandic Horses Breeders) were on their way down to
visit us at Yambuk, so we took the opportunity to hold a very productive Association Meeting at Neles stud, Litli Stadur Icelandics, just North of Camperdown. Of course the meeting was held after much admiring of Neles' gorgeous horses and a delicious meal. The newest member of the family is her recently imported Stallion "Dagfari from Clear Lake Farm" in Canada. Congratulations Nele, he is beautiful!
October 09 - We have had our first new foals for the season. The first was born on the 16th of October. It's always a giant relief to walk into the paddock and see a nice healthy foal up on its feet and drinking well. The foal was huge ... these photos of Alma and baby were taken the day after he was born. He had been cooking for nearly 12 months! Even more exciting was finding another gorgeous foal the very next morning!
Foal number One - Alma has a beautiful boy
Foal number Two - Gleði's little girl
Aug/Sept 2009 - Australian "Country Style" magazine features a
gorgeous article written by Gretel Sneath. Focus of the article is Amys' new lifestyle and
blissful existence working, living and breathing Icelandic horses. Article title
"Riding Home" pg 17
Iceland 2009 - Amy attended the four week international Summer school at Holar University. Subjects included History of the Icelandic Horse and Riding (both practical and theory). An amazing experience! For more info on Holar click here.
New Stallion - Haukur frá Stuðlum is a dark palamino stallion from Iceland. He should arrive in Australia late 2009. Haukur is a first prized judged stallion
with babies and grandbabies already on the ground. Not bad for a 7 year old! He is has an amazing temperament and we are looking forward to seeing what his Australian offspring will look like. IS2002187105 - Haukur frá Stuðlum
Father is IS1994184184 - Dynur frá Hvammi - chestnut, first prize stallion - judged 8.47 total, 9.5 for tolt!
Mother is IS1996287667 - Þerna frá Arnarhóli - palamino, first prize mare - judged 8.27 total, 8.5 for tolt, trot and pace. 9 for Spirit.
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Past Events
OPEN DAY 14th Nov 2009 - featuring gaited display and talk by Icelandic Trainer and rider Karen Woodrow. The day was a great success - see our News section for pictures and more information.
Events we've attended
Every year we like to get off the farm and spread the word about Icelandic horses. These are some of the events we've been to.
2009
Hamilton Sheep Vention
2008
Equitana South Pacific
Hamilton Sheep Vention
Alpaca Fest - Werribee Park
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