2010
08/02/10
Film Stars
This week we have had the pleasure of Árni Gunnarsson, an Icelandic film maker visiting. He had flown from Iceland via New Zealand to continue filming for a documentary series about Icelandic people overseas and interesting stories associated with Iceland. Karen and Amy met Árni in Reykjavik last year when we began filming about Icelandic Horses in Australia and the imminent export of Haukur.
He
has a beautiful film KRAFTUR, which is doing the rounds of film festivals at the moment. It is a moving film about a very special relationship between a man and his icelandic stallion.
The weather was hot and gorgeous the few days he was here. After filming us rounding up Buffalo at Byaduk in the morning on Laena and Melodia we loaded more horses and headed for Port Fairys' East beach. Árni filmed the horses tölting up the East Beach and getting in the water in the Southern Hemisphere for the first time. It was an
amazing day, hard to wipe the grins off our faces we'd had so much fun. I think we all count ourselves lucky that we have such an interesting life with opportunities to meet such people in the name of "work". We look forward to seeing the completed documentary.
17/01/09
Open Day
Wind and showers couldn't keep a great crowd of interested tourists and horse lovers away from our Summer Open Day. Haukur, our newly imported stallion and young gelding Bjarki showed off the gaits in two displays, ridden by Karen Woodrow and Amy Haldane. Thanks to all the lovely people, friends and newcomers who braved the western districts wind to partake in a great day on the farm.
Newspaper
article link.
16/01/09
On the suggestion of one of our friends Karen and Amy decided to take two of the young geldings on a ride held by one of the local trail riding clubs. Icelandic horses might not look big but boy they can cover some ground, Bjarki enjoying himself out at the front of the pack, throwing in some tolt down the forest roads. We saw echidnas, emu,
kangaroos and a koala and finished the day off in true Australian style with a fabulous BBQ. A day out in the Australian bush was a new experience for the young horses and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Thank you Klaus and Janet.
04/01/10
Haukur frá Stuðlum arrives in Yambuk
After what seems to have been a very long wait our new stallion Haukur has finally arrived safe and sound in Yambuk.We are very excited to have him here! Haukur is a great addition to our breeding program and we cant wait to see what he will produce over our mares. Not only is Haukur the first Icelandic Stallion directly imported from Iceland to Australia, he is
also the first, 1st prize stallion in Australia. He will be on display at our Open day on the 17th January.
Haukur, cool as a cucumber with his new clipped look!
Amy and Thea settle Haukur in ...
it is such a great feeling to finally have him here!
06/01/01
Its always a fascinating experience for the children to see the miracle of birth. This little fellow was born on a misty morning about eight and we were lucky enough to watch the whole thing.
02/01/10
The New Year has started off in great style with Roger booking a string of camels for us to ride on Port Fairy's East Beach. We all enjoyed the chance to just relax, enjoy the ride and soak up the beautiful scenery. I think we all realise how lucky we are to live in such a magical place and can see why all the tourists flock here in summer. Thanks Dad for organising such a fun day for us all!
More photos on the photo gallery page ... click here
HAPPY NEW YEAR
2010 is already shaping up to be a fun, exciting and busy year. We look forward to Haukur frá Stuðlum finally arriving on the farm in a few days. 17th January we are having another open day, a tölt clinic in February, we are already planning who will train horses next season and preparing for Equitana in Melbourne at the end of the year.
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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TOLT CLINIC Saturday 20th - Sunday 21st February 2010
A chance to learn about tölt and experience a tolting horse, instruction from international Icelandic horse trainer ... for more info please click here!
Past Events
OPEN DAY Sunday 17th January 2010 -
Wind and rain made for a great crowd at our Summer open day in Yambuk, showcasing gaited displays by Haukur the newly imported stallion and Karen Woodrow, Iceland horse trainer. See our News section for more information.
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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TOLT CLINIC : Saturday and Sunday 20th - 21st February 2010
What: Tolt clinic: emphasis on learning about tölt, experiencing tölt, training tölt, having fun! There will be some theory as well as practical.
Who: the clinic can be tailored depending on experience of participants and their needs. If you've never experienced tölt before come and have a go!
Teacher: Karen Woodrow (international icelandic horse trainer) will be teaching the
course. She is a professional horse trainer in Iceland and has completed 2 years at Holar University. Karen has a relaxed teaching style aimed to improve, not to confuse!
Horses: We have a variety of icelandic horses for people to ride, suitable for novice to advanced riders.
Where: Yambuk click here for directions
Costs: $100 per day incl GST for riders
$50 per day incl GST for spectators
this includes tea and coffee, and a Saturday night meal together.
Lunches are NOT provided but there is a fridge, microwave and kettle available. Food can be purchased from General Store or Yambuk Inn.
For more information and bookings please contact Amy by email amy@icelandichorses.com.au or phone on (03) 55 684181
Cant make it to the clinic? Want more than 2 days? We have set aside the 22nd and 23rd of February if you would like extra tuition. Karen is available
for private lessons on our horses or yours. Please contact us for more info or to arrange a lesson.
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