The best way to teach kids about the different breeds of horses is by taking them to a barn that specializes in a particular breed.
Recently, we had a chance to visit an exclusive Icelandic Horse Farm called Winterhorse Park. It’s located in Eagle, Wisconsin. They host one of the three shows that are held throughout the year. People come from all over the world to join in on the fun of owning and showing one of these special horses.
Flugnirkeppni
The show that we attended was the Flugnirkeppni where the people were more than happy to explain everything to us. They were so friendly and open. It was a great group of people. One of the things that they told us about were the different gaits that the Icelandic horses can do. They have 5 gaits rather than 3 or 4 gaits like most other horses. Their gaits are the walk, tolt, trot, pace, and canter or gallop.
This video shows the Tolt in slow motion:
The Tolt is very similar to the running walk, or rack, in a Tennessee Walking Horse. One of the people told us that Tennessee Walkers are faster at the walk than the Icelandics but the Icelandic Tolt is faster than the Tennessee Walkers’ Running Walk.
Special Accommodations for Icelandic Horses
We all loved the barn at Winterhorse Park. The stalls are made specifically for Icelandic Horses. They are smaller than normal horse size stalls. The doors are a little shorter so the horses can look over the top. The sides are open with two vertical bars so that the horses can get their heads and necks out but not their shoulders. These open bars are also used at feeding time. They put the hay out in front of the stalls and the horses are able to eat it. That way, it doesn’t get all dirty from being on the floor of a dirty stall.
Here’s a Chart that Shows All the Different Colors of the Breed
The Tack Stalls
We were all fascinated by the beautiful tack stalls. They each had a small solid wood door built into the cobblestone wall. The other thing that we thought made them special was that each one had the horse’s name and the meaning of the name on it. They were very quaint.
The Show Classes
Someone took the time to sit down and explain the different classes to us. Most of them were similar to the 4-H classes that we do, they just had different names. At the end of each class, they would line up facing the crowd. I really liked that because at our shows, we always line up facing the judge which may or may not be the right way for us to see the riders.
One of the fun classes that they had was paired pleasure. They called it something different but I can’t remember what it was. They have to ride together at the different gaits and whichever team stays in sync the best wins. It was fun watching them. The teams all had matching shirts and the horses all matched pretty closely too. I liked this pair of horses because their matching hair-dos were so cute!!
The Victory Lap
At the end of each class, the riders did a victory lap. I thought this was great! No matter who won, they shared in camaraderie and all celebrated together. I think this was one of my favorite things to watch.
As you can see, visiting an exclusive breed barn can teach the kids, and adults, a lot about that breed of horse. It can be very educational!