Jora Fra Gimli
My lovely nine year old girl, only 1000 pounds! Jora Fra Gimli is a pure-bred Icelandic mare, daughter of Stjarna Fra Ovaldsstodum and Leistur Fra Gimli. She was born in 1997 on a farm in a small town in eastern Ontario, and came to me as a green (unschooled) three year old. We've come a long way since then and she remains the most reliable, enjoyable trail horse I've ever ridden.
A bit about Icelandics
There are more than ample resources on the web going into far more detail about the Icelandic horse than I plan to here; this is just a brief synopsis for the unfamiliar. Icelandic horses are an unusual breed and retain a number of characteristics that would have been common 800 years ago but are now noteworthy. First brought to the island of Iceland by the Vikings, they have been genetically isolated by law to for several hundred years. (This was originally to prevent outside disease from wreaking havoc on the island.) Iceland, despite its name, is home to lush and verdant pastures in the summer. Of course, it also possesses harsh, wet, cold and windy conditions for much of the year as well as treacherous, volcanic and rocky terrain. The only predator of the Icelandic horse on the island is man and starvation. Both have worked in unison to shape the Icelandic horse. The most talked about characteristic of the Icelandic horse is the tolt. This is a "running walk" gait that allows them to move at similar speeds to a horses trot, but is much smoother because there is always at least one leg on the ground with no moments of suspension.
Most interesting, perhaps, is the personality that developed in the Icelandic horse from the years of hardship on the island. These are fiery little horses, but at the same time far more sensible than most equines bred elsewhere. I have seldom seen an Icelandic spook, even at provocation that would send other horses flying to the wind. There is a strong "can do" attitude that seems to pervade throughout the breed, my own mare will plough through or find a way around almost any obstacle on the trail without deviation. There is no question as to their intelligence, which can be both an asset and a challenge when training them.
Training
I have been riding in the English discipline for quite some time before I bought Jora, but had never before schooled a completely green horse. Our first 6 months were spent entirely on ground work, learning to lead, load on a trailer, back, turn and most importantly, to respect and listen to her handlers. She has had the most gentle, endearing personality of almost any horse I have met. The desire to please was obvious from the beginning, but was further enhanced by using "Operant Conditioning" or Clicker Training developed originally for training dolphins and brought to the equine world by Alexander Kurland. This training method encourages the trainee to exhibit new behaviours, and uses primary motivators to reward them when they exhibit desired behaviors. (In the case of equines, a primary motivator is typically food.)
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