More than just a hobby………
The current Horse Breeders at Geitaskarð are descendents of well known farmers and horse breeders. The Farm has been in the same family for five generations and there, as elsewhere in Iceland, it was a sign of prosperity to have good horses – and to a degree, still is. One of the best known individual horses from the heydays of horse breeding in Iceland was Hárekur from Geitaskarð, but the Horse Breeding Association Fákur, in Eyjafjörður bought him at 5 years old in 1926. Hárekur had a distinct gray color and for a long time this particular gray hue was dominant in the horses at Geitaskarð. The past proprietors of Geitaskarð attempted over the years to maintain the color by getting good gray stallions, including the 1st price stallion Hrollur, from Efri Mýrar (in the mid sixties). The gray color has now more or less vanished from the Geitaskarð horses.
In around 1990, a new era begins in horse breeding at Geitaskarð. From then on, only top price winning stallions with "royal blood" have been used. First prize horses have been acquired to blend with the original Geitaskarð stock and there has been systematic and effective culling of the "old" herd.
The horse-breeding programme in Geitaskarð is now being lead by two cousins, Sigurður Örn Ágústsson and Sigurður Örn E. Levy, and most of the horses belong to them. Some of their siblings are also into horses and have their own horses at the farm. There is little doubt that their collective family’s interest in horses has forged even stronger family ties.
Horses have various purposes, depending on the owner or user. Some horses are used for travelling in the backcountry, where the most important traits a horse should have is smooth gait, cooperative spirit and good stamina. For some, leisue riding in the vicinity of stables on special riding paths is what it is all about. For trips like that, the horse should be noticable for at least one riding ability , gait or conformation. The third category is competiton and breeding horses – and they have different requirements from the other two. They need, in most cases, to have clear and good gaits, great conformation and they need to be well trained. There is a reason why only a fraction of the Icelandic horses are competition and breeding horse material, – it takes a lot of time, effort and capital to reach that level. In our opinion, all of the above can be the same horse – provided that the horse is naturally gifted with riding abilities and it´s spirit is such that it is easy to work with.
Our goal in horse breeding is to produce cooperative, good spirited, and multi gaited horses with good tölt. We want our horses to be five gaited, which is one of the main characteristics of the Icelandic Horse, making it exceptional in comparison with other horse breeds around the world.
Siggi & Siggi
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