Knights of Iceland Event Recap

Last week, we made our first ever journey down to Texas!  Our Knights of Iceland show team (which we run along side Lala Benson and Guðmar Pétursson) had their debut performance in Horses and Horsemen of the World. This was a featured production organized by our dear friend and colleague, Dan James of Double Dan Horsemanship, as a part of the Mustang Magic Show in the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.

We drove down on Saturday to Versatile Horsemanship, owned by Caitie and Elliot Holzman.  We were met with frigid temperatures but fantastic facilities - there were spacious paddocks for the horses and multiple areas to use for practice. It was so special to get to see a working horse ranch in Texas and get to spend time with such incredible horse people like Caitie and Elliot.  In between our Knights of Iceland practices, we took full advantage of our hosts’ liberty expertise and took liberty lessons with our horses.  I always enjoy the journeys that these trips take us on and the people that they enable us to train with and learn from.  Even just experiencing the different riding spaces and horse care set ups is such an interesting opportunity for growth. I loved how much open space there is in Texas for riding and how the farms are set up with lots of paddocks for horses to spend the majority of their time outside. We met Dan James years ago at a Knights of Iceland show, and that is what began our liberty journey.  It felt like we were coming full circle doing a show with him and his team while also getting to study liberty techniques on the side with Caitie and Elliot.

On Sunday, Leó Hauksson and Ísólfur Ólafsson arrived from Iceland. Bringing in riders from Iceland to join us in promoting the Icelandic horse is a longstanding tradition in Knights of Iceland. We need that level of rider to pull off the type of professional act that we offer, and it’s also a huge opportunity for us to get new ideas and feedback from Iceland. Leó and Íso are both accomplished riders, particularly in pace racing, and also work as professional farriers. Between both of them and Terral, we had few worries over a horse losing a shoe!  Leó rode the stallion Geysir owned by Dora Becker, and Íso rode the mare Marta Lovisa owned by Jeny Feldner.  Geysir can be a bit reactive in drill team so it was fun to watch Leó help him build confidence throughout the practices. Marta Lovisa is coming back into action after being a brood mare, and we were not sure what level of capacity she had in the flying pace.  Íso began training her pace and we very quickly discovered that they were going to be one of the best pace combos of the show!  As some of the audience members said - she turned out to have a lot of “git up.”  It’s always so refreshing to reconnect with fellow trainers from Iceland.

Some of you may have heard that we struggled with some medical emergencies in our community both involving humans and horses over the week leading up to the Fort Worth Show. These events served as a reminder how precious our Icelandic horse family is. I’ll say and write this til I am blue in the face… but I could not survive in this industry without my Icelandic horse family.  For this show, Lala and Mackenzie both rode on the team with their horses, Lykill and Freyja, respectively.  Dora, Jeny, Lori and Cameron served as our pit crew handling all aspects of the show behind the scenes.  Collaborating as a Knights of Iceland team is one of the few aspects of our work where we truly get to perform together as a cohesive whole. Lala and I have been performing together since I was 15, and it was fun to introduce Mackenzie to our Knights of Iceland traditions.  These folks are some of my dearest friends, and spending the time together leading up to the show, whether it be in practices or sharing a meal each evening, are for me some of life’s most valuable moments.

For Friday night’s show, I was nervous about how Fort Worth might receive the Knights of Iceland.  What would a bunch of Texans think about our fluffy ponies running around to rock n roll while the riders chugged beer and raced through fire?  Let me tell you… my worries were absolutely ridiculous.  The audience loved the fast tölting drill - we rode to a mix by Keith and Lala to Paint It Black by AC/DC and Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. Then we set up a lane of fire and did pace races, two at a time out the gaits. In the dark of the arena illuminated by the flames, the horses flew down the lane and the crowd went crazy.  Surprisingly, (or maybe not) the beer tölt was the crowd favorite.  Audience members were toasting us as we rode by with our beer mugs and truly appreciated the whole drinking while riding your horse vibe.

I am always amazed by how much the audience enjoys our performances and have often contemplated why. I think the main reason is just simply that our acts showcase our horses for what they truly are. They are a blast to ride - we have FUN! They are powerful and give off energy as a group moving together that no other horses quite exhibit. Everything we do as the Knights of Iceland is really just highlighting everything we love about our horses and community.  Of course, all we are adding is a bit of alcohol - both in a mug and flaming on the ground. 😉