More than 100 people attended our first Open Day arrangement in the end of February 2010, organized in collaboration with Skógarrönd. We had all our horses, including this year's foals, on the paddocks around the training facilities, exhibition of training material and tack for Icelandic horses, general information about the horses and about IHBRANZ (Icelandic Horses Breeders and Riders Association). During the day we had two shows with five horses and riders in each show. We demonstrated the gaits and the unique features of Icelandic horses. Each show was followed by the opportunity to meet the horses at a close hand and to ask the riders any questions. We served food and drinks for free and the weather was just beautiful. To sum up, a great day and a successful pilot project! We are already now looking forward to our next Open Day in early 2011, so, please watch this space!
We had an awesome foaling season! We welcomed six foals: four fillies and two colts. Four of them are painted. All our six foals are sired by Gneisti von Roetgen, from the Vinbrux Stud. Eldmist was the first foal to arrive. She was born November 22, 2009. Her dam is Eldfim Fra Narfastödum. We named her Eldmist because the day she was born was misty and all Eldfim’s offsprings’ names start with “eld” which means “electricity, energy”. Eldmist is red-dun – a rare color - and she is a real charmer! Eldmist is at least 4 gaited, still with a preference for tölt, but showing some trot occasionally. Alexia has already taught her how to behave when she is groomed and how she should collaborate when cleaning her hooves. Hrund was the second arrival this season. She is a beautiful light-built painted filly. She is the fourth foal of Hrima from Lukka. Hrund is clearly 4-gaited. We got two foals December 6, 2009 – one in the morning and one in the evening! Tign fra Ahl delivered Tindra at 8.30am and we were lucky to observe the delivery. Tindra means “glowing, shining”. She is a beautiful chestnut filly with a star on her forehead. She has a lovely personality - she follows us in the paddock without being pushy and she just loves being patted and hugged. Friður was born the same day as Tindra. His arrival was a bit of a surprise as he was a little early and his mother Perla from Lukka wasn’t really showing any of the usual delivery signs – but on the other hand this is not unusual for mares delivering for first time. Friður was delivered in the early afternoon, and we just discovered him on the paddock during our evening round. Friður is black-grey painted colt with a strong over-line. Being alone in the paddock with only his mother and another young mare has made him rather cheeky. This will hopefully change when he is introduced to the other foals and the more experienced and less tolerant mares. Then came Maja - number 5 foal (number 4 filly) this season. Again, we spotted the event which rather unusually happened at 7pm. So, we were able to see how Majstjarna delivered Maja. Maja is a painted filly, lightly build with a very nice lift in her tölt. Maja will most likely turn out being 5-gaited. Finally, we got Geysir who concluded the foaling season! He was born January 13 and is Ran from Lukka‘s first baby. We thought he is a bundle of energy, hence his name, which means “energy“. He is adorable, light grey/brownish painted colt with a dorsal stripe in the coloured parts.
Our horses have been given quite much attention recently. The international magazine for Icelandic horses, Eiđfaxi, published an article about Neđri Bakki in its 2008, no. 8 issue. 4 pages were devoted to our stud and to Icelandic horses in New Zealand. The article also reported on the importance of NZ joining FEIF. We also featured 2 of our horses, Asti and Glaisir, at the very popular Breakfast program on NZ TV1. The coverage can be seen at http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/breakfast-friday-march-27-2591548/video?vid=2591767 Finally, we presented 3 of our horses, Glaisir, Hnoss and Asti at the Scandinavian Festival March 28 at Alexandra Park, Auckland. Together with 2 of the horses belonging to Jennie Boerema – Þótti and Biscup, it was an impressive group of 5 horses and 4 riders (Alexia, Kenneth, Jennie and Tatjana, a certified horse trainer from Germany), Asti following as hand horse along the other horses. The show was great: it took place at the race track at Alexandra park where the horses could demonstrate all their power and drive. The tolt was beautiful and the audience was fascinated. We were an impressive team of 6 people – the 4 riders + Snejina and Bernd as ground staff – who had the pleasure to answer all possible questions by many of the 400 Scandinavians and Kiwis who have attended the Festival.
We have bought 2 new horses: Rán from Lukka, a 3-year old mare and Hnoss from Lukka, a 8-year old gelding. This brings our current stock to 16 horses. Hnoss has been with us for the last 2 years, so, for him it is “business as usual”. Rán (the name means “sea goddess) has integrated extremely well into the herd. We have also renamed Hnoss to Hnaggur. Hnaggur means “little rock”. The reason is that Hnoss is actually a name for a mare meaning “gem”. We kept the stone-rock metaphor and we hope Hnaggur will like his new name.
Visiting stallion for the 09 breeding season
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
For this breading season we have leased Gneisti von Roetgen, one of the three stallions belonging to Vindholar Southern Icelandic. Gneisti is off Dreyri von Roetgen and Dagskjóna von Roetgen. His pedigree includes several strong bloodlines as Orri frá Þúfu and Galsi frá Sauðárkróki. He is a 5-gaited red Dun/dark pinto. Gneisti was at Neđri Bakki for about 3 months. It was a pleasure having him as he was extremely well behaved and easy going. Gneisti served 6 of our mares and we are happy to report that they all are confirmed to be in foal. If everything stays well, we expect 5 foals in December 2009 and 1 more in January 2010.
Youth workshop at Vindholar Southern Icelandic
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
Alexia has attended the Icelandic Horses Youth Workshop arranged for IHBRANZ by the Vinbrux family at Vindholar Southern Icelandic. This was an exciting 2-day arrangement with training, a competition and a lot of farm fun. 6 kids at the age from 8 to 13 attended and all left with heaps of new knowledge and great memories. Alexia came 3rd in the final competition.
New foal at Nedri Bakki
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Tign fra Ahl has delivered a chestnut colt (Þótti frá Wetsinghe, is black and Tign is bay!!) on the 10th of December! Although Tign had a foaling alarm attached to her halter, we only discovered the colt in the morning, just standing next to his mother on the paddock close to the house. It looks like Tign did not lay on the ground for long, or at least her head was up - maybe she was curious herself to see what offspring she would get. This was Tign's first foal and number three born at our farm. We followed closely (and anxiously) whether the colt would get milk from his mother. With a great relief we can say that he is drinking well, running around and also taking his time to get a nap in between. Mum and child are doing extremely well and we can now start the family brainstorming and negotiating process regarding the name of our latest arrival.
This spring we have broken in two of our mares, Hrima from Lukka and Maistjarna fra Tornbjerg. Both of them have been a real pleasure to work with. Hrima is already 8 years old, but has not been ridden before because she has been used for breeding. We decided it was about time to give her a break from breeding duties this year. This would give a chance to see her riding abilities and provide us with an idea about what she might pass on to her offsprings. Hrima turned out to be really easy to break in and she soon started showing a very easy tölt with a very clear beat while carrying herself nicely. Hrima has become the favourite riding horse of both Snejina and Alexia. Maistjarna revealed a lot of personality, but also great willingness to work. The first couple of months were used on the groundwork in walk and trot. Today Maistjarna is carrying herself very nicely and is soft on both sides. We have recently started the tölt work in a low position and this is developing in a very promising way.
Eldvaka off the milk bottle after 5 and a half months!
Monday, 08 December 2008
A week ago Eldvaka got her last bottle of milk - an event we celebrated with a bottle of a very special Bulgarian wine we bought in Sofia some months ago. She is now a strong, happy and energetic filly roaming around. While slightly exhausted, we are proud of the outcome of our 5 and a half months bottle feeding exercises. In the beginning, which happened to be in the middle of a very rainy winter, we had to run with the bottle every second hour 24/7. We have gradually been reducing her milk until last week when Eldvaka - of course to her annoyance - finally got the last bottle. She is now growing on the rich spring grass and building muscels by playing with the other fillies on one of the hilly paddocks.
Clinic with Herdís Reynisdóttir (Dísa) from Iceland
Wednesday, 03 December 2008
Nedri Bakki Icelandic Horse Center was the host of a clinic which took place on the 22nd and 23rd of November with featuring certified riding teacher and Icelandic horse trainer from Hólar and certified international breeding judge Herdís Reynisdóttir (Dísa). The clinic was arranged in the framework of IHBRANZ. Nine keen Icelandic horse owners from both the North and the South Island in New Zealand participated in the clinic which consisted of both theory and training. The theoretical program included sessions on horse behaviour, biomechanical explanations in relation to horse training, and breeding assessment and the training took place in the form of individual sessions on Nedri Bakki’s arena. We had two wonderful days with a lot of important input, discussions and feedback. Dísa (www.disa-ihs.com) is a highly skilled and passionate educator and possesses tremendous knowledge on Icelandic horses, also in terms of latest development in research and training. Time simply flew during the two days of the clinic and the nice weather made the whole experience even more enjoyable.
This winter was particularly wet and, at the same time, we were still suffering from the food shortage due to the dry fall. This combination triggered our decision to push forward our plans about extending the stables next to our arena. We started digging out for the extension already a few weeks after we made the decision and in the end of July the facilities were ready to provide good shelter for our Icelandics. Now we can stable up to 12 horses, which will allow us to let more of the paddocks rest in the wet winter months. The stables have also made the training of the horses a lot easier and even more enjoyable: we save a lot of time and we benefit from having the young ones in for shorter training periods.
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