Horsemen before there was `clicker' or horsewhisperersÂ… "We can add that Sigfinnur often rode walk in between the fast parts. Then he lighted his pipe and told stories, sometimes exaggerated, sometime plain lies. His horses soon got used to the sound of the matches and learned that the smell of tobacco meant going slowly or even stopping for a while. They walked like that until they received a sign that something else was wanted. It worked the same way with the sound of the marking equipment for the lambs, in the times the sheep still had their lambs outdoors and horses were used to chase lambs so they could be marked. Sigfinnur often took up his box of matches, when his horses were not quiet enough at the start of a race."
-story from Eidfaxi oct.2005 http://www.eidfaxi.is/
