>>>> The herd was owned by Sam Ashelman who bought them with the help of Gunnar Bjarnnason in 1960. The two men met while Ashelman was in Iceland as a consulting economist. Ashelman was no horseman and didn't take care of his horses. I found out about the horses when my mother read about them in the Washington Post the week they arrived. She nearly jumped out of her skin because she recognized Ashelman's name as her college friend's husband. We had to go visit them, of course. I was 15 years old and horse-nutty and the day we visited the Icelandics my life changed.
Thanks for telling this again, Annie. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have a ready-made herd of Icelandic's to study in detail, while never having seen the horses in Iceland. Lucky you! What were you told - anything of significance? I've seen pictures of you jumping some of the horses from that era, but had anyone even told you the horses were (or might possibly be) gaited? I think you said before that very few of the original herd had been broken to ride when you met them...? Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
