Introduction & Credentials

CERTIFICATIONS:

*Diploma in Equine Science from Hólar University Iceland : "The Equestrian University and International Center of The Icelandic Horse."

*Certified member of FT (Félag Tamningamanna), The Icelandic Trainer Association.

FULL TIME PROFESSIONAL EQUESTRIAN IN ICELAND SINCE 1992:

Apprenticeships include:

Kjartansstaðir Iceland: Home of two World Champions: Five gait 1995 and Tolt 2003...
www.terna.is

Reynir Aðalssteinsson: One of only Five FT Master Trainers..., Multiple World Champion and renowned teacher.

Blesastaðir 1A Iceland: Breeding farm of the year awards 2005, Voted best breeding farm show at Landsmot 2008(The National Championships)See the stallions: Möller frá Blesastöðum 8.95 for ridabilities, Möller is the third stallion from Blesastaðir that receives 9.5 for tölt.......... for more info go to www.blesastadir.is

2000-2003: Independent business owner / training center in Iceland.

2003 to current date: Independent trainer, instructor & clinician in the US.

INTRODUCTION:

My equestrian background is in Iceland, where I am born, raised and lived most of my life. My family isn't involved with horses but my parents tell me that I was drawn to horses right from the start. I consider myself lucky to have always known what I wanted to do with my life: to work with horses.

I got my first job working with horses exclusively at the age of 14 during the summer. Since graduating from highschool I've worked with horses full time: mostly in Iceland but also in Denmark and Switzerland.

The experience from being a working student on Icelandic horse farms, learning from the older and wiser while riding eight to twelve horses every day, for over a decade was invaluable. I started competing in Sport and Gæðingakeppni at a young age. Then moving on to training and showing for Breeding Evaluations. Shortly after graduating from Hólar (The International Center and University of the Icelandic Horse) I started my own training center in Iceland and some years later, my equestrian business here in Washington. All together I´m nearing 20 years as a full time, professional equestrian.

PHILOSOPHY AND METHODS:

Classical Dressage is my inspiration. The following is a introduction to my methods and philosophy.

Classical Dressage was at it's height in the Baroque era, when European aristocracy could devote their vast time and wealth to the endless pursuit of artistic equitation. The basic tenets of classical horsemanship were first recorded in a book by Greek General Xenophon around 400 B.C. It was further developed at the royal courts of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, with it's white Lipizzan stallions, is perhaps the most familiar institution dedicated exclusively to the classical art of riding. While once an activity of royalty, today dressage has evolved into a discipline and competitive sport accessible to all horses and riders.

The word dressage means "to train" and so it applies to every horse no matter what breed or type.

The training is the process of taking any horse, restoring under saddle the movement he had naturally without the rider on board and then through a systematic structure of gymnastic work enhance that natural beauty to the best of the horses conformation and mentality.To that end any horse can be improved.

The gymnastic training process is centered around the principles of the extended training pyramid, whose core goes back to the famous German Army Riding Instruction from 1912 (Heeresdienstvorschrift 1912, often referred to as "HDV 12"). These principles include:

Rhythm (Takt) and Tempo,
Relaxation/Suppleness (Losgelassenheit),
Flexibility (Biegsamkeit),
Permeability (Durchlässigkeit),
Rein Contact (Anlehnung),
Balance (Gleichgewicht)/Lightness/Self Carriage (Selbsthaltung),
Impulsion (Schwung),
Straightness (Geraderichten),
Collection (Versammlung).

Icelandic addition: Speed

"If a rider thinks that he has found a new method he may be sure that if it is any good he has come upon it by instinct or by chance and that it was practiced long ago by the old masters."
- A.Podhajsky

The above quote applies to my philosophy as well as training methods. Colonel Alois Podhajsky and Mr. Charles de Kunffy are among my favorite "Old Masters".
-Svanny

"In order to control a living being, one has to learn to control oneself. Riding requires a good mood and calmness. A rider should never feel fear, impatience, or anger."
- U.Bürger, 1959

"A ruthlessly condensed training only leads to a general superficiality, to travesties of the movements, and to a premature unsoundness of the horse. Nature cannot be violated."
- A.Podhajsky, 1965

In training one always wants to go too fast. To arrive quickly, do not hurry, but be firmly assured of each step. Demand often; be content with little; reward a lot."
- F.de Kerbrech, 1891

"This implies that equestrian art is not determined by the degree of difficulty of certain measures, but exclusively by the degree of harmony between rider and horse and its visible expression. In one word, the same beauty with which every foal in the pasture captures the observer should characterize an equestrian performance, regardless on what level. Equestrian art is therefore inextricably linked to the rider’s skills and has nothing to do with the horse’s training level. The presence or absence of the rider’s artistic touch will have to be recognizable on all training levels."
- K.Albrecht

"A horse, whose will has been broken by brute force and who is in a state of passive submission because of his ill-advised good nature, has lost any autonomy along with his spirit, and now expects the rider to dictate every step. It is easy to imagine the pathetic role such a horse, who has been reduced to working like a machine, an automaton, will play in a hunt field, and the embarrassing situations in which a rider can find himself who may be altogether innocent of his 'training'."
- W.Seunig, 1949

"One should honestly answer the question: Which type of perfection are we looking for in horsemanship: a cold-hearted computer-like perfection that approaches the measurements and rules and regulations as closely as possible, which is manipulated until the last bit of individual personality has vanished; or that type of perfection that does justice first and foremost to the personality, even if little imperfections have to be accepted in favor of a harmonious aesthetic overall impression, because of the belief that man had better preserve the glory of creation instead of fumbling around with it until he has succeeded in making it disappear."
- K.Albrecht

"Nothing is more harmful for equestrian art than that its results take so long to become visible and remain so hidden for the eye of the uneducated person."
- O.v.Monteton, 1877