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Interview with Dor, Avondale Icelandics LLC Owner/Instructor/Trainer
How did you get involved with horses?
I liked animals but I did not like the spookiness of horses. When I moved to a new middle school, a new friend offered me a chance to go trail riding. I fell in love with a pinto pony called Slippers who I rode each week. One time Slippers kept stopping on our way out. I knew he was telling me something was not right. My 1st human-animal connection. I found out my girth was not tightened enough which I didn't check.
What was your first riding lesson as a kid like?
I was 13. There were only English lessons nearby. It was very different than trail riding where the horse just follows the one in front of it. You really had to direct the horse. These were taller horses with much more up-down trotting motion than Western ones. It was more complex to ride English with 2 hand vs 1 collection. The lesson horse was also not very friendly- tired of beginner errors, being in a stall all day, and doing boring arena routines.
What was your riding lesson as an adult like?
It was lessons at a local barn about 20 years ago. The horse tried to bite me while grooming him. After I told the instructor, the horse then actually bit her and then ran off. She caught and saddled him. I was told to just not to brush him. Sometimes beginners are not asked groom to save time but also to mask bad behavior. When I got in the saddle, I felt this horse ready to buck so I left early with no other horses to ride.
How did you learn about Icelandic Horses?
I had told my college boyfriend now husband about my loves of horses but my dislike of typical horse trotting, spookiness, aloofness, etc. He found a Time Magazine article about an Icelandic Horse- sweet, brave, and friendly. Not too tall and no posting. He said, "You just need to go to Iceland to ride one?!!" Married and 20 years later, Icelandics were found now in Canada- 7 hours drive across 3 mountain passes. We went. Years later we did go to Iceland.
What kind of Icelandic were you looking for to ride?
I said a Pinto because of Slippers. The breeder/trainer said that I apparently never read the Icelandic Horse book, "A Good Horse has No Color." I recanted, "Okay a nice horse that was not bumpy, not spooky or going to bite, buck, or rear." They laughed saying," Bad Icelandics were made into steaks long ago. We are not cowboys that "break horses" or put up with spoiled show horses." We need solid horses traveling in the Icelandic wilderness.
What was your 1st Icelandic horse ride experience like?
Our trainer said to ride more nose to tail in a small area. We did. He said closer. I asked, "Won't they kick?" He said "No. Icelandics feel safer especially geldings." He said, "You also need to sit back not forward to gait." I said," Oh I have a very old and bad habit of leaning." He said, "You are going to fix that right now." I learned quickly to ride correctly because Icelandics get bouncy whenever I leaned forward or even stop if I was off balance.
Do you just work with icelandics? Does your methods work on other horses?
Our approach works on Horses all kinds and even Dogs. We have a deep understanding about Gaited Horses and in particular like working with Icelandics. It is a specialized skill beyond general training of just trotting horses but also the pace side of horses as well. A properly gaiting horse is right in the middle of trot and pace gaits.
How did the idea of Avondale Icelandics get started?
Seeing Icelandics for the 1st time, people are quite curious. I need to educate them as a local Icelandic Horse ambassador. People also stop me on the street, on trails, at horse events, etc. Others will even show up on my doorstep after seeing or hearing about them. I did private lesson programs over the years.
But I needed to turn many people down from a lack of time. I have now developed group programs for kids and even non-riders as well as an LLC business.
How did you get to be an advanced rider and trainer?
As a trained program manager, I deal with complex problems and develop a plan of improvement. I applied that approach to my horse journey and daily rigor of learning every day. After years of experimenting for best results, I went from a frustrating, unsafe horse riding experience to one that people only dream about.
I now share this same train the trainer approach I discovered starting on the ground and using special tack and techniques in the saddle with my students.
How do you work with each Avondale Icelandics to get results with students?
Each of the Icelandics has different personalities, level of skills, body types, degrees of willingness, etc. so there is wide variety of learning experiences possible. We may start working with 1 Icelandic to learn how to sit properly and increase the challenge with another Icelandic. I facilitate the conversation gaps.
Getting humans to communicate through clear and more consistent body language, vocal cues, etc. to the horse so horse/human understand each other as well as owner's own dogs.
Seeing Icelandics for the 1st time, people are quite curious. I need to educate them as a local Icelandic Horse ambassador. People also stop me on the street, on trails, at horse events, etc. Others will even show up on my doorstep after seeing or hearing about them. I did private lesson programs over the years.
But I needed to turn many people down from a lack of time. I have now developed group programs for kids and even non-riders as well as an LLC business.
How did you get to be an advanced rider and trainer?
As a trained program manager, I deal with complex problems and develop a plan of improvement. I applied that approach to my horse journey and daily rigor of learning every day. After years of experimenting for best results, I went from a frustrating, unsafe horse riding experience to one that people only dream about.
I now share this same train the trainer approach I discovered starting on the ground and using special tack and techniques in the saddle with my students.
How do you work with each Avondale Icelandics to get results with students?
Each of the Icelandics has different personalities, level of skills, body types, degrees of willingness, etc. so there is wide variety of learning experiences possible. We may start working with 1 Icelandic to learn how to sit properly and increase the challenge with another Icelandic. I facilitate the conversation gaps.
Getting humans to communicate through clear and more consistent body language, vocal cues, etc. to the horse so horse/human understand each other as well as owner's own dogs.