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Our Horses
We
have around
40 Icelandics here at Tresais Farm at any one time,
ranging from young foals to Ragna, who
is in her
early thirties. Generally, we keep three herds - the riding horses, male
horses (including entires) and female horses, though this is quite fluid and the
whole lot (apart from stallions!) sometimes mix in together. The stallions are
always kept with company though - either mares they are covering, geldings or
each other in the winter.
 
In the summer, the majority of
the horses, except those we are riding, go out onto Waun Tresais,
Waun Sebon, Waun Caerfarchell or Waun
Llandruidion, large areas of rough moorland adjoining the farm. Here,
they learn about rough ground, bogs, lakes, hills, woods etc from their
surroundings, as well as seeing riders and walkers on the nearby bridleways, and
on Waun Caerfarchell passing traffic on the lanes. It´s a great education for
them, and when the time comes for them to start their training, they are usually
little fazed by anything.
The farm itself is mostly level to gently sloping grassland, with
fields of around 5 - 8 acres, surrounded by hedgebanks for shelter. The soil
here is formed from glacial deposits, so it's very mixed with many large stones,
but the grass is good. Approximately 12 acres of Tresais Farm are designated
nature reserve with a small lake, which attracts some wonderful wildlife,
particularly birds, including red kites, mute swans and a huge variety of ducks
and geese.
We also graze about 150 acres of rough moorland and wetland
belonging to the National Trust and the National Park. We have some good riding
on bridleways and beaches locally, and the Preseli Mountains a short box journey
away.
Our horses are
mostly imports from Iceland, or horses we have bred ourselves. Our main breeding
mares come from the Icelandic farms Gíli, Sólheimum, Svinholum, Eyvindarmúla,
and Eyvindarstöðum. They are mostly of Svaðastaðir and Kolkuós bloodlines. Mic
prefers the "old fashioned" type of Icelandic - rather heavily built, though
with a good neck, strong legs, good back and sound minds. We use the best
stallions we can find, and have some interesting home-bred
foals coming on. We have been fortunate enough to
be given the stallion Klerkur frá
Kirkjulandi, a wonderful horse who should produce excellent progeny in the
UK.
Contact us
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