The other morning, over breakfast, Pete asked, “Where did the summer go?” adding, “I mean I feel like we didn’t get anything done.” Looking at our tattered List of Things to do, I realized that we both felt this way because our summer activities had been so piecemeal. We’d put in a garden, added a second story to our cabin, constructed an addition, tended to two chickens and maintained two beehives. We also put up our winter hay supply, and turned the previous winter’s manure into compost.

After I pointed this out to him, Pete noted that I’d also spent plenty of time with the horses.

Pete’s statement was a truism. Each of our three horses has a journal – at the end of each day, I pen an entry. Flipping through the pages, I noted that indeed, it had been a Big Little Horse summer. There were innumerable horse-related barbecues, trail rides, clinics, and impromptu training sessions. As I reread the innumerable entries, I realized that ours is a reciprocal relationship. Raudi, Siggi, and Tinni are constantly learning new things – and so am I.

Siggi Halastajarni aka Ziggi Stardust aka Dweezil Hoss

Of our three horses, Siggi Halastajarni has gotten the least amount of page space. This is because the three-year old is our youngest horse. He also has conformational problems, which have contributed to our belief that that he shouldn’t be asked to do much, if anything at all before he’s five. In appearance, he resembles a lanky blue dun moose. He has a steep croup, stands with his legs well under his body, toes out, and is cowhocked. His gait of choice, in fact, his only gait, is the pace. However, his attributes are those of the quintessential first prize Icelandic horse. He has a refined head, a nice topline, and well-placed eyes and ears.

Pete tells visitors that Ziggy is named after David Bowie character, Ziggy Stardust. You’ve heard of the man who fell from earth? Well, he’s the horse who fell from earth.” Seeing the mystified look on younger visitor’s faces, I quickly add, “It’s his looks. He has a dusting of white on his forehead, and was born with a zig-zag back stripe.”

Like Bowie’s Ziggy, our Ziggy is quirky. Of our three Icelandics, he’s the most people oriented. He enjoys watching Pete fix things. His tool of choice is the drill bit. Ziggy’s also a chow hound. If say, the enclosure door is left open, he’ll remain inside and finish off what Raudi and Tinni have temporarily abandoned. Because Ziggi’s so calm, he’s gotten more on the road-related ground training time than has Raudi. Pete, Rainbow (our dog) and I have had to budget time for walks because Ziggi will stop and stand, gumming his leadline until it’s a soggy mess.

On day, when I was feeling particularly impatient, I asked Pete, Is he always going to be like this? My partner’s half-hearted shrug indicated that its no big deal – he just isn’t as bothered by Ziggy’s lackadaisical behavior as I am.

A few days ago, when we took Ziggy out for his evening jaunt, he came to a stop. As we stood waiting, the full moon rose over the distant trees. Awed, Pete and I stood for some time, staring at it. Then after some time, we all moved on. What I then realized was that what Siggi had been attempting to teach me is that I’ll see, and experience more if I too relax, and enjoy being in the moment.

Raudhetta aka Raudi aka Little Red aka Swiftfoot

Raudi is the horse visitors notice when they look in the enclosure. She’s a carbon copy of her dam Gerjun, excepting the fact that she lacks a white nose snip. She’s sorrel, with a flaxen mane and tail, and like her mom, stout. In personality, she’s a fire horse; extremely fast and amazingly willful. Admittedly, her high energy level has at times, has made me wonder, should I sell her to a more experienced rider, that is one who will really bring out the best in her?

I began putting weight on her back, and introduced her to the saddle and bridle last winter. On April 11, her fourth birthday, Pete lead Raudi and I out to the dirt road in front of our house. At the time, I said that this was the high point in my riding career. However, each subsequent venture has been that much more momentous. These have included being lead around the neighborhood loop, riding solo around the same, and finally going further a field.

And then, there was our trip to Fairbanks, where we participated in the four-day TTeam clinic. My sole goal was to get Raudi there and back safely. This was easily accomplished. As for the clinic itself, there were no surprises – she did what she’d been trained to do. She walked over the tarp and around the labyrinth with aplomb and vigor. At the same time, the gaps in her TTeam training also made themselves apparent. For example, because I have an aversion to knots, I’d bypassed neckline driving. This became momentarily problematic. And so there we were, ready to move out. Raudi was put in homing pigeon. Susan was on one side, and Ruth was on the other. I stood behind Raudi, holding the lines. Having been asked to stand still, Raudi pawed at the ground. When, finally, Ruth asked her to walk on, Raudi bolted, sending Ruth flying. Mandy, after taking a deep breath, took Ruth’s line, stood up straight, and with the wand, told Raudi that her behavior was unacceptable. Raudi, now having finally gotten the message, slowed down. Mandy then gave Raudi a big hug, and said that I was doing a fine job with her. What I did not say took the form of an ahh haa moment. Yes, Raudi was teaching me that training a complicated young horse has both its up and down moments. There would, I then realized, be no more talk about parting with her.

Tinni, aka Tinsi, aka Tiny Tim, aka T-Man, aka Best Horse

Susan Tilley has described horses that you can trust with your life, or those of a neighbor kid with, as Steady Eddies. In every way, shape and form, Tinni is our Steady Eddy. In appearance, he is striking, in a you gotta love Icelandics kinda way. He’s jet black, with a thick mane and tail. Signs of age now include some grey hairs on his forehead, and a slightly sagging underside.

This summer, 18-year old Tinni has crossed streams, scrambled up steep cliffs, and remained oblivious to what he considers to be road riff raff; dump trucks, motorcycles, and cement trucks included. He’s also been an ideal pen companion for Raudi and Siggi – they’ve learned from his gentle nips and butt bumps to be less pushy.

This past May we decided to train Tinni to pull a cart, with the end goal being that I’d drive our neighbor Aubrey to her backyard wedding site. Pete and I then refurbished an old cart and harness, and with the help of several members of the Driving Me Buggy Society, trained Tinni to drive. But three days before the August event, Aubrey decided that for reasons of accessibility, that she’d ride Tinni. I concealed my disappointment because I didn’t want to ruin The Big Day.

The morning of the wedding, a neighbor, Samantha, age 11, and her grandmother Pat helped me give Tinni a bath. Once he was dry, we braided garden marigolds into his shiny mane and tail. Being true Alaskans, we improvised. We didn’t have rubber bands, so instead we used bread ties. Before saddling, I wrote “To Be Married” on one side of Tinni’s white saddle pad, and “Just married” on the other.

As planned, at 3 p.m. Tinni stood like a statue as Aubrey stepped on the mounting block and climbed onto his back. No horse owner was ever more proud than I, as I lead Tinni down the dirt road. My pride turned to nervousness as we climbed the short, but steep hill leading to our destination, for a bee buzzed around Aubrey’s colorful flower headband. If Tinni felt bothered, he didn’t let on. Instead, he continued to move slowly, and deliberately, stopping every few feet in order to have his photo taken. Tinni grazed quietly during the ceremony, seemingly oblivious to the onlookers After, horse, bride and groom, and the other 100 or so people in attendance walked downhill, to the reception area.

Moments after the reception was in full swing, I took Tinni home, explaining to Samantha that although there was a party going on, Tinni’s needs had to be tended to first . Together, we cleaned the pen, gave all three the horses water and hay, and removed the marigolds from Tinni’s mane and tail. I then thanked him, by giving him his favorite treat, the heel of my homemade bread.