Hi,
New to this site but would love some experienced advice. We decided after much stalling and deliberation to add a horse to our lives...1.As a comapanion/passion/hobby for our daughter(14yr old. I owned a horse in my 20's and have always loved them. Now I'm in my early 50's and riding again is something I am also entertaining...so is my husband. We recently got turned onto the Icelandic, thinking that the breed would suit us perfectly... a fun but safe ride.. We would be going on trail rides and possibly the occasional gymkana.

We went to look at 2 Icelandics yesterday. Currently owned by a lovely German lady that can no longer ride..who clearly loves her horses and has owned horses most of her life. They were 7 and 8yrs. 1/2 brothers and larger...14.2. Very cute..but VERY fat and Very out of shape and to be honest I'm not sure how much formal training they have really had. My daughter hopped on the back of one and under halter she had a very tough time getting the guy to respond to leg pressure or neck reining....in fact he seemed quite uninterested in doing anything...but plodding along.

The lady was embarrased slightly but said that at this time they were like 300 pound men. And that if they were ridden well and often they would be entirely different animals from an energy standpoint. She clearly feels bad and know this is not good for their health.

Sorry...long time getting to the point. These boys are obviously going to need some good training and conditioning. We would have to pay for someone to do this with the hope they would be transformed into the fun energetic icelandic horses we hear about and would love to have?

The idea of having 2 icelandic appeals a great deal as it's always more fun to have someone to ride with and the price is right for the two of them. Is this worth pursuing?