My name is Robin Marquiss and I live in Two Rivers Alaska. My husband and I have had Icelandics for most of 14 years now, and I have to say that they are very suited for whatever we have asked of them.

We started our operation with 3 Icelandics back in 1994, two mares from Icelandic Horse Farm and one young stallion from Pegasus Ranch in Washington. We had 3 foals before gelding the stallion; Vaengur who now lives with Vera Alexander here in Fairbanks. Fran has Tofa foal number 1, and Robin and Al Near have Drago, foal number 2 and Falki foal number 3, in Coeur d’Alene ID.

When our favorite and most beloved mare Elska died suddenly, I was so devastated that I didn’t ride for over 2 years. I continued to love our other mare, Tressa and bought her a Norwegian Fjord gelding, Esten for company. ( Vaengur had been sold to Vera before we lost Elska). Tressa needed a girl to spoil her, so I sold her to Theresa and Kayia Harmon. They seem to be spoiling each other and getting along wonderfully. I have since been concentrating on more training aspects for me and getting Esten ready for riding. With help from Susan and Theresa, we have been doing some TTeam training with him, and he seems to love it. He is a very easy going guy, and just wants to be friends with everyone. He also paces, so it will be fun to see what else he can do.

This spring we were able to help Miki and Julie Collins by housing their new horses while we waited for the weather to cooperate to bring Harpa and Lilja to town from Lake Minchumina. It was a real treat to get to know Bastian and Meyla before they flew (literally) out of town. We now are the proud caretakers of Harpa and Lilja for Miki and Julie. I had hauled Harpa to Alaska when I brought our original 3 up from Canada, she was pregnant with Susan’s Fluja at that time. I’m sure they are wondering what happened to their unlimited pasture since they have arrived, but they seem quite calm about all the changes. They were a little put off by all the fireworks on New Years, but Esten reassured them that it was just crazy humans, and all would be well.

We are still getting to know both of them, and are looking forward to what they can teach us on the trails this summer.