what was the man that was doing these crosses trying to accomplish? Was he trying to add something to Icelandics and correct something - he'd be interesting to talk to.
When I first heard about these crosses, from someone who agreed with me in thinking he was spoiling a good thing, I had to wonder why but I also admired his quite optismistic thinking. Niels West was a very elderly man. I couldn't understand how he imagined that he would ever be alive to find out if anything he did in developing a new strain of horses would come to fruition. By the time we went up to look at the ponies for sale when they disbursed his herd, he was living in a nursing facility following a debilitating stroke. I have pictures of him somewhere around here. Anyway, we went up to look for a nice young gelding, told them flat out we did not want to look at any ponies that were not purebreds, ete etc. I didn't like the only colt they had, most of the mares were either bred or had foals at side. Yrsa was too young (age 3), so I finally agreed to look at Toscs, 3/4 Icelandic. She was very aloof and the barn man put a halter on her immediately so that he could be sure to catch her if I wanted to see her. As we looked at the other mares and fillies, she stood back at the fringes of the group. For some reason, I decided to forgive her mixed heritage and bought her and the purebred Yrsa, actually to keep her company. I don't think she particularly pretty or cute, but we have a very nice bonding going on and she seems really to enjoy the tough mountain trail riding we do. I still not ready to declare her a therapy horse. She may never be ready. Nancy
