Episode 27 - Lala Bensson

In this episode, we talked with Lala Benson, about how she started with Icelandic horses, after meeting Guðmar in Kentucky. From Palomino ponies with amble, quarter and Arabian horses to Leiri, a true master shaping her as a person, we speak about shared experiences with the loss of horses, her move to Iceland, and studying at Holar University as the first American. We learn about Lala's passion of being a musician, part of the Knights of Iceland showcasing the breed, riding other breeds. Lala´s openmindedness gave room for trust, in horses that might need a different approach than a normal bridle. Being now located in Washington, she is sharing knowledge, giving back to the community to grow the passion for the Icelandic horses. 

• https://www.knightsoficeland.com/
• https://www.valkyrieicelandic.com/
• https://www.resonantriding.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/invaderlala/

Music by Cob.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, @the_toelt_tales.

Transcript

Ariane: 0:00

Hello, everyone. Our new guest is the first American who graduated from Holar University, founding member of the Knights of Iceland and a representative of the Icelandic horse world in the US. Laura Lala Benson is in The Tölt Tales podcast. Laura Benson, Lala Benson, can you, for the people that don't know you, just briefly present yourself? Who are you, where are you from, what are you doing?

Lala: 0:36

Thank you so much for having me. It's a great honor to be here. My name is Laura Benson, and many people call me Lala. It's actually a family name. My niece, she named me that 29 years ago. So that's why there is the whole Laura Lala thing. I am an Icelandic course trainer and musician. I now live just outside of Seattle, Washington in the Pacific Northwest, in the United States. I have been involved with Icelandic courses since I was 13 years old and I will be 43 this year. So it's a big milestone year for me with this breed and how it's changed my life. I love to train and teach and explore and learn and combine my love of art, music and horses.

Ariane: 1:25

Wow. Last year, we went actually to Iceland and met Guðmar Pettersson in person. That was extremely nice for us. I really enjoyed training for him. I know that you have the connection to him and we will come back, or we can actually start with Guðmar, because you described yourself on your website, and we will put the link to your website and all the links that we talk about later into the show notes. You describe yourself a bit as a stable bread or something. And I thought that was quite funny because you probably hung around the stables all the time, and Guðmar said that he was in Kentucky at that point. Can you just tell us how it started? How did you start with everything? With Guðmar, with getting into Icelandic horses, did you ride before that?

Lala: 2:21

Yeah, it's a little bit more complex and kind of a crazy story. But I got my first horse when I was two years old. So I've been riding like since I could walk.

Ariane: 2:31

Wow. Okay.

Lala: 2:34

Icelandic horses were not my first horses, but they did change my life. I was actually living in Georgia at the time that I met Guðmar and his family. They were doing a horse show in Kentucky called Equitana that has been done for many years in Germany. And it was the beginning when they brought it to the United States. And it was very much advertised in all the horse magazines. I was, you know, as a kid, I was an avid subscriber to like Horse Illustrated and Equus, all these horse magazines in the United States.

Ariane: 3:10

In Germany, I read all of those magazines.

Lala: 3:12

Oh my God, I was such a nerd. I still am. But they had this whole article on Equitana and what it was. And just seeing this like production with horses as a kid that loved music and loved horses, I begged my mother like, can we please go to this? So we drove up to Louisville for the show. And the first evening, they had this gala, this like performance with horses, for like a two hour long performance with music and different acts and themes and breeds. And the Icelandic horses came in. And this was very 1996. They came in riding to this house remix version of Cotton-Eyed Joe, which was very popular at the time. And so it was like this techno music going on, but they all had strobe lights on their feet. And there were like 12 of these crazy tiny hairy horses just flying around full speed. And I was absolutely mesmerized. I just thought it was the craziest thing I'd ever seen. It was so much fun and so much energy. The next day, I went down with my mother to their booth and just begged them to let me ride a horse. And they put me on a horse and they never got rid of me again.

Ariane: 4:30

Wow.

Lala: 4:32

They invited me to come to Iceland. I think they were being nice. And I saved up my money cleaning stalls and showed up on their doorstep the next summer. I'm a little bit ambitious.

Ariane: 4:44

But it's good.

Lala: 4:45

Yeah.

Ariane: 4:45

Super nice.

Lala: 4:47

I homeschooled, so I had that opportunity. And my parents were very, very generous with encouraging me to do what I love. And then when Guðmar decided to, and his family decided to open the farm in Kentucky in 1999, they asked if I would like to come and help. And so I somehow convinced my parents to let me move to Kentucky with a bunch of Icelanders. And I basically helped them run their farm, starting the whole program in Kentucky. And, you know, they made me do all like their administrative work because they'd be like, oh, we don't speak English. So I had to make like phone calls to the phone company and the bank. And I learned a lot of life skills working for them.

Ariane: 5:33

I can imagine they wanted probably some somebody native to kind of have already like a foot in the door. Yeah, this is super fun.

Lala: 5:43

So it was great. And I would have done anything for them. I mean, I was just that way. Like it was such a beautiful opportunity for me. And I just love doing it. I would do anything for them. I cleaned all the stalls. I took care of all the horses. When they would go to Iceland, they would leave me alone with all the horses for the summer at 15, 16 years old. And it was wonderful. It was one of the best, most special times of my life.

Ariane: 6:13

Yeah, I can imagine that.

Lala: 6:15

They became my family and really helped me foster and cultivate this journey with the Icelandic horse.

Ariane: 6:23

Yeah. How many horses actually were at that point at that farm?

Lala: 6:30

Yeah, so they... How I remember it, anyway, obviously, I was young at the time. But how I remember it was that the idea was that originally they were bringing horses over for these performances, selling them and going home, and then the people were not having any help. And they really wanted to create a center where they could help people. So when they decided to move to this farm in LaGrange, Kentucky, I believe they brought over a shipment of 10 horses, actually by boat. It was, I think, the last boat to have gone from Iceland. And they drove from Canada to Florida and did like a tour and sold a bunch of horses along the way, and then ended up in Kentucky with a good group of horses, and then were able to also bring in clients that they had previously sold horses to, to be on the farm. And then we would gradually bring in more from Iceland. I seem to recall we had around 30 or so horses at any given time. But it was, yeah, it was just a really cool experience to all of a sudden just be immersed in these horses. And in 1999 as well, we brought over the stallion Þræsturfrá, Inrís Gelibrekur, and he was like one of the first really impressive first prize stallions that came to the United States. I was a very lucky child. You know, I got to ride him while Guðmar was away, and I got to train him, not really train. I didn't know what I was doing, but I felt like I was training him. But he basically took care of me and taught me, and I'll never forget my first flying pace was on the stallion who had nine for pace. Guðmar just put me on him riding home from a trail ride, and he said, okay, now you're going to pace him down the driveway, and you don't stop him. Just let him go to the barn, because he will not stop him. So I just put him in canter and sat, and he just paced me all the way home, and I was addicted from that moment on. It's something really, yeah, it's pretty educational to sit on a pace like that, for sure. It lets you know what the feeling that you want to have.

Ariane: 8:39

Yes, but coming actually back to before you started, so you had been sitting on a horse and riding before you started with the Icelandic horse. What kind of breeds did you start with before that?

Lala: 8:53

I was a little bit of a mixed salad, you know, like I was just any horse I could get my hands on, any style of riding. But I will say the reason that I was specifically drawn to the Icelandic horse is because my first horse was a Tennessee Walker Shetland Pony Cross.

Ariane: 9:15

What? If you have still somehow probably not digital, but if you have somewhere a picture of that, I would so appreciate to see a picture of this.

Lala: 9:29

I will send you some photos. So, my sister and I got our first horse when I was two and she was eight. And her name was Lucky. She was a Golden Palomino and she was 14 hands tall. And she was gated. She had a tolt and or a rack or whatever you want to call it, but a four beat amble. Yeah. And we didn't know what that was. We would, you know, we didn't even own a saddle. Like we would just gallop through the fields of Tennessee. We lived in Tennessee when we first got her and then moved to Georgia and just be bareback all day long. Like I just grew up on the back of this horse. She was crazy. She loved to go.

Ariane: 10:13

But I think we are probably, I'm 42. So we are probably, we grew up in the same kind of era where you just sit on a pony or a horse and you don't care really. No helmet, no saddle, maybe a bridle, and you just go and you don't really think about it. So I can absolutely relate to that.

Lala: 10:34

100%. This was my childhood. And some days I really missed that freedom of just not knowing anything, you know? It was a beautiful time. And I learned so much just to be with my horse and to follow and fell off all the time.

Ariane: 10:50

Exactly. But it didn't matter.

Lala: 10:52

It didn't matter. It was just part of it. But we had this horse and we would do things. We would take her to local shows and do barrel racing or jumping or whatever they had. But she was gated, you know? And we would try and post her tolt and do all these weird things. We would borrow saddles from people. But when I saw the Icelandic horse, I finally saw a horse that I thought was lucky. I was like, this is my horse. It's just like her. But yeah, that's what drew me to Icelandics. But in between having her and then discovering Icelandics, I also got very into, for one summer, I cleaned stalls in exchange for jumping lessons and did faux fox hunting. Then I got really into barrel racing. And then I started working with a natural horsemanship trainer and breaking in Mustangs. That's where I learned how to train horses when I was 11. And this was so much fun. I just really loved the young horse starting. And he had a big quarter horse that he would work the young horses off of. And I ended up buying that horse from him and learning this method and this style of training. And then I met the Icelandic horses and sold the quarter horse. But always I loved every breed. My sister and I had an Arab stallion. I still have a huge affinity for Arabians, traditional Arabians. I love them.

Ariane: 12:17

Yeah, so then that was also when you bought your first Icelandic horse then at one point from Guðmar.

Lala: 12:25

Yeah.

Ariane: 12:26

Yes.

Lala: 12:27

So I wouldn't really say bought. This is where the whole barn rat story comes in, you know, running this place, helping Guðmar run this place, which I think back on it now. And I thought I was so mature and old and I was a child, you know, and so was Guðmar. He was like 19 years old. And it's just so funny to think about. But that shipment that he brought the horses over on the boat, there was this palomino, five-gated palomino gelding named Leiri, Fra Thoria Nupi, and he was under Otur Froselfosi. And I remember when the boys got him off the trailer, they said to me, Laura, you can't have this horse. Because they knew I didn't have any money and they knew I was going to be in love with it because all I talked about was my palomino and blah, blah, blah. I'm going to have a palomino Icelandic. And I just remember Guðmar's brother, Hauken, just be like, you will not own this horse. I was like, I'm going to find a way to own this horse. So much to my advantage, they quickly realized that this horse was way too hot for the American market. He was very fast, very sensitive. And if you touch the reins, he would just go faster. So eventually, they started to realize they couldn't sell him. And I was just, you know, always trying to steal him and ride him. And oh, I love him. I would sleep in his stall. And then I remember one summer, it was Guðmar's older brother, Hákon was getting married. And they were going to have this big wedding in Iceland, Hákon and Hátla, his wife. And I really wanted to go, because this was my family. I love them. And I was so excited to go to this wedding. And Guðmar sat me down one day. He said, Laura, we really, really need you. He's so good at convincing people to do things. We really need you this summer. I was like, oh, what do you need? Because I always want to be helpful. That's my goal in life, is just to help people. And he's like, we need you to stay here while we're at the wedding. And my heart just dropped. And I, but why, you know, why can't I go? Am I not invited? He's like, no, we would love to have you there, but there's no one else that we would trust to take care of the horses. And we really need you to take care of the farm. And I was like, that makes me really sad. Like I would really love to go. But of course, if you need it, I will do that. And he said, you know, what if we allow you to work off Leiri and maybe you sell your quarter horse and you can use whatever money you get from him to pay us? Why? So I of course said yes.

Ariane: 15:15

Yeah.

Lala: 15:15

And I only got like, I think, $4,000 for my quarter horse or something. So my mother gave Guðmar that money. And then I was just an infinite slave. They called me the Thraig. Like that was one of the first Icelandic words I learned was slave. But it was very endearing. Like I never felt, you know, I loved this so much. I felt so special and so important, I think as a kid to have these people treat you like you are an adult and know what you're doing, even though maybe I didn't know what he's doing. It just, it allowed me to have so much confidence and to explore and not feel nervous about being in way over my head. And I think that really has shaped me a lot as a human in how I approach things in life. And I'm not scared to do things that scare me. I just do them. So I think that was a big part of it. But yeah, that's how I got Leiri. And he was the love of my life. He passed away this past October. He was, but he was 34 years old.

Ariane: 16:23

Wow. So he had a good life, a long life with you.

Lala: 16:27

He did. And I'm just so grateful for him. And I love that horse so much. He taught me, I mean, he taught me how to let go. I could not control him at all. And if I would relax and trust him, then like, you know, 50% of the time, I could control him. But I just, I loved him so much. And he was also a, you know, a pace horse. And I learned to pace on him. And just, yeah, he was very influential horse in my life. Wow.

Ariane: 16:59

Yeah, I see. When you talk about him, you, your face changed a bit. It's like being so in love with a horse. And now my, my old horse, Sam, it's a, he was a big kind of Iranian. I had him for 21 years. So I, this long connection with a horse, with a partner, was also something that I can relate to. It's something I had Sam when he was three, and we really, we moved together to Sweden. And it is a special thing that you have with an animal that is, especially if you have them so long.

Lala: 17:34

Well, and especially when you're so young, you know, like they kind of raise you, or they're alongside you as you're growing and changing into different people, you know.

Ariane: 17:43

They do.

Lala: 17:43

And you have them there as a constant in your life. And I told Kerry, my training partner in Kentucky, when Leiri passed away, you know, I still haven't even said anything about it on social media, because I just don't know how. And last year in general was a very intense year for me. I had a lot of, lost a lot of people and lost a lot of animals. And I told her like him dying, he was kind of one of the last of our old guard of horses to go. And I wasn't like in devastating grief. I wasn't, you know, annihilated. I knew that he lived a good life and I was very happy for that. But it was almost like a sadness and a loss of, or just an ending of a chapter of my life.

Ariane: 18:29

Yes.

Lala: 18:29

Like, like the entire first chapter of my life. He's been there. He started. He's the reason I am who I am today, you know. So I told her that, that was the sadness and the sorrow I felt of his passing is like, I really need to let go of that part of my life. And now I'm starting a new chapter. I don't know what that's going to be. No, I have some ideas, but it's a little bit sad, but also a little bit exciting. So that's kind of how that transition really has been affecting me lately.

Ariane: 19:05

Yeah, it's really like an era that comes to an end. And it's why, you know, it's happening. It's not easy to completely move on. It's something that I, I still say sometimes Sam's name, just when I'm by myself, I just say out his name out loud. And that makes me feel calm inside. And then I just continue doing whatever I do. And yeah, I got him when I was 18. So for me, or actually 17, I think. And so I also, he was always there for me and he passed now like three, four years ago. So that is also, it is, it is a thing that affects you and, but it shapes you also and makes you a person.

Lala: 19:53

Yeah. And I do think it is very important that we also learn to let the nostalgia be a positive thing to remember and, and think of it with fondness, but not let it hold us back.

Ariane: 20:10

No.

Lala: 20:11

Because I think a few years ago, like before I turned 40, I think I was always obsessed with nostalgia in the past and everything. I used to be so good and beautiful. And I think that really held me back. And it keeps you from moving forward and finding more beautiful things. And I think that is something that I really try now in the last few years to, to be aware of is that I need to appreciate the things in my past and bring with how they've shaped me and what they've done, but not let them hold me back either. It's easier said than done, but.

Ariane: 20:47

It's a, it's a work in progress, and everything in life. So, yeah, I like that.

Lala: 20:53

Anyways, I'm getting all philosophical now, but.

Ariane: 20:55

No, but it's, it's good. It's, I really appreciate this. I think it's so fascinated, fascinating that you, that we are the same age. And while on the, on, on different continents, there were like things that we experienced in a similar way or have like those key moments. And of course, we have different lives, but I think this is so, so fun to, to kind of meet somebody and have similar stories, kind of.

Lala: 21:26

Yeah, it is really crazy to hear your story and how we are very close in age. Yeah, it's, yeah, yeah. It made me cry a little bit, you talking about Sam and how you say his name. And, you know, I kind of have that same, same thing with Leiri. It's just a gratefulness and reverence to those, those horses that were with us through our teenage years. And into adulthood, you know.

Ariane: 21:52

But then you actually moved to Iceland because you went to Holar.

Lala: 21:56

Yes.

Ariane: 21:59

How did that start? Because Guðmar also moved back, but was it at the same time that he moved back? Or did you already move and started studying in Holar?

Lala: 22:09

No, he was living in Kentucky almost full time. When I went to Holar. But I think around 2000, the year 2000, I think, Guðmar was with his first wife, Gia, who is one of my best friends, Gia Einarsdóttir. She's a beautiful equine photographer, Icelandic photographer. Yeah, so she and Guðmar planted this seed in my head that I needed to go to Holar. They knew I wanted to train. I knew I wanted to train horses full-time. They obviously saw how passionate I was about it, and I think Guðmar really saw that opportunity for me to be the first American to go there. And so he and Gia brought it up to me, and I was like, yeah, okay, let's do this. Let's do it. So I called my parents and told them, they're like, yeah, okay, whatever. Like one of our kids is going to go to college, cool. And, you know, I didn't know much Icelandic. The only Icelandic I knew before I moved to Iceland was, I would get Icelandic CDs, and I would sing the songs and read the liner notes. So I would just learn the words. I didn't know what they meant, but I would just learn how to pronounce them and say them. And then also Gia would write silly poems with me. I still have many of them. They're hilarious in Icelandic and help me translate them. And we would just write little poems about the horses, or me, or Guðmar, or her. So those were really special memories. But I didn't speak any Icelandic. But Guðmar sent me to Iceland in January of 2001. And I went to Fluumiri in the north of Iceland. So I moved there in a blizzard. I got on a bus and took the bus to Varmelid. And Páll Pjárki, Pálsson picked me up there and took me to Fluumiri. And the one stipulation was that they were not allowed to speak any English to me. And there was never a word of English uttered between us.

Ariane: 24:23

Wow. I mean, it is the way that you really learn a language, for sure. Wow.

Lala: 24:29

Then, like, there was no Google, there was no Google Translate.

Ariane: 24:34

Exactly.

Lala: 24:35

Nobody knew about Iceland, so there were no language courses on Icelandic. All I had was an English Icelandic dictionary, and it wasn't even that great. That was the only thing I had. And I learned by watching television with Icelandic subtitles. I would then I could connect the words. You know, I play music by ear, so I hear things really easily. So if I could connect to them speaking English to the Icelandic words I would see on the screen, then it would start to connect, and I'd go and look those words up. And I had the phonetics down, so I knew how each letter sounded and each word sounded. So it just started to kind of piece together that way, through that, and music, and then some Icelandic friends that I had in the north, they would always text me in Icelandic. So we would text each other, and that was really helpful too.

Ariane: 25:23

Yeah.

Lala: 25:24

So that's how I learned the language.

Ariane: 25:25

Short things.

Lala: 25:27

And in three months, I was fluent, so.

Ariane: 25:30

But then you're really exposed, right? In three months. Wow.

Lala: 25:35

Okay. I didn't have a choice, and when you're running a farm, I mean, we had like 50-something horses. It was crazy.

Ariane: 25:43

And it needs to work.

Lala: 25:44

It needs to work. So there is an urgency to understand and to communicate. And, you know, it was just like some days were really frustrating, and I'm like, I'm never going to get this, and I would feel so upset. And then one day before I knew it, I'm just like dreaming in Icelandic.

Ariane: 25:59

Yes.

Lala: 25:59

And it's kind of funny because now, like, sometimes I feel like I speak better Icelandic than English. Like, when I'm teaching, there's many words because I learned it Holar. There's many words I don't even know in English that I learned first in Icelandic. And, you know, when Carrie and I are talking, who also went to Holar, we often just slip in and out of English or Icelandic, and people will walk up and we'll be speaking Icelandic, and they're like, you're both American, what is happening?

Ariane: 26:32

But also, again, I can relate to this because Lionel didn't grow up with horses in France. So he only knows certain things in English or in Swedish. Sometimes we just talk with each other while we talk normally English, we use Swedish words for horse related stuff because that's just, everybody around us speaks Swedish, so then we implement Swedish, but especially horse related stuff, you learn it in a certain language and then it's stuck in your brain.

Lala: 27:03

Right. Yeah, I very much think when I'm training, I'm thinking in Icelandic, not in English.

Ariane: 27:09

Then you started the program, you did, is it called already a bachelor or what is it?

Lala: 27:16

The bachelor was introduced just as I was finishing my last year, my third year. So it was not called the bachelor program at the time. I did do all three years, but I actually took a break between my second and my third year because I really wanted to get confident and establish myself as a teacher and get more experience with competition and higher level training. So I did take a break between the second and third year, quite a big one. But I was there from 2001 to 2004 and I did my internship at Dalandi with Haldur Guðjóns and I was very grateful to go there. I was also, you know, as hard as Flugamiri was, I was very grateful that Guðmar chose to send me there, because he really, he knew that I was going to be dressaged a lot at Holar and like be in the arena a lot. So he really wanted me to go somewhere where I was still maintaining my spirit of like riding forward and riding these powerful. I mean, we had Kormalkur and Sif and just some of the most amazing horses of that era that I was getting to ride. And it was very, you know, it was not, we were not doing like elegant training. It was just learning to ride and ride the gates fast and forward. And again, it was a very, I think a very smart move on his part to send me there and to balance, to counterbalance what I would then go to at Holar, where they totally had to just crack me open and refine me. Cause I was such a crazy, you know, bareback Indian.

Ariane: 28:56

But then also you got an award for best horsemanship. It's called Ausstund Reitmenska.

Lala: 29:04

Well, it was kind of funny because my first year, you know, you learn different things every year. And my first semester, it was all about like dressage and learning how to sit properly and all this stuff. I had never learned any of that. And a lot of, there were a lot of European, a lot of Swedish and Norwegian girls, a few German girls. We actually had a pretty famous class. We had like Philippe Montand, Torun Hjelvik, Sara Anbro, Artemisa Bertus, Johanna Hördroli, Joirag. But we were all like so tight, really good friends. But these girls were like really schooled in all this dressage stuff. And they were like so high in these exams. And I was doing fine, you know, I wasn't failing. But I was getting like maybe sixes and stuff. And I just felt like, oh my god, I'm just such a hillbilly from America. And I just know how to run around bareback like a maniac. Like I'm never going to be good at this. But then the next semester started when we were doing, they would give us two horses that we had to improve, like two training horses. And then we also had young horses that we had to start. And that's where I really kicked into gear. Because if there's one thing I know how to do, it's to work with problems. Because I never had fancy horses, I always had problem horses because that's what I could afford. And that's what I enjoyed, like problem solving and seeing how I could connect with a horse that doesn't really know how to connect or want to connect. So then I started to really excel at school. And I think some of the teachers started to notice my ability in that environment. And then when I went to my third year, yeah, I got the Reymannske Award, and that was just, it was really special. I didn't expect it at all. I wasn't thinking about it, you know. As usual, I'm just trying to learn and to survive. But I think I owe a lot of that to my classmate at the time, Sigurvall de Laurus Guilmusson. He and I went to our third year together, and we became really close friends, and his wife, Marta, I just, I love her so much. And they had, their daughter was just like, I think 10 months old when we started Holar together. So I would babysit for them a lot, and now she's like competing in five gate and stuff. But, you know, we really worked together a lot in our third year. We made our final teaching presentation. We created a teaching instructional video on like how to train the canter with Icelandic horses, and we did that together, and it was really fun. But again, I think just having that family by my side and us working together on projects and helping each other with horses, like, it was funny because he got the award for best teaching and like below him was me, and then below the Reymenska was him. So it's like we were just really, and we weren't again, it wasn't like a goal of ours to be number one. And I don't think anybody's really number one in this scenario, but it was a pleasant surprise to be recognized. So yeah.

Ariane: 32:27

But you also trained them for somebody that is now also training in Sweden for a lot of people. And a lot of people that we interviewed actually mentioned him, Ejjölfur Isolfsson, and he is one of your mentors. At least I've read about this, that you can say that you met.

Lala: 32:48

I would definitely credit him with being one of my biggest mentors. I think, aside from Guðmar, obviously, my biggest mentor was probably Meta Monseth. She really changed my life. But Ejjölfur, yes, he was incredible and continues to be. His curiosity and his passion for learning is just unprecedented. Like the way he just explores and discovers. And this is one of the things I love about Holar and the Icelandic horse in general is it's always changing. They're always trying new things. And sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. And I think that's what's beautiful about Icelandic horsemanship in general, is that it's not locked in this institution. We're always trying to be better. And that's I think that's very important in any aspect of horsemanship. But yeah, Aeolver, I have many words that stay on my head from Aeolver Ísulsson.

Ariane: 33:42

Is there something like a certain lesson or something that you always have in your head when you think about him or when you think about like training horses or teaching people that kind of he influenced you on?

Lala: 33:57

I think there is one that stays very prominently in my brain. And that is, we were in a lesson one day, me and my classmates, the six of us were training and he's sitting up on the pedestal teaching through the microphone and he's watching us train and just very quiet. And we always get nervous when he's quiet, like, oh God, are we doing okay? And we start doing things.

Ariane: 34:23

Not saying anything. Yeah. Yeah.

Lala: 34:24

And we're like training our horses. And I think he really enjoys this. And and then he says, because clearly this is what we were all doing. He says, you don't get better by training the things that you're already good at. And we were like, shit.

Ariane: 34:44

Yep.

Lala: 34:46

So we're there like trying to impress him and show him what we can do, you know. But it's such an important thing. Like we're so afraid of failure and doing it wrong, especially when other people are watching that will then like hide those things and only like showcase what we know how to do. And if you're only doing that, you're not improving, your horse is not improving. So I honestly think that is one of the most important things he's ever said to me. And I tell it to my students all the time, and I tell it to myself when I'm writing to remind myself like, what the hell are you doing? Like you need to work on this thing, not this.

Ariane: 35:21

Actually, it really makes sense because also when you go for a lesson, why should you only do the stuff that you already know? And because you take, for example, lessons so that somebody helps you with the things you cannot yet do.

Lala: 35:37

And I feel like it's something that we all are guilty of. Like when we go to a clinician, like we want to show them when they say, hey, can you show me your horse? Or like, oh, look what we can do.

Ariane: 35:47

Look at my fancy horse and how awesome I am. Yeah.

Lala: 35:50

And then they're like, yeah.

Ariane: 35:53

This is really interesting. I will discuss this with my trainer.

Lala: 35:58

Yeah. It's something I tell when I do a clinic and go to new students. I try to be very clear with them when they're, I usually give them like five minutes to kind of give me a summary of how they ride and show me the gates and the different directions. And I try to be very clear with them, like pretend I'm not here and I don't want you to show off. I don't want you to show me what you're good at. I want you to just pretend you're in your own, like shortened training session with your horse and show me what unfolds. There is no judgment. I'm not here to say how good or bad you are. I want the whole picture.

Ariane: 36:32

This is really good. Yeah, I will think about it next time I sit on my horse. This is really good, because I felt now last time I was riding my youngster and I haven't been since Sam, I haven't been like in 25 years, I have not really sat on a youngster so much anymore. So I'm like, when somebody sees me, I feel like they must think I'm absolutely stupid. And then Lienel was actually later, what are you doing? Because I know that you know what you're doing. And I was just so in my head because I didn't want to show anything wrong. So I kind of blocked myself. I've, yes, absolutely. I will. And it's good because my trainer also trains sometimes for Ejolfur. So she might have heard it. So I will discuss that with her.

Lala: 37:23

I'm sure she has.

Ariane: 37:25

So Louise, if you listen, or your mom, if your mom listens to it, tell Louise. We will need to work on my mental training probably. But so when you train students, is there a goal to exercise or something that you always ask them to do something that you really like to work on?

Lala: 37:51

I mean, I think it's really different with each individual, but the way that I think that I do it, and again, this is something that I really learned from Metta, and I really respect about her, and I think she's one of the best I've ever met to do it, is that when you're watching the horse and rider at first, learning to really evaluate the whole picture in that short time yourself as a teacher, and pinpoint where the entire issue is stemming from. Like there may be beat faults in the gate, or there may be tension in the bridle, or maybe the rider is sitting a certain way, or maybe the horse is not thinking forward, or maybe it's too forward. But where are those things coming from? And it's usually directed to one specific thing. So I always try to find that thing, and that thing will guide me into how I start to coach the horse and student, and figure out how will this individual horse and rider benefit, what exercises can help this specific thing. So that's kind of how I approach it. But Mehta is like a mastermind, like I'll ride for her for five minutes, and she'll be like, this is your problem. And I'm like, holy shit, I never even thought about that, you know? And then it changes my entire ride. And I think having that clarity and simplicity really helps riders, because I think often we talk too much, and then the rider's brain gets busy, and it's too much to take in at once, and you can't think and do at the same time. So this is where musicality really comes into it, and my musical training, and again, it's something my teachers at Holar taught me, is that what's important is the silence between the notes, which means like, you know, the words that you don't say are the ones that say so much. So that means just like, say something simple, take a pause, give the rider time, stop talking, shut the hell up, you know?

Ariane: 39:52

Yeah, absolutely.

Lala: 39:54

It's huge. It just, it really changes because that space allows understanding.

Ariane: 40:00

I can relate to that. Sometimes I'm just like absolutely confused when there's too much information.

Lala: 40:06

Yeah, yeah, I've had some instructors, they just talk and talk and talk and my brain, I have ADHD undiagnosed, but I'm 100% sure I have it. I can't focus because I just get so overwhelmed and then I get angry. Like just I don't even want to listen anymore.

Ariane: 40:23

Yeah.

Lala: 40:24

It's just annoying, you know?

Ariane: 40:25

Yeah, exactly. I sometimes need to just kind of process and just feel. If somebody then tells me again and again, then I'm sometimes like, now I cannot focus on actually what is inside me. So yeah, absolutely. But musicality, then we go back to like your musician. But you also do the Knights of Iceland. How did it start? What is it actually? I just seen pictures and short videos, but what is it? How did it start? What is the idea behind it?

Lala: 41:07

The Knights of Iceland is a very, very important thing to me and an important mission in my life. Again, as we talked about before, my discovery of Icelandic horses was from a theatrical show. And that changed my life. And maybe I was the only person in that audience that night that saw the Icelandic horse, but that horse shaped my whole entire existence. So to me, if I can do these shows and do promotional outreach, if I can reach one kid in that audience, I've already achieved something in my life. So that is, it's very important for me to do these shows. But the Knights of Iceland came about, again, through Guðmar Petersen and his family. We were doing these shows, doing the Equatorna's. I got brought in to ride around 2000, is when I started riding with them. That was a big honor to start to be a part of it. But I think around, I think it became officially Knights of Iceland around 2007 or 2008, if I remember correctly. Guðmar and Håkon really wanted to make it bigger and get a logo and branding and get sponsorship and have it be only professional riders and really try and up the level of promotion of Iceland, of course. So that's when the official Knights of Iceland was born. And we just started doing more shows and events. And then when Guðmar moved back, I think he moved back around 2013 to Iceland. I pretty much took over the promotion and the coordination with the team. Around that time, I was getting on to Instagram and really starting to use that as my avenue for promoting the team. And I connected with a lot of artists and photographers and musicians, and they would come to the events and take photos. And we had some paintings done. I just really was able to cultivate a good presence and connect with other artists and performers. And then eventually, we split the company into three between Carrie, my partner in Kentucky, and Guðmar and I. And now Guðmar, he doesn't come so often because he's quite busy, but he does when he can. But Carrie and I mainly run it, and she oversees all of the paperwork and organization, and I do the choreography and the music and design the costumes and things like that. I don't make the costumes, but I come up with ideas.

Ariane: 43:51

Yeah. So you showcase Icelandic horses.

Lala: 43:56

Yes.

Ariane: 43:57

Do you have a theme when you do a show, or do you change the themes, or how does it work?

Lala: 44:04

Yeah. So originally, it was mainly just a drill team, where we would have six to 10 riders doing these patterns very fast, and we always do it to like heavy metal music, like really kind of get the power going and the adrenaline. Because there's nothing like that in any of the other breeds that are showing, it's all very beautiful, like dressage and-

Ariane: 44:29

Yeah. Fancy.

Lala: 44:30

And then there's funny acts and things like that, but there's nobody that does this like just crazy, like muppets on crack. That's what it looks like to me. So that was kind of the beginning. So it's the drill team, we would do a beer tolt because the audience loves that, and then flying pace. And then that morphed into, we added another element where we would ride with giant sparklers on the horses' feet. We developed these boots where they would come out. It was not harming the horse at all. We rode with sparklers and then we started playing with fire ropes and like pacing through fire. As you can tell, we're all pyromaniacs. We love fire.

Ariane: 45:15

I love that.

Lala: 45:16

So I would always like pick some different musical themes and then we would kind of start to change up the costumes a little bit and try different things. And then in, gosh, when did we do the first musical performance? I think it was 2018. Yeah, it was just after I got Liget. 2018, we debuted actually live vocals in the Knights of Iceland where I would sing on horseback. And we actually did the first one as a tribute to Thröster, Frau Ingrid Skellebrekö, our old stallion. It was kind of a tribute to him. So it was a very, like, I get goosebumps thinking about it, like, just emotional thing because that horse was also, like, the head of these performances. He was always with us. He loved to show. Like, he would hear the music and you just had to hang on. Like, he just was so amped by the crowd. And, you know, Carrie ended up buying thrusters from Guðmar and so she grew up with him as well. So, like, this horse was, like, the center of our world, Guðmar and Carrie and I. And anyway, so I composed a revised arrangement of Vóri Václarskó, which is an old Icelandic song about kind of, like, there's, like, this special place at a certain time of year where you can go and reconnect with somebody from your past. And I did a rendition of that and recorded the track on my pianos and synthesizers and then sang it live on my horse while other riders rode around with torches and sparklers. And even though I sang it in Icelandic, you know, the act was announced as we came in and they kind of, like, laid the scene for what we were doing and talked about Thrustur a little bit and how we went to reconnect with him. But even though I was singing in Icelandic, it just resonated with the audience so much. And, yeah, it was just such a special performance. And that was really, like, the first time I felt the pinnacle of my existence, like, combining my two loves of music and horses. It was terrifying and many times I thought it would fail and I was stupid even trying this, but that was a big, big moment in my life. And it was so special to do that with my friends. I remember the first night, you know, singing and then watching Guðmar and Carrie ride in with the torches toward me. And as they got closer, I could see the tears in their eyes, like we were all, we just felt that horse there with us, you know. So, it was pretty cool. Like, I know it sounds really stupid and frou-frou, but it was real. Like, all of us felt it, even the boys.

Ariane: 48:00

Yeah. I actually think that, independent of the language, music is such a nice tool to transport emotions and transport, like, messages without you needing to understand, because already the melody, the sound of it, you feel this, and probably then also with the visual presentation, of course, you don't need to understand the language. You can still feel the message, while you don't really understand what every word means, you can really relate to how the music transports and what it holds. So that on a horse.

Lala: 48:39

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Roy Rogers is one of my heroes, so being able to sing on a horse like him was like kind of a dream come true.

Ariane: 48:49

But other videos for that. Did you have a recording?

Lala: 48:53

We do have some videos. I have never been able to find any like good quality recordings, which makes me a little bit sad. A lot of these arenas where we've performed, like their production capability is not that great. So I would love to find some more professional videos if anybody took them. But we do have some videos and video clips. I can definitely send you what we do have.

Ariane: 49:18

Absolutely. And then we can put this also in the show notes. And I would love to see them. I'm just like, this is amazing. I am already looking forward to watch those videos. So we have something then.

Lala: 49:33

Yeah, we'll make sure and send you those. And then that is morphed into doing a few more like live vocals and music. And I actually brought in my piano teacher to play on the last track that we did. We did a version of Jegir Kullmennheim, which is kind of like the unofficial Icelandic national anthem.

Ariane: 49:51

Yeah.

Lala: 49:52

But I sang it with my partner, Keith. And he sang, we translated half in English and then I sang in Icelandic. And Mike, my piano teacher, we invited him to play the piano because he was, he's one of the greatest piano players that ever lived. He was David Bowie's piano player. So it was really a special honor to be able to have him involved. And some of my friends from the UK and Mississippi, they played guitar and bass. So we had this whole international team of musicians create the music. And then Keith and I performed, and then Keith MC'd the whole show. He was Loki, he was the Norse god Loki. And so he was having this comedy act and interaction with the audience, and then we sang together, and then we did the drill team, but he would be there interacting with the horses, and that connected to the kids. When we went to do the autograph signing, they didn't care about the riders. They wanted to meet Keith. They're like, oh my God, it's Loki! They're so excited. So that added a whole other element of connecting with people and young kids that maybe like the Norse mythology element of the performance. And that's something I should mention as well is I'm a huge mythology nerd. Like I love all mythologies, not just Icelandic, obviously, especially Norse mythology, but I find stories and symbolism just fascinating. So being able to incorporate that side of Iceland Scandinavia is also very important to me in these shows.

Ariane: 51:27

I mean, you have your account is called Valkyrie Icelandics. Yes. So that probably hints already to this kind of deep connection.

Lala: 51:39

Very much so.

Ariane: 51:45

But you never started kind of breeding yourself. Did you start breeding or having your own run business at one point?

Lala: 51:53

Let's see. I moved back to the States in 2004 and I moved to Colorado. That's where I met Keith, my life partner. And then shortly after, I think like six months later, we moved to California. And that's where I started Valkyrie Icelandic. I started my teaching and training business. But I did not get into breeding until around... I bought a little brood mare, a little crazy mare around 2008. And I bred her a few times. She had two fillies who are owned by good friends of mine now. But then I got my breeding stallion, Lekit, in February of 2018. And so I've been doing some small breeding. I own a five-year-old stallion, the son of his... Loki? That I'm starting now. Yeah, Loki. He was born on April Fool's Day, so I had to name him Loki, of course. And I also, the mare that I had with me at my third year at Holar, she started kind of my mare breeding line. I have her granddaughter now that I'm also starting. She's out of Geisefraqüistum and Rima's daughter Solsticea. She was out of Tirfrá Árbáka and Rima Frászárpáy, who both have nine for pace. So she is hopefully going to be my next pace horse. She's very fast. She's a little crazy, so I'm taking my time starting her because she's like an electricity wire, which is what I want. But I have to be very delicate in how I approach her, and I don't want to mess it up.

Ariane: 53:31

I'm really looking forward to see more of her. So far, I've just seen the two boys mostly. And I'm really trying to follow with Loki because since I have a young horse now, it's really interesting to see how you approach it in the short snippets that I see, of course.

Lala: 53:51

I'm trying to document a lot what I'm doing with both Loki and Cersei. Her name is Sigð, which means scythe. Her mother died when she was six weeks old. So I always say this bloodline is cursed because her grandmother also died when her mother was very young. But I actually wanted to name her Cersei after a Greek witch. But the Icelandic registry wouldn't accept it. So yeah, that's my breeding. And Likit has some other interesting offspring that I've bred. Other people have bred to him that I'm pretty excited about. So I don't do like big time breeding, but a little bit, and I'm very proud of my stallion. And I think so far, working with Likit and Cersei together, they're both the same age, and they're completely different horses. So it's pretty interesting. And I'm trying to film and document, and I will put more more up about them as I go along.

Ariane: 54:46

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. It's always nice to see other people work with their horses and also learn from that, how they do it. And I always think, for me, this feeling and also I'm very visual. This is why I also like Guðmar's videos a lot, because then I can kind of see what other people do and try to see if that would work for me.

Lala: 55:12

Yeah.

Ariane: 55:12

While again, when somebody talks too much to me, I sometimes just zone out. I'm, I'm gone.

Lala: 55:20

Same.

Ariane: 55:21

That's it. But training horses and training other things and coming now back to you riding other breeds as well, not just Icelandic horses, you also interned with somebody in, was it in Portugal or is that person in? It's a Portuguese trainer. But how did that work? Because we had a previous episode with Austa, she's Icelandic, she works, for example, with horse stay up. And she also said, like, she did already go to Spain and was riding, like, PIE and Lusitanos and, like, Spanish horses. And she said that really opened up her mind or her horizon to not just be fixated on the Icelandic horses. So how did that happen? And tell us about it.

Lala: 56:16

This was another, like, if you're starting to see the theme now, I always just have the craziest sequence of events that happen in my life. I don't even know, but they just do. It started when I finished my third year at Holar. I felt a little like, what am I supposed to do with my life now? Like, it was just, it's like when you finish composing and putting on a performance or finish writing a song, you just have this, like, crash and the sadness, like you've lost a child or something. And of course, the thing was great and you're happy about it, but now it's over. It's like, what do I do now? I'm just ashes. And I remember feeling this way and talking to Metta about it. And I was staying with her and Gisli for a couple of days and helping them with the young horses. And she said, you know, you're really good with the dressage stuff and you like the energy as well. She said, I think you would do really well if you tried going to Portugal. They have some really cool training there that you might enjoy. I was like, yeah, that would be really cool. And I thought about it and I reached out to a few people she told me about, but they never got back to me. So I kind of like forgot about it. And then two years later in 2012, we did this circus tour with another European company called Apacionada.

Ariane: 57:41

Yes.

Lala: 57:42

And this was for many years in Europe, and it still is now, I think now it's called Cavaluna or something, I can't remember.

Ariane: 57:49

Yeah, I think it is.

Lala: 57:50

They changed the name, but this was spearheaded, run by a Portuguese master called Luis Valença. And he is like one of the most respected trainers and teachers in Portugal, incredible man. But there was a team of like 12 Portuguese people and they're Lusitanos and they did drill team and all kinds of stuff. And so on the tour, I became good friends with them. And they were, when we would have our breaks at the farm in between performances, we would all like ride together and they would ride the Icelandics and I would ride the Lusitanos. And it was so much fun. And then when the show, the show kind of shut down early because we were spending way too much money. I think the Europeans got a little excited and didn't realize how big America was. But it was fun being treated like rock stars for a while. They invited me to come back to Portugal with them. So that fall I went to Portugal and rode with them and that was amazing. And then when I went back home, my best friend in Iceland, Anita, sent me a flyer about a clinic in Napa, California, which was about an hour away from me, with a trainer named Carlos Carnero. And I messaged him and asked him if I could come and audit the clinic. And I told him I was riding with Luis Valencia. And he was like, that's where I learned to ride. I grew up riding there. I know him very well. And I was just like, wow, how did this happen? So I went to the clinic and met Carlos and we just really connected and he invited me to come and intern with him. So on my days off, I would go spend the weekends in Napa with him and train Lusitanos. And I helped him start young horses. He would let me ride the school masters. He'd let me ride some of the training horses. And he would give me lessons and I learned so much from him. It was very different. But the thing I love about the Lusitanos, I think they have many similarities to the Icelandic horse and that they are very, they value their spirit above everything. So they are still very spirited and sensitive and they grew up in the fields with the bulls and they learn to be agile because they have to stay out of the way of the bulls or they will get stabbed. So they also have this like independence and confidence and unique personalities like the Icelandic horse and, you know, talking with Luis Valencia in Portugal especially, like the way he talks about the horses. It's like speaking with Reiner A. Elsteinsson or Eilver Isolson. They just have this like passion and love for these horses and their spirit and everything they can do. And I think that's a really unique thing that not a lot of horse industries have.

Ariane: 1:00:37

Yeah. Yeah, I, I agree. Like, and I think it is so nice that you are open to it. And since you've been working so long now with the Icelandic horses and you are in the US, which is not still not kind of the biggest nation for Icelandic horses, right? And you really saw kind of growing the, yeah, seen the Icelandic horse world in the US. And we talked last year to Jeff Rose, whom we met also with Guðmar. And to kind of, what is your perspective on how the Icelandic horse world changed in the US over the last kind of years? And, and what do you see like differences maybe also since you have the experience to, to Iceland and other countries? How do you feel? How is it perceived? Is there still kind of a misconception of people thinking like, oh, it's just a small pony? Because it's so, still not kind of completely covering the US, right? It's very spotty, located around trainers.

Lala: 1:01:49

Yeah, it's a really interesting beast because I think there are very large communities within the United States now, but because it's such a massively large country, it's also spread out. So it presents many challenges, for example, with competition, like I often can't afford to compete because I can't afford to drive that far, you know?

Ariane: 1:02:12

No.

Lala: 1:02:14

So, and we can only have so many competitions because we have to fly judges and this and that. And so we are dealing with those challenges, but the horse has grown massively in the 30 years that I've been in it. I mean, I remember the early days of Equitana, nobody knew what they were. They'd see them and be like, oh, what are these weird little ponies? You know? And now people see us and they're like, is that an Icelandic? And we're like, yeah. So people recognize them now. I think it varies where you are. Like, I found it really fascinating when I moved to Washington State four years ago from California. Up here, there's quite a few Icelandics, but there's not really any education in the area. And it's predominantly just random trail riders and just, I would say, like middle-aged women that just kind of trail ride and enjoy their horses and go out on the trails. So when I showed up at the first barn I was at when I moved here, I had a really nice stallion with me. One of my dearest friends and my first client in California, Madison Prestine, she owns the stallion, Sturremur Fráðenni, who I took her to the World Championships in 2013. She was the youth rider there with him. But he came with me and he's in Colorado now with Jeff and Madison. But I took some dressage clinics on him and everybody at that clinic were like, we didn't know Icelandic horses could do this. We thought they were just fluffy little trail ponies. And he really made an impression and they started to watch me teach and train my students. And I started to get a reputation in the area among the horse people here in the last four years of being a good trainer and teacher with Icelandics. It's been really cool because I'm getting a lot of people coming in that are just coming to learn to ride, but they happen to learn to ride with Icelandic horses and it's becoming their whole world and their love. And so it is pretty exciting to start a new community after being 17 years in California and seeing this love blossom all over again with a new batch of people. And I'm not talking down at all to the trail riders. I think they're very important, but I think it is nice for people to realize that this horse is capable of so much more.

Ariane: 1:04:45

Yeah. And I just read something also. I don't know what was the context. Taktur? I forgot who's behind. It's Carrie, right? Carrie. Yes, exactly. So she posted something yesterday or today about that it's not just about trail horses and not just about competition. No.

Lala: 1:05:07

This was such a beautiful thing that she wrote. And it's something that we struggle with a lot, especially within the Icelandic horse world. When someone approaches you to buy a horse, they make this statement that makes me really angry. And they say, I just want a trail horse. I don't want to spend a lot of money on a horse. And what they don't realize is these are the hardest horses to find. The safe horses that can do every gate and keep you safe. And they're the right size and they're strong and they're brave. And it's like, these are the horses that are valued above anything. But we also then expect our competition horse yesterday or the day before, you know, we took out our best stallions. We took out Geysir and Lekitl and we hauled them to a mountain we'd never been before and went on a big trail ride. And, you know, they loved it. And we don't just use them for competition. We take them swimming and trail riding. And I'm even teaching little kids on my stallion now. I give them lunch lessons on them and let them do liberty with him. And this is the thing that we this is what we call a driving good in Iceland. It's the ideal horse that can do everything.

Ariane: 1:06:22

Exactly.

Lala: 1:06:24

So I think it's really important not to compartmentalize these horses into separate categories like that, because so many of them can do so much more. But even more so for these safe family trail horses, they are the gold of the horse world. And they are the horses that draw people in, that get people confident riding. And I will say that I feel like one of the biggest marketing deceptions with the Icelandic horse is that it's a horse that everybody can ride. I may be yelled at for saying that, but they are very sensitive horses. And they are very fast horses, and we are training five gates instead of three. So, while they are incredibly level headed and fearless often, the way that we perceive a beginner or family horse in Iceland is very different than the way they perceive a family or beginner horse in the United States. Because you need a horse that if you accidentally kick them or scream or, you know, give them the wrong aids, they'll just go, ah, you didn't mean that. But when we want our top horses to go, you know, we touch them and they go. So, I don't think that, I think that we, again, that comes back around to these saints of the horse world, these trail horses or competition horses that know that difference. My first competition horse, aside from Leiri, for example, was this horse Holmstedt Frakarsoika, and he was my first real competition horse. I learned to compete on him, and he was also, at the same time, my number one lesson horse. He started Valkyrie Icelandic. He has taught so many people how to ride an Icelandic horse. But he was that way, you know. I could turn him on and have him be incredibly beautiful and big movements and just a glorious competition horse, one of the best forgators I think I'll ever have. And at the same time, I could give lunch lessons to him and just let him go with kids, and he would never do what they asked if it wasn't appropriate, you know. So I think that those are things we always need to keep in mind. And be careful with the marketing of these horses, that people understand that yes, even though they are very cool and very safe, they're not deadheads.

Ariane: 1:08:51

No, I agree. What I see, at least here in Sweden, because in Germany, I didn't have contact with Icelandic horses so much, is really that people are looking for something called Skogsmulle, which is like a trail horse, something that you just go in the forest and...

Lala: 1:09:11

Does that mean tree mule?

Ariane: 1:09:14

Yeah, kind of. Exactly. Yeah, since you know Icelandic, yeah.

Lala: 1:09:18

I love this term, the Skogsmulle.

Ariane: 1:09:20

Yeah, it's great. And I think sometimes people forget that even that horse needs still an education. You need to... You put work in it, that it becomes kind of a Skogsmulle. And also later on, while it is already safe, you still need to put in work to keep it sustainable. And I think sometimes people mix this up. They think when I go for a riding lesson, I want to compete. So I don't take riding lesson because I just want to go in the forest. And one is not excluding the other. You don't have to compete to take lesson and you don't need to just, if you want to compete, you can never go out. It's not excluding each other.

Lala: 1:10:06

No, it's not.

Ariane: 1:10:07

Especially with those horses.

Lala: 1:10:10

I think that's a very important point. And I tell this to my students all the time. Like, I don't teach you dressage so you can go into a dressage show. I teach you dressage because when you go on to the trail and your horse is going to run your knee into a tree, you can flex him and just gently move him away. Or you can open a gate, you know. Dressage is just the good training of the horse. It is not a discipline. It is a tool.

Ariane: 1:10:37

Exactly. It is a tool. And it's just so nice to see that you can have such a nice horse. But then if you want, you go fast. Like you said, it can explode. But then with the smallest signal, because you train, you can come back. And also something that I relate to, I found that you ride with just a neck ring or do liberty. Because I also sometimes do this with Nui, that I just take everything off. And every trainer I showed that to, they are like, you just take everything off your horse and you go crazy. And I'm like, yeah, but because why not? He can do this and then we can go back and put the bridle on and do like some collection and stuff. But I can just remove it and we just go, I don't even need the neck ring.

Lala: 1:11:31

I just take everything off and I'm like, if I had my way, I would never ride with a bridle or saddle.

Ariane: 1:11:40

Yeah.

Lala: 1:11:41

I love number one, I grew up riding bareback. I didn't, I got my first horse when I was two and got my first saddle when I was 16. Yeah.

Ariane: 1:11:50

Sounds familiar.

Lala: 1:11:52

I grew up kind of that way, but learning about the neck rope really changed my life. And that was another moment where a human and also a horse like totally redefined who I am as a rider and as a human being and changed how I approach all my riding and my training.

Ariane: 1:12:14

Yeah. You have a horse that you did this with kind of like Stjarni? Yeah.

Lala: 1:12:20

Stjarni, who I still have, he's 27 going on five. He is just like a wonder horse. He is my once in a lifetime horse. I know I will never own a horse like this again in my life. He's very unique character, very friendly. I think he is a human. I think there's some reincarnated human in him. He just wants to be with the people. All the teachers at Holar loved him. I actually originally borrowed him from Linderun, Guðmar's little sister, to go to my third year at Holar. She had had him there at her first year. I had my five-gator, but I didn't have a four-gator, so she lent me Stjarni. Stjarni is a son of Otur Frasöyla Kroki, who is one of my favorite stallions, but a very fiery, fast stallion that gives big temperament, big heart. Stjarni is no slag. He loves to go. What is so unique about him is that it's never out of fear or tension. He just assumes that everyone wants to go fast all the time. His ears are always forward. He's like, yeah, we're having fun, right? I'm like, buddy, can we just slow down a little? Probably the best tolt I will ever write in my life, just light speed at tolt with big, big long strides, big movements. But yeah, I borrowed him from Lindarón, and he was great in the dressage test inside. He was very good, but when I would ride him outside, I could not control him. He was like next level Leiri. I had Leiri, but he was like a five-gator, and it was just kind of different. Like, Stjarné would go, and then he had these huge movements, and I would just get pulled out of the saddle. And I was never afraid, but I was like, how am I gonna do my test on this horse in the spring when I can't even ride him outside with him going insane? And he would gallop like the most powerful gallop, just like a freaking thoroughbred. He's such a cool horse. I love him so much. But that leads up to the bridalist riding because I was getting really frustrated. Like I felt like I was pulling on him when he would be like this. And I felt like me pulling on him just made him go faster, which I knew. So I was like, how do I change this relationship? Because trust is a two-way street. And if I'm not trusting him, then he's not going to trust me. And then I thought back to something I saw in 2008, that was a pivotal moment for me. Meta Monseth, who I told you is like one of my greatest mentors and role models. She did a performance at Soy de Crocker on her Mare Hapitis, another Palomino, and she did a bridalist performance. And she did like full speed gallop and sliding stop, like a reigning horse. Like it was just, I don't know, I saw that. I was like, I want to do that. Because I grew up riding that way, but I didn't know how to actually train bridalists. Like it was just chaos and just running around, you know? So again, it was one of those things that I had in the back of my mind, but just kind of put to the side. And I remember they were teaching us a little bit with the neckrope at Holar, like teaching us some enhanced stuff on the ground, and then sitting on them and how to start them with a neckrope. And I was talking with Sigvaldi, my fellow student at Holar in my third year, where I had Stjarni, I was telling him, I'm having this issue and I'm getting nervous about in the next couple of months, like if I'm going to be able to do my guiding gefemme outside on Stjarni, he's just so crazy. And he said, well, why don't you try writing in Bridalus? And I was like, oh yeah, dummy.

Ariane: 1:16:23

Yeah, sure.

Lala: 1:16:25

You're such an idiot. Why didn't you think of this? So I just took him in the writing hall and started to play with him. And the thing, like I said, Stjarni loves to cantor. So I was like, well, maybe I can start the training from there because that's something that makes him happy and something that makes me happy. So we just started like dialing in those cues of really using my seat, my energy and my voice first before I would use the neck rope. And we slowly started to build this like dynamic together. And this is the crazy part is that a week after I started writing Bridalus, we had our final teaching exam, which meant we had to do a 30-minute presentation at this big event at the writing hall inside the Krokus on our horse. We had to pick a topic and talk about it. And we would get our final teaching exam score for that. And I went to Aover, because we had to give them a topic. And I was like, what do you think about me talking about the horse as a mirror image of the rider and writing Bridalus? I said, is this crazy? I've only been doing it for three or four days with Stjerni. And he said, are you afraid to go fast? I said, no. He's like, then you need to do it. I just love that that was the question he asked me, because he knew I was crazy. So he knew the answer. So yeah, I did my exam on that. And I rode in front of all these people in this giant riding hall without a bridle, and I came in in full gallop and did like countercounter across the diagonal and just explained about my relationship with Stjarni and how we were not communicating and I was not trusting him. And by me taking away my safety mechanism, which is our hands, riders is humans, we do everything with our hands. So I think always grabbing. And so I think as a rider, our biggest training is to think with our energy and our body versus our hands. And so I took away that ability and it changed our relationship. And it's, it's, I think it's very important for people to understand that bridle is writing isn't necessarily just about like, just writing bridle is it's fine if you want to do that. But what it did for me is change my relationship to how I use the bit. Yeah, because now when I ride with a bridle on Stjerni, I barely have to touch it because I'm always implementing my seat first. So I think it's very important for anybody that wants to train this way or learn how to train this way that it's, it is really important that you do it correctly and that you build the steps in the correct ways because it will change your entire dynamic with your horse. But you can also get in the habit of riding with the neckrope and just hanging on the neckrope, you know, and that's not helpful either.

Ariane: 1:19:25

No, exactly.

Lala: 1:19:27

So it's really important that it comes from the right place. But yeah, this type of writing just really changed my life. And Stjarni and I went on to learn, like when I was interning with Carlos, I took him there. We taught him POF bridalists, and we're doing all these cool things with him. And it just, it changed, I train almost all my horses bridalists now to some level, just again, because it helps us trust each other. So again, I'm very grateful to Mette for giving me that inspiration. But Stjarni was, he just changed my life. And he still does.

Ariane: 1:20:07

I think this really, it impacts your relationship also a lot. You give them such a trust, you let go. And I think they really appreciate that. That's my feeling. When I do this with Nui, I think he really trusts me more, the more we do those things. I also normally take him without anything. So I of course have a halter. But a lot of stuff, I just take him kind of under his chin and we go. And I did this already with Sam, to give him the freedom to make certain decisions. Not that I, of course, I want something from him. But I still let him kind of do it in his own freedom. And that made our relationship so that he trusts me in a different way sometimes, I feel.

Lala: 1:20:59

Absolutely. I think that's a really important thing, is that by doing that, I think you're letting the horse take back his power. You're empowering the horse to not feel... Horses are very claustrophobic. And so we're taking away another element of entrapment and allowing ourselves to really root down and connect with them as well. And what's really special now is like, now that Stjarni is 27, he's not slowing down at all, but I'm teaching my students bridal lists on him. And to see him respond in that same way to a different rider really shows me how much he trusts that process and how good he feels about it.

Ariane: 1:21:39

Yes, exactly.

Lala: 1:21:39

So it's a really special thing to now see that happen. At first I was like, I don't want to let anybody ride my horse. I hated putting people on him, but now getting the opportunity to put little kids or lighter riders on him and let them experience POF or learn how to do these dressage exercises and ride the different gates without a bridle is just priceless. And I often do it bareback as well, because then you feel how the horse's back is moving.

Ariane: 1:22:04

Yeah, sometimes I feel like the saddle is impacting. When I started to ride with a saddle, I thought I might fall off the horse because of the saddle and the stirrups. And I was just like-

Lala: 1:22:18

I felt the same way.

Ariane: 1:22:20

How do you ride with a saddle? It didn't kind of computed my tiny brain that without a saddle, everything is safe. With a saddle, I will fall. That's for sure.

Lala: 1:22:33

Totally. That's exactly the experience I had. So yeah, I think bareback is really, really good to teach your students. And yes, but yeah, I have the same feeling like I feel like it took me a long time to not feel nervous in a saddle. And still to this day, when something's going wrong, I will often take my feet out of the stirrups.

Ariane: 1:22:53

You also advocate, actually, because you're teaching young students, teaching children, and you advocate a lot to kind of have this North American Youth Cup, for example, so that you kind of push the next generation. Can we just briefly now, for the final thing, talk about that you also want to kind of give what you experienced, what you learned, and everything. Kind of give it back to grow kind of this community.

Lala: 1:23:26

Yeah, I think community is probably the number one word in my vocabulary. It's very important to me when I first started as a teacher here and started my business, it was highly youth focused, because at the time that didn't exist in Icelandic course world. And I, you know, I taught Carrie and Kaylee, who both went to Holar, and my niece, Aila, and Lucy, and so many of these girls that are their own trainers now, and my colleagues that I get the privilege of working with. And seeing that grow has been such a beautiful thing. But I also now, you know, I'm teaching middle-aged people and young children and older people. But I think, for me, the community aspect of it is the number one thing, because in Iceland, like, I don't know about you, but that was another thing that really drew me to the horse, is how it is ingrained in the culture of the people. And the fact that you can just ride to your neighbor and have coffee and have conversations about horse training, or you go ride in the middle of the night in the summertime when it's daylight out and go sit in your friend's hot tub, and then they come with you to the next chapter of the ride and you go somewhere else, you know? It's just such a unique thing. And I think one of my goals coming back here was always to kind of cultivate that feeling, as hard as it is, and we're so spread out. That's what I'm always seeking. And I think a lot of times people think that I'm like, I want to be in the spotlight, but I'm not, I actually am not a spotlight person unless I can share it. I really like collaboration. That's where I get the biggest joy out of things, whether I'm playing music or training horses. I don't like doing things alone. And maybe that's a little bit selfish, because then if I mess up, then the blame doesn't all go on me. But it's really where my biggest joy comes from. And like now I collaborate so much with my partner Carrie in Kentucky, who was originally my student. And now I'm learning from her and she's learning from me. And it's a beautiful thing. And like when I went to the World Championships and competed with Geysir, I had Carrie and Kayleigh and Sigvaldi with me. And we did it together. I don't consider that being just me. It was this whole team together and I would have never done it any other way. So for me, my mission in life, I always tell people like I'm like an ambassador or translator for the Icelandic horse. Like that is, I feel like that's my goal in life. My job in life is to help people understand these animals and to share them with the world and share this culture and this community with the world to bring more joy. So even though I'm not predominantly focused on the youth anymore, many other people are. I'm just focusing on a broader spectrum, whether that's through performances or through teaching and training, and I just really want to grow that. And I'm excited. Now, I've been in Washington for four years and already I have 30 students and a wait list of 15 people, and I have 16 horses and training. So I am going to have to hire some staff soon because I'm running a little bit ragged. But it's a beautiful thing. Like it's really growing and that's what I want to see. And I want more trainers. I think it's really important in the United States that all of us work together because it's so big that if we're working apart and trying to take from other people, we're not helping the bigger picture. No. There's so much for everybody and by working together, we all get better. So that's really my purpose and my goal with all of this.

Ariane: 1:27:25

Yeah. I think this is a really nice closing word kind of for this episode. I really enjoy talking to you. Again, thank you, Laura, for taking the time to talk to us in your busy life. Thank you everyone for listening. We will come back in two weeks with a new episode. In the meantime, do not hesitate to share this episode with everyone. Like, comment, reach out to us if you have any questions to our guests or suggestions. Before leaving you, we would like to mention that you can follow us on Instagram and Facebook, The Tölt Tales, for more news and stories. You can of course follow also Laura on Instagram. You can find all the links about her in the notes of this episode. Thank you so much for today and goodbye.

Lala: 1:28:16

Thank you so much for having me.