Mixture of classical and freestyle equitation

Today, the couple Hinrik Bragason and Hulda Gústafsdóttir is known as the farmers at Árbakki in Landsveit. They have been in the spotlight within the equitation sector for many years and have been associated with most of its components.

Their children, Edda Hrund and Gústaf Ásgeir, are also smitten by the horse bacteria and have been successful at the competition track for the past years. The summer of 2011 will undoubtedly be remembered by the couple for a long time because during this time they were in the battlefront, so to speak, in more than one respect. To mention a few, there was victory in A-class at Landsmót as well as the fourth place, winning seat in four gaits at Íslandsmót, finals in tölt at Landsmót and both of them had a place in the Icelandic national team in Austria.

Eiðfaxi reporter paid the couple a visit, when they had just arrived from their victorious journey to the World Championship. This interview will be published in the 8th edition of  Eiðfaxi – a bountiful Christmas edition- which is about to be released. The front cover of the magazine is adorned with a photo of the couple.

„We are always striving to advance ourselves concerning horse training and find out what suits us as horse riders and the horses we are working on.“ Hulda says among other things, in this interview. „I cannot insist that this is like a one single method, rather I am of the opinion that this is a mixture of freestyle equitation and classical one which works for us. Softness, suppleness and cooperation are the factors what we are looking for and then of course also managing the level of tension. To be able to have the control of asking for total performance and then to relax when necessary is an extremely important factor when it comes to success on the track. “

„And then it is also important to spend time and effort into the basic work“ Hinrik says. „At this time we are focusing on horses which we think are good candidates for the next Landsmót or even for the WC in 2013 and Landsmót in 2014. We try to spend enough time to train and prepare those horses for the tasks ahead, and this is what I think is one of the things that trainers are doing more of, to spend more time training and working on the basics.“

You have the option of buying a bounteous 100 page Christmas edition of the magazine in the Eiðfaxi web store.

http://en.eidfaxi.is/shop/magazines/eidfaxi-s-christmas-edition-2011