Hrímnir Community
Free instructional videos about Icelandic horse sport
The Hrímnir Community is known to most riders in Icelandic horse sport, and hundreds of users from different countries visit the site every day to learn and benefit from the free instructional videos on various topics related to Icelandic horse sport.
“The idea for the Hrímnir Community came about in autumn 2015 because there were hardly any professional instructional videos for Icelandic horses at that time. After the opening of our new Hrímnir Web Shop in summer 2017, we were finally able to start recording and editing the first instructional videos, and in December 2017 the Hrímnir community went online with the first videos,” recalls Rúnar Þór Guðbrandsson, owner of the well-known Equestrian brand Hrímnir.
Most of the riding instructors in the Hrímnir Community are graduates of Hólar University, where you can complete a three-year course in riding and teaching Icelandic horses. “We are very grateful to be able to work with such professional riding instructors. In the new year we will again be expanding the team of riding instructors and soon we will also be working with more riding instructors outside of Iceland.” The planning and editing of the videos is also carried out by graduates of the Hólar studies who are now employed by Hrímnir.
There are several days of work behind each video, starting with the planning and preparation of the shoot. The shooting itself is only a small part before the time-consuming editing of the video continues. “The Icelandic weather doesn’t always make it easy to plan a shoot for most of the year, and some shoots have often had to be postponed due to storms or rain,” reports Rúnar Þór and adds, “But in the end we’re usually lucky and can do good shots”.
The almost 150 instructional videos today cover a wide range of topics in the categories of training the individual gaits, sitting and influence, dressage exercises, important basics in training, mental training for riders, breeding and breeding tests, young horse work, correct use of the equipment, fitness exercises for the rider, ground work , training while riding, lunging, oval track training, winter training or freedom dressage. In addition, the individual riding instructors are presented in short profile videos.
The topics of the instructional videos are also determined by the wishes of the users, who regularly send in ideas or questions themselves, or are asked for wishes in the newsletter and on Hrímnir’s social media channels. The interest in new free instructional videos is very high and the feedback from users has been very good so far. “Many riders regularly send us a thank you for the free instructional videos and tell us how a video has helped them with their own horse,” says Rúnar Þór, adding, “Especially riders who, due to their place of residence, do not have direct access to private riding instructors or courses are very grateful for our instructional videos. We hope that we can help many riders and horses.” New topics and more videos on popular topics will be added again in the new year.
The community users also come from countries outside of Europe, such as the USA, Canada, New Zealand or Australia. “We also hope that with professional videos in our community we can strengthen the image of the Icelandic horse sport worldwide and also arouse new interest in the Icelandic horse,” concludes Rúnar Þór.
A land of fire and ice, with more sheep than inhabitants, characterized by a unique nature! This is just a brief description of such a diverse country. While a volcano may erupt on one side of the country, you can hike a glacier, admire the Northern Lights, or take a bath in a hot spring on the other side of the country - at the same time.
This not only speaks for diversity, but also for spontaneity, which is also reflected in the changeable weather in Iceland. A popular Icelandic saying is "If you do not like the current weather, just wait for five minutes".
In contrast to this inconsistency, one thing is constant and that is the enthusiasm for Icelandic horses! The Vikings brought horses to the island in the 9th century.
To find out more about Iceland, you can find travelogues, reports, or interesting facts here in the UNDRA Journal!