International Equestrian
By Dan Larson, Sauk Prairie Eagle
While Mr. Ed may disagree, a horse doesn't have to talk to be more than just a horse.
At least not to Amber Parry.
The 17-year-old Roxbury equestrian discovered at an early age she was allergic to horses, but continued riding anyway.
"If I stayed away from them, my parents would brush them and I would get on — it would be better," Parry, who started riding when she was 2 years old, said in a recent interview.
But a visit to Field Wood Farm while on a family vacation to Washington Island in Door County when she was 6 changed that.
It was there that Parry found out about Icelandic horses, a hypoallergenic breed that has five natural gaits — the different ways a horse can move — rather than three or four like most breeds.
A lady working on the farm told Parry's mom to have Parry put her face in the mane of one of the horses. Not knowing her daughter wouldn't suffer an allergic reaction — sneezing; swollen, watery eyes; difficulty breathing — Parry's mom told the lady it wasn't a good idea.
The lady's response caught Parry by surprise.
"She said, 'They're hypoallergenic,' so I did and nothing happened," Parry said of her introduction to the breed, which shaped the past 11 years of her life and led to her upcoming participation in the International Federation of Icelandic Horse Associations Youth Cup July 12 to 20 in Brunnadern, Switzerland.
Still, it would be a few years before her next encounter with Icelandics.
Few and far between
Before Parry could think about riding Icelandics, she needed to learn more about the breed.
Not an easy task, considering they are relatively rare in the United States.
There are fewer than 2,000 registered in the U.S. compared with 40,000 in Germany and 80,000 in Iceland, according to the U.S. Icelandic Horse Congress' Web site — the USIHC represents the United States in the 19-member International Federation of Horse Associations.
"Since there are so few ... it was hard to find somebody who could teach us more," Parry said.
A few years after her family's vacation to Washington Island, Parry encountered an Iowa couple at the Midwest Horse Fair — held annually at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison — who owned Icelandics. They suggested that Parry and her family travel to Iceland to take a trek on the breed and learn about them.
So when Parry was 10, her family did. After returning, however, Parry lost touch with the Iowa couple and once again needed some good luck to continue her passion for Icelandics.
Like the time before, it came at the Midwest Horse Fair. Two years after meeting the Iowa couple there, Parry met Barb and Dan Riva — the owners of Winterhorse Park, an Icelandic horse farm in Eagle, Wis.
Not long after, her horse-riding hobby would take an exciting turn.
Harmony
After meeting the Riva's, she visited the park and, in the summer of 2005, began taking lessons in Icelandic horse riding. At the same time, Alexandra Pregitzer, an Icelandic trainer from Denmark, came to the park as a guest trainer.
And Parry made quite an impression on Pregitzer.
"She said I had harmony with the horse," Parry said.
Impressed, Pregitzer encouraged Parry to try out for the 2006 Youth Cup — held in Austria — which required submitting a video application to the USIHC.
"That's when I started learning about competitions," said Parry, adding that she never considered competing before meeting Pregitzer
Parry was chosen.
Youth Cup times two
Parry's competitive riding pursuit started with a bang. After training for just 6 months, she finished sixth in the cross country class at the cup.
"To get sixth place, I was like, 'Wow, I learned more there than I have being around horses my entire life,'" Parry said in an interview with the Eagle in August 2006, after returning from Austria.
And she has continued learning since. In December 2005, her family purchased its first Icelandic — they now own four — so Parry was able to ride the breed more frequently.
When the time came to submit a video application for the 2008 Youth Cup, Parry once again did so. She was judged on how she showed the horse and handled it in certain situations, as well as on reference letters and, she said, "How well they think you can represent the United States."
Each member country can send a certain number of riders to the cup, depending upon that country's Icelandic population. The United States is only allowed four, while other countries such as Switzerland (10), Germany (9) and Iceland (9) are allowed more.
Parry was chosen as one of the four.
Because it's too expensive to transport her own horse to the competition — a one-way ticket for the horse would have cost about $15,000, Parry said — she is leasing a horse.
As a result, she left for the competition June 28 to give herself some time to prepare.
"I'm just going to take that time to get to know the horse and make sure that horse is going to work for me," she said.
Once the competition begins, Parry will be put on one of 13 international teams of six riders each. The team members work together to decide who will represent the team in each class — which Parry likened to different events at a track meet — based on each other's strengths.
And even though she finished sixth in her class in 2006, she has higher expectations for this year.
"I did well, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. This time I'm hoping to do a lot better," she said.
One thing she doesn't have to hope for: Not having an allergic reaction.