Strengur at the top of the BLUP for 2023
It was a real pleasure when the newly calculated BLUP (Best Linear Unbiased Prediction) was published recently and revealed our Strengur to have an excellent BLUP score, no less than 136. That makes him at the top of all stallions in the world for the total score in the BLUP calculations!
The four year old stallion Strengur received 8.65 in total at the late summer breeding show in Hólar, which is the second highest score for a 4 year old horse to ever have been given. There was a high chance that Strengur’s father, Sólon frá Þúfum, would increase his BLUP score as there were quite a few young promising offsprings by him shown this year, which resulted in the score of 133 for Sólon. We also showed Strengur’s sister, Fiðla frá Þúfum, which received 8.38 in total, only 5 years old. Consequently, their mother’s BLUP increased as well to 129, but that is Harpa frá Þúfum, who’s out of Kiljan frá Steinnesi and Trymbill’s sister; Sónata frá Stóra-Ási.
Strengur’s pedigree (for the pedigree nerds)
Like previously mentioned, Strengur is out of Sólon frá Þúfum and Harpa frá Þúfum, making him a “purebred Þúfur-horse”. He has a vast amount of “gæðingur” in his pedigree, but just on his father’s side there are three stallions with over 9 for ridden abilities: father Sólon frá Þúfum (9.11), grandfather Trymbill frá Stóra-Ási (9.01) and great-grandfather Þokki frá Kýrholti (9.04). Additionally, Sólon frá Hóli, Þokki’s father was out of Náttfari frá Ytra-Dalsgerði, who also received over 9 for ridden abilities.
Strengur’s great-grandfather on the other side is then Hróður frá Refsstöðum, who was out of the Náttfari-daughter Rán frá Refsstöðum and the Kolfinnur-son Léttir frá Stóra-Ási. Léttir was out of Harpa frá Hofsstöðum, a Gáski-daughter who received the highest score for ridden abilities at Landsmót 1986. Then the great-grandmother is Sif frá Hóli, a daughter of Kolgrímur frá Kjarnholtum and the honorary price mare Blesa frá Möðrufelli, who was also the mother of Sólon frá Hóli v/Dalvík.
Harpa frá Þúfum, Strengur’s mother is out of Kiljan frá Steinnesi (who also received over 9 for ridden abilities, or 9.07), who’s out of the Gustur-son, Klettur frá Hvammi and the Kolfinnnur-daughter Kylja frá Steinnesi. Harpa’s mother was Sónata frá Stóra-Ási, who was the highest evaluated 5 year old mare in the world in 2009. Sónata was out of the great 4-gaiter Stígandi frá Leysingjastöðum, who was out of Andvari frá Ey and Dekkja frá Leysingjastöðum, a daughter of Adam frá Meðalfelli. Sónata’s mother was Nóta frá Stóra-Ási, a daughter of Oddur frá Selfossi and Harpa frá Hofsstöðum, who was also the mother of Léttir frá Stóra-Ási (Hróður’s father). Nóta received the honorary awards for offsprings and the Glettubikar in 2013, but like previously mentioned, she was also the mother of Trymbill frá Stóra-Ási.
Like some observant readers notice, then Strengur is quite inbred, as his degree of inbreeding is over 5%. Harpa frá Hofsstöðum appears three times in his pedigree, Náttfari frá Ytra-Dalsgerði and Blesa frá Möðrufelli twice and then Gáski frá Hofsstöðum appears four times, three times as the father of Harpa but then also as the father of Gustur frá Hóli.
And of course, like befits a purebred Þúfur horse, Kolfinnur frá Kjarnholtum is very prominent in his pedigree, appearing multiple times on both sides.
Strengur himself
The name Strengur, meaning a string, is of course a reference to a harp string (after his mother Harpa). Strengur was already as a foal prominent in the foal and youngsters’ group, being very uphill, with a round neck position. He was always calm and curious and showed all gaits equally. Frequently, we saw him take pace sprints throughout his first winter. When he came in for training, the first thing we agreed on was that at least he had very good temperament. He took the training well, especially light on the reins and nice to work with. It actually gave a quite unique feeling to ride him; how much he always tried his best for his rider and was skilled with figuring things out.
Strengur is very lightly built and lacked muscles to begin with but as he has a really good backline, it was easy for him to carry himself despite that. Gísli was responsible for starting him and then Mette took over his training. Around spring evaluations, Gísli took over the training again and we aimed for midsummer evaluations with him, which ended up being cancelled. Few weeks before the late summer evaluations, Gísli requested that Mette would take over the training again and show him at the breeding evaluation. Mette agreed, with the condition that Gísli would ride him at the overview.
If one’s supposed to describe Strengur’s gaits, he started mostly on trot under a rider but the tölt was easily accessible. The trot had good strides, suspension and lightness from the start and we belive that he will get very good speed with more strength and balance. The tölt was very clear-beated from the start while there was a period when the balance went more on the lateral side. The gallop has always been really good, very upphill, with much suspension which we believe derives from Kiljan frá Steinnesi, but also from Stígandi frá Leysingjastöðum and Andvari frá Ey. For gallop, Strengur has the highest BLUP score of all horses and a magnificent 9,5 in his judgement. The canter is like the gallop, supple and high with good suspension and the walk is of premium quality, as he received 8.5 only 4 years old. Regarding the pace, Gísli had only paced him few times before the breeding show and there seemed to be no limit there.
One of the special things about Strengur is how even he is; he is good in all gaits. He seems to have endless speed and is exceptionally supple in his neck and poll, that shouldn´t be more. We, as his breeders and trainers haven’t experienced as limitless horse as Strengur is. We believe this qualities will manifest in his offsprings; lightly built, upphill horses with raised and supple neck, strong back, even gaits with great suspension, stridelength and speed and last but not least: easy going and stable temperament.
IS2019158168 Strengur frá Þúfum
Microchip: 352098100092383
Colour: 2200 Faded black (brown) no white markings
Breeder: Gísli Gíslason, Mette Camilla Moe Mannseth
Horse owner: Gísli Gíslason, Mette Camilla Moe Mannseth
F.: IS2013158161 Sólon frá Þúfum
Ff.: IS2005135936 Trymbill frá Stóra-Ási
Fm.: IS2003265020 Komma frá Hóli v/Dalvík
M.: IS2010258161 Harpa frá Þúfum
Mf.: IS2004156286 Kiljan frá Steinnesi
Mm.: IS2004235936 Sónata frá Stóra-Ási
Measurements (cm): 145 – 131 – 137 – 66 – 142 – 37 – 47 – 43 – 6,6 – 31,5 – 19,5
Hoof measurements: L.fr.: 8,9 – L.h.: 8,5
Conformation: 8,0 – 9,0 – 9,0 – 9,0 – 8,5 – 8,0 – 8,5 – 8,5 = 8,74
Rideability: 8,5 – 8,5 – 8,5 – 9,5 – 8,5 – 9,0 – 8,5 – 8,5 = 8,60
Slow tölt: 7,5
Total: 8,65
Ridden abilities w/o pace: 8,62
Total w/o pace: 8,66
