The idea for Little Viking Horse® started with me ‘voicing over’ our horses, Johnny Morris style. If you are not from the UK, or too young to remember Johnny Morris, Google him. He fuelled my dreams of being able to talk to animals!
Fleygur was so expressive, that his voice seemed to just come to me. He had strong opinions about what he liked and what he wanted, and he still does! A horse with worries for sure, but he also thought he was awesome. Roger, my husband, found my voice-overs very amusing, so I set up the Facebook page, just for a bit of fun. Before I knew it I had 70 followers, then 100, then 200…and now we are heading to 3000!
I blogged to entertain but also to promote the Icelandic horse breed. I created this website in response to all the questions I got about Icelandic horses. Fleygur (LVH) and Roger (My Mate Roger or MMR) soon became well known in the small Icelandic horse community in the UK, and LVH became a bit of an ambassador for the breed, and the Icelandic Horse Society of Great Britain..
Because the blog mainly featured Roger and Fleygur, people initially thought that Roger wrote it, but I was soon outed as the writer – even though I tried to keep myself in the background, not even using my own name and rarely appearing in the photos. Fleygur just called me “the Woman!”
My little Icelandic mare Gydia (My Mare Gydja) and my Welsh Cob cross, Beanie (Big Fat Cob) also featured in the blog. We added to our little herd with Svipur, the Baby Blondie (who went on to have many names!) and later Good Boy Jandi – and we were having a fine old time. Roger encouraged me to fulfil my dream of writing and I started my first children’s book, Little Viking Horse.
Then, in May 2016, Roger died suddenly of a heart attack. I was devastated. Family and friends rallied round to support me. The horses were a big part of what got me through those early days and weeks of shock, but for a while I could not ‘hear’ Fleygur’s voice. I did not know if this blog would continue, and for a while I didn’t even know if I would continue to write. When I posted about Roger’s death on the Facebook page and the website I was inundated with messages of love and support.
As well as the crushing loss of my soulmate, I lost a lot of confidence with the horses – without Roger around to encourage and support me. Throughout 2016 and 2017 I battled with anxiety. I even considered giving up my beloved horses. In the end my youngster, Jandi went to some good friends, but Gydja, Svipur (aka Blondie) the Little Viking Horse, Fleygur remain with me.
I continued to write and received nothing but love and encouragement from Little Viking Horse followers around the world. My confidence continued to improve and periodically (but not very often!) I wrote about my struggles, successes and set backs with the horses on the blog page of this website.
Little Viking Horse, the book was finally published on 5th October 2021, and sold over 1000 copies in the first year. I am currently writing a different story, about badgers, which I plan to publish in the autumn of 2023. But another Little Viking Horse story is currently taking shape in my mind and a book two will follow!
You can connect with me on my author Facebook Page – Catherine Holland-Bax, and on my publishing website eponawise.com.
littlevikinghorse.com 