Kjarr has been breeding horses since 1981 when Helgi Eggertsson and Helga Ragna Pálsdóttir started living there. Helgi and Helga had both been involved with horses since their childhoods.
There are three mares that provided the breeding foundation at Kjarr: Stjarna frá Selfossi (IS1976287657), Snoppa frá Selfossi (IS1975287658), and Drottning frá Kröggólfsstöðum (IS1964287051).
Þruma, daughter of Stjarna, had 17 offsprings. 12 of them were shown and 7 of these received first prize. Snoppa had 6 daughters, and 3 of them received first prize. Drottning was the grandmother to Glampi frá Kjarri who received 9.5 for tölt in a breeding show.
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Helgi with a newborn foal.
Ragna and Þruma frá Selfossi
Helga with the sheep gathering horses: Þrymur, Auður, Bleikur, and Stóri-Bleikur.
Jónina frá Hala and Nunna frá Bræðratungu came into the breeding and had their first offsprings in 1997. Nunna had 17 offsprings; 10 of them were shown, and 8 of them received first prize. We owned Jónina frá Hala together with John Siiger Hansen, and therefore owned every second foal. She had 19 offsprings; 12 were shown, and 8 received first prize.
Jónína frá Hala
Nunna frá Bræðratungu
Stjarna frá Kjarri
In Kjarr, there are about 10 foals born each year. Most of them are trained and shown by us, but some of them are sold at a young age. Our goal is to breed five gaited horses with good temprament and a positive character.
The stallions that have been used for breeding at Kjarr are mostly first prized. Some names that have influenced our breeding are: Otur frá Sauðárkróki, Þokki frá Garði, Glasi frá Sauðárkróki, Angi frá Laugarvatni, and Gáski frá Hofstöðum.
We have been lucky to breed many good horses. By fall of 2019, more than forty horses received first prize and two received Honor Prize, Stáli and Stjarna.
Stjarna frá Kjarri 5 v.
Stáli frá Kjarri 5 v.
Stjarna received her Honor Prize in 2015. Her mother was Þruma frá Selfossi and her father was Gustur frá Hóli. In 2003, when she was 5 years old, Stjarna received a total score of 8.28 in breeding show: 8.39 for conformation and 8.21 for rideability. Stjarna had 12 offsprings, including Spói (8.30), Tildra (8.43), Máfur (8.49), and Fálki (8.37).
The highlight of our breeding story is without a doubt Stáli, who was born in 1998. He was shown at Landsmót at Vindheimamelar in 2006, where he received the highest score an Icelandic stallion had ever received at the time of 8.76. Since then, he has been a popular breeding stallion and received first prize for his offsprings at Landsmót in Vindheimamelar in 2011. Stáli also received Honor Prize for offspring at Landsmót in Hella in 2014.
In the last few years, there has been a generation switch within the breeding mares. The older mares are passing on, and the younger mares who are replacing them are mostly sired by Stáli.
Each member of the Kjarr family has been involved with the horses. The three children of Helga and Helgi, Páll, Ragna, and Eggert, have all ridden and competed since they were young. Páll and Ragna moved away when they became adults, but Eggert is now one of the trainers at Kjarr, together with his girlfriend Larissa Silja Werner. They both graduated from Hólar University with a BS in horse training and teaching.
