Houlls Horses and Hounds

Houlls Horses and Hounds

We are a family run business who have been operating since 2014.
We provide two main areas of services.

Horse Trekking and Riding Lessons

and Home Dog Boarding

If you are a visitor to Shetland our aim is to provide you with a wonderful experience as part of your holiday here.
We have a stable of six Icelandic horses. With these we offer a unique opportunity to see some of Shetland’s best scenery here in Burra on horseback.

Our Horses

Icelandic horses have been bred in Iceland since the 9th and 10th centuries when they were introduced by Viking settlers. They are the only breed of horse in Iceland with no other horses allowed to be imported and once a horse leaves Iceland they are not allowed to return.

We have 6 Icelandic Horses. They are: –

Hörður (pronounced Hordour) which means “Warrior”.

Kristall (pronounced Krestak) which means Crystall.

Orri (pronounced Awree) which means “Black Grouse”

Húni (pronounced Hoonie) which means “Bear”.

Perla which means “Pearl”.
Thoka which means kind one. 

All our horses are friendly and dependable. However, our horses are not the type of trekking horses who just follow the horse in front with the person on board being transported, they do indeed have to be ridden.
If you have never ridden before or are inexperienced, we can provide a side walker at an additional charge. 
We hope to provide you with an enjoyable and memorable experience.

The Tölt

The interesting feature of Icelandic horses is that they have a gait called Tölt. Tölt is a four-beat gait where the sequence of foot falls is the same as in walk. That being the case, there is no period of suspension within the tölt.
This lack of suspension in the gait means it has a smoothness which is comfortable for the rider as there is no time when the horse bounces the rider out of the saddle.