Sær has a passport. So does Gunnar. And Tatari. Nothing too surprising about that. After all, these three, along with Glóa and Jörda, are from Iceland. But they aren’t tourists. They are horses. And the fact that each has a passport is just the beginning of a story full of surprises, each one twisting and turning at every corner.
The story starts just south of Cascade Road at 1217 East Paris SE, near the hilly paddocks trimmed in white fences. It was the summer of 2019, and Laura Huizenga, current owner of the farm, was visiting a friend on Lake Drive. As she drove past the property she’d admired as a child, she thought, This can never not be a horse farm.
Landmark Farm to Become Condos
Surprise #2: her friend revealed that the farm was not going to remain a horse farm. The owner had plans to develop the 7.5-acre plot, dotted with hills, apple and pear trees, and a small pond, into residential housing.
Huizenga’s thoughts quickly shifted: This can’t happen! In November 2019, she reached out to the property’s owner, David Mehney, whom she knew but had never met. She called the farm and spoke with his wife, Linda, who gave her his contact information. She called David and asked to meet to discuss the farm’s future.
In December, they met at his office. Huizenga wasn’t there to pitch a sale but simply to share her conviction that the property should remain a horse farm. He listened but explained that the blueprints for a condo development had already been drawn up. The door was shut: the farm would be re-developed.
No Was Maybe a Good Thing
Enter Surprise #3: Laura’s sister had been horse-crazy as a child, spending Saturdays at a local barn in exchange for the chance to ride. Laura, on the other hand, “didn’t know anything about horses.” She admits that, if this venture had gone through, she would have needed a lot of help.
A New Perspective on Horses
Surprise #4: After their meeting, David encouraged Laura to visit the farm to meet Linda and the horses. She agreed, and her timing was perfect—she arrived just as a new stallion had been introduced to the herd of world-class Arabians. The stallion raced around the arena, and Linda beamed. Laura said it was “beautiful to see,” but she also felt intimidated by the powerful animal. “As I left the barn, I thought, ‘Whew, it’s a good thing I didn’t get this barn because I have no business having horses like this.’”
A Life-Changing Trip
In February 2020, shortly after her meeting with Mehney, Laura and her sister traveled to Iceland. They arranged a trail ride, and when she saw the Icelandic horses, they would be riding, something clicked: Now this is a horse I can handle! The Icelandic horses were calm, friendly, and approachable. Her sister, initially hesitant, joined her in the corral, and both women felt comfortable with the animals.
Tragedy and Twists
They returned to the U.S. just as the global pandemic began. On April 9, Laura was in Florida when she received a text from her East Grand Rapids neighbor: “Dave Mehney is at your door. He wants to sell you a horse farm.” Laura immediately contacted her financial team, not David, because she hadn’t kept his business card from their earlier meeting.
When she finally reached David, she learned that Linda had passed away unexpectedly on April 4. David had reconsidered selling the farm, a place that had brought Linda joy for 38 years. He told Laura he wanted to sell by summer. Laura, though, wasn’t sure she could make it happen: “I had to get my ducks in a row… I didn’t think I could do it.”
Hestóvin: A “Horse Oasis”
But Laura was determined. She researched therapeutic riding and sought experts with the financial and legal knowledge needed to make the farm viable. She also needed to build a team to run both a farm and a wellness business.
Surprise #5: She pulled it all off, and in June 2021, she officially purchased the farm. She was philosophical about it: “If this was meant to be, it would be.” She went on to say, “I’m not a pusher of something. If there was any roadblock, I would have taken that as a sign to reconsider. I just took the next step, and the next step, with my eyes wide open.”
The Herd
And what about those passports? Every Icelandic horse traveling to another country must have one, but it’s never used for a return trip to Iceland. In 982 CE, the Icelandic parliament decreed that once a horse leaves the country, it can never return. No other horse breeds are allowed in. This strict policy helps protect the nation from hoof-and-mouth disease, ensuring that the lineage of Icelandic horses remains purely Icelandic.
A Surprising Arrival
The final surprise, #7: If you live in the U.S. or Canada and want to welcome an Icelandic horse, you’ll have to travel to New York’s JFK airport. It is the only airport where Icelandic horses can land. And don’t plan to arrive early; all horses must be quarantined at the owner’s expense.
The facility that handles these horses is called the ARK, which also manages the import and export of around 5,000 horses each year, according to The New York Times.
The five Icelandic horses now residing at Hestóvin will only ever know the one-way side of the equation. For them, this farm will be their forever home—and that’s just fine by Laura Huizenga.
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