Previously unseen because they hadn’t been taken yet. Our Seventeenth of May parade went past the field where he was grazing with a couple of other horses. When he saw the crowd and the marching schoolchildren he cantered down to show off a little bit.
Then he galloped back.
Apparently the gait he’s doing below might be construed in an Icelandic horse as a “pig pass” (both right legs then both left = bad), but others see it as a perfectly acceptable canter. I’m not worried, myself.
He’s in much better shape than he was before my daughter got hold of him. Nobody believes he’s actually fifteen (well over three hundred, in dog years).
A Bad Guide 
A noble beast indeed!
We have lots of horse farms around here, but I’ve never seen one frolicking on the ground like that. And Askur is particularly gorgeous.
He IS lovely. Is the rolling around on the ground a horse thing, or has he been watching the dogs and goats?
They do it anyway, but I didn’t think of that. I’ll have to ask (ask the daughter; not the horse, obviously).
Unless they’re very large and looming in your face, they seem more like noble beasts when they don’t have the saddle and bridle — more independent and less like an adjunct to a rider. I like to watch them galloping for the enjoyment of it.
I never knew about those horse farms in NJ.
Alma says they do it to ruffle the hair on their back and so make it harder for insects to bite.
Maybe it’s a way of scratching their backs? I am not a horse person but I have seen them do it.
Yes, I’m sure Alma said that too. She does think they do it to show off, though. I forgot to say that.