Day 3 All about horseeeys!!!

Early in the morning after a very sober breakfast of just fruits, pancakes and a little bit of scrambled eggs, I was picked up by Eldhestar transfer service. I didnt sleep well again... and I still felt so miserable in my stomach, I was almost afraid I would have to cancel my ride today. But I remember how well the fresh Icelandic air did me yesterday. Being outside has not let me feel miserable for a second. I took some nausea medication again and went off.

It was a small group being picked up by the owner of the farm. During our 30 minute ride to Hveragerði we were asked for experience in riding. I was again most experienced, but once arrived at the farm it turned out I was the only one riding a whole day tour.
The farm itself is very clean, very modern and full of friendly people. I had kindly asked if they had a job for me, but they didnt respond. Being here at this place I noticed it is people from all over Europe working here, lots of girls but mainly aged around 24. So probably it is the same thing as everywhere, that I am too old. Though I like the place a lot, and it may be necesary I felt it worked way too much on tight schedules, a bit too commercial. Very smoothly our small group was divided and connected to a guide and lead to the changeroom and stable. Within few minutes we were sitting on the horses, and I missed this little moment of connecting to the horse.

In the morning I would ride Stormur, a tiny lightbrow (flaxen) horse. I was alone for the tour I assigned to, but one German girl joined me and the guide in this morning ride. Soon enough we rode through the plains towards the delta of the river Olfusá, on which the Gullfoss is located. During our ride we had many many many gates to open, pass and close. It is an energetic job for the guides. No gate is the same, I guess I have seen hundred gates, fences, ropes, barbwire, electric fence etc.

In the shadows.... it was quite hot in this spring sun, reaching 10 degrees in places in full sun and out of wind.

The hairdo of Stormur

Stormur was quite a handfull. Not that he was bad behaving, but he loves to be in front, and he is not a natural tolter. So I had to work on it to keep him in tolt instead of trott. Tolt for the novice here, is one of the exclusive extra gaits of the Icelandic Horse, a best to describe fast walk which is very comfortable but a bit weird to see to foreigners. When he became tired, he also started to canter, but the canter of Icelandic Horses is amazing comfortable.
Iceland has an incredible lot of horse riding trails, but most of them are full of legbreaking rocks, ditches and as mentioned, gates. In any of these cases/obstacles, Stormur also prefers the security of trotting. As soon as I lost pressure on the reins he took his chance to change. But after a little while and some help and instructions, it got better and it was more tolt again. Still for me it is something very unnatural to do, to just make sure the head of the horse is pulled up to force it to tolt. In the case I would ever buy an Icelandic Horse I surely will search for a horse that does tolt without needing to pull force it to tolt. There must be other ways.... but some horses just prefer one gait over another. And you can't really change that.

It is just one of the things I should get used to in Icelandic Horse keeping. It is different than our way, the people here treat the horses often less like a human than we do, and rely much more on their cultural equine history and old ways, my theory about holistic horsemanship may be something that cannot be applied without having my own farm or business. It is something I have to keep in mind if I plan to go work with horses in Iceland. Though I have come across stables on the internet where they are more accepting the holistic way of horsekeeping. Icelanders are just a nation that had to hold on to ancient old traditions for a long time, and only started to change this in the past 20 years. Not oldfashioned, but being a solitair island made them much more authentic than other countries. Now the rest of the world is in connection, it rapidly changes. It is still rich in equestrian culture, but still in some parts they are necesarry tools to survive. But it has a lot of good things. Horse nations like Iceland have incredible knowledge of understanding horses. I talked about that with the people who worked here. Horses are easier going since they live in herds. Even the horses always staying at the farm in stables, are with two in a stable large enough for them both. They always have eachother without being glued to eachother. Our horses typically live a solitary life, how cruel can you be to an animal that is normally not going to survive if it is all alone? It is the pain I felt lately and made me decide quiting riding lessons. That we gave ourselves permissions to ride them is one thing, but to also take their dignity and freedom to be horse away is a dealbreaker.

After 2 hours we reach a hill close to the river Olfusá, where we have a little break for the horses and time to look out over the delta. In perfect clear conditions you can look towards the ocean, we saw the bridge, though we had very nice and even sunny weather, distant fogging prevented to look further.
Here we also took some pictures. Well the guide took them of me and the girl that was with us.

Endless open spaces of Olfusá river delta. Icelands biggest river.

Me on Stormur who didnt like to stand there alone at all (thats why his ears are backed, he didnt want to stand still either).

After the break we rode back on a little bit different route. Stormur got tired and more and more fell back into trott and canter. And also I became tired and with a sore ass to put it a bit rude. Also, my tailbone still is not feeling ok. Since I felt on my butt in Finland it once in a while starts to ache when I am sitting for too long. If this will continue for more years, I am afraid I have to have surgery on it, either to remove or to rebreak it. Not something I would look forward to....
But sickness had no hold on me for now :-)

Horses everywhere you look, there are more in this picture than you instantly see.

More horses, and this is not the same herd as previous picture

Back at the stables, I had to keep my saddle separated so we could just take it on another horse I would be riding this afternoon. Stormur was soaking wet, he had worked so hard. I could not take a good picture of him, and hoped I would be able at a later moment.
But Eldhestars tight schedule drove me away from the horses to take any pictures at all (my good camera was in the changeroom as well). It is not that it was not allowed, but it was not like Laxness that you had some time to just socialise with the horses. I had half an hour to lunch.

I had to go to the restaurant at the hotel building for lunch. I can't remember I actually let them know I was vegetarian. I surrendered to the always given Icelandic meat soup. If food is included, it contains in nearly all cases this soup. I would have liked to try it, but I got vegetarian cauliflower soup. Not ideal if you have a messy stomach.... but it tasted good, and along there was bread, fruits and vegetables. It was enough for me for the moment. But I rather had the meatsoup I think. Just for the sake of my internal me.

It was time to ride again. I never managed to remember the name of this horse I got. It name meaning 'Dusty' in Icelandic. Translators don't give me the name it was, something like Blaukur... and it was not Rykugum.
My first introduction round gave me the impression I had a fiestier horse this time, eager to work and tolt. This ride to the mountains, I was alone with the guide. But I felt comfortable with this horse, though I started to feel my muscles soring.
Because we were two I got too relaxed at one point and the horse took his chance to lead, the guide got a bit annoyed, but I would have suspected if you have a tour of a guide and experienced rider, you may want to choose two horses that can walk side by side. But those two started to compete, which I don't think was true really... it is what the guide mentioned, but he has his task to lead the group. So I can only respect that. And for the remaing time I stayed behind. A way of riding I just don't like, but ok... it did not ruin the ride. ;-) This horse was a natural tolter and now I could film and take pictures during tolt as well. Relax a bit more, ride one handed or whatever.

The yet unknown horse of the afternoon ride. They were tightening the girth here, just grabbed my chance picture him in between....

We rode to the mountains, to a place called Bloody Hill. I dont know its Icelandic name yet. But here after the settlement, farmers who had unsolvable issues with other farmers, had to fight their justice with their two best stallions. They would fight eachother over, most likely in the reach of a mare, until one of them had died. If the rare case happened both died, the farmers themselves had to fight until one has died. If both died again, naturally the issue would have been solved by this.
So many many blood was spilled on this mountain. We luckily didnt enter this place itself, but stopped 100 meter before. It is typical to see that this mountain also looks more red then the area around it.

On the left the foot of Bloody Hill. I had a full picture but it is disgraced by electricity poles. Common happening in Iceland, they polute views everywhere, but they simply cant go underground....

As we were now halfway our ride, we stopped here for a little break. And enjoyed the view over the plateau blessing ourselves for this beautifull weather. But that weather can change quickly we noticed on our way back.
While we rode up to Bloody Hill we passed a canyon, and now we more went to this direction. This tour has less more gates and fences to pass luckily! We now went to a more offroad trail. Before this we rode mostly alongside the road. It is good that outside of Reykjavik not much traffic is around. But Hveragerdi is rather big town, famous for its greenhouse industry. Here you find the most nordic situated banana plantation in the world. Believe it or not... it might as well be the only or biggest banana plantation in Europe (but don't sue me, I think Spain has some too). Still most bananas you buy in Iceland are from chiquita.

But we were not riding in Hveragerði, but in the wide open spaces. Or well now it is more on the rocky slopes below the mountains. Now the guide invited me for some fast tolting experiences. That was really nice :-) All I did so far was just the regular speed tolting, and now it was heads up and find the limits of the horse tolting speed! Amazing, really like flying through the Icelandic landscape, this picture I had seen some times now in Iceland, people riding their horses in the landscape and all you see is the legs moving and manes fly. This awesome view, and now it was my turn to really fly!
The guide told me my horse might be five gaited too. I noticed at one point a clear left right left right swing so I asked about it. But if it was pacing, it was not for long. To be honest, pace seems a bit scary to me, it needs so much balance, speed and skill to ride it. It was unlikely to be pace however but it was funny to talk about it.

Basalt rocks on our way back to the stable

The last bit of our ride we went into a sheep paddock, such a lovely field with lots of lava rocks, water flowing through, situated below a mountain and not flat itself. Here we has a few cattle/sheep trails to follow our way but that meant we could no longer tolt. It was ok because I felt rather devastated. We ended up on the other side of the road of the stable, and the idea we had to go back to the river where we could follow the river under the road didn't appeal to me. It would mean 45 more minutes riding. But rescue was there... we would cross the road. Only we had to dismount, and then I really felt wrecked. On the other side it was a hell to get back on, no matter how tiny the horses are. I did not mount a horse from the ground for nearly 15 years now...
One thing is for sure, if I am going to do the horse round up later this year, I will need to practice riding longer and mount from the ground. To not make a complete idiot out of me ;-)

Back at the stable the horse was quickly taken away to care for and I had to pick up my things, and fetch some included drink and Icelandic rhubarb cake. I don't fancy rhubarb, but this cake is delicious :-)

And then it was time to return back to Reykjavik.

First thing I did was going to the hottub. I arrived at the hotel shivering, not because I was cold. The hottub was the only place I could feel at ease. Being 41 degrees normaly you can't stand staying too long, but I got frozen when I left it, so I stayed in it for like an hour. I did some swimming to warm up but it did not work, I kept shivering and feeling cold. So again I plunged in the hottub, I just overthought the day, snoozing away in the cozy warm waters...

I loved the day a lot but I missed the horse interaction before and after riding. I am custom to taken well care of a horse before and after riding but I did not even get a chance to pay gratitude to a horse the way I normally would. And that feeling bothered me for some time. Both for Stormur and the other horse.
I had a silent hope for a chance to work here, and despite of it being a lovely and vibrant place I don't know if this strict scheduled and well oiled business is my kind of place. It could be however... after all I have been told quite some times by several people that I need something more scheduled in my life because that is what I lack. But the kind Icelandic girl who speaks Dutch, gave me an adress of a stable that currently looks for help during the summer and maybe for longer. And if this can't be coincidence, I have the idea this is the place where I think of going to do the horse round up in October. If only I had the possibility and money.... I will check with them when back in Holland.

By now I was shrimpled like a raisin of the warm waters. Some other guys came to the pool not showering and I started to feel like being Icelandic. It somehow annoyed me, they didnt do... I mean showering naked is one thing but at least do shower in stead of jumping in the water with all of your today sweat and dirt attached to your body. I did not like the idea... So I left the hottub. The shower felt icecold to me, but I love the hotels Soley shampoo so much, so I took the lukewarm (in my emotion now icecold water) for granted.
I went to my room, thinking I might have low bloodsugar levels causing the shivers and cold feeling. I did not eat a lot today. It made me feel better, but I fell asleep early. Probably also just too tired after 3 wrecked nights.  Or maybe indeed a flu trued to get hold of my imunesystem... I wish it luck!