Iceland trip!

[Gwen]

Oh, you guys. That was a glorious experience! I HIGHLY recommend it - if you are considering a riding trip anywhere, go to Iceland! These horses are just amazing. They look like fluffy little ponies you'd put the kids on at a birthday party pony ride, but then you get on them and BAM - SO much power, so much sensitivity, and so fierce! It feels silly imagining Vikings on them until you experience that, and see them up close.

My mare feels MILES behind the leg in comparison! Poor girl, she's going to have to step it up!

Some iphone photos - I'm working on getting my gopro footage edited and up on youtube, I"ll post a link when I get it!

The tour was with Bjarni and Elsa at Saltvik - they run tours with Riding Iceland. I can't recommend them enough, so warm and welcoming, the horses were fantastic, and Bjarni has a mysterious ability to make good initial guesses with matching horses with people, and then refining the pairs as the week went on. Every ride we were on someone new, and every horse felt better than the last, even when I would SWEAR up and down there was no improving on that last one!

A hike we did the day we arrived, this is near Reykjavik

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From the first ride on the first day, at Saltvik

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Sunset on the first day, view from the barn and guest house.

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(To be Continued, I think I can't add any more photos to this post....

[Flight]

Looks AMAZING!!! Maybe I am tempted to make it to Iceland for a holiday one day!
Looking forward to your vid!

[Gwen]

Second ride on the first day

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Second horse - I LOFFED him! Such a snuggle bug, and so careful with his feet. He was apparently a very competitive flying pace horse

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From the first ride on the first day

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[Gwen]

My lovebug

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Second day we had snow - I loved that we got both blue skies and the more expected Iceland weather.

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This guy was my little rocket! So lovely and soft to ride, but I discovered an occupational hazard of riding in sticky winter gloves with a foot long mane... when he got excited coming out of the river, and I had given him a bit too much rein to find his way, trying to get the rein back all I kept getting was more mane!! It was unBELIEVABLE how fast he was! But so smooth I never felt out of balance, so it was mostly hysterically funny. I kept bringing my hands wide to get the rein out from under the mane, but apparently some Icelandics will go faster when you do that? I learned that afterwards, it was a good pro tip. I have the gopro of that wild ride, and it is hilarious.

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[Gwen]

After hours of fast riding in the snow, sleet and rain, my rocket was still wanting to GO

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The third day we went to a frozen lake to experience tolting on ice, and to be there for the Myvatn Open the next day - a big competition with many of the best horses and riders in Iceland competing.

We were at a farmer's place waiting for our horses to arrive, and sat around admiring the view from the paddock.

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The most astonishing thing was that other people were arriving, clearly competitors, and bringing their competition horses to stay at this farm. They took them off the truck and threw them in this small paddock and left the horses to figure it out between them! I can't IMAGINE that ever happening here, going to Regionals and throwing my horse in with strange horses, and not even waiting to see how they interacted to make sure someone wasn't getting kicked or injured?? But these horses live in big herds all the time, so their social skills must be pretty well honed.

[Gwen]

This was my ice tolting partner, Gola, who's name means "Breeze". Which is appropriate, I had ridden her in the snow the previous day (before riding the rocket on the home leg of the ride) and she was so smooth and surefooted, I trusted her so much that whenever the ride sped up to fast tolt pace (which is canter/gallop speed generally) and the sleet was stinging my eyes I would just close them and let her find the way. Incredible to trust a horse that much, after only a few minutes on her back.

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My friend and I enjoying some hot chocolate

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[Gwen]

The Myvatn Open! So EXCITING. This was the competition track:

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The track going to the left was the warmup, straight out was the track itself. In general, the competitors would, one at a time, go out and back in slow tolt, trot, fast tolt, and in the more advanced classes, would then need to show slow tolt -> fast tolt -> slow tolt. There were colored stakes in the ground to indicate where the gaits needed to start and how long they needed to be maintained.

Here is one of the early competitors, warming up:

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I have more photos from my camera, and also some video of the competition which I'm hoping to post later - there was also a flying pace competition, the winner was clocked at 45km! She is an excellent pace horse, and belongs to Bjarni, who is now considering whether to send her to the World Championships. It's a difficult decision for many, because if you send them (they are in Europe), the horse can't come back to Iceland so would have to be sold afterwards.

[Gwen]

In only tangentially related Icelandic horse reporting, I designed and knitted my friend and myself matching horse sweaters!

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[Gwen]

Ok, some of the photos from the "good" camera of the Open:

This was the champion of the Tolt competition (no trot or pace shown in this). It was the final one so presumably the most prestigious. He was an absolutely stunning stallion. There were a large number of stallions and mares all showing together, I never noticed anybody having an issue.

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From the warmup:

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The competition from the craters that border the lake:

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[Gwen]

Some nice trots:

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And the group of the top five finalists in the Tolt competition:

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[galopp]

(Interesting all in plain snaffles with drops!)

[Gwen]

Yes, all the tour horses went in snaffle + drop, and most of the competition horses were in similar set ups. Some were in what I was told was a traditional Icelandic bit? I'll see if I took any photos of those bits - they are quite a bit stronger, and one of the fellow tour participants (who rides icelandics in Switzerland) was saying that very few horses actually go well in them, it tends to result in them backing off and coming above the contact too much.

Here's a link:

https://www.horsetackco.com/traditional ... 8ctell3qf0

She was describing it as sort of like a curb, but jointed, which is what this looks like, I think.

[Canyon]

That sounds like a wonderful trip! Thank you for posting all the photos and details. I'm looking forward to your videos.

I love the sweaters that you designed and knitted. Wow, you are talented!

Did the horses use special shoes when competing on the ice?

[Kyra's Mom]

Lovely pictures and it looks like a fantastic time. Thank you for sharing.

I am kind of a homebody but I would love to go to Iceland.

Susan

[Gwen]

That sounds like a wonderful trip! Thank you for posting all the photos and details. I'm looking forward to your videos.

I love the sweaters that you designed and knitted. Wow, you are talented!

Did the horses use special shoes when competing on the ice?

Thank you! I'm hoping to get the video together tonight.

Yes, they had big studs screwed onto the heels of their shoes.

[piedmontfields]

Wowza! Thank you for sharing your adventure. So cool that you got to see a competition. You got some great shots.

Your travel sweaters are adorable, too.

[Imperini]

So cool thank you for sharing! Love the sweater too!

[Josette]

Your pictures are beautiful! What an adventure you both had! I'm trying to wrap my mind around riding/racing on ice. Certainly sounds scary but they have it figured out. I can't imagine competing a horse/pony and then being forced to sell afterwards. (For me - I would skip the competition.) Seriously LOVE your sweaters!!! You could start a business on the side making horse sweaters. (hint hint)

[KathyK]

Wow - what a trip! Thanks for sharing it with us so well. I also love the sweaters very, very much.

[Flight]

Your photos are just stunning!! Thanks again for sharing!!

I love the jumpers too, very cool

[StraightForward]

Wow, that looks and sounds amazing. Thank you for sharing the photos and your experience. Also love those sweaters!

[Koolkat]

That buckskin stallion is indeed stunning, just reeks of class.

[PaulaO]

What stunning pictures! How cold was it?

[Gwen]

What stunning pictures! How cold was it?

It was warmer than it is here in Northeast right now!! The temperatures tend to hover just above and below 0 Celsius, and we didn't get much wind so when the sun was out it was like a spring day, and the day it snowed it started warm, got colder and snowed and sleeted, warmed up again and drizzled.

It was colder standing around on the frozen lake, although we didn't really get any wind until the afternoon, luckily.

Our first night at Myvatn there was CRAZY howling wind, wouldn't have wanted to be out in that! The last night was clear enough for some northern lights, and I was able to walk to the top of one of the craters to watch them, totally alone, no sounds except foxes. The wind was totally still, it was wonderful.

[Gwen]

So glad you all enjoyed the pictures! It was fun for me to write it out. And thanks for all the sweater love! I'm having to take a knitting break, I've been overdoing it this year and I keep getting tendinitis flareups... I have so many projects I want to get started on, and to finish!! But even an hour or so a day is painful, so I'm putting myself on stall rest for the next two weeks.

[Silverado]

WOW....just WOW!!! What fun, how exciting....stunning scenery and horses...WOW...thank you so much for sharing the photos! Love, love the sweaters!!

[westisbest]

What a beautiful experience! I know someone around here (S of Calgary) who has imported Icelandics she rides out in the dead of winter. Of Course! I think she has the highest rated mare in N. America. I would love to go there and ride. Beautiful pics and yes you are very talented to do those sweaters.

[angela9823]

LOVELY photos. Thanks for sharing! I'm in awe of your sweaters. Very lovely.

[Gwen]

Here's the video, finally! Clips from almost every ride (the first ride I hadn't figured out the right set up for the gopro so it was pointed at the horse's neck. Whoops!

https://youtu.be/bj_XP5gO6Mw

One of the clips is me getting run away with! The perils of sticky winter riding gloves and a foot long mane...

[Josette]

What an awesome video!! Thank you for posting it. I'm a confirmed pony lover - started with ponies as a kid and now riding a 14.2 feisty Connemara.
The chestnut you were riding would have come home with me. I admit the scary part was watching tolt on the asphalt pavement. I have a fear of slipping/falling on it. This was such an incredible trip and wonderful to watch.

[piedmontfields]

What awesome ponies! I really laughed at your spicy flaxen-maned fellow.

[Gwen]

My friend and I, reviewing the footage that night, were literally rolling on the floor! It was funny at the time, and even funnier in retrospect!

[lorilu]

WOnderful! Thanks for sharing!!

[Tarlo Farm]

Gorgeous! I'd not ever thought about an Iceland trip. Until now!