Yesterday I thought I'd heard a familiar birdcall, well familiar to me because I've heard it quite often in Austria, but never in Iceland before. Didn't see the bird, but heard it again early in the morning and was able to detect the source of the sound. It was an Eurasian collared dove. Managed to get a pic and hope it'll stick around a bit. Think it's the first one ever reported at Húsavík!

 

 

...is going well. The guys are getting used to the halter, being tied, brushed and led. Both doing a good job and even cutting the hooves wasn't a big issue.
A few days more and then they'll meet the vet and be gelded before leaving to the summer pasture.

 

 

 

 

 

Time to move the guys up to the stables to teach them a few basics before being gelded and released to the summerpasture.
Pandóra and Hugleikur were left behind in the field as they were going to go to separate places afterwards. 
Ingólfur walked Vordís and Ögn followed by our 2 young stallions and Siffi's Blesi up to the stables. Of course the guys had to have a look at everything and run around like crazy a bit, but were more or less following like they were supposed to. We are lucky enough that we just have to cross the main road once and are then inside fences when walking to the stables. So not too many chances to do stupid things.
After getting the bunch of them into the paddock we actually had to get them inside, which wasn't so easy but we managed in the end. Now we had to convince them to get and stay in the boxes. Blær went into the stallionbox as we thought he'd be the most likely to misbehave and jump out. Þeyr was in the box next to him and Blesi opposite Þeyr. The only one misbehaving was 24 year old Vordís rearing and jumping around not being happy about being locked up. 
So we fetched the trailer, loaded Pandóra and Hugleikur, left Pandóra with Flugsvinn and the foal and Hugleikur and Vordís got a drive to their summerpasture. Vordís was gone in an instant, didn't even look back.
Ögn is going to stay with the guys as a kind of babysitter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We moved Flugsvinn and her foal to the big field by the sea today as we're planning on moving Vordís, Ögn and the youngsters up to the stable. It went surprisingly smooth getting the two of them out of the field without anybody else attempting to join.
The little guy followed his mum like he was glued to her and didn't even mind Ingólfur touching him.
Tíbrá, my ewe, had given birth to 2 white lambs yesterday and today we went to mark them. They got the numbers 208 and 210 as Bensi made a mistake with number 209 closing the ear of one of the lambs when marking. Well, think they don't care about those number.

 

 

 

 

Visited Jóel at his farm today to have a look how things are going during lambingseason and to check out when he wanted to get rid off our horses. 
It was a beautiful, sunny day and just too cute to see the newborn lambs and how much they and their mothers trust the old farmer and love to be around him.

 

 

 

Just forgot to tell you yesterday that we checked on Flugsvinn on Friday and thought she wouldn't be due so early as she had about 2 weeks left according to our notes. Anyway the little one does well, nurses frequently and is quite a funny guy. Of course his mum is still rather protective of him towards the other horses, but soon he'll be allowed to get to know them. 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was election day in Iceland and as I'm not personally connected to anyone on the ticket I was a great candidate for volunteering at the poll site. Ingólfur drove me to my designated site in the countryside and promised to fetch me when getting the voting boxes from the other sites in the evening. Little did I know it would be really hard for me staying there as we got a call from a friend when just leaving town that our mare Flugsvinn had given birth to her foal after Óskasteinn frá Íbishóli during the night. 
No way for me to check on them before getting back in the evening. So Ingólfur had a look and sent me some pics during the day. 
We got a little bay stallion, probably going to be really darkbay. 
So after an endless seeming election day I managed to finally see my foal. Cute little guy with, as it seems, all gaits. Looking forward to getting to know him better.

 

 

 

So how are the foals? Good question!
At the moment they are still separated as the little guy up at the stable didn't have the best start and is just getting stronger and more vivid. We had to get the vet to remove the placenta from Ögn yesterday as it didn't come on it's own. Not so much fun, but he got everything out. Then the little one got diarrhea from his mum's medication, which isn't good in such tiny foals. But he still drank well and seemed to be in good mood. Yesterday when going out for the first time, he didn't follow his mum and seemed disorientated. Had to put the lead around his butt and made him walk with me and his mum to the field that way. As the forecast for the night wasn't too good we put them inside again and on the way back he followed her already better than before. In the morning he seemed not so fresh and quite tired, but I'm not surprised about that as there are other horses in the stable and his mum all the time on the move to protect him from onlookers. We decided to put them out again in the morning and keep them there, not taking them inside in the evening. He followed his mum quite well and when in the field, he tried to jump and run a bit for the first time. You can imagen how relieved we were to see that. 
The older foal is doing very well and after fixing the fence we spent some time down at the field watching mother and son. I'm pretty sure Flugsvinn will be really happy when he's got another foal to play with. He's quite inventive, chews his mum's tail, jumps on her and whilst watching he attacked her from a higher place to make her play. Amazing how patient she is with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At least that's what our friend Óli told us when Ögn gave birth to her son after Hugleikur. At the same time there was a fireball on the nightsky, which we missed as we were looking in the other direction or to be precise at our field and Ögn. 
When taking the routine evening horsedrive to check on Ögn, Flugsvinn and the foal, everything seemed calm and nothing special to be expected, the mares just eating their hay. But when we took the turn into the gravelroad passing our field, Ögn had a look at the car and then started to walk into the corner of the field, where she had given birth to Kóngur 6 years ago. There she laid down and went into labour. Of course my camera was at home, so we decided to give her some space, fetch the cam and come back. She was at the same spot when we came back and the amniotic sack started to show. After rolling over, standing up, laying down and so on, Ingólfur decided to check a bit better on her and see if everything was coming the right way. First he saw just 1 leg, but the moment I said it's time to call the vet, the other leg showed followed by the head. Ingólfur helped a bit and dragged the foal infront of Ögn so she could lick it clean and dry. 
The weather wasn't as it's best, it was cold and snow on the ground. When it started snowing again, we decided to get mother and son inside, where it was dry and warm. Up at the stable we moved Fönix and Sigtýr to empty boxes so Ögn could have the big first box for herself and the foal and wouldn't be bothered by a nosy onlocker in the next one. Then we grabbed a halter and the trailer and off we went back to the pasture. On the way back I stayed in the trailer with the little family, holding the foal so it would arrive safely at the stable. We supplied hay for Ögn and were hoping she'd get rid of the afterbirth on her own. At the first look he seems to be chestnut. Well, would be the first chestnut in Ingólfur's collection, I already have 2.
So now we just have to wait and see how they'll be in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally! After waiting for exactly 2 weeks, being anxious about the weather, moving the pregnant mares to the field at the stable, making plans about having them inside if the weather would be really bad and so on, this little guy was born this morning. 
Our friend Mieke has been watching over the mares from her place and yesterday evening we were hoping it wouldn't take many more days before Flugsvinn would give birth. The milk was already running and everything ready, but she was still happily eating her hay. At 11 o'clock in the evening there wasn't anything going on, but this morning we got a call from Mieke about a silver dapple half dry foal at the field. Didn't take too long for us to go and have a look. 
The cute guy was still quite new when we came and his mum taking good care nobody would get too close. In the afternoon we moved them to the field down by the road where they got a fresh roundbale of really good hay and lots of peace. Hope Ögn will be ready to give birth soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At least it felt a bit like that. This week the weather has been changeing quite and there was some sleety rain at Ísólfsstaðir. Combined with chilly winds the snow/ice just froze to the horses and they looked like big, walking icycles. No fun for them having this stuff hanging in their fur, mane and tail. When checking on them we counted and counted and counted again, but there was still one horse missing. Didn't like that and took a walk down to the shelter. And there the missing horse was. It just didn't hear the other leave because of the wind. I was really releaved when meeting Skuggi down there. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last 2 days have been quite stormy. Yesterday we just went to work and back home as you wouldn't have seen anything at the winterpastures even if you had tried, so much snow blowing around. Luckily we opened the new field at Ísólfsstaðir the day before yesterday and the horses were able to get shelter there at the old barn. 
Today it was still stormy, but not as bad as the days before. So we went to check on the horses. Our friend Magnús joined and we took a walk down to the shelter. The horses spotted us soon and came up to greet us. They were all in good shape so nothing to worry about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our friend Hanna and me were lucky today as there were amazing Northernlights and perfect weather to go and practise taking pics. We had a fulminant show and tried different locations. Great evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather has been quite stormy the last days and still was today when we visited the herd. We had opened into a new field and the horses enjoyed that quite much. They were very lively when we came and more than ready to say hi and sneak some treats. We'll have to keep a close eye on the weatherforecast the next days and probably open to another field soon. 
Kóngur and Rögnir came home just before Christmas and are having a break from training at the field close to the road with good shelter and tons of food. Looks like they like their time off.??????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As our friend Óli had a New Year's resolution about walking and hiking a bit more, Ingólfur invited him and Laufey to take a walk on Bæjarfjall at Þeystareykir. I was first reluctant to join, but did so in the end and definitely don't regret. There was quite some snow and it was sometimes tiring to wade through it, but as I was the last in row, I was lucky enough to be able to use the footsteps others had already made. To our surprise we found living caterpillars on the snow. No idea what kind or where they came from. 
When on top there was and amazing sky above us, so beautiful colours! The way downhill was definitely faster than up as we just slided down on our bottoms.