The plan was to take off the shoes of the riding horses at Laxamýri in the afternoon before going to Helluland to fetch a horse. So we went with the trailer to the field, where Sif and Atli Björn were already waiting for us. Think the horses were relieved to get rid off the shoes and even get treats for that. At least they stayed with us even when they were finished, but that was maybe mostly because of the treats.
Anyway we were offered coffee afterwards and of course followed the invitation. In fact I had been waiting to meet Breiðanes Björn aka Bubbi for quite some time. He's an Icelandic Sheepdog pup and belongs to Sigga. Of course I had my camera around and took some pics. During coffee Bubbi took a nap at my feet and warmed my toes. 
Then we rushed to Helluland to fetch Svipur, fullbrother to Djákni and Faxi, which means he's son of Hágangur frá Narfastöðum and Myrká frá Hellulandi. He'll stay with us and get his basic education, just like Fönix. Hope the other guys will like him. 
Bjössi came with his geldings Róði and Prins, too, so there are 5 guys around now and no mare to disturb.
 

 

 

 

A few days ago we moved the first horses (Magnús and Sæla) to the autumn/winterpasture at Ísólfsstaðir. Now it was time to take the rest, except Fjördís and Ögn, there. These two stay at the big meadow at home as they aren't that fat and are allowed to feed on the fertilized grass. The others are rather fat and it will be good for them to wander around 60ha of land and pic the best here and there. It will keep them fit and they'll have enough to do without us interfering.
Overall there are 11 horses there at the moment, 8 of them belong to is. These are Vordís, Þrá, Skuggi, Ösp, Embla, Sigtýr, Sæla and Magnús. Think they'll enjoy their time off there and when we left it was very clear that Vordís took the lead straight away.

 

 

 

 

It was time to check out List and our youngsters in Hagi. They are leading a very good life there, I'd say there's even too much grass for the bunch of them. But first we had to get through an Icelandic traffic jam, which means that farmers were herding their sheep on the road.
The horses came running when they saw the car and we were able to check them out. List is very fat and eventhough you can't see it that much at the moment, her daughter Snerpa is getting more and more like her mum, which means she'll have to be on diet next summer...
Hjördís' Kóngur and Rögnir are doing very well, but I was wondering, where Rögnir wants to grow as he's already as big as Kóngur and Snerpa.
Well, they are all looking fine and will have enough reserves for the coming winter, no need to worry about them.
Afterwards we checked on the horses by the seaside, which are going to be moved to Ísólfsstaðir soon. Hjördís met her friend Embla and of course they took a pic together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this year, to be precise in September, our friend Pétur had his 80th birthday. When you see him, you wouldn't guess that he's already reached 80, still very fit and guess what: he got an iPhone as a birthdaypresent and is now learning how to use a smartphone.
As usual there were a lot of things to do and talk about when visiting and of course we brought some stuff and a delicious birthdaycake with us. 
Saturdaymorning I took a walk to the foals and spent some time taking pics there. Suddenly the horses rushed at me and I just saw a little red shadow following them. That was Dögg, Pétur's dog, which was released from the house and took the straightest way down to the meadow to meet me there. In fact it wasn't that bad that she came as the foals were very interested in her and at the same time a bit scared. So lots of opportunities to take pics.
In the afternoon we decided to visit horsebreeders in the area and started at Langahlíð, where we were offered coffee and bananabread, straight from the oven. Afterwards we had a look at the stallions there, Haukur, Greipur and Breki and took some pics in the forest.
From there we went to Brekka, the farm where our Vordís is from. It was nice to get to know her breeders and show them pics of her and her offspring.
In the evening we had great dinner with birthdaycake as a dessert. 
Sunday before going home we helped fetching some horses back to the stable. That went easier than we thought and we left in the early afternoon to Húsavík.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather has been that good around here, no frost yet, that my roses and fuchsia are still flowering and budding. I'm sure they won't flower all, but nice to see this much life in them at this time of the year. Hope they'll have a few more great days before winter comes.

 

 

 

 

 

We exchanged Fönix and Prímus for List in Hagi and took them both back home, Fönix for his basic education and Prímus to keep him company. List on the other hand will be the nanny for Snerpa, Kóngur and Rögnir until we have to take them back home to the field by the sea.
Fönix is son of our Vordís and Snillingur frá Íbishóli, from the first group of his offsprings. If he's the way we think he is, this will be easy and he'll not gonna stay inside very long. The plan is to teach him longeing, the basic commands in hand, carrying a rider and the basic commands with a rider. Then he'll get time off until next autumn again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday afternoon we went to Skagafjörður to meet our friends at Miðsitja. We were invited to spent the weekend there and take part in Laufskálarétt.
This time we merely rushed there as many breedingfarms offered people to come and visit and we wanted to be on time and have a look at Hafsteinsstaðir, whence very well known horses like Fáni, Feykir, Drífa and nowadays Oddi come. There are still a lot of grey horses around and it was great to get the chance to walk through the stables and talk to the owners and breeders there. 
After a quick dinner we went to the show in the riding hall, where Elisabeth and Magnús had put together a very nice program. I liked the girl with her chestnut very much, she showed a kind of freedressage, horse loose and showing different tricks. Think she acchieved quite a lot in just one year with this gelding. And most of all I liked how much the audience like that, too. She got a lot of applause.
The day after we started early to Kolbeinsdalur, I got Stóri Jarpur, who is usually used for the less experienced riders, but perfect for taking pics. So I had a nothing to do but taking pictures trip this time. There were a lot of people, I'm sure more than horses collected, but you rarely saw anybody drunk and people mostly behaving very well on horseback.
In my opinion Laufskálarétt is so much more about meeting people than having a look at horses, eventhough it's nice to see so many different colours. 
So after having a lot of chats, meeting friends and acquaintances we went back to Miðsitja to relax and think about dinner. It was our turn to take care of the dessert and we decided to have some Austrian hazelnutpudding with chocolatesauce and whipped cream. Delicious! Think everybody liked it.
Sundaymorning we went for a short walk uphill and had a look at the foals and some youngsters in the huge mountainfield. Funny to watch the biggest and the smallest foal together, both spotted colts. When I came back downhill Magnús showed us his young stallions, which just had started their training. It will be very interesting to keep track on them. 
Hope we'll be invited again next year as it was a wonderful weekend with friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the lambs were weighed today and those supposed to stay alive checked by María, the amicus curiae for sheep, who judged the conformation, measured the backmuscle and the fat on it. Afterwards Bensi had to go through the whole bunch and decide which ones were going to the slaughterhouse the next day and which ones needed to get a bit heavier or were allowed to live on. Lukka of course had to watch everything from the best place available.

 

 

 

Every year the riding club invites its members for a ride with games and grill afterwards. Usually the ride is a bit longer, maybe going from Traðagerði to Botnsvatn or from the riding hall to Laxamýri and back or something like that. This year the weather wasn't good at all so we decided to take a very short ride to Saltvík and back to the riding hall. After taking care of the horses we met there and played different games, like bootcast and a relay race with very funny exercises. Last but not least we had delicious grilled leg of lamb with a lot of different sidedishes. So despite the not too good weather it was a very nice afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was time to seperate the lambs from their mums today and we went to Hólmavað to help a bit. Of course Snilld was ready to get some treats and show me her rams. It's so funny how different they look. Not just the colour but the whole conformation differs. Now it was easier to see the small black markings on the white ram, which tells me, he's spotted and not white. Well, now they have to say goodbye to her mum and be big boys.

 

 

 

 

 

This year's weatherforecast for the sorting day wasn't as good as it could be and the day started with light rain. Nevertheless a lot of people came to help Bensi and Ella and it was nice to have so many helpers. Ína and her kids came for the first time and it was great to see, how the kids learned what to do, had fun and got quite a connection with the sheep. Snilld was, as usual, in the last group that was driven into the pen and Kristján caught her in about 1 minute from entering the pen.
Ingólfur and Hjördís went to fetch horses and help driving the sheep back home just before we were about to leave Hraunsrétt. They just managed in time to get back, saddle the horses and join. I grabbed the car and trailer and used the opportunity to take pics on the way. Got 2 passengers, too. Bensi put tired sheep in the horsetrailer. When I parked the car on the meadow at Hólmavað, I just left the trailer open so they could leave whenever they wanted to. Think they liked the service. 
And there was somebody driving the sheep on horseback, who I'd never expected to do so! Rut had trained during summer and lead the herd home together with Hjördís.
When all the sheep were back home, we gathered together and had great homesmoked hangikjöt, mashed potatoes, peas and a lot more. Everybody enjoyed himself and it was great to have so many people around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me and Hjördís went to meet the sheep, sheepdogs and shepherds today. Took the horsetrailer with me to drive the horses, which weren't needed anymore, back home. We had a saddle and Hjördís' riding gear with us as the plan was that she'd ride Embla back to Hólmavað from Hraunsrétt.
It looked like the herders gathered the majority of the sheep. While watching we saw Bensi's leadersheep Kvíka in front of the herd and most of the lambs and sheep coming looked quite well, a lot of fluffy woolen balls rolling downhill.
After having coffee I drove Katla and Vigri home and came back in time to see the herd approaching the gate uphill. There was a TV team from the United States, filming the roundup and they were happy to get a few tips to where the sheep would go and so on. Hjördís and me waited then for the herd at Hraunsrétt. It was quite fun to watch the sheep entering the area in a long, fluffy line. I even spottet Snilld with her 2 rams. She nearly caused a havoc when not entering through the last gate but turning around shortly before. In the end they made her go through.
Ingólfur and Hjördís then saddled up Embla and left with a group of riders in direction to Hólmavað. I was lucky enough to reach the last meadow they had to pass before them and become witness to a horserace between Bensi and Hjördís, which Hjördís on Embla of course won. A year ago I wouldn't have dared to dream about anything like this. It's great to see how much these two trust each other - a very special bond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As every year around the second weekend of September it's time to go to the highlands and gather the sheep. Ingólfur took Skuggi, Ösp and Embla to the roundup and as usual he met with friends at Geitafell to ride to Þeistareykir. Unfortunately they got the worst weather in a very long time, rainy and stormy, but nevertheless they started their trip in the afternoon. Well, when they arrived, they were wet but in good mood and the weather had gotten better, too. Now it's 2 days in the highlands before driving the herd to the valley on Saturday. Best luck!

 

 

 

 

 

After being away for such a long time, it was of course necessary to check out and meet the youngsters at Hagi. We were sure they were ok as the owner of the farm and Bensi and his family are having a close eye on them every day, but it's always nice to meet the bunch. As feared Snerpa had finally scratched off the last bit of her forelock, but that will hopefully regrow over wintertime. The youngsters are well fed and prepared for winter, whenever it will start. 
When on the way back to the car we met Hrund and Arnar Ingi, sheepherder in training, on horseback. Think it was Arnar's 3 ride and he did quite well on Vaka. Hope he won't get a sore bottom during the sheeproundup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First but for sure not the last time our new car made the trip up to Þeistareykir, this time still with the Austrian numberplates, next time maybe already with the new Icelandic ones.
Nice to try it out a bit in different surroundings and get to know the offroad extras my dad bought.