It was about time to keep going with the small room at our stable, where we cast concrete and put up the grid for one wall in autumn. We were so lucky to get a great carpenter with us so things would work out the way they were supposed to. Jón already waited for us when we arrived in Saltvík and he and Ingólfur started straight away to make a hole in the wall as the plan was to put in the new window for which Jón already made the frame. Whilst the guys were taking care of that with big machines, I went for a walk and cut down some weeds close to the riding track up to the stable. Better keep them small.
Then I waterblasted our trailer, something we try to do at least once a year. We emptied it completely and let it dry thoroughly afterwards. In the meanwhile Hrund came and went for a ride on both Vaka and Vigri and helpers for our carpenter arrived. So the window was in place in literally no time.
Ösp and Skuggi had to be moved to the summerpasture, so Ingólfur rode there whilst I finished fixing some gates and opened the gate to the hillside, where our horses are allowed to stay some time everyday.
Last but not least we took a drive to have a look at the youngsters at Hagi. They are doing very well, fat and happy.

 

 

 

 

 

It was time to keep up with our springwork and today we took care of our big meadow down by the sea. There were a few haybales, that were not the exact taste of our horses and so there were some leftovers, which had to be taken away otherwise the grass below would suffocate as the layer was so thick. We put the old hay mixed with manure on the trailer and put it in different spots outside the field where it will make great fertilizer. Afterwards we scattered the manure with a big grid we got from Kiddi last year. Last but not least we emptied and cleaned the drinking trough. Now the pasture is more or less ready for next autumn, just the grass has to grow.
Great thing about this place is, that you can watch wildlife in the bay from there. I was lucky to see a Minke whale and two northern gannets feeding. 

 

 

 

There are not many plants that I try to get rid off, but we have 3 main "enemies" here, which we try to keep away from our stable, riding tracks and around our meadows. It's not easy, but we already can see success after displanting regularly. Those plants are the dooryard dock, the Nootka lupin and cow parsley and all three of them are really invasive. 
So after our very nice evening ride, we started another round of cutting and pulling up weeds. First around the stable and then we went down to the riding track and kept going there. It's amazing how huge roots the dooryard dock gets, really difficult to pull them out. Well, I think we did quite a good job and came home around midnight tired, but content.

 

 

 

 

was the destination of today. But first we had a lot of other things to do. Rögnir and Sjarmi had to get dewormed and their hooves trimmed, we had to fetch Vordís and move Þrá to another field. The youngsters were so eager to get some treats, they nearly devoured the wormertube, so easy play there. Just for fun we measured Rögnir and he's 135cm on the band, which means around 125cm on stick. Then we loaded Rögnir and Vordís and off we went. Rögnir went to Hagi, joining the other youngsters there whilst Vordís stayed in the trailer, heading to the next stop at Helluland, where Myrká came on board. Off we went to Skagafjörður, where the two ladies had a date at Íbishóll.
Vordís went again to Snillingur, so her next years' offspring will be a fullsibbling to Fönix. I asked for a mare, but we'll see.
Myrká went to Óskasteinn, which has been a dream of Ingólfur for quite some time. So we hope the best and it would be great to get 2 mares in foal back home. 
And before I forget: it's Sigtýr's birthday today! He enjoyed it with his friends in the field, nobody bothering him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today's Iceland's Nationalday and as usual the local ridingclub offers the kids to go on horseback. We took part, like we always do, when we are home, and this time List and Embla were chosen. There were not as many kids as usual, which was quite nice for us. The horses were very patient and did a good job. Afterwards we rushed back to the field, where friends of us were already waiting for us to join us for a ride. Both of them haven't been on back for quite some time, so we chose calmer horses for them. Nevertheless it didn't end as well as we'd have loved to and half of the riders took a walk back home. At least it gave a good opportunity for a nice chat and making plans how to do better next. Hope it will work out that way. 
I was invited out for dinner and on the way back we stopped at Helluland, where Kiddi just had saddled the fullbrother of Djákni, who's in Germany now. Good looking horse and in my opinion quite promising. He'll get a good break from tomorrow.
Last but not least I couldn't walk past the kittens...

 

 

 

 

 

Iðunn had been teaching 9 kids during this week and today was the last lesson for this group. We decided to stop by and watch a bit. The kids were showing what they had learnt and in the end offered their family a ride on their horses. Was quite fun to watch the parents on horseback.

 

 

 

 

There were still 2 sorts of potatoes waiting to be put into the garden, but we never had time to make a new patch in Jón's garden. And I was told potatoes here should be planted before June 17th... So it was time to do something for them and I was lucky enough to get Ingólfur as a partner in crime.
He was very quick to remove the lawn at a suitable place, fetched some sand for me and helped making a small windbreaker for the patch. The sorts we planted are called "Blauer Fingerling" ,a kind of blue almond potato, and "Magyar Rosza", a rather early Hungarian potato with white flesh.
Now we have 7 different kinds of potatoes, 3 of them with violet flesh, one red and the rest yellow/white. Sooooo much looking forward to harvesting in the autumn!
Last but not least we finally moved some of the ridinghorses to the field close to Húsavík. I bet they knew where we were going!

 

 

 

 

 

Our field is the one to the right.

 

...but are not too keen to do. Castrating is one of them. Today it was Rögnir's turn to get castrated and eventhough it was decided long ago to do that, I was still in doubt about if or if not as I really like him as an individual, good looking, big, good gaits. But thinking about his pedigree, which is not in fashion, the way we'd have to keep him in the future and being more or less sure he'd not be used much as a stallion it was the best decision for all of us.
Rögnir wasn't too eager to get the second injection and put up quite a show, but it was useless, too many strong men around. The castration itself was very quick and after a few more minutes the now gelding woke up, was wise enough to not rise straight away and took his time to get on his feet. Afterwards he was allowed to get into the paddock and was comforted by his friend. A few more days of haltertraining and then he'll go and meet his friends at Haga.

 

 

 

Yesterday we got the OK to come with the youngsters to the pasture at Hagi so we took first Fönix and Prímus there and released them in the field. They immediatly went off to check the area out and tease the sheep a bit. Now it was time to get Snerpa and Kóngur, which were waiting at the stable. It was nice to see how easy all of them were loading into the trailer, that's just the way it's supposed to be. When in Hagi, we opened the trailer and released them into their freedom. Prímus and Fönix were already waiting for them and they disappeared in an instant as you can see in the pic. They are gonna have a great time there!

 

 

It was time to finish our fencework at Haga so we could finally release our youngsters there. So we got a roll of sheepnet, a few poles, our tools and off we went to Haga. It took quite some time to get rid off the old barbed wire, but in the end we managed to wind it up and put it away. Then we set the net and stretched it as much as we could. At 2 places we had to stack up stones under the fence so the sheep couldn't escape. Around 6 o'clock everything was ready and we headed over to Hólmavað where we just arrived in time to help fetching the first sheep going to the highlands inside. Snilld was already in the stable and of course begged for treats. It was nice to meet her and her boys a last time before they leave for the summer. 
And to make the day just perfect, we went for a long eveningride with Franziska, who visited from Germany. She got Embla and it was easy to see how much she enjoyed the ride. We did too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's what horsebackriding is. Therefore we encouraged Bjössi's family to come and take a ride with him, we'd be ready to borrow horses and tack. Today they finally managed to come and go for a trailride. Berta already had decided to take Glæta, so Bjössi got our Ösp and Rakel Embla. We met them when we were on the way to the stable and I got these nice shots of them. 
Afterwards it was time to get the mares and youngsters up to the stable and Bjössi and Rakel were ready to help us. First step was catching Vordís, which was surprisingly easy, then we caught Þrá and Prímus, but couldn't get Fjördís. So we decided to lead these 3 horses and allow the rest to just come along free. That went well until we went out of the field. Rögnir denied walking through the open gate, rather running big circles on the fiel and neighing. After what felt like half an eternity we finally managed to get him out of the field and into the herd. From there everything went very well, nobody got lost on the way. In the stable we trimmed the hooves, gave dewormer and combed the bunch before settling them in for the night. Next steps will be seperating the mares and foals, drive Prímus, Fönix, Kóngur and Snerpa to the countryside and haltertrain Rögnir and Sjarmi. So there'll be enough to do the next few days!

 

 

 

Benedikt Þór, Ingólfur's nephew, graduated from university today. Now he's a fisheries scientist and ready to start working.
Of course there was a nice party and we brought the cake. As a present we hid 10 flies for flyfishing in the garnish and he had to find them before anybody was allowed to have some cake.
When coming home we opened the upper part of our pasture for the mares and youngsters. We thought they'd take a rush and show off a bit, but they just started eating at the gate. At least Vordís took a small circle leading everybody and then they just returned to grazing, not looking up anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last days we were busy prepairing the annual Firmakeppni, a clubcompetition, where the local companies support the riding club with a donation. The winner of each class draws a company out of the pot and the company keeps the trophy until the next year.
We offered the son of friends to take part in pollaflokkur, the class for the youngest participants where you are allowed to lead the horse. He got my List and she took so good care of him, being much more patient with him than she'd ever be with me. This young rider started his career straight off with a 3rd place even before going to ridinglessons, which will start for him on Monday.
List wasn't happy that I had decided to take part, too, but did a good job, eventhough I hadn't been riding her the last due weeks due to being that busy. She forgot how to trott in the ovaltrack, but pace worked (as it more or less always does) and we got 4th in the ladies' class.
Ingólfur and Magnús took part in the gents' class and did very well, finishing in 3rd place. 
I was so lucky that our little friend was very keen on taking care of List and she got the best treatment, grazing, claps, attention as much as she liked. She definitely enjoyed herself and followed him around wherever he went. 
Afterwards we got coffee, cakes and waffers before going for a trailride. In fact I just went by car with my camera, but some others went for a ride. Ingólfur changed horses and took Sæla, who did very well.
Luckily we won't have to take care of this the next 3 years, as this duty is passed on to the other stable owners at Húsavík now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a lot of things to do when spring is finally here and one of them is fertilizing our meadows. We've been fertilizing them every year now, which makes the grassroot stronger and the meadow better prepared for our horses grazing there. This year the prices for fertilizer finally went down again, which means that hopefully more horseowners in our area are ready to buy it and do something good for their pastures (some have been neglecting them for quite some time). Today Bensi arrived with 1,2 tons of fertilizer and put it on for us. There's still 1 bag of 600kg waiting to be fetched and put out by hand... That'll be quite some work, but you can't use the tractor in the bumpy areas. 

 

 

Today was not an easy one as Hjördís was moving back to Keflavík. Her mother and her fiance had decided to do so and we just had to accept that, nothing to do about it. That means for us, back to seeing her maybe once every second month instead of nearly every day and having her every second weekend. Flights are expensive and it's hard to find a fitting date, when you are in 10th grade and preparing for finishing school. Well, we'll just have to wait and see how that's gonna work out.
Hjördís spent some time saying bye with the horses before we went to the airport. Not and easy drive.