After checking our youngsters and giving them a good scratch with a brush, we went first to Hólmavað and then to Hjarðarhaga. At Hólmavað I of course visited Snilld, which ist gravid with 2 lambs due in May or early June. She's still hopping around and missbehaving, so not looking as pregnant as most of the other sheep she's with. Snilld begged for treats and therefore it was rather difficult to get proper pics of her, but at least I got some funny ones. 
At Hjarðarhaga we picked up Þyrnirós and took some pics of Fjördís. Both are in very good condition and especially Fjördís starts to look more and more grown up. Þyrnirós got a not so warm welcome, but at least her brother Fönix was happy to see her.
After checking again on them in the evening we took a drive to Kaldbak and watched the migrating birds there. We saw a great nothern diver, grayleg geese, whooper swans and last but not least some horned grebes, which are in fact my favourites.

Happy first day of summer!
Summer and winter "froze together" and this forebodes a good summer. Well, we'll see how good it's gonna be.
We had a busy, but fun day, starting off with releasing the riding horses to the big pasture. They really liked it, running and bucking before rolling over and beginning to graze. After cleaning the stable we went to see the foals and mares, this time with a good brush, to help them shedding a bit. Snerpa and Kóngur soon followed Fönix' example and stood very still when being brushed. They in fact liked it so much, that they started to follow me around when I started brushing the mares. 
In the afternoon we went to the spring concert of Hjördís' choir, which was very nice. It was part of the girls' fundraising for their trip to Denmark after 2 weeks. They've been really busy and managed to get most of the money needed for the trip. Hope they'll enjoy it a lot!
Afterwards we took a drive to Bjössi and Rakel to have another look at their puppies, which are exactly 3 weeks old today. They already opened their eyes and ears and started to walk around. When we arrived, Píla greeted us happily and took a break of babycare. The pups were asleep, but awoke the moment their mum entered the room again. They are starting to getting really cute and in a few weeks they will be ready to leave their mum and go to new homes. Looking forward to meeting and photographing them soon again.

It's soooo boring to have nothing to do, isn't it? To change the routine in the paddock a bit, we sometimes throw in a treatball, which was originally designed for dogs, but our horsetreats fit perfectly and the horses were fast finding out what to do with it.
Today it was time to do that again and Skuggi, who hasn't seen the ball before, just walked to it and started playing around, getting a reward once in a while. He was really patient doing this, not just like Nökkvi, Prímus and Sæla, who were just biting into the ball, trying to shake the treats out.
Here's a short video.

I've been thinking about taking a pic of the Saltvíkherd on their hill with Kinnafjöllmountains in the background for quite some time. The horses are just such an outstanding motive with a spectacular view in the back. But until now, I never got the perfect moment. Today, when driving home from the stable, I just saw the sun descending, making the herd a beautiful silhouette in front of the mountains. So Ingólfur did me the favour to stopp and I just rushed out and took this pic. Hope you like the result as much as I do!

was the theme of the day. Ingólfur invited Hjördís and me for a drive up to Þeistareykir with several stopps to take pics. The plan was to compare them in the end and chose a winner. Well, we skipped that part.
There were quite a lot of cross-country skiiers on the slopes above Húsavík as the conditions were just perfect. Not too cold, wonderful weather and good tracks. Fun watching them a bit. It was interesting to see, how the constructions are progressing, but at the same time destroying the special charm of the Þeistareykirarea.
Afterwards we checked and fed the mares and youngsters. They were happy to see us, as Hjördís carried a big bag of bread. Even Vordís accepted contact and was of course checking out the bag. Then Kóngur and Snerpa got a good scratch and of course repaid the favour with scratching Hjördís instead. I think Snerpa was trying to steal her hat.
Whilst I was cleaning the stable, Hjördís was the only one of the family going on horseback during this weekend. After quite some break, she tried Þokkadís and was surprised, how well things were going. Hope she'll keep on and come with us for some rides.

Whilst Vordís, Þrá, Ögn and List prefer to take life easy, the youngsters Fönix, Kóngur and Snerpa love a little bit of action and are busy running and playing. We got quite a show. Afterwards we were allowed to scratch all of them as they are missing their winterfur, which is quite itchy.

Using the wonderful weather we are training our horses mainly outside. Today Ingólfur tried for the first time to take a handhorse while riding one of the youngster. The handhorse is used to give the young horse more security when leaving alone from the stable, encouraging it to go freshly forward and so on.
Ingólfur took the sibblings Sæla (ridinghorse) and Magnús (handhorse), both after Geisli frá Sælukoti, for a ride. It went very well, both horses in good mood and happy with their part.

At least that's what the squills in my frontyard claim. Hope they are right!

Joking was what our friend thought she was doing this morning, when she told her kids to have a look at the strangely behaving dog. Well, in fact the dog was behaving strangely and put outside to pee. Shortly after that, our friend's husband came back inside, not with one, but two dogs... Unnoticed from our friends, their dog was pregnant and gave birth to seven puppies. So in the evening we went to have a look and of course I took my cam with me. Looks like the father was a Border Collie, too. There were 5 girls, 2 of them tricolour and 2 boys, 1 tricolour. Píla, their mum, was just doing fine taking care of them, but happy to get visitors, additional claps and treats.
And no, I'm not getting myself a Border Collie puppy!

Well, we didn't just go for a photoshooting today, we had a good party, too. Ingólfur took care of baking bread, a huge cake and a kransekage in shape of a cornucopia with a chocolateball on top. We were lucky and Haukur was ready to manage the kitchen and food for us so we could be relaxed about this. Hjördís got a special guestbook - a fingerprint guestbook. Think most of the guests liked the idea, I definitely did and had fun making it.
We hope it was a special day for Hjördís and she enjoyed every part of it, it definitely was for us.

Today was Hjördís' big day, which started very early for us. Our alarm went off at 5 o'clock in the morning as Ingólfur had to finish baking before church, which was at 10.30 am. After the confirmation itself I fetched Hjördís and we went for a quick shooting in the local park and at a warehouse with a great view over the bay. She was, just like last time, ready for everything and we had lots of fun, even though it was rather cold. We got the last sun for the next days, it started to snow later that day during Hjördís' party. 

Today, after preparing a whole lot for the confirmation, we finally managed to take the first pics!
It was quite an adventure as we had chosen to shoot on the beach and take Angus, Hjördís' dog with us. I already had some pics in my head about what I'd like to do and was lucky enough that Hjördís was willing to take part in my crazy ideas. We had a lot of fun and I am really, really proud of Hjördís for doing what she did on the beach!

The weather is really good at the moment, so we spend more time outside with the horses after work than at home in front of the computer, which results in fewer news here. Additionally we are preparing the confirmation of Hjördís, which is going to take place 24th of March and will be quite an event. So many things to think about and organize, stuff to do, things to buy and soooo much to remember. But it is supposed to be a wonderful day for her, so we try our best to make it that. One thing we still have to do is going for a photoshooting, so we can show some pics during the event. Hope we'll find some time soon, as it is just 1 week to go...
The horses are fine, most of them starting to loose their winterfur, Sigtýr has had enough of training for the moment and got rid of a shoe, the foals are growing and growing and the others enjoying life.

After a long time in the winterpasture at Ísólfsstaðir, we fetched Gjöf and Aldís. There was a lot of snow and therefore it was more difficult for the horses to find something to eat and the farmer had started feeding them. So it was time to get them home.

The welcome wasn't as warm as the two ladies would probably have liked, but after a short time, they were allowed to join at the haybale.
But before that, I got the chance to take a few pics of our horses in motion, especially Þrá had fun running and bucking like a youngster.

Good to have them home again.

Our horses remain in their fence as they are supposed to and we went to check them out today in beautiful winterweather. Hjördís accompanied us and visited her still nameless colt. 

Vordís definitely behaves like a queen, very proud and not "talking" to the common herd straight away. She wants to be asked politely and decides then, if she grants you and audience or not.

Today was a day of "no, not straight away" and after a few minutes "now I'm ready to greet you".