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05.10.2013 07:37

Frumtamning - first training

October and November are the time of the year, we dedicate to training the youngsters. 4 to 8 weeks, depending on the individual horse. Then they get a break until next spring or even next autumn. probably running as a handhorse during summer to build up muscels.
This year we fetched Sigtýr, Embla and Nökkvi and took them inside 1st of October. Aldís came inside, too, as she needs a bit more training as a ridinghorse before being allowed outside again. She is rather fat at the moment, but that's something we can work on. We like them better a bit too fat than too skinny as it is difficult to build up muscels if there is nothing you can build them from. I'd say, all of the horses we have inside now, have enough resources to build muscels from...
Sigtýr is just going to learn the basics in longeing and will then go to Skagafjörður as we want to get an independent opinion on him and wether it is ok to keep him stallion.
So far all of them are doing well, Nökkvi is very polite and seems to be bombproof, nothing scares him. If it is going that well with him, he'll probably stay very short inside. Embla is a bit more sensitive and sometimes thinks, she's a pet and wants to sit on your lap, but she's far too big for that. Sigtýr tries to please and has already learned to come when you call him outside.
I attach some pics from the stable, which we just painted over summer and before the horses scratch all the new paint off.







Aldís



Embla



Nökkvi


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29.09.2013 06:32

Laufskálarétt 2013

We got very nice fellowriders from Skagafjörður enjoying our good ridingtracks and wonderful landscape during summer and were invited to join them during the Laufskálaréttweekend. Of course we took this opportunity and so we headed to Miðsitja on Friday. Ása, Biggi, Ingunn and Magnús gave us a warm welcome and after a snack we were more or less put into the cars and off we went to watch the horseshow in Sauðárkróki. I really liked it as there were not just hightuned horses running for their lives in tölt, but they tried to show different sides of the horse and put riders into tasks they usually don't do. There was a teamcompetition in tölt, Skagafjörður against Eyjafjörður, which the riders from Skagafjörður won. 3 young riders put together a comedy story about Laufskálarétt and acted so well, everybody was laughing. My personal highlight was the riderstest, where 2 pairs of riders had to step out of their comfortzone and perform new tasks on horseback. There was a parcour they had to go through, first slalom and then twice around the circle. One of the tasks was to do some beertölt, then they had to go without stirrups, so with as short as possible stirrups and the last round was with the rider sitting backwards. Not all the horses were patient enough for this and so one rider was bucked off, but didn't get hurt.
When we came home we had very good talks and a lot of fun before we finally went to bed. 
Saturday we had to get up early, to get ourselves and the horses ready for the ride to fetch the herd in Kólbeinsdalur. I was a bit stressed as it isn't my favourite to try a new horse in new surroundings, but I got a really sweet mare called Hera. When everybody from our group was ready, everybody else was more or less gone, but that was just the way we liked it as we could stop and go as we wanted. Just the group from Saltvík was behind us and a few other late riders like ourselves. The scenery was very beautiful, freshfallen snow and sunshine as you can see on the pics. It was fun to watch the herd coming and following it down to Laufskálarétt. There our horses got a good break and a lot of grass while we got delicious sandwiches, hot chocolate and beer. After these refreshments we had a good look at the sorting and I took a few pics, but I think it's all more about meeting friends than actually watching the horses...
Soon we went home to take a shower and relax before dinner. The house was rather full, when we arrived, so many guests, but very interesting to get to know new people. I had a very good and long chat with Elisabeth about everything from horses to sheep and teaching. 
After a good breakfast on Sunday we started our trip back home and had a passenger from Swiss with us. It was a very nice trip, good weather and so much to see.
Thanks for the great weekend and your hospitality in Miðsitja!












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24.09.2013 07:13

Fjördís

is the name, that Aurelia and her family chose for Freyja's foal. I think it really fits as she is very joyful and plays a lot, jumping like a goat and running like a racehorse over very bumpy ground. She is very selfconfident and is very seldom around her mum, as it is sooo much fun to play with the older brother and get to know the other young horses better. 
Today we fetched all of them, dewormed and moved them to a new place, where they have more than 30 ha on their own on the banks of river Laxá. Enough to eat and very good shelter from bad weather. Alltogether, there are 11 horses there, including Farsæll and List.
I attach 2 pics of Fjördís so you can see how much her colour has changed from her birth to now.






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15.09.2013 13:25

Horses & sheep

Friday and Saturday the second sheeproundup took place. The farmers went again to Þeistereykir to collect those sheep that stayed behind during the first roundup. Most went on horseback and some by car. Fridayafternoon we got a call that one of the horses was injured and had to meet the vet. It was a strong reminder, that nature and this area are unpredictable and accidents can just happen out of the blue. This horse was so unlucky that the lava just broke under its right hindleg and it went down and got very bad scratches and cuts all the way to the bone. Luckily no joints were injured and the horse could use its leg. The vet rinsed the wound, but it was not possible to sew it. The horse has to stay at the hospital for some time to change the bandages and get penicilin regularly.
Yesterday we watched the farmers come down with the last group of sheep they had collected, together with those that already got a ride to Hraunsrétt it was around 300-400 sheep, a lot more than usually.
We stopped short to have a look at our youngsters and they all look very well, big and maybe a bit too fat. Embla is going to her basic training after a few weeks and we are very much looking forward to taking her inside.











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12.09.2013 12:32

Hikingtour

Yesterday we had a wonderful hikingday with our school, perfect weather and the most beautiful hiking area. We went from Hólmatungur to Vesturdalur along the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river in the Jökulsárgljúfur Nationalpark in Northeasticeland. The nature was presenting itself in lush autumncolours and there was so much to see (not sure all the kids did see it as some of them were just rushing from A to B) and photograph. I took a lot of pics and put some of them in an album. 4 boys videotaped the whole trip and made a really funny videoreport. So nice to have kids like that around! Hope they keep on doing stuff like that.












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31.08.2013 19:16

Hraunsrétt 2013

At least one week earlier than usually the sheeproundup and sorting took part this weekend. We decided to spare the horses today after a difficult roundup and drive the herd back home walking and by car.
10 o'clock sharp the first group was driven into the big area for sorting. This time, there were rather few helpers for Hólmavað, but Ingólfur and Bensi already had calculated, that each and every of them was supposed to find 53 sheep. No idea, if everybody fullfilled that emoticon.
The kids were really busy dragging sheep and lambs when they found one with the right number. I tried to find as many young rams as possible, as they are easier to hold with their big horns. When I spotted my grey ewe, I was rather happy to see her. Unfortunately, I couldn't find her sister Snilld. Maybe she is still in the highlands or somebody else didn't have a good look at the number and took her into his herd. We will hopefully get her back sooner or later. 
During the break, we had a lot to do with keeping the sheep from our picknick. They really liked to taste all we had with us, even chocolate milk. My plasticbag with horsetreats disappeared misteriously and was found a bit later with a huge hole, but no horsetreats. Seems like sheep like that, too.
We were the first group to drive the herd back home and started just when the sorting was finished. The start went well, but then there was a farmer, who collected the sheep from a different area, with his big traktor and trailer, who was so unpatient to leave, that he didn't have regard for our group and just drove through the herd, driving the sheep here and there. It was really difficult, to get them back into the herd and on the right way again. This farmer himself is owner of a huge flock of sheep and he should know... Think it wasn't just me being really angry about this.
After running and shouting and more running, we brought the whole herd home to the big pasture, where the sheep wait for the sorting tomorrow.





















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29.08.2013 18:21

Back to work

We started working last Monday and it was good to go back to some routine. 
Last weekend there was Firmakeppni at Einarsstaðir and Ingólfur was asked to judge. It was nice to watch and I'll put in the pics later. Hrund, Ingólfur's nice, took part with her mare Vaka. They did well, but have to im prove a bit. But that's just something to work on and we were both really happy that she wanted to take part. 
Later that day I went mushroompicking in the forrest and came home with around 5kg, which I already dried.
You probably remember our posts from last autumn, about the horrible weather and all the snow early in September. Now it looked like this was going to happen again and the farmers decided to go earlier to collect their sheep. We went on horseback to Þeistareykir on Tuesdayafternoon in wonderful weather, nearly too hot. We went 6 together with 16 horses and when the last ones arrived at the hut, it was already very dark and late in the evening. At least I saw wonderful strong northernlights on my way back to Húsavík. Yesterday the collecting didn't go as well as they wanted. The sheep were not happy about being driven and tried very often to turn around and run back to their favourite places. It was a very long day for everybody. Seems like it's going better today. Tomorrow they will drive the big herd down to the valley and we hope there will be still rather good weather, so we can join on horseback. Just keep your fingers crossed for us!





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17.08.2013 11:12

Horses, horses, horses

One of the first things to do after coming home, was checking out all our horses emoticon.
Vordís was confirmed pregnant with Snillingur frá Íbishóli, a young, very promising bucksin stallion, and is back in Haga with Perla, Embla, Þýrnirós and Þokki. They are all well, enjoying the lucious grass and the beautiful area. Sigtýr and his 2 mares are well, too, relaxing a lot and eating even more. At least we could motivate them a bit to run for some pics. We still have to check both mares for pregnancy.
The riding horses are fine, Amor's back is healed and List's leg, too, as she prooved yesterday, when she was hopping around like crazy. Of course we had a good ride my first evening back, me on Amor and Ingólfur on Farsæll, who he has been training during my absence. I was really surprised and happy how much progress in tölt these two have achieved. Thanks so much!
On Thursdayevening we kept on training these 2 horses for the sheeproundup in September, this time improving our skills in finding, herding and driving sheep. There were around 36 sheep from a nearby farm in Saltvíkland and they are definitely not supposed to be there. We gathered them together with Bjössi and drove them all the way back to their homemeadows. Hope they won't come back as they have been feeding on our meadow, which we wanted to hay...
Yesterday we went to Helluland and Ingólfur and Kiddi tried some of the young mares, which went very well and I got some nice pics of Embla, Sól, Sóla and Vá. We ended the day at Hólmavað with a delicious barbecue.
I attach a pic of Sigtýr and Aldís.





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14.08.2013 08:46

Summerholiday

As usual I used part of my summerholiday to visit my family and friends in Austria and Germany. First stop this year was Gabi's place, where I got to know her new, very sweet dog. After shopping a lot on Friday we went to dogschool on Saturday. This time it was bathing/swimmingtime and I really enjoyed watching the dogs and owners trying this new task. I think it was very good for all of us to cool down a bit as it had been rather hot. Of course we visited Gabi's horse and had a short talk with Ulli, the stable owner, who was really interested in breedinglines and young, promising stallions in Iceland. Sunday afternoon there was a thunderstorm with hail and some of the "corns" the size of tennisballs. Soooo much damage done! Cars, roofs, windows, windowshutters, walls, solar collectors, just name it!
Monday evening I continued my journey to Austria, where it still was very hot. After meeting Gerti, her husband and Sophie (one of the twins) on Rathausplatz and spending a wonderful evening, I went to our summerhouse with my parents. It was partly too hot to do anything, temperatures around 35°C, which is very much for that area of Austria. Nevertheless we managed to do something, even cut the five-leaved ivy, which was already overgrowing the bedroom window. 
Then it was my nephew's and niece's birthdayparty, both of them really enjoying being in the middle of all the attention. They got a lot of presents and of course we were invited to play with them. 
The next days just passed so quickly, Austria reaching its alltime heatrecord with 40,5°C. Of course I visited my grandma and cut down her rubber fig together with my parents. Now it can grow again, crazy tree! It was very nice to meet my aunt after quite some years of not seeing her and I think we all enjoyed it a lot. 
Well, I used the opportunity to try my new camera at the zoo and went for a very very nice visit there with my brother and his family. It had cooled down a bit then and the animals started to move again.
I got a typical Austrian meal every day at lunchtime and I think, my dad enjoyed a lot, that my mum cooked all our favourites like: Grammelknödel (filled dumplings), lentils with bacon and dumplings, meatballs with mashed potatoes and a lot more.
As usual time just passed far too fast... 




















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24.07.2013 07:42

Our blogg...

... has been rather empty the last days and weeks. We were very busy and there was simply no time to write. 
At the moment we are rather a horsehospital than anything else. Ögn has been at the vet's the last weeks, fortunately getting so much better that we could put her with Sigtýr again yesterday. List was kicked by another horse at the training stable. She was lame and swollen and it looked like the medial splint bone was broken. That would have been bad news! But fortunately a bone just spintered a bit and the vet was able to remove this splinter. Now she's sound again, but still with a bandage.
Nökkvi stepped obviously into a hole in the ground, scretched his leg completely and was a bit lame. And last but not least Farsæll showed Amor who's boss and bit him in the back emoticon. So we had to seperate these two.
During the last years, the lupins have started "flowing" down the hillside next to our meadow, over all the berry bushes and into the grass. We have been trying to fight it with a string trimmer and stuff like that, but it kept coming again. The problem with the string trimmer is, that you look like a Martian afterwards, green from top to toe, it takes unbelievable long time to see some progress in mawing, the string just vanishes due to the strong stems of the lupins and it is loud and stinky. 
I got the idea of getting myself a scythe as I have tried working with it in Austria and liked it quite. BUT: try to get one here...Finally I found out where to buy it and had a look there. They had both the scythe blade and the snaith, but told me, it wouldn't fit together. So I just took the blade and decided to build the snaith on my own. Broke the first one after 5 minutes of mawing, but it was no problem to make a new one, using oakwood this time. Well, what should I say: it's a big difference to work with the scythe, you see progress instantly, it's neither loud nor stinky, you still look like yourself afterwards AND you get a whole body workout. Now I just have to work on my technique and start mawing earlier next year. Additionally we put up a fence where the original fence was and allow our horses to use this area over the day, trampling the lupins while they are looking for grass underneath. Hope that'll do the job.
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07.07.2013 01:04

Freedom...

...for the sheep. At least til September, when they are gathered and driven to the valley again. 
Yesterday we drove the last sheep at Hólmavað from their pastures to the stable, checked their numbers and lambs, divided them in groups and put them on the trailer to bring them to the highlands. Both my ewes were supposed to go, but after fetching them in, Snilld was missing. We knew about some of them being in the neighbour's field and Bensi went to get them home. As expected, Snilld was there. I was happy to see her healthy and surprised, how big she was. So much bigger than her sister. Well, both of them went to Þeistareykir and I managed to take some pics of them, before they left for the summer. After releasing all of them, we took a drive to the hut and had a small picknick there. Close by we saw Hrund's favourite sheep with her lambs and stopped. It was so nice to see it come running to its owner, get a big hug and a good clap. Hrund really liked that, too and was talking about it all the way back. Hope to get both my ewes healthy back in September, just looking so much forward to seeing them again. 



"You got something else for me?"



Sisters



The leadersheep are ready to go, too.



Off she goes...



Best friends


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03.07.2013 11:08

Sigtýr

We took our young stallion Sigtýr into the stable on 22nd of June. We wanted to clip his hooves and work a bit on his manners. Of course we took some pics of him running in the ridinghall in Saltvík. We quite liked what we saw and hope, he'll keep on with this good development. After a few days inside, we put him in the pasture with Ögn to hopefully get a beautiful foal next spring. Unfortunately she had a little accident and hurt her backleg. She's now at the animalhospital to keep her from moving too much. We hope she won't have to stay there too long and can go back to her summerlove soon. 
As we didn't want to keep Sigtýr alone in the field, we fetched Aldís, who's keeping him company now. They seem to like each other and are resting side by side in the grass. So maybe 2 foals after him next spring!
















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28.06.2013 10:08

How good...

...to be owner of a horsetrailer! Otherwise all these horsetransports of the last days would have been pretty difficult. There were 3 horses that should go to Skagafjörður, a few to our summerpasture near Húsavík and some to the pastures in the countryside. We were lucky and got a ride and stay for 2 horses to Skagafjörður at Flugumýri. Thanks, Ingimar!
Freyja and her little daughter were supposed to go to Hólmavað and meet Flugar and the sibblings Vigri, Mánahringur and Vordís there. It was easier than we thought to catch Freyja and put her and the little lady into the trailer. I think they were both really happy to go to such a big and interesting area after the short trip and deworming.
Farsæll, Ösp and Katla went to our summerpasture. Ingólfur rode Farsæll for the first time with handhorses and I think he did his job quite well. These three were later joined by Embla and Aldís.
Now there were the youngsters left... They went to Haga, where they have been last summer, too. First we put our Embla into the trailer and went to Hólmavað to fetch Perla. When we released Embla, she was soooo happy to finally have a big field again instead of the little paddock that she was hopping around, bucking and running like crazy. She definitely enjoyed herself. In the second trip Magnús and I took our yearlings Þokki and Þyrnirós. We were so proud of them and just saw one more time, how important and good it was, to take them inside and teach them the basics. Both just followed us up into the trailer without the slightest trouble and behaved like big ones all the trip. Think they were happy, too, to go into the big field and have as much as they want to eat. 
Last but not least we went with one more horse and a bunch of kids to Skagafjörður. First stop was Flugumýri, where we picked up our Vordís and left Magnús with List. Vordís went to Íbishóll to meet the young buckskin stallion Snillingur, brother of Óskasteinn. She seemed to like him immediately and had a closer look at him without being bitchy. The kids were more into trying to secretly smuggle one of the dogs back home...
Back at Flugumýri, we fetched our 2 horses, had a (too) short talk with Ingimar and visited the new automatic cowshed. Next stop was Sauðárkrókur, where we met Þórarinn at his stable. He was in a bit a hurry as there was a competition going on and he was taking part. Afterwards he had time for us and tried Magnús. Think he liked him and now, both List and Magnús, are at his place for training. They keep Bragur (with his new 1960s haircut) good company.
After having dinner in Varmahlið we headed home. The "highlight" on the trip was a flat tire on Öxnadalsheiði. Luckily the tire didn't blow but missed the air slowly. We put the kids in the trailer while we changed the tire, think they had quite a lot of fun there, waving at passersby (hope they didn't think we had some runaways in there...) and so on. We were rather tired when we arrived home, but happy everything went well. Hope we don't have to transport so many horses again in the near future...



Freyja and daughter in the trailer



Freedom



On the way to the summerpasture


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24.06.2013 09:36

Visiting the Icelandic Yulelads

Yes, you read right! We visited the Icelandic Yulelads at their home last night. As everybody knows, they have a cave in Dimmuborgir and invited everybody there to celebrate Midsummernight.
It was a beautiful evening and everybody was in good mood. When we arrived, we had to follow a lot of clues to the right spot as the exact whereabouts of the cave are a bit a secret. Kjötkrokur (Meathook), one of the Yulelads stood on a cliff to bend people to the right place and give a warm welcome. He was more than ready to pose for some pics. 
The cave itself was not too spacious, but big enough for the 13 of them. We had a look at their stonebeds, watched one of them preparing a meal with a lot of dietary fibre, took a game of cards with another one and chatted with those we met there. 
I attach some pics and put the rest in an album for you! Looking forward to visit these guys again when they go to their annual bath at Christmastime.








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22.06.2013 10:22

Busy days

That's what we had the last days. Ingólfur was shoeing a lot of horses and there are still a few left. We got 2 horses for a diet and endurance training, which means Amor and Vaka have arrived. Not sure how long Vaka has not been ridden as she had alltogether 3 foals from 2008 to 2012 and I can't remember if she was used between her first 2 foals. Anyway, you could see that she had a very good life the last years and collected quite some fat. I managed to close the saddlegirth on the second hole on one side and the third on the other and already thought that wasn't easy... But when I wanted to try Amor, I nearly couldn't close it at all. Managed in the end to put it in the first on both sides and tighten it to the second on one side. 
I tried Vaka inside and she definitely hasn't forgotten anything. Nicely forward, nice neckposition, easygoing and easy to handle. Took her for a bit longer outsideride the day after, which went nicely, too. I think, Hrund won't be in trouble riding her during summer. Then I tried Amor, who I preferably just call ball-lightning, round like a ball and fast as lightning emoticon. He hasn't forgotten anything either and so we went from 0-100 in 1 second, which means, he was so nice to wait until I was ready and told him to go and then I just had to hang on. Unbelievable he's already 21... Think we did the Saltvíkring in a new record time, eventhough I had to get off to open and close a gate on the way.
Kristófer, Ingólfur's nephew, came to help along and go for a ride, which he really enjoyed. Hrund came and tried her Vaka, Hjördís and Thelma had a good time at the stable, too. So nice, to have all these kids with us in the stable!
Yesterday Þokki and Prins were finally castrated and chipped, which went well and smooth, as they were both already haltertrained and rather calm. Don't understand when horseowners don't do that before they call the vet to castrate. It's dangerous for everyone and just think about how the young horse feels when it is just grabbed, doped, castrated and wakes up with pain. No good memories.
Well, I like it better the way we did it. The boys got the chance to sleep out and stay in the paddock overnight. I attach a pic of them after just waking up and still being a bit drunk.


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