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07.03.2008 10:55

Sheep sonar

Well, it was time to sonarcheck Bensi´s sheep to see if the rams did  their "job" well. So a specialist with the needed equipment came and had a look at the 161 females. Bensi had asked us to help him handling the sheep, but when we arrived they were nearly finished and not so much to do for us. At least the specialist was so nice to show us, where the head, the neck and the legs of the unborn lamb is to see on the screen. Without his explantions I wouldn´t have seen anything at all. The most amazing thing about him was, how fast he could see if it is 1, 2 or even 3 lambs. According to that the sheep were marked. Red on the head: no lamb, red on the back: 1 lamb, no marking: 2 lambs, blue marking on the back: 3 lambs.
I think, Bensi will be really busy in May, when all these lambs want to be born at the same time. We´ll probably have to go and help a bit. I´m looking forward to that!
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02.03.2008 12:50

Lessons with Mette, 2nd day

Second part of our trainingweekend with Mette Manseth. Start was at 1 o'clock after lunch and Ingólfur and I were the ones to start.
Bragur had spent the last day in the box and so he had a really urgent need to move. He was running and gallopping on the longe, trying to take a few sprints. But he was not successful in this. At least he was well behaved in riding. We started to teach the horses to walk sideways, first from the ground and then after mounting from the saddle. Both horses worked fine and Katla was already a lot more relaxed than before.
In the afternoon Mette wanted to ride Bragur again and as he didn't behave the way he was supposed too (he had too much room to behave stupid), she went off and took him into an empty box in the stable, mounted again and rode him in there. He was supposed to kiss the stirrup and accept her moving the legs front and back all the time. At the same time a group of swedish riders visited Torfunes and you can imagine, that they were really interested in what was going on and took a lot of pics of Mette riding Bragur in the box. I'd love to get some of these pics!
Well, he was standing still soon (as he was supposed to) and then he even helped himself to a bit of hay, that was in the box. I really had to laugh about that. He was happily eating while Mette was training him... After that he even used the opportunity to have a drink. When he behaved the way Mette wanted, she took him back to the riding hall and went through the whole program again, which worked just fine. Then I had  to go back on back and ride him around a circle first in walk, then in trott, always moving my legs forwards and backwards, behaving like a beginner. This is to make him realise there's no harm done, when I touch him with my legs.
We even got homework and will work on like that till Mette comes back in April.
Katla was starting to get a bit pissed with working just in walk, but she did good job and Mette talked quite well about her. Hope we can see her on Landsmót!
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01.03.2008 12:15

Mývatn Open

What a beautiful day! Sunshine, light wind, not so cold, perfect weather for a competition on ice!
We went to lake Mývatn, where the annual icecompetition called Mývatn Open was going to take place. We were lucky and got a good place with our car just next to the competitiontrack. So no need to be outside in the cold!
First was Tölt B competition, which is for non-professional riders or people with not so experienced horses. They have to show slow tölt, slow-fast-slow and then fast tölt. Some horses were a bit unsecure on the ice, but most of them showed themselves well. Winner in Tölt B was Kristján (Kiddi) who is farmer and horsebreeder in Hellunland.
After lunchbreak was first part of the stallionshow (3 stallions) and then Tölt A, which was the same as Tölt B, but more experienced riders and horses. Gísli was showing 2 of his horses, but unfortunately especially Kamban was not at his best. Mette Manseth was starting too but really unlucky as her horse lost a shoe in the competition. She was allowed to reshoe and start again and was in the lead before the finals. There her horse lost another shoe and so she could not complete her show. Winner in Tölt A was Magnús B. Magnússon.
Then the second part of the stallionshow took place and after that was the Pace competition.
Gísli and his mare Bjarklind frá Húsavík started there too, but he lost a scalper in the first run and she was not so fast in the second one. Bjarni participated on his Pacer Djarfur and the mare Ör frá Saltvík and became 3rd on Djarfur for the 3rd year in a row.
In the evening (after getting ourselves in a proper state) we went out to concert with Ljótu Hálfvítarnir (Ugly Idiots), which was really great and good fun! They know how to entertain and have some really good songs!
Have a look at the pics from Mývatn in the folder "Horses" - "Mývatn Open 2008"
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29.02.2008 10:07

Lessons with Mette, 1st day

After school we packed our stuff together and started the drive to Torfunes, where the lessons with Mette Manseth were taking place.
Einar had already taken our horses Bragur and Katla there.
Ingólfur and I were together in a group and so it was not possible to film or take pictures of each other. It was planned that we have 2 lessons today and 2 lessons on sunday.
First we had to show Mette the horses so she could see how much they have improved since last time. Bragur did fine and was trotting well. So he was ready for the next step which meant making him soft in his neck and leting him kiss the stirrup and learn to stand still even when the rider is moving stupidly on his back. Mette showed me what to do and then it was my turn to mount and work. Things went quite ok, eventhough he was not so happy in the beginning when I turned his head to my foot. In the second lesson we started even to trott in circles without loose rein. In the end of that lesson I was working a bit in hand and learning a new way to stop bragur on the longe...
Ingólfur and Katla had a bit hard start as she was quite stressed and to much thinking about everything else than what she was supposed to do. Of course Mette tried her and quite liked this mare. She said it would be best to make the Passangerexercise with her too. That worked fine and Katla soon realised that it is too tiring to run so much and stopped. Well, stopping is her biggest problem: she sometimes stopps and refuses to move anymore. No matter what you do, she stands still. There's a bit work to do with that!
Alltogether the lessons have been really good and informative and we are looking forward to the second part on sunday!
Tomorrow is Mývatn Open and we hope for good weather and great horses!
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28.02.2008 09:37

Preparing for lessons with Mette

Now it's time to start to prepare a bit for the coming lessons with Mette Manseth!
Ingólfur is taking part in the lessons this time too and of course he needs a good horse for that! So he called his friend Dóri in Bjarnastaðir if he could borrow him a horse for that.
Well, Dóri has an interesting young mare called Katla out of Aron frá Strandarhöfði and Keila frá Bjarnastöðum, who is daughter of Keilir frá Miðsitju. He was willing to bring her and we were quite interested to see how she's doing.
I have to admitt, that I was really impressed by the power this little mare is showing! She has really good and high legaction, but is still a bit stressed. We are quite nosy about her progress during lessons with Mette!
Bragur is doing fine and it will be interesting if Mette is contend with the progress he made. Hope he is showing himself at his best!
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23.02.2008 09:27

Trotting, trotting, trotting

Well, well, what to write about Bragur's trotttraining? Hm, he had a break of a few days after the last lesson with Mette and so we were quite nosy how he would do at home in the smaller ridinghall. I longed him as usual and he was really well behaved and trotting just fine.
After mounting he ran around and made a few u-turns, but started to trott quite soon.
The days after he started already in trott and only gallopped a bit inbetween.
We are really happy about this big step forward!
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16.02.2008 11:42

Lessons with Mette Manseth 2

Bragur had a good night in Torfunes and was relaxed when we arrived in the morning. This time I longed him before riding and he was trotting just fine, reacting well on what I asked him to do.
Mette divided the riding hall into 2 parts and explained the following exercise to me. It's the so called "passenger exercise". The rider is just a passenger, the horse is allowed to choose where to go, but the rider doesn't allow it to stop in corners or at the gate. If the horse tries to do that, the rider has to push it forward.
The reason she suggested this exercise for Bragur and his problem with trott was, that he was so busy and stressed with thinking about where to go, that he couldn't relax and trott.
I was not allowed to touch the rein, Bragur was free to go everywhere. Sometimes I had to push him quite a lot forward and he was galloping and galloping circels in the riding hall. He was allowed to relax (I didn't push him) in the part of the riding hall, farest away from the gate. Soon he realised that and in the end he started to relax and trott! When he was trotting I allowed him to slow down to walk.
In the afternoon we did the same exercise again and this time it was even shorter till he started to trott! And he was going from walk straight to trott a few times!
I was surprised that we got him to trott so fast and really proud and happy about it. Now I'll work on a bit like that and hope that he starts trotting faster and faster!
In a few weeks there are next lessons with Mette and I already signed in for them *g*

In the evening was Icetölt in Akureyri and our friend Gisli was competing too. Of course we had to go and watch!
There were 68 riders, always 2 together in a group. First they showed slow tölt and then fast tölt on the long sides of the icehall. It was impressive to see the horses run on this slippery ground! I'm looking forward to the coming icecompetitions and hope the weather will be fine so we can go and watch them!
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15.02.2008 11:35

Lessons with Mette Manseth 1

I was so lucky to get lessons with Mette Manseth as a birthday present.
They started today and will go on tomorrow.
First she showed us a young mare and we could see how she starts to work a young horse, got to know the way horses learn and how we can teach them new things.
Then everybody had a single lesson with Mette, telling her about the personal aims for these lessons, showing the horse and letting her try it.
Bragur was not as calm as he usually is. I think it was because of the transport, the new place and the fact, that I couldn't longe him before mounting. Well, he was quite tense and Mette got a good view of his problems. She promised me to have a really good exercise for Bragur and me the next day. I'm looking forward to that!
It was quite late when we got home (after midnight) and we already have to be there at 8 tomorrow...
More about these lessons tomorrow!
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09.02.2008 11:58

Playing horses

The last days the weather was really good and the horses enjoyed to stay outside!
So I used the opportunity to take a few pics of our playing and running horses!
You find them in "Horses" - "Our horses february" and "Action!"
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03.02.2008 15:11

First time on the first own horse

At the moment Hjördís is here for a visit. And apart from playing with her friends, she's of course really interested in spending time with us in the stable. By the way: Hjördís is the proud owner of Ögn, which we have in training now. So why not see how these two go along with each other?
After cleaning Ögn and putting the saddle on, we looked for a fitting helmet for Hjördís so the fun could start. Ingólfur put her on horseback and gave her instructions what to do and then he started to lead Ögn around in the riding hall. Things went really well and Hjödís was not happy when she had to dismount and let her dad ride a bit. Her friend Sunneva was allowed to try too. I took a few pics an short videos of the girls in the riding hall. Have a look!
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02.02.2008 13:10

Bad weather

The last days the weather here was not really good, maybe better to say: quite bad! Lot of wind, it was snowing and the snow was blown around by strong winds. So not so much fun to drive around and have a look at the horses or go and feed the horses in the stable. Absolutely no weather to ride outside. Even in the riding hall riding was not so good as the roof and the whole building made strange noises due to the storm outside and the horses, especially Bragur, did not concentrate well on what they were supposed to do.
Our outside horses were completely covered in snow and ice but Ingólfur was so wise to put hay in front of the big shelter and lured them inside so they would be protected. Before that they refused to leave the other place with hay and used the hay as shelter (really small shelter for 3 grown horses and 7 youngsters).
Due to these weatherconditions I was of course not outside to take pics, so, sorry, nothing to see .
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26.01.2008 22:03

Foalshow

The foalshow of the local Breedingclub took place in Saltvík today.
Of course we signed our foals and 2 foals owned by Mieke (Mímir and Jódís). First we had to catch the mares and walk the lot of them up to Saltvík.  Catching was this time not the biggest problem. We had decided to attach Yndi with a girth to Perla as it was so tiring to drag her up to Saltvík the last time.
Unfortunately Yndi managed to get loose and took a run with all the foals. It was quite a job to get in front of her and the others again and guide them to the stable. Neither the mares nor the foals were happy when we seperated them, but it was necessary as we had to put the foals into boxes for the show.
The foals were showed in groups of 2 or 3, Gisli and Halldór were judges and the owners took care of making the foals run a bit. That didn't work out with all of the foals...
Our foals were showing themselves quite well, Kátína was trotting more than I've ever seen her before and there was a lot of room in her steps. Pjakkur showed really good movements in trott and tölt, but Farsæll was not at his best, he could have used more lively foals in his group.
Jódís, who was in group with Kátína, and Mímir, who has the same father as Jódís, showed themselves really fine, both with fine trott and a lot of room in their steps. In fact, Mímir did so well, that he was chosen into the group of the 6 best male foals and made it from there to the group of best 3.
In the finals Mímir did his best,  managed to beat the other 2 foals and was chosen best stallionfoal in the show. Congratulations Mieke!
See pics (Horses - Foalshow 2008) and videos!
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21.01.2008 22:07

Horsetraining

The horsetraining is in progress and it is nice to see how they take their steps forward.
Bragur is starting to relax more and more, which makes it easier for us to work with him. Trott becomes better and better, now we just have to make him trott with a rider.
Hekla is getting better on her right side, but we still have to work on the gaits a bit as she's tending to shift a lot between tölt and trott. Well, work in progress!
Ögn had a few days break now, but before she already did really well and behaves just like a trained horse, eventhough she was just ridden 3 times... We hope that she keeps on doing so well!
Farsæll is already going with the herd, trying to be a full member. I think he'll be fully integrated in little time. There are a few new pics in the folder "Our horses january".
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20.01.2008 21:59

Snowfun

Well, it's always nice and interesting to try new things and so we took our visitors from Austria, my brother Martin and my uncle Thomas, to Kolli, a friend of us, who is proud owner of 2 snowscooters. There was enough snow and so we decided to try them and have a bit fun racing over the meadow at Kolli's place.
First Kolli and Ingólfur showed the guys how to ride the snowscooter and took each of us for a ride. Well, to be honest, it was quite hard to hold on Ingólfur when he stepped a bit on the gas, but I managed to stay on the scooter ;-)
Then we tried on our own and in the end Martin and Thomas were racing each other a bit.
Have a look at the pics (People - Fun in the snow) and the video "Snowfun"
I'm looking forward to make a trip to Þeistareykir by snowscooter if there's enough snow to do that.
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19.01.2008 23:32

Into the herd

Today we planned to take Farsæll to our other horses outside. But how to do that? He would not just follow us on a lead like the grown and trained horses and it wouldn't make a lot of sense to put him into a trailer for a 5 minutes drive. So we decided to put a belt around Hekla and attach him to this belt. So he has to follow and can't do stupid things on the way.
Hekla is always nice to the foals and so it was no trouble to use her for that job. It was amazingly easy to put the halter on Farsæll and lead him to Hekla today. When we attached him, he just stood still and when we started to walk, he did it like it was the most natural thing for him to walk with halter stuck to another horse.
The walk was a bit tiring as there was so much snow on the way and I sometimes sank in up to my knees. But when we arrived on the big field, walking was easier for all of us and so Farsæll tried to run a bit, but as he was strapped to Hekla, he couldn't escape and enjoy his freedom.
After entering the meadow where our horses stay, we took off his halter and let him go. Well, we tried to let him go... He liked a lot more to stay with Hekla, who he already knew. But the other foals made it easy for him and tried to make friends. It was good to see that nobody chased him trough the whole field.
Have a look at him in "Videos"-"Farsæll coming into the herd" and there are a few pics of him too.
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