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Færslur: 2008 Mars

21.03.2008 10:50

Vordís

Lot to do today as we had planned to meet Hans Kjerulf, who is competing in Stjörnutölt in Akureyri saturday evening, on his way there. He was so kind to get Vordís in Höskuldsstaðir and take her with him to Einarsstaðir where we had planned to meet.
Well, we first had to get a car and a horsetrailer and then go to Einarsstaðir. Gisli allowed us to use his stablecar (old Toyota Hilux, bit powerless...) and we could use Einar's old trailer. On the slow journey south (Hilux is no racing car) we took a break and visited Gumi in Garður, had coffee and waited for Hans to call.
When the call came, we continued the drive and where a bit in front of him at the meeting place. Vordís was definitely not stressed by the drive and had a good look around, before we put her in our trailer. We took another mare, that was in Training with Hans, back to her owner and stopped in Hraunkot to take Príma, a buckskin mare, who is sister of Ögn, with us as Ingólfur is starting to train her too.
Well, we put the mares together in a box in Saltvík and it looks like everything is going fine with them. At least they didn't fight over their food...
Hope we'll have a good time together!
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19.03.2008 10:44

Clipping the sheep

When we went to visit Bensi in Hólmavað, we met him in the sheepstable, where he was taking off the wool. We were not of much use, as we were as usual too late, so we just used the time to watch a bit and take pics. Have a look at them in "People" - "Clipping the sheep"
By the way: even if Bensi wouldn't take the wool off, the sheep would loose it on their own. Icelandic sheep still grow winter and summer fur, not like most of the other breeds, which keep their wool and would just grow more and more, if you don't take it off. There are a few pics of Bensi's old ram, who was not clipped and is loosing his wool on his own at the moment. 
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16.03.2008 12:18

Trip to the East

The beautiful winterweather had to be used and so we made a weekendtrip to the east to visit our friends Pétur and Marietta. They offered us a mare, that could fit into our herd and so we of course were nosy and wanted to have a look at this mare. Her name is Vordís frá Brekku.
On the trip east we came into reindeerland, which was marked with road signs to prepare drivers for unexpected road-crossers.
Lucky as we are we really saw reindeer relaxing quite close to the road but unfortunately there was so much traffic we couldn´t stop and take pictures...
But we had a few wonderful views over the sea and fjords on the drive as the "shortcut" over the mountain was closed due to the amount of snow.
We were heartly welcomed in Höskuldsstaðir and had a look at the stable and the horses. Marietta showed us the mare they were offering us and then we tried her inside, which went really well and I have to admitt, that Vordís is excellent trained and really easy and soft on the reins.
Sunday we slept quite long and then took a short walk to the house in wonderful weather. The sun was shining, no wind and quite warm.
So we decided to use the good circumstances and try Vordís outside too. That went just fine, she was really relaxed and not even scared of the big tube under the road that is usually frightening the horses a bit. After this good ride we had a nice beer outside the house in the warm sunshine... Just perfect!
Well, as everything went just fine with Vordís, she´s going to be member of our herd and will arrive during this week. We are looking forward to have her here!

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13.03.2008 12:40

Hair, hair everywhere!

Well, well spring is coming, eventhough the weather doesn't look like it, our horses seem to be pretty sure about it and started to loose their winterfur a few weeks ago. Then it was a few hairs a time, but they have increased the loss the last days and now not only they are covered in loose hair, but we too. The moment you just come close to them, the hair literally jumps on you. It's a hairy problem...
Hope they'll finish soon...

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10.03.2008 11:19

Winterweather

At the moment we still have winter here and it doesn´t look like that´s going to change soon. But the weather is just beautiful! Most of the days sunshine and the sun is already quite strong and warm and so it´s perfect to go for a longer ride.
Our tulips and other springflowers try to make a breakthrough and have started growing. I hope they are successful and flower soon. In the meantime we have some nice flowers inside and greet the spring and coming Easter like that! The only trouble is to keep Púki and Grettir away from the flowers... They have started to explore the table and nothing is save from their little beaks.
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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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