Just eight days after his birth our little stallion got his name. We hope it will be a lucky one for him. His name is "Rögnir", which is another name for Óðinn and means king in the old poetric language, too. At the moment, he's behaving more like a chester, but he'll grow into it.
We took some pics of Sæla frá Hellulandi, which is owned by Jörg from Austria. She's a daughter of Geisli frá Sælukoti, therefore halfsister of Magnús, Sigtýr and Rögnir, a promising, easy going lady, waiting for her owner to chose a mate for her. Will be a very interesting choice. She's supposed to leave Iceland in autumn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last days we had beautiful weather, which means that the snow is finally melting in the highlands and the glacial rivers are very high at the moment. We took a drive to get a glimpse at Goðafoss and get a few pics from there. It was rather crowded, but possible to get good shots, eventhough it was nearly too bright weather for it. When walking down to the bridge I saw a ptarmigan just close by, searching for food, not being aware of me spotting it. Was nice to watch it a bit before continuing my walk. 
We drove by the powerplant at Laxáriver, too, where they are changing the dam a bit and therefore river Laxá flows down it's natural bed at the moment. I've rarely seen that much water in the river. Amazing view!
Coming closer to Húsavík it got foggy, but we spotted a herd of horses moving in the distance and stopped to get some pics. 
Hope you enjoy them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aurelia and Oliver, the owners of Fjördís, came to visit us today. After checking out our horses at Saltvík and Ingólfur showing us his Magnús, we went to see the foal and youngsters before having dinner. The youngsters were very fond of our visitors, trying to eat Oliver's camera and Aurelia's jacket. Maybe we should teach them manners before getting more visitors. Using the wonderful weather, we took a drive to Helluland to have a look at Kiddi's horses, which are related to a mare our visitors own. Unfortunately Kiddi was not home, so we just checked out the stallions and the herd, with a few horses posing for photos. Last but not least we visited Fjördís in the huge pasture. She was so kind to grant us an audience, eating bread and getting a good clap. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First we didn't have to go for the regular morning drive to check the horses we took some time in the afternoon to sit down and watch how they cope with the new herdmember. As usual Vordís is very protective and takes care we don't get too close. Looks like she's already got a nanny for her babyson. Snerpa follows them around and preferably blocks the view when you try to take pics. She's no beautiful view at the moment as she's getting rid of the rest of her winterfur and therefore looks a bit like a motheaten flokati. Well, it will get better when she finally allows me to comb her. The others are fine and enjoy their lives. Now I'll have to start thinking about a name for the little stallion.

 

 

 

Today it's 4 years ago that a little brownpinto marefoal was born. Now she's as tall as her mum and looking stunning. 
BUT: today her little brother was born! In the morning, when we arrived, all of our horses lay in the grass, just Vordís and Aldís watching over them. And then there was a little, brown something beneath Vordís! First thought was: at least it's not black! Ingólfur managed to grab the foal and we checked the gender. Not the one we hoped for, but a healthy foal was what we were hoping for and that came true.
In fact the little guy has already bewitched us, with good conformation and a really sweet face.
I attach some pics for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At least small ones. After quite some time away from horsebackriding, Hjördís finally went back on back again. First yesterday and then again today. She went on her own mare Ögn, which did a very good job taking care of Hjördís and doing as asked. 
Ingólfur took Magnús and Ögn down to the riding hall, where we already waited. After a few minutes of walk, Hjördís was confident enough to go a bit faster. In the end they took a ride back home together and it looks like Hjördís trusts her mare as they even took some flying pace uphill. I was both happy and proud of this.
Later on we went to Hólmavað to check out how things were going in the sheepstable. Snilld's twins already got their numbers and we'll have to look for the white wooly jumping balls 187 & 188 in autumn, when they hopefully enough come back with their mum from the highlands. 
Hjördís got the honour of holding one of the girls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Snilld! She was the first one of our animals to give birth this year. We got 2 white ewes and are happy that all of them are well.
Of course Snilld begged for treats when we came and proudly presented her daughters. Hope they'll have a good start into life and will do well, when getting outside.
Now it's just the question, when Vordís will get her foal.

 

 

We got very nice visitors today. Marietta, her sister Barla and Georg, husband of Barla. The couple runs a stable in Switzerland, where they breed, train and keep Icelandic horses. I recommend having a look at their homepage.
After having a look at our stable, we got ourselves some coffee and cake before meeting with Gísli and checking out his and our horses. Þrá looked quite happy to see Marietta and even Vordís with her huge belly was ready to greet our guests. We finished the day with delicious dinner and good talks.

We did a bit of horsemoving the last days. First Ösp was moved up to the stable, whilst Embla and Sæla went down to the meadow to get a break. Kósi moved from Laxamýri to Saltvík to take a refresher course about how to be a riding horse. Ögn and List moved to the stable today, to wean their foals and get them back in shape as riding horses. And last but not least, Aldís and Gjöf moved to the meadow, where they are waiting to be moved to their new home at Lake Mývatn.
 

Today is Kóngur's 1st Birthday and I think he had a good day with his friends and family. He still thinks he's not too big to get a drink at his mum's, but in fact, it's soon time to wean him and Snerpa. Think their mums will be happy.
Later today we went to have a look at the lambing at Hólmavað and checking on Snilld. Bensi and his family are really busy at the moment, there are between 20 and 30 sheep lambing per day, which means a lot of controlwalks, if everything is going the way it is supposed to and helping where it is needed. 
Snilld was happy to see us and followed me around, trying to sneak some treats. Will be interesting, when she decides to give birth. I think I'll get 2 white rams again as she was with the same ram as last year. Will keep you updated. 

 

 

 

 

Our ridinghorses are staying more or less outside now as the weather is very good and there's no reason to having them in the stable the whole day. They are in our new field close to the stable with a hayroll and can eat as much as they want. 
We fetched Ösp in as she is going to start her summertraining and will probably be the ridinghorse for an ambitious local girl, which will join us this summer. Looking forward to that. Some of the horses are going to get a break now until June/July whilst others will be kept in training. 
As you can see, the horses are full of energy and like to show off a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today it's exactly 1 year, that a little red mare was born in rather bad weather, cold and snowy. 
Well, now she's nearly as tall as her mum (which isn't too difficult) and very selfconfident, showing her older cousin, who's the one in charge.
The other horses are fine, Vordís is looking more and more like a barrel on legs and we hope, we won't have to wait too long until she gives birth to Sigtýr's fullsibbling. I'm hoping for a yellow dun mare, but will probably get another black stallion... 

 

Today was the final rehersal of 12 young riders, taking part in the show "Æskan & hesturinn" at Akureyri tomorrow. I trained them and they did really well, 4 boys and 8 girls, the youngest rider just 8 years old. This week we trained every day, as there were 7 kids from the countryside and it was easier to just come once with the horses and keep them at the riding hall than driving them back and front once a week.
I hope they had fun during training and will do well tomorrow at the big show!

 

 

Fönix was doing very well again, so he was allowed to meet his friends and family and go back to the herd.
His sister Þyrnirós was happy to get him back as was Kóngur, who missed his favourite victim quite a lot.
Hope Fönix will stay sound and won't get any healthtrouble in the near future.

 

 

We've been in contact with Benni Lindal (Benni's Harmony) for quite some time and were so lucky to get him to Húsavík with a whole car full of his saddles. People were invited to come with their horses and try the different types of saddles he's offering. I of course used the opportunity to try out the new Portos Freedom saddle, which is a divided saddle, which moves up and down with the muscles on each side of the back of the horse in motion. A very interesting invention I'd say. The feeling comes quite close to being bareback on horseback. 
If you'd like to see which saddles Benni is offering, just check out his homepage.