I am soooo looking forward to this long suppressed dream come true. I want to meet everyone, ride all the horses, take a zillion pictures, drink a little of everything but, I am a bit worried about the food as I am not the bravest eater. I have been paying close attention to the rules of traveling to Iceland so as not to take germs and such over there. I may have more questions as the time for travel gets closer but I sure know where to ask them :)
Holly-TBF who has the biggest grin and dances around the room every time she thinks about going shopping for horses in Iceland.
Back from Iceland, still grinning.
First things first. Thank you to Brett Arnason for this huge opportunity of a lifetime. This was the biggest, coolest thing in the horse industry to ever happen to me. I will never forget it and will probably never shut up about it. Thank you to all the hosts and hostesses who served up coffee, cakes, cookies, dinner, wine, smiles, laughter and friendly company every where we went regardless of our intentions to do business or not. Thank you to the owners and trainers who travel great distances to show us their horses and for putting up with this silly rider who was not always under any self control. Thank you to Anna Thora, translater/scribe/coordinator and one heck of a good driver. The gracious hospitality of her and her family was above and beyond . Thank you to Ragnar for scaring the holy bejeezus out of me by leaping a great distance off of a balcony to sort of land on his very awesome horse when both reins were on one side. He made it but one of my nerves did not :) Ragnar is a handsome man and looks quite marlboro in his new cowboy hat. Those of you who did not get in on the hat, I will give a few days more for you to commit and then I will bill everyone. E-mail me privately please.
Brett's family hails from Iceland and we went to the museum so he could look up some ancestry and find more of his relatives in Iceland. The history of Iceland is a cross between heartbreak and triumph. Looking at the pictures and reading the stories provoked a deep emotion in me at the tragedy and survival of these very determined and resourceful people. If there is a world wide catastrophe it will be the Icelanders who show us all how to stay alive and flourish.
There don't seem to be any stop signs in Iceland, at least I did not see any. All yield signs and that seems to mean slow down enough to keep from flipping over when you turn the corner. At one point Brett, his son Dan and I missed our turn and ended up uh.... taking the scenic route. Yeah that's it :) and what a scenic route it was. There was even a tunnel with doors at both ends that closed to only allow traffic one direction at a time, one lane winding through the mountain, very cool. I saw miles of wide horse trails installed and maintained that go everywhere, every other field has a hundred horses in it, every barn is chock full of ready rides, the women are all beautiful and the men, well now, that's what I call scenery :) and every one has a great singing voice and are not a bit shy about it. Two young gents from Holar came and played guitars and we sang and partied till the not so wee hours in the morning, very good fun. The sheep are pretty cool, I want two, pity my poor husband, the cows caught my eye too :)
The horses. Oh, the horses. What a cookie jar to fall into. I rode and rode and watched and looked and rode some more. I am really excited about the horses we chose and can't wait for my first shipment to get here in about a month.They range in size and shape from bicycles to bull dozers, all have easy tolt that leans to trot instead of pace, some are barely started youngsters that made big promises, more are gifted campaigners and all of them were tested for humor and ability to learn. What fun we will have around here this summer. I know that the three of us looked at well over a hundred horses to come up with somewhere around forty. Brett will have the accurate numbers when he is done with the vet checks and such.
I was worried about the food and that I would offend a host by not wanting to eat what was served but, I ate quite well in fact I had the biggest pork chop I have ever seen in my life, delicious. I even ate a serving of fish, the whole serving. Yummy, yummy. Any who knows me might think I'm lying but I have witnesses.
Did I have a good time? Did I enjoy myself playing my favorite games? Do I have the bruises to prove it? Duuuuh. Pictures to come soon, til then I am resting my tuckered butt, feeling like the cat that ate the canary and counting my lucky stars.
The first is a youngster we looked at in some beautiful country.
Brett and Dan.
Dan and I riding a portion of track having a bit of a tolt race.
Dan won, his horse could tolt a blue streak and the mare I was on did her best but was not quite as fast.
A barn full of pretty faces.
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