​From July 27 to August 10. 2014 I celebrated my 50th birthday on a horseback tour in Iceland, riding from North to South - Across Iceland.  We were a group of six riders (including my 15 years old daughter), one driver, one chef and one dog. During some parts of the tour we were accompanied by local guides and partners and that really made the tour fantastic as well quite a good weather. We only got one day of rain, some cold days and some very warm days.  Each of us had 5-6 well trained horses at the age of 7-20 years. We mainly trained them during the winter season but 

​When you drive the ring road these days you will meet a lot of horse trailers. Now in January the horse owners that live in the Reykjavík Capital area drive to the countryside to fetch their horses that have been outside and living “half wild” on large winter fields for a few months. The “horse villages” outside urban areas are now getting busy and especially on weekends and in the early evening hours you can see people riding out and training. 

​We welcome Ása and Hjalti to our group of partners. They have been travelling the Icelandic highland on horseback for decades and we are extremely proud to be working with them next summer. 

Their farm Kjóastaðir is in South Iceland, nestled beautifully in green countryside right between some of the most famous sights of Iceland, the Geysir geothermal field with its erupting hot spring Strokkur and the majestic waterfall Gullfoss. They run together with their daughter

​When I started my horsemanship in 1980, Skagafjörður was the mecca of horse breeding in Iceland.  If you were looking for a competition or breeding horse, Skagafjörður was the place to go to. Farms like Kolkuós, Vatnsleysa, Miðsitja, Varmilækur, Flugumýri, Svaðastaðir, Skörðugil and many more were renowned for great horses.  Sveinn Guðmundsson from Sauðárkrókur was probably one of the pioneers of breeding talented horses and when thinking back, he might have been the most famous breeder at that time in Iceland. 
 

It was a dream job for a girl obsessed with horses: Going on horse trips into the Icelandic wilderness. 

After working at Skálakot for two summers, the farmer Guðmundur Viðarsson and his wife Jóhanna Þórhallsdóttir decided to give me a horse of my own choice. I chose a grey mare called Drottning and was the happiest girl in the universe.  

When I permanently moved to Iceland in 2002 my dream and adventure with grey horses continued. .   

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​There are about 80,000 horses in Iceland which is an incredible number for a nation that counts 310,000 people. The horse is used for pleasure riding, travelling and competition purposes and it still plays a practical role in the annual sheep and horse round-ups where farmers use horses to round up sheep and horses in the highlands. (source and text: www.fhb.is) 

​But where do we keep them in winter season?
 
Riding and competition horses are stabled from mid December to end of May/ beginning of June. 

 Here comes the first blog from Louise M. Martin, our special advisor for Horse welfare. The whole team of Exploring Iceland is very fond of horses and you will find us usually in the saddle in our spare time! That is the reason, why we put so much emphasis on Horse Welfare in our tours. We want "our" horses to be well taken care of, well fed and well rested before they go on tour. That is why we pick and choose our partners carefully and are very happy to work with the great horsemen and women who operate all of Exploring Iceland on horseback Tours. 
 
As Louise points rightly out in her first blog, only 100% healthy animals should be used for riding where ever in the world you go for a tour.  (Please see "read more")