The main purpose for coming to Iceland was to ride the Icelandic Horses. My mom has a friend/neighbor who is the president of the Icelandic Association in the States and she has a friend over here in Iceland that is a trainer. She was able to organize a trip over here where we could ride their horses (which are more alive and exciting than the normal Trek ponies that caters to the tourist) Plus we've gotten a chance to celebreate National Day in Iceland (their Independence day) eat lots of great food, learn how to become Icelandic, visit the Phallological Museum (yes a museum with a bunch of penisis from different species of animals like whales, elephants, fox, etc- no human one though- quite scientific and then some) and basically drink our way around town.
But the PONIES...er horses.... are absolutely AMAZING. They are hardy, cute, and so smooth to ride. And the hair! Did I mention the HAIR?!?!?!?! Forlocks and mane in abundance! Thick curly tails that would be a nightmare to comb out but look oh so gorgeous when you do, and massive coats to protect them from an Icelandic winter. It's still spring (summer sostice? Only on a calendar!) so the horses are still shedding. Weird to see our version of winter coats- though definately not their version of winter coat- still on the horses. And to boot- these cute cuddly creatures come in all different colors- so if you particularly love a certain color you can get an Icelandic version :) Bays, greys, pintos, duns, silver dapple, various versions of chestnut, palominos, pretty much any color except an appoloosa, haven't seen a spotted appy color, but everything else they seem to have. Another perk of Icelandic horses is that they are not as spooky as other horse breeds. Because there are no predators and the fox was the highest level on the food chain before humans got here, these little viking horses have never had to worry about scary things out to eat them, therefore making them less spooky. You can still scare them yes, but in general while riding around they aren't going to be looking for cougars and such that might eat them. Kinda cool huh?
I will have more pictures to share later on and hopefully more stories to write- I'm checking out because I need to take a quick nap before tonight because we're going on a midnight ride (it never gets dark in the summer) to celebrate Summer Solstice!!! TIME TO CELEBRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
