horse riding

Day: Friday afternoon
Time: 13:20
Participants: 7 (4 Germans, 2 Swiss, 1 Swedish)
Action: 3.5h of horse riding

After a quick lunch we all gathered outside Benni's and Sascha's house waiting for our ride from the Laxnes Horse Farm that is situated in Mosfellbærsdalur only 20min. out of Reykjavik. The guy on the phone told us that he will pick us up at 13h20. So at 13h20 we were all standing outside in the rain, most of us rather nervous as they never sat on a horse before. After 45min of waiting Anna and me decided to call up the farm as even for Icelandic conditions 45min. of waiting is not that normal. The reply on the phone: "Oh shit, I absolutely forgot all about you! - I'll pick you up in 20min." So the 7 of us got back inside and enjoyed a cup of hot coffee. The nervousness disappeared and 30min. later we were sitting in the silver minibus heading north of the capital.
Winter has come over Iceland and the colours outside the city were beautiful. The grass has turned to a yellowish-brown, the clouds were hanging in the snowy mountains and the sun was peaking from behind.
We arrived at the farm and started to get ready. Warm overalls were put on and Anna and me helped to fetch the horses and put the saddles on. After a short introduction we were all in the saddles and ready to set off into the Icelandic wilderness. The weather was still stable and our group of eight horses trottet along some path. For most of the people this was their first experience with horses =) Miriam couldn't stop giggling, Benni couldn't get his horse to move forward.... A lot of fun! At one point Benni's horse just turned around and started running back to the stable - Anna was quickly at hand and got the nasty animal back to our group. After some time everyone felt more at ease and we risked a small trott. Slowly but surely the weather started to change. The sky turned black and the clouds seemed to touch the ground. We were just canterring when a shower of hail caught us. It was so strong that we had to stop our horses, turn our back to it and wait for the 10min. untill it was over. The water was starting to get through our warm and thick overalls. Nothing we could change, so we continued our ride with adventures.
Rivers had to be crossed, fields passed... and this all frozen and wet all through!
Our 3 hour trip was shortened to 1.5h and we happily arrived back at the farm house. There we enjoyed a beer at the "cowboy bar". Back in the warmth everyone had a piece of delicious Icelandic cinnamon cake. All in all a great day!!!