HOWEVER, horse back riding, and more specifically in this
case, Icelandic pony riding, is more of a familiar experience for me at least!
I’m still not sure if Mama and Papa just wanted to give us something to do, or
it was just too good of a deal to miss, but when we got to Germany they signed
us up for weekly 45 minute horseback riding lessons. I still even remember Frau
Janetzsky, our teacher, and some of my horses. Unfortunately I only remember
the bad ones, but it’s hard to forget Flicka and Nicki(: I don’t know what was
going on with Flicka, but for some reason because I was so young I kept getting
her as the smallest horse. Problem was she either had a Napoleon complex being
so short, or was just plain crazy, cause I think she threw me off about 3-4
times. Nicki though (Which looking back on it, that name has a sick sort of
irony now) has an infamous look which you would have to see to believe. All
white, you would try to direct her with the reins, and inevitably if she didn’t
want to go somewhere, she would screw up her eyes and rear back her head, open
her mouth wide open and reach her tongue as far as she could go out one side.
Personally writing this, it helps me to envision it by trying to imitate it
myself, so if you want to try it out, I highly encourage it(:
Anyways, this horse farm called Laxnes came highly
recommended from Mama and Papa, so away we went to try it out. Allison and I
had actually noticed quite a few Icelandic ponies on our way up to Isafjordur
and back, and some of their characteristic traits are pretty well summed up by
Gimli from LOTR, when he’s describing his own race: “We dwarves are not natural
runners! Very dangerous at short distances…” Taking the comparison a little further,
I think Icelandic ponies fit the idea of dwarves pretty well! They’re a little
stockier than regular horses, although not like Shetland ponies, and they might
not be the fastest runners, but they’re hardy and built to traverse more
uneven, mountainous terrain.
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| I mean LOOK at that flow(: |
And one random note, but seriously, Icelandic ponies have
some serious flow in dem manes. Allison and I decided that Maybelline should
use ponies in a commercial for shampoo, and call it Neigh-belline(:
Just the first smell inside the stable was the exact same it
had always been in Germany. And the ride started out a little rocky, where I
didn’t feel very confident about everything, but as we went through little
things kept coming back. How it doesn’t actually take that much to get the
horse going, or how instead of holding the reins with all your fingers, you’re
supposed to keep your smallest finger on each hand out. I don’t know why, Frau
Janetsky just taught us that(: Or how to sit in the saddle, or how if you let
the horse take some control, they’ll let their head droop. It was just random
things like that, but it’s crazy how much came back to me in the short ride(:
Some highlights of the trip:
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| Living that Icy Thug Lyfe |
1. 1. Eldure was the real MVP of this adventure. First
the lady assigning horses walked up to an all white one right up in the front
of the stable, and I was having mini flashbacks to Nicki. At the last second
through, she turned around and said she’d give me something with a little more
“fire”. Turns out that was pretty literal, since the pony she picked wayyy in
the back had a name that translates to that exact word(: But seriously, he kept
us right near the front of the pack, climbed mountains with a 200-something lb
dude on top of him, and he’s pretty darn sharp looking too. I always feel like
horses in racing or cattle ranching need a little bit more recognition, cause they do
all the work(:
2. 2. More and more this trip I’m discovering that
Allison has a special level of toughness when it comes to things. Most of the
path involved a pretty rocky path going up and down the sides of pretty steep
hills. I’m riding behind Allison on this steep incline when all of a sudden her
horse slides on the mud, scrambles for a second, and I see Allison whiplashed
off the horse! Seriously, a major flashback to when I was thrown off and almost
couldn’t get back on cause it shook me so bad. But nope, I rush over to see if
she’s okay, and she stands right up, mud covering her left side, gives a big
smile and says she’s OK. At that point I was envisioning us having to quit the
trip early, so to see she’s feeling okay and totally cool with it, I kinda
couldn’t believe it. Allison is definitely surprising me, and in a good way(:
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| All that mud? Battle scars(: |
3. 3. Anything in Iceland wouldn’t QUITE be complete
without a waterfall. So of course our tour took us to a foamy, high pressure
waterfall. Always cool.
4. 4. Eldure again. Isn’t he so cute?!
5. Our riding uniforms. Never have I ever felt like
such a traffic cone, and yet at the same time so protected from the rain and
mud. Plus I can’t imagine what would have happened to Allisons coat if she’d
fallen off the horse without these orange tarps covering us.
6. 6. The Iceland landscape. Never fails to impress(:
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| If I had known just how far my legs were hanging down Eldures side, I would have helped carry myself along on occasion(: |
I wanted to mainly focus on this part of the day instead of
trying to talk about everything that we did, since that’s kind of boring
sometimes, but short to say we went into Reykjavik and did some old fashioned
shopping. I hit up 66* North and did NOT buy out the whole store, and Allison
found a beautiful knitting store that sells hand-knitted products from local
knitters. Her beanie from Aran Tradition in Ireland has turned out to be so useful, she figured an Iceland hat might be useful too(: To cap off the day we did my classic travel-anywhere-and-I-have-to-do-this thing and we ate at Hard Rock Cafe Reykjavik, and then headed home to our comfy apartment(:
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