News in English
Battling with the best
Photo Óðinn Örn
The horse press does not always pay you any special attention when you ride into the competiton track but that was not the case at the Icelandic Championship last weekend.
Díva and I competed in the first half of the Tölt preliminary competition and got a score of 7.70 that was for a long time in second place. But the competition was fierce as you would imagine and in the end it was the last horse in the premilinary that finally send us to the B-finals.
I was not thrilled to be riding in the B-finals, partly because they were to be ridden later the same day and also because it is very straining for a young horse like Díva to go to two finals if we were to win. Maybe for that reason I did not have the right mentality toward the B-final competition and was not as concentrated as I should have been.
Photo: Hrefna María
But Díva did well in the B-finals and before the last part of the competition, the fast tempo Tölt, we were in the lead but we ended up in second place after Sigurður Óli and Svalur frá Feti with the score of 7.97. In retrospect, maybe I should have ridder Díva even faster since she can go so much faster then she did in the finals. But the seventh place at the championships with the best tölters in the country is nothing to complain about. Díva will get another chance shine. Maybe on the last tournament of the season next weekend, lets see ;-)
Here you can see news in Eiðfaxi web about Díva in english:
http://en.eidfaxi.is/frettir/2010/08/diva-tolt-mare
http://en.eidfaxi.is/frettir/2010/08/im-2010-b-finals-tolt
30.8.2010
Álfhólar breeding farm show at Hella
We were in such a great spirit in the end of July, finally in the saddle again, that we wanted to take part in the breeding farm show at Geysir ridingclub in the first weekend of August.
The young and proud Þrumufleygur was taken from his mares just three days prior the exhibition, shoed and tried out. And wow he was in excellent form. Þrumufleygur and his rider John Kristinn were great in the show, Þrumufleygur really shines and the audience were greatly impressed with his natural talents and spirit.
Yeah, that is some high leg lift. "Glampi frá Vatnsleysu did this when he was 10 years, but Þrumufleygur is only 4 years old!"- we heard people saying after the show.
That powerful horse can surely stretch so much you wonder if he is made of rubber.
Sara rode Dimmir who had earlier that morning competed in the B-finals in the A-class and done great. Dimmir and Þrumufleygur are closely related, after the siblings and 1. prize horses Tígur and Þyrnirós who are both after Vaka frá Álfhólum.
Sara also rode the great tölt mare Díva, as a warm up for the finals later that evening, pleasing the audience with her precence.
Hrefna María road the five year old Indía, daughter of Leiknir frá Vakurstöðum and Sverta frá Álflhólum. A promising competition horse and a half-sister to the well known competition horse Zorro frá Álfhólum wich Hrefna María rode for several years with excellent results.
Leó Geir rode the five year old Móey, daugther of Eldjárn frá Tjaldhólum and Móeiður frá Álfhólum. A promising mare who received 7.90 in the 4 year old class in a breeding show last summer.
And finally the lost son, Daníel Smárason, riding Sóllilja frá Álfhólum. Danni worked for us several summers when he was younger, but is now working at Ármót farm.
Here is a video of the show were all the horses from Álfhólar farm danced to the music of Shakira.
11.8.2010
Competition fever
Sara and Dimmir in A-flokkur
The horses on the farm have slowly been recovering from the much talked about flu that they have been suffering from for the last few months. In the beginning of July I said enough is enough and started shoeing my horses and began training. Then I had barely sat in the saddle since the end of April, for over two months!
I was thinking about going to a riding class before I started training again, I was so rusty. And the sore muscles I had after the first day - let's not go there! The horses were so and so, and some had added quite some weight, like e.g. Díva, she really looked more like a hippo than a normal horse after the break. I would have wanted to began to train her sooner, but she injured her leg in mid-June and therefore got two extra weeks of rest.
Last weekend a big tournament and midsummer breeding show was held at Hella. Over 50 horses where registered in all the adult competitions. It was quite a pleasing to have the Icelandic horsemanship coming to live like that again. In B-flokkur I rode Gjóska frá Álfhólar who received a score of 8.30 after a decent show, and came very close to earning a place in the B-finals. I did not think I got the most out of her that day and the reason for that revealed itself the next day when it turned out she was limping and still is. I hope she recovers before the summer exhibitions in mid August.
Sara and Díva in Tölt competition.
The siblings after Miðfells-Dimma did excellent. Díva who is still quite heavy after a long break scored 7.20 in the Tölt preliminary and 7.57 in the finals and received the fourth place.
Sara and Dimmir.
A week before the tournament I started training Dimmir again. I was going to start training him in early July, but then he sadly began to cough again, so he got three more weeks of break to fully recover. This was only his second time competing in a pro competition but we got a descent score of 8.43 in the preliminaries in A-flokkur and were second in B-finals. After Tölt and Trot in the finals we were on our way to a sure win. But Dimmir did not have as much power left for the pace as I had hoped for due to little training the last few moths, total score 8.52. I got an invitation to compete in the A-finals cause of inability to attend, but I decided that the time was not right for us now. I would like to focus on getting Dimmir into better competition form.
In addition to competing, Álfhólar farm also took part in a breeding exhibition on Saturday night but more about that later...
7.8.2010
Promising Tölter
Some foals are more photogenic than others. And no, he not after the famous Álfur frá Selfossi, though you might think so when looking at his beautiful pinto foal.
This one immediately stole my attention when he stood up right from birth and ran Tölting away like nothing was to it. It was very easy for me to take nice pictures of him when he was just a week old.
His sire is Íkon frá Hákoti, who has among other things gotten a score of 9 for tölt in a breeding assessment. His dame is Rauðhatta frá Álfhólum or Fat Pinto as we call her because how difficult for us it was when she was younger to get her into competition and breeding show form. But maybe we did not give her much change to prove herself.
Íkon and his rider Rósa, mother of Hrefna María, have been competing in top level Tölt competitions last two years with excellent results.
Some just have it all. We are very happy with this foal. He Tölts with high movements, lots of smoothness and is flashy pinto colored. Can you really ask for more? More pictures here.
Rauðhatta received lots of attention for her foal last year which was also pinto colored and sired by Dáðadrengur frá Álfhólum, son of Víkingur frá Voðmúlastaðir and Dimma frá Miðfelli.
Rauðhatta is from the old Álfhólar breeding line after Tígur and Bylgja frá Álfhólum. Through her motherside you can find the Hornafjörður stallion Nökkvi frá Hólmi as both grandfather and great grandfather. The connection with Hornafjörður through Tígur is more complex. Rauðhatta´s great great grandfather is Sörli 141 frá Dalkoti which was born in 1926. My grandfather Valdimar bought Sörli around 1950 and had him for two or three years.
Unnur frá Álfhólum, fullsister of Bylgja (Raðhattas mother) has given us Urður frá Álfhólum, sired by the 1. price Orrison Ögri frá Hvolsvelli. Unnur has given Valdimar Ómarsson, brother of Hrefna Marís, Artemis frá Álfhólum wich is a first prize mare with 9 for tölt. Unnur got sick the winter after Urður was born and was put down and Urður is her only offspring.
Rauðhetta has one fullsister and she received around 7.50 in a breeding assessment.
The first offspring from Rauðhatta comes to training the next summer. She was already quite old when she had her first foal. This two year old colt after Íkon frá Hákoti and Rauðhatta is on its way to Finland (picture since 2009).
14.7.2010
They Pinto horses perform by Hrefna María.
Most of the horses here at Álfhólar farm are coming back to good form after recovering from the frequently mentioned horse sickness. It is really nice to get back in the saddle again.
I (Hrefna María) began to train my horses from my stable in Reykjavík about two weeks ago. It seemed that my horses from Reykjavík where sooner to recover then the horses here in Álfhólar. The most likely explanation that I can think of is that the horses in Reykjavík got the flue earlier and therefore are getting better sooner.
After eight weeks of break from training the horses seem very lively and in good form. Me and John are clearly having quite a thing for competitions because we could not resist competing at the Gullmót tournament held in Reykjavík last weekend.
Our competition horses seem to be in excellent form despite of the timeout. John Kristinn competed in T2 on the stallion Kraftur frá Strönd, son of the great tölter Kjarkur frá Egilstaðabær. In the preliminaries they performed great and they made first place with the score of 6.77. The finals were on Sunday and they won with an impressive score of 7.17.
Me and John own Kraftur together. He has not been formally announced here on the website but he is an extremely beautiful and a talented horse, with great character. His pinto color and his tale and mane are also great features for a stallion. This is not the last time you will see us competing on Kraftur as he is a material for an outstanding competition horse, whether in T2, Four gait or Tölt.
Photo: Maríanna Gunnarsdóttir
You can view more pictures, videos and read more about this beauty HERE.
But I could not let John totally steal the spotlight on the tournament, so I and Mammon took part in five gait and pace test PP1. In the five gait things did not quit go as planned and Mammon got a breather and a bite to eat at noon after the preliminary. Then we both just had cozy hours in the sun for the rest of the day or until the announcer suddenly notify about the beginning of the pace test. I hurried to get Mammon, who was quite full after all the eating and saddle him quickly. Then we rode straight in to the pace test and would you know, Mammon and I scored well after all and won the pace with a score of 6.58.
I must admit that I thought it was even more fun to win the boys who could not believe their own eyes and demanded recount. They had lost for a girl!
14.7.2010
Come to Mama!
Sara was determined not to go home until she had looked under the tail of this one to see the if it was a mare or a stallion foal.
Sara was very happy to see this was a beautiful mare foal after the 1. price mare Þyrnirós and Sara´s stallion Dimmir. Þyrnirós is also the mother of the promising young stallion Þrumufleygur.
It was a very joyful day because so far Sara had only gotten one mare foal but eleven stallion foals this summer.
Come to mama!
Don´t lose her, Sara! She´s only about 40 pounds!
Stay concentrated, don´t laugh yourself silly!
The first few days after many mares have given births they tend to quite shy with their new offspring. The easiest way to get close to them is talking to their curious offsprings and then the mother stays nearby.
Þyrnirós (e. Sleeping beauty) stays this summer with her herd in a very big field. Because of the extensive size of the land it´s often problematic to get the horses you want to attain. Þyrnirós came running towards us with her foal right behind her. Sara was on her toes and jumped between them and the foal came running right in her arms.
This young mare foal has one fullbrother who was born last year and we were so pleased with him, so Sara took Þyrnirós to Dimmir again and said this time she wanted a mare. And she got her wish fulfilled.
It can be so annoying for such a pig for attention like me (Hrefna María) never to get my picture taken because I´m always behind the camera myself! So now we changed parts!
Þyrnirós is alwas so elegant. Extremely beautiful mare in the herd with high leg action and allure.
Oh, you little thing - with flying gaits and charming movements - only a few hours old.
So now Sara has to name the little lady. Her fullbrother name is Þrumugnýr so she will probably be called Þrumu-something? Rósa Valdimarsdóttir (mother of Hrefna María) will pick the stallion for Þyrnirós this summer and the headaches have started.
Text and Photos: Hrefna María (Takes over when the BOSS hits the town).
12.7.2010
Love story in the herd
Yyeeahhaa, I see some good looking ladies over there!
Wwoohh.... I dig your color babe!
I´m just to cool for school.
She said split, go, and stop harrasing me! AAthcch, she kicked me right on the mouth!
What have I gotten myself into? Don´t they see how cool I really am?
Wwwooohhh.... wait are you kidding me .... not you too babe?
OK, I have to keep my cool, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in... dont run... Damn she´s crazy man, wow!
Are these birds joking with their look?!? They really look like they´ve just escaped from the crazy farm with their snow-white eyes and funky color. I have never seen this before!
But now there´s nothing left to do but to show them who´s BOSS over here, whether they like it or not! I just hope I will survive this ordeal in one piece.
Photos: Hrefna María Ómarsdóttir
Text: Sara Ástþórsdóttir
Location: Skúmstaðir
Model: Máttarbaugur two years son of Baugur frá Víðinesi og Mónu frá Álfhólum.
12.7.2010
New website for Þrumufleygur: www.trumufleygur.weebly.com
We have just launched a site dedicated to the promising young stallion, Þrumufleygur frá Álfhólum.
Þrumufleygur is in good health and is enjoying his summer with his herd at Skúmstaðaland wich is located nearby Álfhólar farm. You could say his living everyman's dream, eating, sleeping and ........
Check it out!
12.7.2010
The Great Thunderstorm
Because of the strange circumstances here in Iceland this spring and summer, with the much discussed horse sickness, we have shown very few horses in breeding shows. All of my horses at Álfhólar got sick early this spring but we crossed our fingers for the four year old Þrumufleygur, son of Þóroddur frá Þóroddsstöðum and Þyrnirós frá Álfhólum, who was beeing trained by John in Ármót that he could compete in the breeding show. He took part and did quite well but immediately after he got sick, with high fever and therefore could not take part in the second day of the show. Þrumufleygur went to the veterinarian the day after for treatment, the heat disappeared for treatment and he is quite well now.
This great and powersful stallion was not the least bit stressed when he got to the track on Tuesday. He did ok in the show but the pace did not work out as planned and John was quite bother not to get a change to fix that grade on the second day of the show. The track in Hafnarfjörður was really hard and it can be difficult for young horses to run the pace in that kind of circumstances.
For Tölt, trot, willingness and form under rider he received an 8,5 rating so his mark for riding ability was total 7.95. We were not very happy with his conformation mark for only 7.76, but it can easily change with more development in the next years. His total score was 7.87. You can find more information about Þrumufleygur on this homepage HERE.
John has been very pleased with the young stallion all through the winter training. From the first month in training, he has been impressed by the talented young horse. He says he is quick to learn, with great spirit and clean and powerful gaits. John, who has done an excellent horse training says the colt is the best young horse that he has ever come to know. See more photos of Þrumufleygur´s breedingshow HERE.
Þrumufleygur will be located nearby Álfhólar this summer and those who are interested in using him for breeding this summer can call Hrefna María, tel. -354 8611218 or send an email to alfholar@alfholar.is.
12.7.2010
Almost 70% silver dapple
Some think that I am a bit obsessed with the color of my horses and prefer that they are from Hornafjörður´s bloodline but I sure you that is not it so. It is just a coincidence that one of the best old breeding mares here at Álfhólar, Móna, is silver dapple and is strongly related to Hornafjörður. Her offspring's have all had high leg action but not all of them have been silver dapple. Our highest judged mare, total score 8.22, Móeiður, is after Móna and Kjarkur frá Egilstaðabæ,. She is silver dapple and has gotten 9.5 for Tölt. The mother of Kjarkur is also from Hornafjörður breed.
I have never tracked down a stallion to use on my mares just because of his color. If that would be the case I would have tried to get the palomino color to Álfhólar.
The question whether I would have used my stallion Mánasteinn frá Álfhólum when he was two years old on my mares if he had only been brown colour is easily answered. His conformation and talent were both very promising, and the fact that Móeiður is his mother was not discouraging me.
But all the same it is twice the pleasure to receive such a promising foals in beautiful colors, like Frakkur here who is out of a pinto horsetrading mare, daughter of Fálki frá Sauðakróki. When we took the young horses to our stable for a few days this spring, this young son of Mánasteinn put on a great show for our visitors with his unique movements. But Frakkur wont strut for long on Icelandic soil because he has been sold to Finland for breeding.
The owner of this black horse thought that he was the most beautiful foal this year in his possessions so he ordered for two mares for this summer but had to cancel because of the horse sickness. According to recent news, this young colt will stay a stallion for now at least.
But the owner of this beautiful and colorful marefoal horses did not let the horsesickness be a discouragement and came back with the mother and two other mares as well.
This one was born the night before the ash fall on the 13th of May but it did not harm him though he was black from the ashes for a while. His mother is Irsa frá Kanastöðum daughter Hrannar frá Kýrholti.
And here is one promising silver dapple stallion foal. His mother is Rún frá Eystra-Fíflholti. Rún may not come from the strongest breeding line but had very good horses e.g. Ronju frá Álfhólum wich has 1st price for ridingabilities.
Last but not least is the second of only two marefoals born in Álfhólar this year so far, daughter of Ögrun frá Álfhólum. This one is a real cutie.
These young horses and foals have all clean gaits and good Tölt in common.Mánasteinn is also very generous with his beautiful silver dapple color. Approximately 70 precent of his offspring have inherit his color.
The price for a mare with Mánasteinn is 45.000 ISK with everything included. Mánasteinn has a very sweet-temper and gendle character.
I am planning on a systematic training for Mánasteinn in the fall so I aim to take him from his mares in mid-august. Considering his movements out in the field, I am quite optimistic he has recovered from his injury last year.
1.6.2010
We must look further
Picture by Ransý Ásgarði
My little Dimmuborg sure had a fun time this spring when I put it here out on a little green spot last week. She has been through tough trials in her short life (only 2 year old) after her accident last fall. Sometimes people ask me "when are you going to put here out of her misery?" Then I respond "does she look like she wants to go?"
It is not possible but to admire the great spirit this young mare has despite her great handicaps. I have heard of two mares in similar conditions (hip joint misplaced) that are used for breeding and that gives me hope that she can also have foals. She is a real "heart-breaker" and if Bragi frá Kópavogi, her father, would be in the south this summer I would definitely take Dimma, her mother, back to him to get another copy of Dimmuborg.
The Landsmót has now been postponed for a year because of this bacterial infection. Further training increases the risk of more serious symptoms and we have to have the horses best interests in mind. It is now obvious that many of the horses that have already qualified to Landmót are ill at this point and only a small chance that they would be ready for further judgement after only a month. Would we ourselves be likely to get good results, e.g. in sprints at the Olympics, if we had spent the last month or so at home in bed with the flu? We do not need an expert to say that the answer to that question is simply - NO!
This spring has been very difficult for us breeders and trainers in Iceland because all training came to a stop in late pril because of the horse plague. None of my horses have become seriously ill but some have had a quite persistent cough and one young horse that was out in the herd had a hard time breathing. My horses out in the herd have had snot in their nostril for over a month too, and occasional cough.
Early symptoms of the horse plague have been vague and it was very difficult to figure out when to stop training and then to start again.
These are quite difficult circumstances to be under pressure to train horses but not being able to. In my stables I have lots of exciting horses witch I aimed high with both in breeding and competitions. I know there are many trainers in similar positions and even worse. The interests of the Icelandic horse community are greatly threatened this year. Both with the plague and of course the volcanic eruptions.
Those interested in our bland and Icelandic horse will continue to look for horses in Iceland. Landmót or not, and we want them to see healthy and powerful Icelandic horses not weak horses that were not given the benefit of the doubt!
1.6.2010
Mid-summer breeding shows
The reason I am expressing my view on these matters at this time is because now there are troubled times for breeders and trainers. This horse sickness, that we are experiencing here in Iceland, just keeps getting worse. There has been a great upset in tournaments and breeding shows. Not nearly all horses will be able to arrive in their best form to breeding shows this spring and almost certainly many breeders will for that reason not show them at all. But there are great interests at stake e.g. the time value of training.
Therefore, I think it would be a good idea to hold a breeding show in the middle of summer in July to give breeders and trainers more options to show there horses. And I am talking about this arrangements on a permanent basis because I am sure that many trainers want to have this option in the future. All it takes is a united pressure from us trainers and breeders, because after all the breeding judges are all working for us?
4.5.2010
In the shadow of Eyjafjallajökull
You can not say that there is a dull day here these days, especially for us who live near Eyjafjallajökull. It started as a nice and beautiful eruption at Fimmvörðuháls but changed dramatically when Eyjafjallajökull erupted with great floods and ash fall.
An evacuation plan was activated and we were driven three times away from home the first two days. In my opinion I really did not think it was necessary to flee even though there was an eruption in Eyjafjallajökull. It would be another story if "big mama", Katla, would start. Then surely I would be the first to evacuate.
The first few days we did not see much because of the weather condition there was bad visibility. But on Friday two days after the eruption began, we saw it for the first time. And there were mixed feelings seeing the friendly glacier had changed overnight.
On Saturday there was great power in the eruption wich was visible in the form of a huge black smoke. Highly graphical and magnificent to watch for those who were so lucky to be in safe distance, but an awful disturbing experience for people and animals with homes are under Eyjafjöll.
There was not much work done at the farm the first few days of the eruption. We were constantly following news coverage of the eruption and forecasts from weather reports to see if there was anything coming our way.
"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire"
Fortunately for us the most power had gone from the eruption when the wind changed direction and came over to us last week. The wind brought us some volcanic ash Friday and Saturday. History tells that a volcanic eruption in this place can last long, so only time will tell when it will really be over. Although we have been lucky so far, then we really do not know what next months will bring.
"Dimmir the great"
All the horses at our farm are alright, with fresh hay and water. But it can become a major problem for us farmers who breed sheep if we can not led them out on grassy fields in the spring with their young lambs.
The training has been successful so far, but this is a winter I will never forget. Tournaments have been canceled, and I have not been interested in taking my horses to any shows for fear of the horse flue that has been in Iceland over the last few weeks.
Hopefully all will go well but the uncertainty is very difficult at the moment.
5.4.2010
This weekend a competition took place between the strongest tölters on ice in Iceland. Díva and I got an invitation to participate in this competition following our victory in Women on Ice. The preliminary did not go as smoothly as planned but a score of 7.50 barely got us through to the B-finals.
It is very interesting to look at how many supertölters are after the stallion Kjarkur from Egilsstaðarbær even though he has always been a little controversial and never gotten to be a so-called "Fashion Horse" amongst breeders. I was always on the way to use him more in my breeding but suddenly he had been exported out of the country.
I had just arrived home after the tournament, when the phone rings and I get the messages that there was a volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull and because we live nearby we should clear off. And as I still had the trailer fastened to my car, I filled it with my favourite mares and speeded off. The gaffers living in the next farm were not bothered with this "Day of Judgement" nonsense and did not understand all the excitement for a little innocent eruptions.
4.4.2010
Svellkaldar konur video
Here you can watch an Icelandic television show about the annual womens tölt on Ice competition, Svellkaldar konur, "cool ladies" wich was held in the skating hall in Reykjavík.20.3.2010
The competition has begun
Me the countrygirl from Álfhólar drove to town this weekend with two of my favorite girls on a trailer with me, Díva and Gjósta. We were on our way to take part in the annual womens Tölt on Ice competition in Reykjavík skating hall. The competition went well and both mares qualified to the finals, Gjósta in B-finals and Diva A-finals. After a strong finals against excellent competitiors the victory was ours with the great score of 8.22. Díva has not had much experience in inside tournaments to this date and therefore I was very pleased with her performance.
I was a bit stressed before the competition because I had not had time to train Díva as much as I would have liked. Partly because the riding hall here at Álfhólar has been under construction for the last month or so and also because Díva got injured early winter. But those concerns proved to be unnecessary. Díva is such a unique horse that loves to perform, willing and eager to do better than her competitors.
Gjóska, after Hrannar from Höskuldsstaðir and Gáski from Álfhólar, also showed here talent that same night. She is in her first year in competition. In the competition Gjóska received mixed scores from the referees but nevertheless her score of 6.57 got here to B-finals. Since Díva was already through to the A-finals I withdrew Gjóska from the competition. Gjóska and I also took part in the ice tournament, Ísmót Suðurlands, that was held in Þykkvabær two weeks ago. There we were fourth in the B-class with 8.50 and third in tölt with a score of little over 7. I was very happy with those results. Gjóska is a very determined powerhouse. I look forward competing more on Gjóska this season at least.
Hrefna María also took part in Tölt on ice with her mare Vaka from Margretarhof after Rökkvi from Hárlaugsstaðir and ended in the 10th place. Vaka and Hrefna won the first winter games in Fákur Víðidalur earlier this winter.
Mynd Dalli
Rósa, mother of Hrefna María, also took part with her stallion Íkon from Hákot, after Töfri from Kjartansstaðir and Bella from Kirkjubær, and they finished in seventh place in her class. This par has competed alot in local competitions in Fákur with excellent results.
I also competed in A-flokkur with Dimmir from Álfhólar, Dívas halfbrother, on Ísmót Suðurlands. There we finished in fourth place with the score of 8.48.
The other weekend I held a lecture in a horse seminar in Rangárhöllin. There I talked about the importance of a well balanced seat in training and tölt training with difficult horses. For those interested you can watch a video from the seminar on the website hest.is.There were several riders who took part in the seminar that was well attended.
I have not upgraded the home page as much as I would have liked these last few weeks. The reason is simply that there is so much activity here in Alfholar, riding, training and teaching that there simply has not been enough time for webwork. I can not promise to more efficent but I will surely do my best.
16.2.2010
The sunny side
I´ve been getting calls from people who fear for my health because of how pourly I´m doing updating this website. This blog lazyness can best be explained with the fact that it´s just so much fun at work these days with lots of exciting projects.
Solandus is an excellant fourgait material. It is a bit of a shame to say that this is the first winter that I have spent some quality training time on him. He was a bit unlucky to be on his fourth year, and ready for training, when the riding hall was being build. Because of the construction, time was scarce and I just rode him for two weeks that spring. But in that time he spent inside he literally took of his entire maine before I noticed! The girls who worked here with me that time rode him a bit but he wasn´t properlty tölt trained until this winter. He´s now six years old. Hopefully he´ll be ready for a breeding show or competition later this year. Better late than never J The more I´ve gotten to know him, the more I like him. His temperment is an absolute dream.
Sóllilja is Solandus fullsister. She is on her fifth year and is everybodys favorite of in the stables. Great character, willing and cooperative and always in a good mood. We started training her this winter and her tölt is coming along quite nicely. She puts much effort in to it and clides in every step.
These siblings, Solandus and Sóllilja, are both after the first prize stallion Börkur from Litlu-Reykjar and my mare Sóldögg. I've been unlucky with her offsprings. In some unexplainable way I managed to loose a pinto son of her and Þristur from Fet. One day he literally disappeared from the surface of the earth. A very beautiful daughter of Sóldögg and Reginn from Keta was badly injured and I had to put her down. If that wasn´t enough Sóldögg hasn´t been very fertile. For that reason I haven´t been temped to sell Sóllija although many have showed interest. She is the only mare I own after Sóldögg besides a daughter of Glymur from Innri-seljabrekka she had last summer. Sóldögg herself was a fun mare to ride. I competed a bit on her and did very well in B-class and usually got a score around 8:40.
Díva is getting into good form after a bumby start in the beginning of winter. For just over a month she was a bit strange in one back foot. She wasn´t limp but here foot was a little swollen. For that reason we´ve been taking things slow to prevent problems later in the training process.
There is a much ado here these days. My cousin Valdi, brother of Hrefna, built for me a saddle storage and a fence in the riding hall. The higly educated engineer made this look quite easy.
It´s important for me to have an experienced staff to train with me. Elísabet from Steinsholt will be working with me this winter. Later this winter Jenny, a riding student from Sweden, will be working here for about a month. Íris Fríða from Mosfellsbær came here for a few days and Sara Rut also came here for one week at the end of January and was helpful with the youngsters as so often before.
Photo Íris Friða
My dog Viggo is great at helping me to break in the youngsters out in the field. We are trying out new methods "Mounty Roberts style" OLDER NEWS IN ENGLISH COMING UP...
ÁLFHÓLAR | SARA ÁSTÞÓRSDÓTTIR | 861 HVOLSVÖLLUR - ÍSLAND | Tel: (+354) 898 8048 | ALFHOLAR@ALFHOLAR.IS
