Riding Horse(s)

Baga got some free days (nearly two weeks)  because she had problems with her legs, skin and mouth. After some free days I was so impatient that I took her with snúrumúll (Knotenhalfter) and split leather reins and went riding into the riding arena. I was too unbrave to check if it works outside ;o)
But it worked very fine at the riding arena. I could ride all gaits, also lope. Further it was possible to ride slalom and more funny things. It was so great that I tried it few days later again and it was fine again.
Yesterday I decided that Baga had enough holidays and put the saddle and bridle on again. But it seemed as if the free days were not good for her mind because she started to run in fast gallop and was bucking like hell! "Baga my darling, you understood something wrong:  I want a western horse - NOT A RODEO-HORSE!!!"So I stopped her and let her trot hundreds of circles until she was wet and then I could ride her in normal lope again . Fine to be the winner but now I am always thinking if I want to ride lope. "Will she be fine or not?"
I decided today to ride outside and let her trot a lot to get away her energy. I also tried a little bit lope and it worked fine but I am still distrustful. Maybe she also has so much power because of the coming autumn. She is most time high tempered in the autumn and winter.
As I arrived back home SSSól was still waiting. And like always she was running circles around us as we were back in the paddock. Sometimes I have to tie her to the door because she is going on our nerves :o) If I want to clean the hooves of Baga she is everywhere. And If I say "SSSól, farðu!!!" she goes and comes back immediately if I have a hoof of Baga in my hands. And have you ever tried to clean a horse hoof with a horse nose in your face??? Today it was one of these days and SSSól always followed me "Do something with me, do something with me!" I tried to ignore her but she can be soooooooooooooo penetrant . As I took the bridle of Baga to wash it with water she came and always hold her head in the bridle and tried to catch the bit. So I took the bridle, hold it in the right direction and she took the bit immediately. This horse is not normal, I can tell you . Isn't she looking like a grown icelandic riding horse?

Dísa sold

Sæladís is sold. I wish all the best to the new owner. Have a lot of fun with her .

Wild one

Everything is fine on my little party-pasture. SSSól learned from Baga that opening the gates means having party and now she is the one who is squealing, jumping and bragging. But it's very cute because Baga is always some kind of devil - kicking with her front legs into the sky, squealing and bucking and SSSól makes one "squeak", shakes her head and is calming down immediately "Wasn't I real wild?" she always seems to ask during I am rolling on the ground laughing.

Unfortunately I had to start collecting the apples from the ground because they were too many. Nearly one bucket full of apples comes down during the night and one of the girls - probably Baga - got "runs" of it. Further too many apples can cause a colic and both girls are not very strong in their bellies so I feel better if I collect them and throw them away :o( The trees are all over so building a fence around them would not be a help for me.

The days before we also had an apple-conflict in the morning. After eating the 5? kilo apples Baga was not eating grass. NO! She started to eat the apples from the trees. And of course it's a horse and horses are alive to eat but I can get big problems with the owner of the pasture if she notices that the horses are eating apples from the trees so I told the horses not to eat from the sky but from the earth :o)
One day Baga was very naughty and picked an apple from the tree right under my nose. I told her: "Stop it!". She went on. I sent her away. She squeaked and bucked and acted like a wild wild horse but soon she came back to eat a little grass. But only for few seconds. She tried again to get an apple from the tree and I sent her away a second time. She acted again like a wild wild horse and also kicked with her back legs into my direction so that I attacked her and let her run and run like hell. Always if she wanted to stop to eat again I attacked her and gave her no peace. After few minutes and a really great rodeo-show of Baga I stopped and stand still on my place. She also stopped and looked at me for a while. Suddenly she came. Very slow walking with the head down as if she wanted to ask me: "Please can I eat some grass now?"

I fondled her forehead and allowed her this. She was not trying again to pick up an apple from the tree this day. And I went back from the pasture backwards to look at her but everything was peaceful. Some days later I catched her as she had her nose in the tree. I only shouted "Aaaaa!" and the nose came down IMMEDIATELY!!!

Baga in tölt

Yesterday I was riding through the country - not doing much on the horse - just chilling. But Baga thought by herself "How boring only to walk straight, let us check the roadside ditch!" I could not laugh about this kind of horse-humor because I felt absolutely surprised during we were falling in the ditch so I took my whip and used it in a rather unfriendly way  and suddenly she jumped out of the ditch and was so excited that she started to run in fast tölt over the street ! You can imagine HOW excited I WAS . But she felt in trott soon again because I only sat on her... just wondering... 

I tried it some times again but we were not excited enough to tölt. But great to know that we possibly can do it anytime.

On Friday I took SSSól as Baga and me came back home from our ride and I tried again to have her beside us during the riding. I did not fasten her on the saddle, I'll better had the rope in my hand but it was much better than the first time because I exercised with SSSól that she should listen to my words. This time I could trott with Baga and SSSól followed us in tölt. Sometimes she is still escaping to the wrong side but I can also throw away the rope - SSSól is always following us .

Today Jens will do some work in my horse-stable. I am very excited if all my wishes will be fullfilled ;o) AND I messured my girls yesterday and can tell you now that Baga is still 1,30 m and SSSól is 1,25 m.

Riding-pictures

You can find some pictures of our riding-lesson on Wednesday here. If you find a note "one year ago" in my gallery, you can compare the shape of Baga with pictures of last year by clicking the link.

I will update my sales-page www.gaedingur.com during the weekend. Possibly starting today evening. So please send me emails with pictures and details of your sales-horses asap if you want to see them on my website ;o)

Have a nice weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stóra-Baga sold

Today I sold Stóra-Baga to Hekla. Her new name is Sunna. She is still living with Hekla since April and have learned a lot. Now finally I can pay my saddle and some more debts off . I wish all the best for Hekla and Sunna and hope that they will have a wonderful time together.

Morgunhanar

At night my girls have to sleep into their stable or in the small paddock before it. They have no possibility to eat grass at night, they should stay inside and eat hey. That's why they are always very excited if I arrive in the morning because they know that I open the gates for them ;o)

SSSól is always much more unhurried than Baga ;o)

They both know that some new apples has fallen off the trees during the night. That's their first breakpoint before checking the grass.

Baga is always very lively in the morning and making some party on the pasture :o)))





What do you think is SSSól doing when Baga is making party on the pasture? Yes, you're right. She's eating .

Nice weekend to you all. I will take MY breaktfast now and then take my party-horse for a ride. At the moment she is very high tempered and on Thursday I had to get off her because she tried to gallop home during a thunderstorm.

Only pictures

I'm in a hurry today, that's why I am blogging only pictures today .


Baga seems to be healthy and fine. She is shining like the sun! Unfortunately she lost a shoe yesterday so we have to rest until Wednesday (maybe I will do some dressage-work these days).


SSSól and me walked together the last two days. She was 49 %  and 51 % angel again. Now I will let her rest one week and then try again. She is totally great and learning so fast but I don't understand why she is still running over me from time to time. That's a point of contention between us.

SSSól is also looking fine and still putting weight on. Now I have to go to feed them .

First try

I did it yesterday . First I fastened SSSól on the belt of Baga but the rope was too long so that I needed to make it shorter for two times. SSSól is following fine but she is a little bit slow so she managed two times to cross the side (suddenly she was on the left side and not like wanted on the right side). But with a shorter rope it must work fine. That's why Iris should buy me a lead rope in Iceland. I have never seen this before in Germany.
Of course I tried immediately what SSSól is doing if I am riding on Baga and it worked rather fine. Now I know that I have to work alone with SSSól that she knows my signals. Always if I clicked with my tongue, Baga felt in brokk and SSSól was still in walk. She is a very unhurried horse and seems to think "Dúmmdídúmm, what a wonderful day....dúmmdídúmm....don't hurry me..."

Child horse

No time to blogg but I want to share this picture with you of my niece (she's the daughter of Jens brother) and me with Baga. Of course SSSól is always with us . What do you think, should I exercise to lead SSSól during riding Baga on my pasture? How can I tell SSSól not to crush my leg?