My decision to visit Iceland was driven by the desire to experience riding Icelandic horses and report back to those who were interested in riding for a week or more. Luckily I only booked a 2 day 1 night ride, joining the end of a 7 day trek, because I found the entire experience to be mostly miserable.
Dating back to the arrival of the Vikings the Icelanders venerate their horses and have tracked their lineage closely since the early 1900s, allowing no other horses to enter the country and interbreed. They have a double coat and can adapt to extremely cold weather. I rode one that was quite old, in my opinion, but he had an enormous amount of energy and I later learned they live a long time
The horses are cute beyond imagination: huge fluffy manes, enormous forelocks, perfect haunches and soft eyes, plus an overall sweet nature. They come in every color imaginable, are sturdy, sure footed and willing.
The Icelandic pony (which is what I shall call them because they remind me of ponies even though they are horses) is gaited; the additional gait the Vikings developed is called the Tolt. I am told that just as some horses have a smooth trot, some Icelandic ponies have can have an uncomfortable 2 beat pace tolt . I have spent hundreds of hours in the saddle, 7-8 hours a day covering great distances through varied terrain, including long stretches of trotting, and I’ve never been as uncomfortable as I was tolting on the 5 horses I rode. It felt like I was riding an equine jack hammer, so maybe I was just unlucky.
They tolt up hill, downhill, across meadows , through streams and along the side of roads, in fact they rarely seem to walk anywhere. Their little legs move rapidly, some stepping high others less so. If you can’t get them to canter (which I could only achieve on 3 of the 5 ponies I rode) you might be an inch shorter after a day in the saddle. I was not alone in my distaste for the tolt; our French rider quit after one day. Another European, who owns horses and rides almost daily could not wait for the days to end. At every break or horse change we stretched our backs or lay on the ground. If you are a Western rider it might be easier, but for those of us who have an English seat everything feels wrong.
The best way I can describe it is that you ride side to side, so the rider has to rock, by definition the weight is back slightly and the feet forward, everything an English rider is taught not to do. The position is such that even an experienced rider isn’t balanced if the horse trips – this was underscored by an advanced rider coming off at a slow tolt and becoming seriously injured.
The ride: We rode with the entire herd up ahead, with a couple of wranglers keeping them moving. It was lovely to see the horses running “free.” Every 3 or so hours we changed mounts, keeping the same saddle, which meant we could stretch our backs, snack, get a drink and take care of business.
On day one the scenery was interesting – no trees, but lots of crystal clear small creeks, glaciers in the distance, wild flowers and multiple sheep dotting the landscape. The herd in front of us cavorted, stopped to nibble grass and seemed to have fun. There wasn’t really any wildlife and we didn’t see many birds. We crossed a range and had a chance to pick up some speed entering a valley – yes, this time I had a horse that would canter, phew.
Out accommodation that night was clean and basic, but the dinner was absolutely appalling. I went to boarding school in England and I haven’t seen such overcooked grey tasteless lamb and vegetables since my last days there. We were hungry, there wasn’t much food during the day, so I had to eat it or I would have fainted from low blood sugar. I can say with all honesty it was the worst food I’ve had on a riding adventure anywhere in the world. Breakfast was very basic and given that we were to ride 45 km seemed lacking. I was always travel with chocolate protein bars and this time they were a necessity to keep body and soul intact.
The second day’s ride was down hill for about an hour and then mostly along the side of roads for about 4 hours. Not much to look at other than some farms and fields. We stopped at a corral for lunch, again just the white bread sandwich I’d made at breakfast and my trusty Nugo bar. The end of the ride was across a stony river bed which was very dusty when we tolted. It is fun to watch your pony’s wild mane flying left and right as they tolt. Most of the time you ride in single file so it’s not easy to strike up a conversation, thus you become quite zen like though I can think of more comfortable ways to attain one’s zen.
It was a very long day in the saddle and I could only get my second horse to canter – but he threw a shoe so I had to change out. Not every Iceland horse tolts exclusively, thankfully many trot and canter normally.
At the end of the ride we had snacks before being taking into Reykjavik.
Before you go:
- The outfit with whom I rode are well known and respected and I will give them kudos for the horses and tack.
- I followed all the rules for sanitizing my riding gear, bought new gloves and chaps and borrowed a helmet when I arrived. I took photos of my boots etc being sprayed with Virkon S – which I got on Amazon. Learn more http://mast.is/Uploads/document/augl_mast_protectHorse.pdf
- There wasn’t anyone riding with us that provided any commentary on what we were seeing, so don’t expect to learn anything about the environs.
- The guides did not carry any medical equipment or supplies, nor a phone that worked in the mountains. This was a shock to some of us. When one rider was injured I was able to give her pain killers while we waited for a helicopter to take her to the hospital. Fortunately another rider had a cell phone that also had a top level GPS locator which we provided to the helicopter pilots. TAKE YOUR OWN MEDICAL SUPPLIES
- Make sure you have medical insurance that will cover you in case of emergencies
- There was little food during the day – sandwiches can be made at the breakfast facility. TAKE PROTEIN BARS AND SNACKS
- Water was lacking. On day 1 we could refill our bottles from a stream. On day 2 with 45 km of riding we had no access to water. They give you 1 water bottle. TAKE AN EXTRA BOTTLE OR TWO
- There were about 15 people on the ride from all over the world, though the majority were Europeans. Because we rode in single file, and most people wanted to lie on their backs at breaks time, socialization occurred in the evenings
- The accommodation was clean and basic.
In summary: I cannot say I’d ever go to Iceland and ride again. Tolting was not for me, it really was hard on my back (after a few unscheduled dismounts I need to take care of my spine) and I found it to be tortuous, or Tolture; I was not alone in this viewpoint.