Summer has arrived with the first Long Tour

The long tour season has started with the first tour “Golden Highlights of the South” departing on June 7. The tour Volcano Hekla is going on at the moment and today the first highland tour Kjölur has left. It has become quite busy at our farm with summer staff arriving and up to about 200 horses in our paddocks and fields while always some of our 350 horses are out on long tours or relaxing between tours. We are having a bit of a tough start this season as summer is several weeks delayed. There were still hardly any signs of spring in late May, which was the coldest since 1979. Early foals had to be taken inside for their first days, we had to take food for the horses on our tours and feed them hay much longer than we are used to. Last winter was unusually hard with extreme weather conditions and heavy snow storms from November to May which caused roads to be closed many times. Highland roads open later this year than usual as most of them are still covered in snow, which was “more than in living memory” in the highlands, according to the Iceland Touring Association. As a result, some areas we are riding in on our multi day tours cannot be passed at the moment, either because there is still some snow or because of melting water. We therefore had to adjust or first “Golden” tour, riding in beautiful Thjórsárdalur valley and at the Beach instead of in the highlands. The first Wilderness tours might be affected as well, but the weather forecast looks favorable and we always find great riding trails instead of the ones that might be impassable. After some warm, sunny days we could almost see the grass growing and now, when the days are the longest with stunning light conditions, summer has finally arrived! On the pictures you see some impressions from the “Golden” tour.