Icelandic Riding Holidays... Advice Please...

M

Michelle73

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 March 2007
Messages
1,304
Location
Cloud cuckoo land!
Visit site
Has anyone been on an Icelandic Riding holiday and what advice can you offer me please...

1. What were the costs involved?
2. Where would you recommend going?
3. What advice can you pass on that you wish you were told before you went?

Anything is appreciated. I'm just researching at the mo to see if its a possibility...

Thanks in anticipation.
 
are you meaning with ponies or in iceland? if you mean ponies Pentland Hill Iclandics up here in scotland is good helped out at there big open day a couple of years ago the ponies were fab lovely people and great riding too!!!

http://www.phicelandics.co.uk/

if your looking for actual iceland can't help lol!
 
Yeah sorry meant in Iceland because I want to see the Geezers (sp?) and other exciting things out there. Not sure whether to go when its snowing or not either. Too many questions! So many questions I don't actually know what to ask!!!
 
Hi Michelle,

I went last year at the end of August / start of September and it was fantastic!!! Can't recommend it enough. I went to Northern Iceland near Lake Mytvn (sp?) which was very beautiful and I got the opportunity to ride across lots of different terrain and ride with a free running herd and stay in mountain huts. The horses were fantastic and I'd never ridden an Icelandic before I went but it wasn't hard to adjust, the style is slightly different to English riding because of the (very comfy) tolt.

I'm not sure about riding in snow in Iceland as most of the tour operators will only run riding tours in the Summer (May/June - Sept/Oct) as out of season there aren't enough hours of daylight.

The company I booked through was an English tour operator called Discover the World who have loads of info on their website. They run all their riding holidays to Iceland through an Icelandic company called Is Hester and if I went again (which I really want to) I would book directly through them (http://www.ishestar.is/). Riding holidays to Iceland don't come cheap, it's an expensive country and an expensice hobby (typical, just my luck!). But most of them are all inclusive apart from one or two things so once it's paid for that's it.

Hope that helps
 
Yeah, thats a great help thanks. I rode an Icelandic pony a couple of years ago in Malvern through our riding club and really enjoyed it especially the Tolt. Iceleand is somewhere I've always wanted to go and riding would be a real bonus on top! The websites that you've recommended were what I was looking at the other day. How did you find the accommodation especially the sharing? How long did you go for?
 
Hi - I have been riding in Iceland several times (am going back this year). Each time, I arranged my riding through Is Hestar, they have varying riding trips from 1 - 14 days. If you go, don't say that you are an expert rider (even if you are) as you are likely to get a pretty spirited stallion to ride! This year is the Landsmot (it is at the end of June) which is a fantastic Icelandic horse show and is well worth going to. There is a saying about Icelandic horses "one ridden, forever smitten" so be warned! In my case, I bought one back with me... that was over 10 years ago and I love him to bits. Enjoy.
 
Hiya,

I went on the Northern Exposure tour which was about 8 days I think. I didn't have a problem with the accomodation; on the 2 nights in Reykjavik we were in rooms of 2 in a guest house, on the farm in Saltvik we were also in rooms of 2-3. In the mountain hut there are bunk beds round the sides of the main room and matresses on the floor in the upstairs area. I had a wicked time, my tour was actually quite small only 8 women and all the tour guides were women too! We also had the opportunity to go to a blue lagoon (not the blue lagoon but one in the north which is less touristy), we were there at night which was a surreal experience; it was dark, cold and we were in swimming costumes in steaming warm water surrounded by rocks! We also got to go whale watching too. I would thoroughly recommend it, the people were so hospitable, our tour group was made up of fascinating people from different countries and the food was amazing (and after a days riding everyone was having 3 helpings!).

I really want to go back this year but will have to look at my finances!
 
Thanks every one. How much riding do you all do and how did it compare to being in the saddle all day? I haven't got my own horse but have 3 that I ride for other people and they are varying widths, heights and behaviour!! One's a go to sleep dobbin, one's a show off who gives me everything I ask for and the third and biggest is just a stroppy mare who I have invented all sorts of rude names for!!! But anyway, I can ride for up to 3 hours a day if I'm riding all three - do you think that makes me riding fit enough to ride all day?!

Gotta go boss here!
 
Absolutly, I was only riding once a week when I went to Iceland and I'm not that fir either (although I did try to do a bit of cycling before I went but I wasn't that successful at keeping it up). The tolt is so comfortable that there isn't really a comparison with riding Englih style. For example I get really out of breath and ache like anything if I do an 45 minute intensive lesson esp with lots of trotting but on the Icelandics I rode for 6 hours a day and was only a bit achy at the end of the holiday - honestly it's like rising an armchair (albeit one with a fab temperament and lots of spirit!) and the Icelandic tradition of spending the evening in a hot tub (with a drink) definitely helped too!
 
Thats good to know coz I never ache when riding at the mo! Just need to see if I can raise the pennies now for what would be a once in a life time holiday for me.

I've ridden an Icelandic pony before and I suppose I should remember they're much narrower than anything I'm riding now which will help with the aches and pains!!!
tongue.gif


Thanks again for your advice.
grin.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top