At the end of our first day with Ivar, we were taken to our first hotel on the road, Skálakot Manor Hotel. We went there, in part, because it was convenient to our route, but also because we requested to meet some Icelandic horses. As some of my regular readers might know, I grew up riding and showing horses, and even had a horse of my own for several years. I have really missed being around horses, but I gave them up for college and life hasn’t yet presented me with the opportunity to get back into that world. But, even though I don’t ride anymore, I still love horses. Just the smell of them takes me back to wonderful days spent hanging out with my Appaloosa, Rusty, dreaming about the future. So I was pretty excited to get to visit the Icelandic horses at Skálakot Manor, in spite of the inclement weather.

Skálakot Manor itself is a lovely property, and obviously the horses are a big selling point to their business. When we checked in, we received our room key, which was attached to a small horseshoe. The hotel was decorated with equine inspired art. Iceland Luxury Tours booked us in a Grand Double, which I think was one of the few rooms with a balcony. I might have enjoyed the balcony, if not for the rain, but it did give me a vantage point to watch the mares and foals in the front pasture.

As for the visit with the horses, that also went very well. We met a very young looking stable manager, along with a young lady who appeared to be in her teens. They gave us a demonstration with a lovely bay Icelandic horse named Naffy. I didn’t record the demonstration, but it was fun to watch the teenager put Naffy through his paces. Icelandic horses are gaited, meaning that they have at least one, and often two, “special” gaits that other horses don’t have. Below is a YouTube video I found demonstrating the gaits: walk, trot, canter/gallop, tölt, and flying pace. If you watch the video, you can see how the gaits differ in how the horse moves his legs.

I think the stable manager quickly realized that I had some horse experience, as she asked me questions. Her first question was what made the horses different. I said that where I come from, they would be considered ponies, due to their height. But Icelandic horses are, in fact, horses, in spite of being short in stature. She also asked me what I noticed about the saddle. I said it looked like a dressage saddle. She agreed. I also mentioned that Naffy wasn’t wearing a saddle pad, which I always used on my horse. The manager showed me the simple bridle the horses wear, and said they don’t use other equipment, like martingales (a piece of tack that has a strap keeping the horse’s head down– I never needed to use it myself.)

I was impressed by the lovely seat the young lady riding Naffy had. She looked beautiful on him. My own equitation was never as graceful as hers was, but I think it helps to be very slender, which I have never been. I did win some equitation ribbons, back in the day, but I was never that good at it.

The stable manager also explained how the horses were marked. Icelandic horses can be any color. And she explained that the horses at the farm were marked, showing where they came from. If you look in my video, you might see a horse with an S on his back. That means he was born at Skalakot. The hotel has other horses that were born elsewhere and marked accordingly. I don’t know how many horses Skálakot Manor Hotel has. The manager said they had “fitter” horses for people who were regular riders, as well as gentle horses for beginners. I could see that the horses were all getting winter coats, even though it was still technically summer. But, of course, we were in Iceland, right?

After the demonstration, the two young ladies rounded up all of the horses in their muddy paddock and herded them to a pasture on the other side of the property for the evening. I got a video of that, although I’m sorry to say, it’s not quite perfect.

I also got some photos of the barn and relived my many days shoveling manure as I breathed in the smell of horse pee and poop. The folks at hotel have done things right, though, as the stalls are built so the waste mostly goes under the barn. 😉 You can see that in the pictures.

The horses were all very calm and friendly… and they made me feel the same way. I was smiling as we went back into the hotel to prepare for dinner.

As we were sitting in the dining room, I could tell that a lot of the guests where there to ride horses. One very loud gentleman, clearly from the United States, was talking about the American Saddlebreds he owns. I don’t have much personal experience with Saddlebreds, except for when I used to judge them in 4H horse judging competitions. But the loud guy was going on and on, and the whole dining room could hear him. I found myself explaining Saddlebreds to Bill. Like Icelandic horses, they are also gaited, though they’re much larger and their gaits are different.

Below are some photos of our room, and from dinner… which was pretty good. The room was very cute and comfortable, although the bathroom was pretty tiny.

Breakfast, which was included in the price of the room, was also very good. They had great coffee, and a buffet set up. Those who wanted to order something hot could also do so, although we were fine with what they had laid out for us. I was kind of sorry to leave, as the hotel had a spa area (extra charge) and I would have liked to visit the horses again. Oh well. Maybe we can go back someday. Below are a few more horse photos that I took on our way out.

Although there was a lot more that happened on Sunday, I’ll put that in the next post. This one is full enough, and I’ve got some major ground to cover with what happened on Sunday…

Stay tuned!