MONDAY MAY 30

ICELANDIA SOCIAL HARD LAUNCH

To quickly intro back track, the past two days I worked in Reykjavik (the 28th & 29th my manager had me ride in with the boss...no comment on his driving of the 18 passenger van on the mountain...iykyk...to cover for one of the gals, which is something Elisa told me that the Ölfus guides do regularly. I will say its kind of nice having a 'commute,' but as of right now I absolutely favor the countryside. On the early morning drives in I have been imagining I wasn't in the crazy car, listening to the boss's conversation on his ear-clip phone, but floating in the snow melt pools on the mountain top and slowly sinking into the puddle where everything seems beautifully chilly and quiet. Not in a morbid way, but in a transcendent kind of way. The bummer feels to be sprinting away from the soft country wind and into the bustle of Reykjavik really hit hard. Also the water just looks dramatic.

The city tour route is very dusty, and the tourists are especially dumb compared to those in the countryside. I rode very easy horses for my first couple tours which was nice because I ended up having to be in the front, but then got to experience :) s p o n s :) on my last afternoon tour on the 29th. I don't even know if I have the time to try to describe what riding Spons is like. We went to dinner at the food hall on the 29th and Axelle stole the entire water station pitcher which was mildly hilarious, and then went for ice cream when Elisa and Sabira arrived to pick me up (the boss left without me ha ha ha). We all had a good laugh about the once-in-a-lifetime feeling that is riding a tour on Sponsy Spons, with Axelle and Lisa fiercely advocating for the very pro-Spons side of things, but Iti and I almost heaved over laughing at how much we hate that horse. I think I can reflect back to May 22 Martin and say the Reykjavik girls are 100% the best coworkers I've ever had, and I can't image the summer going by without us all becoming quite close--but check back in.

Onto today, we had a slower to-do list in Ölfus, so we got to plan out our day a little more, and end on a good note. I was using Snot as one of my Ölfus guide horses for a couple rides as the multi-day tour was away, but now that she's in Rvk and Black Nota is back and a little younger/stronger (more guide horse material than lil Snot) I am thinking maybe she’ll be a good go-to horse for me now (since Herkules is out on rest and Gáski will need a new shoe plus some more time to warm up with trusting me around his spooks on solo tours.). Reykjavik will be a little more difficult for guide horses though, they have the "better" horses arguably, but I don't know their herd at all and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous jumping on every horse to go a route I don't know with the girls. But time will evolve that I feel sure. After the morning duties, we cleaned the house and spent our free afternoon getting ice cream, stocking on groceries (Elisa found her new obsession with Nerds candy), and now editing photos from our little photoshoot. We even stopped by the horse riding store where we got beautiful rainbow (or in Sabina’s case, neon) halters for our favorite horsies as June slowly approaches (woohoo!!). I obviously liked mine the best, because it was rainbow and pride without really being too rainbow, and the colors were a bit more muted so I felt like it would look super good with my horses.

When we got home I took my first deep shower since I’ve been here, and then we farm-girl-glammed up (don't ask haha) & took photos with our favorites on the camera. I got THE photo of a lifetime with Gáski and Junior. Like, hella Christmas card worthy am I right? Also isn’t Gáski just SUCH a little model?!?!?! I think if I was going to stay in Iceland forever I’d DEF try to purchase him eventually. They bought him for the multi-day tours, but he’s just too spooky to put customers on right now and he really is the type of horse that needs one rider (but I'm biased). He rides HIGHLY on trust and relationship, and I know I can make it far with him while I’m here, but when I’m gone none of the girls really want to deal with him and I fear he’ll suffer and they won’t end up taking care of him the ways they should. Check back in on that also though--I need to stop making such definitive comments in my journal!

Now my pasta is almost ready, and I am quite worn out from the past few days events and updating every second of my days here. I am already grateful to have taken the time to write it all out, but ya homie is exhausted. Goodnight.

Please enjoy my highly professional demonstration of correct Icelandia riding posture on my trusty GH Nota--who looks equally thrilled to be there.