Keeping with my multi-day theme, July has officially arrived, bringing tour season in at full swing! I also love how many photos and videos I can stock on the multi-day posts, it feels very scrapbook :)
JULY 1: Tours today went super smooth, I rode Bliki in the morning and Katla in the afternoon--a good riding day for me I'd say. Lisa has been quite taken with Mola recently, and really rides well with her despite her reputation thus far as a tough tour horse. It's quite nice though because she look beautiful up front, and then that means I can always ride in the back or on the sides (preferable with Bliki for me at least. I think he's more fun on the sides). The fourth coworker did the entire afternoon dropoff so we were able to enjoy a snack before going on a fun ride to the lake!
We all took saddles this go round (they learned their lesson after the infamous fun ride with Judith and Iti) and picked Mbrun (obvi me), Fra (Lisa), and Axelle decided to take Bliki. At first I was sure it would be totally fine, and maybe we'd get one or two surprise gallops (oopsie), but after almost being killed 10 minutes in, I'd say she regrets it a little. We were riding up the end of the tour hill to ride part of the tour backwards to go to the lake when Mbrun's tölt somehow encouraged Bliki following (because in Rvk, I'm always in the front now on fun rides lol) to explode into full, unstoppable gallop. It was generally ok, but then as we neared the forest turn off (where we sometimes go with tours but definitely weren't today) Lisa yelled "AXELLE Hold on in case he turnssssss." Thank god for her because it gave Axelle an extra half second to prepare before all I hear is "oh shit." and see the blur that is Bliki make a perfect 90* turn into forest. I thought for sure Axelle was a goner, as I struggled for a second to get MBrun out of turning as well, but turns out she’s not only still with us...but ready to go again. Clinically insane that one. When we got to the lake, we walked the horses around in it, letting them splash the water and eat the water plants as we talked and took photos. The sun was warm, and the day had been good--so we all enjoyed laughing over the events of several minutes before for quite a while.
On the ride home Bliki decided the pace was again, too slow, however at this point I had switched horses with Lisa and I was on Fra. Lisa mentioned she wanted to try Mbrun and hadn't ridden her, so we switched saddles after the lake and headed out. I really regretted that afterwards, as when we got close to home (Still at a semi-uncontrollable pace, as we wanted to gallop, but maybe not as fast as we were going) and instead of slowing down and going towards the hill home like Mbrun did, Fra continued straight with Bliki and had all but stopped responding to my weight cues. Axelle bounces away towards the stable roads yelling "I Can't stop hahahaha" which I didn't think would be very amusing if I was in her shoes, so I tried to get Fra closer to her to her block a road. I was actually very surprised at how well Fra kept up with Bliki, and once we caught him and Axelle we had almost escorted them home before Bliki's last launch for the final 300m.
It gave us plenty to laugh about for the rest of the night.
JULY 2: I’m really falling a bit more in love with Reykjavik as each day goes by. I can't imagine still being in Ölfus right now, except that if I could make Elisa and Judith come to Rvk permanently it would be perfect. Today was a fairly easy day for Lisa & I, but Axelle had to do the pickup and drop-off both times so maybe not for her. In the morning I rode Fólki—which is always a pleasure and I really enjoy—and in the afternoon I rode Eldey (so obviously I had the time of my LIFE tölting forward and back the line). Flóki gives me such an ego boost on the tours because it means I get to be in the front (which, hot take: I love being in the front now) so I look professional, and then he just looks really cool. He's on the skinner side right now, but the way he walks, and just how long his body proportions are, make him feel like a taller horse than he is--so I think I look cool. Whether I actually do or not is up for debate, but for my own mental game I'll be thinking I do. At the end of the first tour too Axelle took over the front on Fra, and Lisa (on Bliki) and the fourth employee (on Mola) and I all raced up the hill home. I won on Flóki, but I think the fourth employee was holding Mola back quite a bit because even though the race was his idea he looked very tense. Either way it made me laugh, and I enjoyed every minute of it. My favorite reykjavik tradition has to be the races home hands down--and I will give the fourth employee full credit and thanks for starting that. We always wait until we're well away from the tour group and around the next corner to race, but I imagine its a cool sight for the customers since there is one part at the top of the hill that's open and you can see us racing from the trail. In the afternoon I was really pumped to ride Eldey, as she's so comfortable both in her body and in her gaits. There was a fair amount of older women in this afternoon tour, and I felt a little cool again after I gave my grand speech in the paddock about how to hold reins and safety, I swung up super smoothly and quickly and they made a comment on how "effortless" I made it all seem. If only they'd seen me on my first day I assured them! We got to take the forest path back at the end of the ride, so no gallop home, but I enjoyed it all the same at the very back listening to a guy tell me about his life in New York.
Lisa and I went riding after work, and that was exhilarating. Axelle passed because she was “tired,” but she really missed out. I finally got Lisa to ride Eldey (I've been trying for about a week) and she absolutely loved her, which I knew was going to happen because obviously how could you not? I rode Mbrun which is also no surprise…we'd given her the morning off along with Moa, so I didn't feel guilty riding her post-work two days in a row. In another time maybe I would have made her my guide horse, if I had known her in her younger years at least, and I almost wish now that I was staying longer so I could spend more rides with her. I love Gáski, don't get me wrong, but Mbrun I'd trust to ride anywhere, anytime, anyhow. I did however have a moment where my mounting was less-than-effortless in the Lupines (see above, lmao), and I think it might've been my karma for getting too much of an ego boost from the old women in my afternoon tour on my mounting skills with Eldey.
Lisa and I took our time weaving around some of the forest trails we weren't familiar with, walked through stacks of Lupines, and took some beautiful photos/videos running through them—a moment I know i'll grow to miss most when days get shorter, colder, and lonelier. Its so healing to ride with Lisa. I love the rush I get riding with Axelle, but with Lisa I feel like we're both on the same page with the pace we want to go. We can talk about our dinner, or our expectations for life, and decide if we want to find a new trail or go off-road near our tour routes to experience something new. We laughed about customer spoofs, and raced a couple times--Eldey won of course, but it was grand to even just be with Lisa and quietly running around on empty pathways.
When we got back we let the horses graze (as is our standard) before turning them out, and decided that we wanted to go do the Flyover Iceland again. Axelle opted out, but drove us in the van and waited while Lisa and I scampered along like kids. It was everything I remembered and more, and this time Lisa and I were on the bottom section of the ride (the first time we were on the top) and I will say it makes the drops feel more intense but you can kind of see the feet of the people above you and that is a bit distracting. When we finished up we tried to scare Axelle in the backseat of the van (kind of worked? lol) and then decided to go to one of the foodhalls for dinner. I got Mexican (ish...it was so close to being right but a little too fresh) and a Corona (woohoo good vibes).
As we were finishing up, Lisa swore the most attractive guy was working at one of the stands near our table. Both her and Axelle spent at least 10 minutes in awe of him and talking about him, so I told them to go say hi and get his number (to which Lisa practically sunk into her seat at the thought of, but Axelle laughed at) and eventually Axelle went over an announced that she needed his contact for a (now blushing and very mortified) Lisa. I laughed so hard my stomach started cramping. On the way home we blared Katy Perry and laughed over it all again--pretending that Lisa's last day isn't fast approaching. I feel like I resonate very much with Lisa and her personality, and I can barely think about leading a tour without her along or sitting with the horses in the pasture without her next to me. She's such a pure source of calm and tenderness that I won't take for granted, and that I am so thankful for on a daily basis. She makes me a little more grateful for the opportunity we all have, each and every day.
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