Ride four, part two

After every ride, we were asked to rank our mounts from most to least favorite. At first I thought this would determine who we rode the next day, but none of the day one horses went with us to the beach. Day three was yet another brand new crew, with the exception of Vaskur, who Jo and I had ridden on day one.

Imagine my delight when we opened the trailer on our last day and found not just big, goofy Vaskur, but a whole herd of familiar faces.

There was star-faced Störmfrid, who both Karen and Hedwig had enjoyed on beach day,

Gnött, who'd topped Jo and Hedwig's lists on highlands day,

another highlands day horse, Hreggur,

and my two beach day choices, Tinna...

and Glóinn.

I was really hoping for one of those two, but instead, Glóinn went to Karen...

and Hanna got Tinna.

I was assigned to Hreggur, who I'd ridden for maybe an hour the day before.

I didn't ride him a whole lot longer than that on Wednesday, but once again, he was a good, strong, forward ride. Not Tinna or Glóinn, but fun nonetheless.

My next mount was Vaskur.

Now this was interesting. Vaskur had been my first horse on the first day, and I'd struggled with him mightily. But was that me or was that him? Jo had ridden him the first day, too, and then again on day three. He'd said there must have been a learning curve, because he liked him much better the second time around. Happily, that was also my experience.

I wouldn't say Vaskur is the best gaited horse at Eldhestar, but I found his tölt exponentially more comfortable this time around. I'm really glad I had a chance to ride him again.

My third and final horse was quick, little Tinna.

I had bonded with her hard on beach day and was absolutely delighted to renew our acquaintance.

As much as I would have liked another shot at Glóinn, I was perfectly content to watch Karen and Hanna enjoy him from the comfort of Tinna's back.

I'm so glad I got to go to Iceland.

I'm so glad I got to meet Tinna.

I don't like choosing favorites, but in this case I'll make an exception.

Of all the wonderful horses I rode at Eldhestar, Tinna was my favorite.