Tiny, perfect moments

In September, my friend, Karen and I went to Iceland to ride Icelandic horses.

It was - without a doubt - one of the best weeks of my entire life.

Because I wanted to remember every, single, amazing minute, when I got home, I spent an entire month writing posts about my experience.

This isn't even all of them.

After all that, you wouldn't think there'd be anything left to say, but somehow, there were three small, but perfect moments, that were completely overlooked. In this, the third to last post of 2023, I am rectifying that mistake.

The first of these moments came on our second day of riding.

That was the day we rode from Eldhestar to the beach, passing through fields of mares and foals and two giant lakes on our way.

It was an absolutely fantastic ride.

It was also very wet.

One of my biggest concerns going into this trip was the weather. Rain was in the forecast every day, and I was so worried our rides would be miserable, drenching slogs. 

Just a tiny bit of Icelandic rain

We lucked out the first day. Despite a rainy drive to the trail head, our ride was completely dry.

On the second day, about an hour or two into the ride, the rain drops started falling. We were riding through a marsh at the time, and of course, we were tölting. Suddenly, my whole world was water. There was water above me, water around me, water below me. My glasses were too wet to see through, so I closed my eyes and trusted Tinna to carry me through the sea of water. It was everything I had been dreading, but when it happened, it was fine. Actually, it was better than fine. It was otherworldly.

It was also short. Just when I started to get really wet, the sun came out and it was over.

Perfection.

The second moment came on our our fourth and final ride. We trailered in to an equestrian center, and from there, we explored the roads and trails of the volcanic Thjórsárdalur valley.

Except, before we could do that, we had to cross a busy highway. In general, most Icelandic drivers are very considerate in regards to riders. However, this was a busy road with a high speed limit, and the normal rules did not apply. Our guide had us line up eight abreast - six ridden horses and two hand horses - on the shoulder of the road. We stood there on high alert, waiting as the cars whizzed by. 

At one point, I looked over at Karen and said, "This is kind of scary."

Finally, there was a break in the traffic. Our guide told us to go! and all eight horses jumped forward simultaneously. If you've never heard the sound of thirty two shod hooves tölting really fast across a highway, let me assure you, it's even more amazing than you can imagine.

When we got to the other side, Karen looked at me and said, "That was cool."

And truly, it was.

The last small but perfect moment came near the end of that same ride. 

At dinner the night before, I'd told the rest of our group that I really want to put a knot in my reins and do a little hands outstretched tölting, but I was too afraid of our guide's reaction if she caught me in the act.

this pose

Everyone agreed it was a bad idea, but as we were riding along, Hanna looked at me, let go of her reins and stretched her arms out to the side. I was delighted, so I rode up next to her to tell her as much. Before I could, she raised her left hand and extended it towards me. I raised my right hand and extended it towards her. Our palms touched, and we continued on that way for several minutes, tölting down the trail.

When I think about our trip to Iceland - which I do often - it's not just the beach, the lake, the waterfalls and the volcanoes that I remember. It's these tiny, perfect moments that really made this the trip of a lifetime.

I don't have photos of the rain, the road or the hand-in-hand tölting, but I do have this video which captures so much of what made Iceland so special.

This has been a long, hard year. I wouldn't want to do most of again, but that week in Iceland... I will remember that fondly for the rest of my life!