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lifestyle
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orses and
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- A visit to Gunnar and Þórdís in Dalland
When you drive out of Reykjavík in the direction of Selfoss and you take a left turn
to Lake Hafravatn, you notice a very elegant farm on the east side of the road, just
before you get to Miðdalur valley. Pretty white-washed buildings, surrounded by green
meadows and shrubs, rather remind you of a farm somewhere abroad, instead of one in
Iceland. Horses are grazing and people are riding. We have arrived at Dalland, to visit
the couple Gunnar B. Dungal and Þórdís Alda Sigurðardóttir.
The couple welcome their guests and bring
them to the sitting room where coffee is waiting. Our attention is drawn to a collection of
antiques, used as decoration in between modern
and old works of art. The surroundings are both
elegant and warm, testifying to the good taste of
the people who live here.
Interest in horses
Gunnar and Þórdís always have a lot to do.
Apart from running the horse farm at Dalland,
they have done various other things over the
years. Þórdís, who is an active artist, has superb
working facilities at Dalland and spends a large
part of the winter to create her works of art. She
also is one of the people who run the art gallery
START ART, in down-town Reykjavík.
Gunnar is quite an entrepreneur. For decades,
he owned and ran the book- and stationary
stores Penninn, Griffill, Eymundsson and Mál &
Menning, while at the same time being a horse
farmer and forester at Dalland and taking an ac-
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tive part in the social activities of horsemen.­
Gunnar is the son of the couple Margrét
and Baldvin Pálsson Dungal and he was raised
on the street Miklabraut in Reykjavík. That is
where he got to know horses, because in those
years there was a stable with the farm Klambri, not far from where the Kjarval Museum is
now. Gunnar tells us all about it: “In those years,
Miklabraut was not paved. It was a gravel road
since it was on the outskirts of town. When you
rode into Reykjavík or out of it, you passed by
the meadows of Klambri. Now, this area is actually a part of the city centre. Many things have
changed. There were a few horsemen who kept
their horses there and they rode quite a lot.”
Gunnar’s parents owned a summerhouse
at Lake Þingvallavatn, in the land of the farm
Heiðarbær, and his mother moved there every
spring with the siblings Sigrún, Gunnar and Páll
Halldór. They stayed there until the autumn.
When he was still young, Gunnar started regularly to visit Heiðarbær. There were horses there,
Text: Hilda Karen Garðarsdóttir
Photos: Private and Eiðfaxi.
and he started riding with the son of the farmer,
his peer and friend Sveinbjörn Einarsson.
“I really wanted to get a horse of my own,
but my father was a good educationalist and he
wanted me to work for it. So I started to sell papers and saving the money for my first horse. He
was called Léttir frá Voðmúlastaða-Miðhjáleigu,
descending from Nökkvi frá Hólmi. During the
winters I stabled him with Bótólfur in Breiðholt,
which was a farm not far from where the football club Valur has its facilities today. In the summer, I took Léttir with me to Heiðarbær and
rode all over the area. Later, Sveinbjörn and I
bought a horse together, Jötunn frá Hesti, who
was by Forni frá Fornustekkjum. After that, I
kept these two horses in a stable in the Gustur
area in Kópavogur during the winters.”
In those years, a country girl called Þórdís
Alda was growing up at Vestur-Sámsstaðir in
Fljótshlíð, at the base of Eyjafjallajökull glacier.
Þórdís was the youngest of the children and her
parents are Sigurður Árnason and Hildur Árna-
Gunnar with his f irst horse, Léttir frá Voðmúlastaða-Miðhjáleigu
son. “When I was a teenager, my siblings had
already left home. In those years, my dad and I
rode quite a lot together, with our Danish farmhand, Jens Jenssen, who was very interested in
horses. He actually still owns Icelandic horses
in Denmark. At the banks of Þverá River that
runs near the farm, there were lovely sandy riding tracks and at the time it was considered very
handy to bring over-courageous young horses
there to blow off some steam. My siblings and
I all got horses as gifts from our parents, and
most of them were excellent and manageable
tölters. After Gunnar and I started to farm at
Dalland, we were given horses from Sámsstaðir
and we also bought and trained a few. Some of
them turned out to be very good and we competed with them both at Gustur’s and at Fákur’s.
Skjóni, whom my brother Árni owned, ended
in 2nd seat in the Four-Gaits Gæðingakeppni at
the Fákur Whitsuntide Competition, with Eyjólfur Ísólfsson in the saddle. Sámur, a horse of my
sister Hrafnhildur’s, also did well in the competitions at Gustur’s. I can mention others, such
as the fast trotter Blómi and the pacer Sprettur
who was sold to Keflavík. Both of them were
used a bit in competitions.”
Paths crossing
Þórdís always loved drawing and when she
went to the teachers’ training college in Reykjavík she took art as an optional subject. “When
I was young, the art was always somewhere
around inside of me. I went to the Art College in Reykjavík, when I first moved to town.
For a while, I ran a fashion shop together with
my friend Fanný Jónmundsdóttir and Valdimar
Jóhannesson, and I was still doing that when
Gunnar and I moved to Dalland. By then, I had
applied to study in the Horticultural College, but
at the time it was a boarding school and you had
to stay there. I could not bring myself to do that,
having recently moved into the country with my
boyfriend,” says Þórdís.
In 1980, Þórdís began her studies at the Arts
College, from which she graduated four years
later. “A year later, in 1985, I went to Germany
for further studies at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich and I left Gunnar behind
here at home, all alone.”
Gunnar was working with his father, Baldvin P. Dungal, who owned the bookstore Penninn, and he later took over the company, at
only twenty years of age, when his father unexpectedly died. Gunnar continued to build up
the company and little by little it grew into a
well-known firm, a leading company in the area
of stationary, office equipment, books, magazines, office furniture and artists supplies. It was
around that time that Gunnar saw Þórdís for
the first time. He was working at Penninn and,
as was common in those days, went home for
lunch to his mother Margrét. One day Gunnar
rode on the bus, when he noticed a young and
elegant girl climbing into the bus at one of its
stops. He stared at her and it is not unlikely that
he had some trouble concentrating on his work
the rest of that day. A few days later, they met
again in the club Glaumbær and that is where it
all began. “The thing I like best about this story
is that the bus in question was called ‘Njálsgata/
Gunnarsbraut’. I was born and raised in the area
where the Saga person Njáll lived, and I was on
my way to Gunnar! I also have to admit that I
noticed him too, this handsome young man sitting at the back of the bus... I had never seen
him before,” says Þórdís.
Dalland
As a small boy, Gunnar decided already that
he did not want to live in Reykjavík. He spent
lots of time in his family’s summerhouse at
Þingvallavatn and he got to know the farmers
at Heiðarbær. “When other young people went
for a drive through the city centre, Þórdís and I
drove out of Reykjavík to view possible farms
or land for our future home,” explains Gunnar
and Þórdís continues: “It was in October 1974,
while I was in Germany, that Gunnar found this
place he felt he needed to show me. Obviously,
there were no scanners and it was not possible
to send an e-mail, so he drew a picture of the
farm Dalland and sent it to me by post to Germany.”
That is how they decided to buy this land,
which then was 14 hectare, but over the years
Þórdís and Gunnar have bought more pieces of
land around them, so now the area that belongs
to Dalland is over 300 ha. When they moved to
Dalland on January 1, 1975, there was a concrete
house on two floors, and a sheep shed.
“At first sight, the location might look a bit
strange, but we are easily accessible, while we
still have a lot of privacy. There are good roads
and riding tracks here, we have access to hot
water and all services are nearby. Considering
we are running a horse centre here, you cannot
deny that the location is excellent, very close to
our main marketing area. We started by mucking
out a small rams hut that was at the side of the
sheep shed, and changed it into a horse stable.
Today, it still is a horse stable, and actually all the
old sheep shed is now the stable we use for the
foals and our riding horses. Next door there was
a chicken farm that we bought later on and ran
for two years. I fed the chickens in the morning
before I went to work at Penninn, and Þórdís
collected the eggs and sold them,” says Gunnar and he adds: “Later on, in 1978, the horse
centre Dalur was opened in that building. Little
by little, we have improved the existing buildings
and added some more.”
Kápunni”, owned a summerhouse at Lake Selvatn, which is very close to Dalland, so he was
Gunnar’s and Þórdís’s neighbour. “Jóhann was
the first to come and visit us and welcome us
when we moved here. We were very touched by
that. Actually, I think that both Jóhann and the
art collector Sverrir Sigurðsson, who worked at
Sjóklæðagerðin and also owned a summerhouse
in this area, enjoyed seeing us moving here. They
probably thought we were a tiny but funny, living here all year around. Jóhann and his family
always rode a lot and they kept both themselves
and their horses in a fine and neat condition,
which was really noticeable. Jóhann bought and
sold young horses quite a bit, and during one
of our many chats, the idea of creating a horse
centre here at Dalland was born. Then we got
Eyjólfur Ísólfsson to join us for this project,”
explains Gunnar.
That is how the idea for the horse centre
Dalur, at the farm Dalland, which the couple
own and run today, was born. Eyjólfur Ísólfsson
worked at the centre for five years. Last November, the centre celebrated its thirtieth anniversary
An overview of Dalland and the Horse Centre Dalur
Photo: Sigurgeir Sigurjónsson.
Idea for a horse centre
The late Jóhann Friðriksson, “Jóhann í
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lifestyle
and many well-known horsemen and women
have worked over longer or shorter periods at
Dalur. Those who have worked there longest are
Halldór Guðjónsson and Helle Laks, who before
that time worked for a long and successful period with Atli Guðmundsson and Eva Mandal.
Dalur
The Horse Centre Dalur is only 8km away
from the area of the riding club Fákur. There,
both men and four-footers enjoy a quiet and
peaceful environment for work and play. The
facilities are superb and it can be stated that it is
difficult to find equally good ones, even outside
of Iceland. There is space for 55 horses in the
stable, and at the end of the stable building there
is a coffee room and an apartment for the staff.
At Dalur there is a full-size riding hall, which
is connected to the stable via a nice building
that houses facilities for theoretical lessons. The
class-room bears the name “Ormsstofa” (The
Ormur Room), in honour of the Landsmót winner Ormur frá Dallandi.
“We organize courses in co-operation with
the teachers of Hólar University. Both Anton
Páll Níelsson and Eyjólfur Ísólfsson have come
here to teach. Two years ago we invited a Spanish riding teacher to give a course here. We
mostly focus on courses for more experienced
riders. Last winter, there was a course in judging conformation of horses, and many people
attended. Halldór also gave private lessons to
various people and he also trained the kids from
the club Hörður, so there often is a lot going on
here,” says Þórdís.
Gunnar and Þórdís now think back to all the
trainers who have worked at the centre since its
foundation. “We have been very lucky with our
staff, and the people who have worked here all
have been successful horsemen. Many of them
were, and still are, among the best trainers, and
breeders in Iceland. We can mention Eyjólfur
Ísólfsson, Trausti Þór Guðmundsson, Guðmundur Guðmundsson, Ólafur Þórðarson, Gunnar
Ágústsson, Ingimar Ingimarsson, Hanní Heiler,
Atli Guðmundsson, Rúna Einarsdóttir, Ragnar
Hinriksson, Eyrún Anna Sigurðardóttir, Lilja
Loftsdóttir, Jóhann Skúlason, Hinrik Bragason,
Sigurður Marínusson, Karoline Wenzel, Sussie
Lindberg, Baldvin Ari Guðlaugsson, Hreggviður
Eyvindsson, Vignir Jónasson, Sveinn Hauksson
and Ia Lindholm, Adolf Snæbjörnsson, Eyjólfur Þorsteinsson, Sölvi Sigurðarson, Daníel Ingi
Smárason, Hinrik Sigurðsson and of course
Halldór Guðjónsson and Helle Laks, who are
currently working at Dalur,” says Þórdís.
It is 10 years ago that Halldór Guðjónsson
started working at Dalur. During the first years,
he was working alongside Atli Guðmundsson
and Eva Mandal. Halldór graduated from Hólar
as a riding teacher and he has trained and presented almost all horses from Dallandi in the
24 EIÐFAXI
Höskuldur Eyjólfsson from Hofsstaðir and Jóhann Friðriksson at Kápa.
last years. He lives at the centre, together with
Helle Laks, who also is an ambitious trainer
who works alongside Halldór now. They have
twin sons, Harri and Leó, and Halldór also has
a daughter, Sunneva. “Halldór takes care of the
daily management of the centre, including the
horse sales. We organize most things together
and we confer, both about the management and
about the selection of stallions. Halldór knows
our horses better than anyone and he really puts
his heart in the job. We respect that and we are
grateful to have been so lucky to have him work
with us and be around us in Dalur for all these
years. Helle Laks also is very diligent and talented in everything she does, and she is a very good
rider,” says Gunnar.
Dress the land in a green cloak
When the activities started to increase and the
numbers of horses as well, things became a bit
crammed. Therefore, Gunnar and Þórdís have
steadily been buying more land, adding it to their
farm. Earlier, they always had to turn out some
of their horses elsewhere, because much of the
land around Dalland consisted of eroded gravel
beds and the earth was very infertile. Now, they
have cultivated more than 100 ha and they have
changed the gravel into green and lush pastures.
Gunnar explains: “We used all the manure from
the stable for the gravel beds, spreading it with
big machinery. Then we took good earth that we
found in the land and spread a 10cm thick layer
over all of it and we sowed grass. That worked
extremely well, but our manure production was
so little that we had to get manure from elsewhere so we could increase our results with the
cultivation. At the same time, we fenced large
areas, and we planted trees to give some wind
protection. Today, we can keep all our horses at
home, all year around.”
The old stable was better!
“For a long time, it has been our ideal to introduce Icelandic horses well. We really felt that
Þórdís likes to discuss things with her animals.
This nice tower comes from the Völundur timber shop
that was once located Skúlagata Street in Reykjavík .
The old stable at Dalland, close to the house.
The original stable at Dalur has now been beautifully rearranged.
was one of our tasks. That is why all kinds of
people come here, people who want to get to
know Icelandic horses, including foreign representatives from companies and even national
leaders. Quite some of the people who visit
here, come unannounced, which is why it is a
rule for us that everything should always be neat,
well swept and clean,” says Þórdís.
Gunnar takes over: “We are also very interested in art and we have lots of contacts with
artists. We have started a fund, the Dungal Art
Fund, which is supposed to support young artists who are beginning their work, and also to
buy their work.”
“There are various other things going on in
Dalur as well,” says Þórdís. “Last summer, a film
team was shooting a German film where Icelandic
horses play a part. Earlier in the summer people
came to Dalur to check out the facilities and they
found everything in perfect order. But when the
director arrived, he was not pleased at all and said
the buildings were not at all what he had imagined. Then we showed him our old stable, which
has not been changed for years and which we
mainly use for our own riding horses and foals.
Then, he was totally impressed and happy.”
Gunnar says: “When I was working at Penninn, I believe my strong side was in the marketing department. Here, we try and let our work
speak for itself and we have done very little
marketing work.” Þórdís adds: “We did plan a
small marketing project last summer, though,
and printed a brochure with information about
the horse centre and our breeding. We planned
to distribute the brochures at the Landsmót, but
we forgot them at home! That was all the marketing we managed!” The couple cannot help
smile, when they think back to this, and then
they point out the website of Dalur, www.dalur.
is, which actually is still under development.
The founding mares
Soon after Gunnar and Þórdís moved to Dalland, they began to long for a good mare. They
contacted their friend, Þór Guðmundsson, who
was breeding horses at the farm Efri-Rot, at the
foot of the Eyjafjöll Mountains. They went with
him to his herd and selected a mare. He warned
them that it was very dangerous to own a mare,
because they tend to procreate and you might end
up with dozens of horses! The mare they selected
was Lýsa frá Efri-Rotum, by Fylkir frá Flögu out
of Rauðka frá Eyjarhólum and Eyjólfur Ísólfsson started her at Dalur. “We were pleasantly surprised one day, when we came to the stable and
Eyjólfur announced that Lýsa was better than he
had expected. We were told that we had a really
good mare in our stable,” says Gunnar.
In 1982, Lýsa won a first prize and was put to
use in breeding. Lýsa is one of the three founding mares of the farm and she produced good
horses, among them Ormur, Kráka and Dúk-
kulísa, who got honours awards at the 2006
Landsmót. Both Kráka and Dúkkulísa have
produced a few first-prized offspring, as have
their daughters. The other two founding mares
are Vaka frá Dýrfinnustöðum and Gróska frá
Sauðárkróki, who both have produced firstprized offspring. Later on, Von frá Skarði and
Katarína frá Kirkjubæ were added to the herd.
No eccentricity!
“At first, when we began to breed, we tried
to stick to certain breeding lines. Now, we do
not do that anymore, rather we consider which
stallion suits our mare, so we are not eccentric
in selecting the stallions,” says Þórdís and adds:
“The horses we breed have good characters and
it is a complete exception if there is any trouble
training them. They are used to being handled
before they start their training. We follow up on
our horses very well, from the moment they are
born in the spring, and we have often been present when our mares give birth. The horses are
close to us and we often visit them and check up
on them. We have been lucky and we have not
lost many horses because of accidents or disease.
Thus, some kind of tradition has been formed
in how we raise our horses and we always make
certain that they are started very carefully. Of
course we also take care that they get everything
they need, including freedom.”
Last summer, Gunnar and Þórdís got 11
foals, and this summer there will be 13. They
do not plan to increase the number of foals further. “We try to do things well, we do not save
on stud fees and we try to get the stallions we
think suit our mares best. Last summer, we used
Gári and Gaumur frá Auðsholtshjáleigu, Ómur
frá Kvistum, Fróði frá Staðartungu, Höfði frá
Snjallsteinshöfða, Gumi frá Dallandi, Huginn
frá Haga, Klettur frá Hvammi and Seiður frá
Flugumýri. They are all five-gaiters, but we still
always get some four-gaited foals, because some
of our mares are four-gaiters,” says Gunnar.
Gunnar mentions that, over the years, they
have been lucky with their mares. They have
had more fillies than colts, except for the last
years. Today, they have two stallions, Gumi by
Aron out of Gnótt and Þór out of Dúkkulísa by
Þokki frá Kýrholti. Both are five, but there are
also two promising four-year-olds.
“Soon after we got to know Jóhann í Kápunni, I started to accompany him to Skagafjörður
in the north. It was an experience to travel with
him and he was very well received everywhere.
During these trips, I met lots of people, and I
still often visit Skagafjörður,” says Gunnar.
In 2006 and 2007, Gunnar and Þórdís
bought the farms Stapi and Héraðsdalur in Skagafjörður. Both farms are close to Vindheimamelar and there are great riding tracks in this area.
The farms lie side by side, the land is varied and
spacious so it is an optimal place for a herd of
horses. They plan for this place to become, at
least partly, a future raising area for the horses
from Dalland.
“It was quite a lot of work to build up the
facilities in these places. We fixed the two houses
up north as well as a stable, and then we fenced
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lifestyle
The Ormur room is very elegant and very suitable for theoretical lessons.
Sunneva Halldórsdóttir watches the training in the
riding hall.
all the land with new electric fences. There is
quite a lot of cultivated land where we make
hay that we transport south to Dalland. We keep
some young colts there now, and they have a lot
of space to run around in,” says Gunnar. It is a
nice coincidence that Héraðsdalur is located in
an area of the Lýtingsstaðahreppur ­com­mun­ity
that is called “Dalsplássið” (The Dalur place).
Old chieftains
Most horse people know Ormur frá Dallandi
well. This vigorous, expressive five-gaiter came,
saw and conquered in the Five-Gaits at the 2000
Landsmót in Reykjavík, with Atli Guðmundsson
in the saddle. Þórdís bred Ormur, who is out of
one of the founding mares of the farm, Lýsa
frá Efri-Rotum by Orri frá Þúfu. “Ormur is my
gem, and he is completely my horse today,” says
Þórdís, adding: “During one lifetime, you only
get to know very few such wonderful characters as Ormur and Sókron frá Sunnuhvoli. Both
of them have enormous willingness. Sókron is
the more vigorous of the two, but Ormur has
bottomless power, he can always find one more
gear. It took me and Ormur some time to get
to know each other and reach a consensus here
at home; he was always checking how much he
could get away with, when I rode him. Sókron,
on the other hand, I first tried when we were
driving a herd to Kaldármelar. At first sight,
Sókron did not seem to be the right horse for
me, but Ragnar Hinriksson was riding with us
during this trip and he encouraged me to try him
because he believed it could be the right horse
for me. I remember how incredible I found him.
We were riding through shrubs and he was so
flexible, he was just like a cat and he danced
with vigour. That was one of the most romantic
moments in my life,” says Þórdís and smiles. It
is clear that this horse has a place in her heart.
Gunnar takes over: “Ingimar Ingimarsson, who
is a friend of ours, owned Sókron and kept him
at Hólar. After the 1982 Landsmót, the horse
26 EIÐFAXI
was not sold, so then we got the opportunity to
buy him. There was some talk about competing with him abroad, but Raggi destroyed it all
by getting Þórdís to try him out and she fell for
him! I have never been keen on riding Þórdís’
horses; they are far too vigorous for me!”
Sókron, Glaumur frá Hafsteinsstöðum and
Þokki frá Höskuldsstöðum have all been at Dalland for a long time and have been used both for
competition and for leisure riding. They were all
unforgettable five-gaiters. Þokki and Sókron are
still alive, but Glaumur has died.
The last time Sókron frá Sunnuhvoli participated, with Halldór Guðjónsson, in a show in
the Víðidalur Riding Hall, was when he was 25
years old. Now, he has been retired and ­spends
his time in the meadows at Dalland. He is 33
now and still enjoys good health.
Þórdís tells us an entertaining story about the
friendship of these old horses. “Last spring, we
decided to put old Kráka and Sókron together
in a meadow with some mares with foals and
some yearling fillies. They had never grazed together. But before we knew it, the two oldies had
formed a brotherhood, or rather a love affair. It
was easy to notice: when one of them moved
out of sight of the other, everything went mad
and there was whinnying without pause until we
went over to find out what was going on. Later
that summer, Sókron started to behave as a stallion towards Kráka, always tickling the lady and
giving her attention, which she liked quite well.
They were inseparable and they still are. They
are great companions through thick and thin,
they graze together, stand in the rain or lie in the
sunshine together. They run around, stiffly, side
by side, far behind the younger horses that share
their meadow. When they are lying down, they
lie close together with their heads turned to each
other. If the weather is bad, they look for shelter
or go into the outdoor stable together and stand
there side by side, like Siamese twins, fondling
each other. We have often found them like that.
It seems they are living through a ­second­youth,
after they got to know each other in old age, and
their relationship reminds you of many things
that happen to human creatures.”
Þórdís Alda the artist
Þórdís has been working as an artist ever
since she came back from her studies in Munich.
“I have had exhibitions in many places, often
together with very nice artists. A few of us are
running a gallery at Laugavegur in Reykjavík,
that we call Start Art, www.startart.is. It is a lot
of work; we open 5-6 exhibitions every month
so there is a lot going on. And then there are the
Provincialists. They are from Scandinavia and
include a painter, a video artist and two sculptors. We have had exhibitions and forums in the
Faeroe Islands, Norway and here in Iceland and
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lifestyle
The horses are quite comfortable in the old stable.
we have published two books about the work of
the group. At the moment, we are planning various collective exhibitions both in Iceland and
abroad, and one private exhibition in Chicago
next spring. So, there is enough to do and that is
how I normally like it best,” says Þórdís.
Þórdís has a beautiful studio at Dalland. She
says she certainly needs to organize her time well
and include time both for art and for her horses.
“Of course it can all run together, for example
when the foals are being born in the spring, or
when something unexpected happens with the
animals. Then you just have to rush outside and
check on what is going on, without thinking
about what time it is!”
Þórdís often uses material in her works that
she finds in one place or other and gives a new
meaning. Often, her work is about abundance
and the development of our consumption habits. An example is the work “The horse and his
contemporary”, which is put together from
old horseshoes that Sókron wore on the 1982
Landsmót, when Ingimar Ingimarsson rode
The excellent tölter Nátthrafn frá Dallandi at the 2008 Landsmót.
The rider is Halldór Guðjónsson.
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Halldór Guðjónsson, the trainer at Dalur.
him in the Five-Gaits Gæðingakeppni and came
third. The work also contains old shoes of some
of Þórdís’s contemporaries.
When the art department in the shop Penninn was opened, Þórdís worked there for a
while. Often, artists came to shop there, which
is how Gunnar and Þórdís met many of them.
They also have gathered quite a collection of
artworks. Gunnar says: “Sverrir Sigurðsson, our
neighbour who is an art collector, brought artists to us and he encouraged Þórdís a lot to continue with her art.” Þórdís takes over: “He also
came here and advised us about planting trees.
He encouraged us to start foresting and he gave
us trees. He made holes in the turf here in the
garden and planted trees in them himself, if he
thought the holes we had made were too small
for all the manure each of them, in his opinion,
needed.”
Gunnar and social matters of horsemen
Gunnar has been a board member of
Landsmót ehf. and he is a member of the Horse
Breeders Association. “I believe the leaders of
horsemanship must consider matters as they are
today very carefully, in light of the economic situation of our nation. The future of horsemanship needs to be discussed. This situation presents opportunities and now is the time to make
use of them, for the benefit of the profession.
Horsemanship creates an income, both in Iceland and abroad, and it is not only the sales of
horses to other countries that brings the money,
it is everything around it, including air fares, hotels, car rental, and last but not least all these
people who come to horseshows and go on
long riding tours. The profession also needs to
check out its inside workings and management.
All costs must be listed separately and we must
check out where we can cut cost, following the
example of a well-run business,” says Gunnar.
It is clear this matter is close to his heart. “We
should explain to foreigners who own Icelandic
horses, who all are sincere friends of Iceland,
what has happened when the banks collapsed
here and we must make it clear to them how we
plan to get out of this crisis we are experiencing
now. In this context, it can be mentioned that it
is of crucial importance that we reclaim the trust
of other nations. We have to explain the situation to the big group of Icelandic horse fans all
around the world.”
Freedom is a law of nature
Þórdís has a very decided opinion about the
riding in our country. “Each time brings its own
methods and eccentricity, which often is interpreted as the one and only truth. Today, certain
methods in riding are taught, that are based on
old traditions and new discoveries. Today, it is
considered the very finest to study at Hólar.
After a certain number of years, that which is
considered the best of the study material that
is used today will be preserved and some brand
new truths will be added. But we simply know
that there are only a few who manage to understand and handle horses, and other animals for
that matter, in such a way that it results in an
admirable interplay. It is not given to all of us,
regardless how many lessons you take. However,
the studies of equine behaviour have helped a
lot to improve our results. Sometimes I have felt
that a study of the behaviour of some people
would be necessary, to get a fairer result in their
dealings with horses. I also think it is sad how
much money people need to have, to finance a
study at Hólar, because that means we might lose
many talented riders, for example kids from the
countryside that know the animals inside out but
do not have enough money to pay for the educa-
Þórdís on the magical gæðingur Ormur frá Dallandi.
tion. Another matter: I consider it to be almost
a law of nature: horses need to experience freedom, preferably when they are young and then
every now and then during their lives, if people
want to own a satisfied and nice horse. Being a
horse, with other horses in a herd, somewhere
in the mountains, is the best thing to reinforce
the body, the self-image and the strength of our
horses. Dealings with men in other times of the
year are also necessary. I am talking about lifting
the legs of youngsters, giving them worm medication and touching them. When the training
begins, there should be trust between the trainer
and the horse, both ways, and if it does not exist
yet it has to be gained. Fright is the worst thing
and usually the results are terrible if you start a
horse with lots of tumult and unfairness.”
Gunnar adds: “There has been a lot of progress in riding over the
last few years, and also
in the early handling.
People give themselves more time and
all facilities are better.”
Time has flown by
and the sun is setting.
It’s time to say goodbye to Þórdís and
Gunnar. When we
drive down the drive
and look back, we
see the white-washed
buildings slowly disappear in the forested
landscape.
The work “Automatic Spin Speed 800 rpm” by Þórdís.
Gunnar and Þórdís with their staff at Dalur, Helle Laks
and Halldór Guðjónsson. On Leó’s back you see Sunneva Halldórsdóttir.
EIÐFAXI
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