The Horse Whisperer

We camped last night at a farm / guesthouse / campsite out in the middle of wide open pasture lands.

This morning of our last full day in Iceland, I thought about all the amazing things that we've seen & done & about the three things I didn’t get to do: 1) see a puffin, 2) visit a geothermal power plant (the plants' visitor centers are temporarily closed), & 3) touch an Icelandic horse. Yes, I could book a horseback riding activity, but I didn’t really want to RIDE one (plus it’s pretty expensive); I just wanted to meet one up close & personal.

As I looked up from washing my face in the restroom, there upon the wall was a sign that read, “Horse Whisperer.”

One hour later, at this same farm, I was in the paddock with Emma & ten Icelandic horses! Emma had rounded them up from out in the field. She gave me a bag of bread to feed to the horses & told me to go on in. I was instantly swarmed AT A VERY CLOSE DISTANCE by all the horses...a bit overwhelming to someone with next-to-no horse experience. Emma came to my rescue to create some space.

After the food was gone & the feeding frenzy was over, I got to brush & pet to my heart’s content, all the while asking questions of Emma. It was the perfect amount of horse exposure.

Our two-hour drive, again through a variety of landscapes, headed us back close to the airport. Along the way, we stopped at an N1 filling station. Earl gave Happy Camper a bath. Then we filled H.C.’s tank with diesel & filled our tanks with pylsur (hot dogs...one hot dog condiment option is crispy fried onions) & soft serve ice cream.