(Apologies in advance for the state of photos – on camera phone).

A nice day today so we went for a ride.  Daisy said she wanted to ride her black stallion, Taktur for the first time out and about.  He has only been ridden out by his trainer, Bjørn Roar Larsen.  Bjørn had mentioned to me previously that he wanted Taktur to go out and have some fun rather than just training, training, training with him.  Today seemed the ideal chance.

We set ourselves up to succeed – Daisy wore an oversize hi-viz jacket that said “Young Horse In Training”, we left the shed door and the gate open too in case horse and rider parted company.  Icelandic horses always go home, when buggering off.

Taktur was the perfect gentleman.  He never put a step wrong.  He listened, he cared about his rider (didn’t move a muscle when Daisy got on, cantering beautifully up the track with 100% brakes) and went along side by side with Haakon with his ears pricked enjoying every minute of his day out.

Daisy rode him with a long rein encouraging him to relax.  He was so happy.

Taktur really is the most perfect horse.  He is just such a dude.  We went past (twice) two mares, so he said good morning politely to them and continued on ignoring their come-hither smiles.  He would’ve liked to have gone and investigated but he was told once “no”, remembered and kept going.  No argument, no discussion, just excellent manners.  I will admit that I was bricking it to start with but ended up trusting him completely.

I expect everything will change come the spring.  It usually does!