Horse Riding in Borgarfjörður: Tölting Through Saga Country

Few outings put you closer to everyday Icelandic life than a morning in the saddle. The valleys around Borgarfjörður are laced with old riding trails, and a short drive from Hvítárbakki you can climb onto an Icelandic horse at a working farm and ride out across saga country. It suits complete beginners, and it is one of the more hands-on things to do in West Iceland.

Meet the Icelandic horse and its tölt

The Icelandic horse is small, tough and famously good-tempered — a breed shaped by more than a thousand years of isolation. Imports have been banned since 1882 for disease reasons, and any horse taken abroad, even to compete, is never allowed back. That closed gene pool is why the breed is so uniform.

Its party trick is the tölt: a smooth four-beat gait with no moment of suspension, so there is no bounce to post to. Many horses can also do the flying pace. On the tölt you glide rather than jolt, which is exactly why first-timers manage a trail ride so quickly.

Where to ride near the trucks

Two established farms run tours in the area. Oddsstaðir, in the Lundarreykjadalur valley, has organised riding trips since 1992 and offers everything from short beginner rides to multi-day treks, all starting and ending at the farm. Hestaland, elsewhere in Borgarfjörður, runs guided trail rides and riding lessons and is used to visitors who have never ridden before. Both begin with a safety briefing and match the horse to your experience.

Because the routes follow farm tracks, riverbanks and open pasture rather than roads, the pace stays gentle and the scenery — lava fields, low hills and the braided Hvítá tributaries — does the rest.

Practical details

• Getting there: Oddsstaðir sits in Lundarreykjadalur, roughly 30 minutes from Borgarnes; reckon on about 35 minutes’ drive from Hvítárbakki. Confirm the exact meeting point when you book.
• Duration: tours range from about one hour to half- or full-day rides. A one-to-two-hour ride is plenty for beginners.
• What to bring: warm, windproof layers, sturdy trousers, and closed shoes with a small heel if you have them. Helmets are provided; ask when booking. Gloves and a hat help even in summer.
• When to go: summer gives the longest daylight and driest trails, but rides run in the shoulder seasons too. Book ahead and check the operator is running for your dates, as schedules vary by season.

Where to Stay

Base yourself at Hvítá Trucks, the converted expedition trucks parked on the bank of the Hvítá at Hvítárbakki. Waking up in a truck on the riverside puts you within about 35 minutes of the Borgarfjörður stables, so you can be tölting through the valleys not long after breakfast and back by the water in time for the evening light. Book direct on Ourhotels.is for the best rate.

Photo: Marek Slusarczyk (Tupungato) via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.