In the stable at Árbakki Hinrik and his wife and counterpart Hulda Gustafs keep many of the big names in the Icelandic horse world. Among them are geldings like Kjuði from Kirkjuferjuhjáleiga and Sveigur from Varmadalur and stallions like Aron from Strandarhöfði, Ófeigur from Þorláksstaðir, Náttar from Þorláksstaðir and the new star Héðinn from Fet.
„We will take some 10 horses to the breeding shows, the most known among them is Héðinn from Fet. We also have some young mares, both from our own breeding and mares that are in training here at Árbakki. One of them is a very promising mare out of Hnokki from Fellskot. We are hoping to be able to show Aron from Strandarhöfði to an honour price, but we also head with him into competition at Landsmót, possibly tölt or B-class. Ófeigur could be a candidate for the A-class if all goes as planned. He has been following a special training programme after having been injured. We’re hoping he will be his good old self again soon. Straumur from Breiðholt, Sámur from Litla-Brekka, Smári from Kollaleira and Glymur from Flekkudalur are also candidates for the A-class. Náttar from Þorláksstaðir, Sveigur from Varmadalur and Kjuði from Kirkjuferjuhjáleiga are strong competitors for the B-class and hopefully there is a good contestant for the tölt show among our horses.“
The family at Árbakki has competed at the last two Landsmót and is hoping to be strong in the field again this time. The younger generation is no exception, daughter Edda Hrund, son Gústaf Ásgeir and trainer Jón Bjarni Smárason have been working hard on their horses. „The Árbakki family is a team and we are all looking very much forward to Landsmót. It is a privilege to work with the Icelandic horse and we love our job. We believe that many of our horses stand a good chance of being successful, but success of course depends on the training paying of at the right time. Working our horses up to the top at Landsmot is our final goal, the one we have been striving for all winter long,“ says Hinrik with a smile, apparently in a bright mood in spite of having a spurting volcano in a distance of some 40 kilometers. „The consequences of the volcano can in fact only be seen south of the Eyjafjallajökull-glacier where the eruption is taking place. It is a very small area that has been affected and the farmers there have already gotten a stronger hand. We have great respect for the environment and Mother Nature, but at Árbakki we have luckily hardly been aware of the situation. Here we go on with life as usual.“
