Icelands best horses in one place!

Þórarinn Ragnarsson fagnar á Spuna frá Vesturkoti á Landsmóti hestamanna á Hellu 2014. Mynd: Berglin…
Þórarinn Ragnarsson fagnar á Spuna frá Vesturkoti á Landsmóti hestamanna á Hellu 2014. Mynd: Berglind Ragnarsdóttir

An interview published in Bændablaðið, 9th of January 2020

Landsmót will be held in Hella from 6th till 11th of June this summer. The event manager Eiríkur Vilhelm Sigurðsson expects 8.000 to 10.000 guests to come this year and that 2000 tickets have been sold so far in the presale.

 

Competition and entertainment

“The program will be very conventional and consists of six days with a mix of preliminaries, breeding shows and entertainment from morning till evening. Some of Iceland’s best entertainers will perform on the grounds and we also offer special entertainment and playing area for children.”

Eirikur explains that in all classes, riders have to qualify to compete for their club in special qualification tournaments held all over Iceland in May-June. Only the top Gæðingar on these tournaments get to go to Landsmót.

 

Best of the best

So guests really see “The best of the best” on Landsmót each time. Adults compete in A-class, that are five gaited Gæðingar, and in B-class, which are fourgaited Gæðingar. In tölt and pace the highest ranked riders are invited to take part. This is also the case in the breeding sector, where only the highest judged horses are offered to take part in their class on Landsmót, that is, four, five, six or seven years and older.

 

Many choices in accommodation

“Even though Hella is a big town in South Iceland, the community changes considerably each time Landsmót is held there and the population increases eight times! Hella is very well located for this type of an event, where some guests choose to camp out on the grounds and other drive back and forth each day from their accommodation nearby, which has been increasing in the last years,” says Eiríkur.