Íshestar Riding Tours was founded in 1982 by three families. One of the founders is Einar Bollason who recently retired.

In 1992 and again in 1998 the company opened up for others to become shareholders. Several Icelandic travel agencies invested in the company and the construction of the Íshestar Stables in Hafnarfjörður began.

During the first years of operation, Íshestar offered mainly riding tours of 1 to 2 hours from Miðdalur Farm at Laugarvatn, a summer residence of the founders. In 1983 a ride along the highland trail Kjölur was operated for the first time, one year later the Golden Circle Tour was added. From 1990 new routes were added to the program and new farmers were made partners after operating as affiliates for a while. Today Íshestar offers riding holidays from all corners of the country and many of our partners have been with the company for more than 20 years.

Íshestar Horse Center in Hafnafjörður were opened in the year 2000 and enables Íshestar to operate a variety of day tours, training, and riding lessons both for experienced and for less experienced riders, all year long.

With over 30 years of experience providing horse riding tours to both locals and visitors, Íshestar is proud to be the industry leader in the caretaking of horses in Iceland.

Over the years our staff has accumulated vast knowledge and respect for the Icelandic horse and every year we strive to provide our horses with healthier and more natural environment and care than before. Today Íshestar is the industry leader in Iceland when it comes to animal treatment and welfare and we actively work with MAST (Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority) improving our procedures and caretaking methods with the health and life quality of our horses in mind.

Our experience and collaboration with MAST and other leading veterinaries in Iceland prompted us to write and publish a handbook where our procedures are available to fellow horse riding tour operators as best-practice for optimal treatment for the Icelandic horse.

This involves active monitoring of both physical and psychological health of horses, resting periods and rides each horse has taken. Should a horse show any negative signs we immediately start addressing the issue with industry-leading procedures at all times.

Book your tour now and come see the stables and get to know us, our procedures and the Icelandic horse in action on your visit!

The report is available here in Icelandic. We are working on an English version for 2019.

Íshestar´s Horse Center was opened in the year 2000 in an outskirt of a small town called Hafnarfjörður. Surrounding the Horse Center is a beautiful landscape full of lava, trees, mountains, and wilderness. The center is only 15 minutes drive from Reykjavik and we operate all of our 1- 5 hour day tours from there.

During the winter time, we have about 70 horses stabled but in the busiest summertime about 150 horses who we herd to the nearby field for a green grass and overnight stay. Our stable is connected to the center with a middle building where we keep our tacks. Our connected stable accommodates up to 54 horses and outside of the stable, we have a large paddock. Just across the street, we have another stable where we accommodate our private tours. That stable consist of a cozy kitchen, two bathrooms, and a shower and can accommodate up about 30 horses. There we have a good indoor riding area as well.

Our Horse Center is perfect for welcoming guests before they head out to their riding adventure and as well as when they finish riding. On-site we have a small cafeteria with delicious homemade sandwiches, snacks, and refreshing drinks which our guests can buy along with their complimentary coffee, tea or hot chocolate. We also offer a delicious homemade lunch from our fully equipped kitchen each day for only ISK 2000. Our guests can enjoy their lunch in our large glass hall with a view overlooking our horses in the paddock. We have a large changing room with warm overalls, boots and rain gear in all sizes so everyone should be able to borrow if it’s cold or raining

On-site, we have a nice and small boutique where we sell Íshestar´s T-shirts, warm gloves, buffs and more. For the youngest guests, we have a small children’s play corner with chalkboards walls.