“The man was riding a horse when the ice broke and the horse and rider were in the water,” says the officer on duty in Northeast Iceland.
According to the head of the Tröllaskaga district, the accident happened with an experienced rider who had just measured the thickness of the ice sheet. However, there had been a thaw for several days. “Since then, a canal, something like an ice-riding track, has been built, and the rider thinks it was the cause of the accident.” added the policeman.
The man managed to climb onto the ice, hold the horse and call for help. He called his friend who called the police and emergency services. The rescue operation lasted almost an hour, rescuers were surprised how deep it was at the accident site, although it did not happen in the middle of the lake, but close to the shore.
Neither the man nor the horse were injured in the incident. The rider has a cup of hot coffee and he is fine. The horse was transported in a transport trailer.
Horseback riding on frozen lakes is a popular activity in Iceland, there are even winter competitions in the specific and very fast gait of Icelandic horses, called skeið in Icelandic, on specially prepared lakes. This time, however, the thickness of the ice was not sufficient to bear the weight of the horse and rider.
Innri Jolanta