„The time I had with Diddi was superb. He trusted me completely but at the same time made demands on me to withstand that trust. With Diddi I learned that practise truly makes perfect. Sigurbjörn was superior to other horse trainers at the time in a way that he progressively trained to succeed; he was hard working, conscientious and never touched alcohol or tobacco. All of those things made Sigurbjörn gain an advantage which reflects in his great success. With Diddi I got to know and train great horses that were amazing to work with and Diddi had a supreme selection of horses in his stable at this time”.
Víðidalurinn and Sæla At the end of his years with Sigurbjörn Hafliði decided to buy a stable in Víðidalur the Fákur stable area and work independently training horses.
This unique painting of Sæla frá Gerðum has an honor spot in the house at Ármót. Photo: Petra Lönnqvist/Hestafoto. 70
„Me and my father-in-law bought a stable together in road D-tröð. Me and his daughter Inga had been together for a long time and by that time our first children were born so we had to become financially stable. The years in D-tröð were fun. There I had young people to my assistance, e. g. Ólafur Ásgeirsson, Steingrímur Sigurðsson, Jón Gíslason, Ragnheiður Samúelsdóttir and many more. I did not train many horses for others but instead I focused on buying untrained horses to build up and sell. My income from this was quite good. At the same time, I was teaching a little bit overseas in Sweden, I did not want to be wandering between countries while having horses in training in Iceland that had already been paid for. I have always had a hard time understanding how some riders can be overseas for days on end while having horses to attend to at home in Iceland. While overseas they are not attending to the horses they have been trusted with and paid for”. During those years Hafliði got a mare to train which would end up greatly affecting his whole career as a rider and breeder. „Like many people know, I have a severe passion for hunting and fishing and feels like it’s just in my blood and I think it may even be increasing. Many times I sought after hunting geese in Austur-Landeyjar area in South Iceland, near the farm Bakkakot and Ármót, because usually there were thousands of them on the fields there in the fall. On these trips I renewed my friendship with Ársæll Jónsson, called Sæli, who then lived in Bakkakot and now in Eystra-Fróðholt just next to Ármót. Sæli and I first got to know each other in the 80’ when I bought a few horses of him, among others the brilliant Saigon frá Bakkakoti. Anyway, on one of my visits Sæli asks me to break
