00:01Riding through pristine nature mounted on gentle equines and experiencing boundless freedom.
00:09Is being a horse tour guide in Iceland Europe's best job?
00:13We're here to do a reality check.
00:17A riding tour guide shows us what it really means to do this job.
00:21At the end she'll give us a rating.
00:23Is this job really a 10 out of 10?
00:27Hi, my name is Elisa and I'm currently a tour guide here in Iceland for horse riding tours.
00:34I've been riding Icelandic horses my whole life so it was a very easy choice for me to pick Iceland
00:38and to come here.
00:41Elisa moved from Germany to Iceland on her own at 18 after finishing high school.
00:47What was to be a short summer job turned into a four-year stay.
00:51Is Huster Horse Centre near Reykjavik is her fourth employer.
00:56Her workday starts at 9 with saddling and preparing some of the farm's 200 horses, those that will be working
01:02today.
01:04We have 45 minutes usually to get them all ready.
01:08So, yeah, it can be quite busy if it's a lot of horses we have to get ready.
01:13Summer is the peak season.
01:15Many guides are seasonal workers from abroad.
01:18Most of them are women.
01:20Elisa leads tours year-round in any weather.
01:23She usually works 15 days a month and is a permanent employee.
01:27You don't undergo any special training to become a tour guide but you do need to meet certain minimum requirements.
01:37All right, have a good ride.
01:40First of all, it's very important that you are a very good rider because usually guides get to ride more
01:45difficult horses than guests do.
01:47Of course, you have to speak English so that you can communicate with tourists from all over the world.
01:52And then you just have to be a very open person.
01:54You don't necessarily need to know Icelandic. Applicants from the European Economic Area can work in Iceland without a visa.
02:03Those from other countries need a work permit.
02:07You guys can start following me in one line.
02:10Tours can last from two hours to several days.
02:14Tour guides set the route and pace along the way, keeping watch on the whole group and making sure everyone
02:20is safe.
02:24Do you guys want to try to stay on the right side of the riding trail, please?
02:30Taking photos is another of Elisa's tasks.
02:34Often she finds working with people just as challenging as working with horses.
02:39Try to lean back.
02:41There we go.
02:43There's always going to be some beginners who are having trouble making the horse go faster.
02:48It can be because of the horses, it can be because of the rider, or sometimes both.
02:53So that can be challenging, generally if people don't have the balance that they need, or if they were a
03:03bit overconfident.
03:05These small, sturdy horses are Iceland's only equine breed.
03:09They are good-natured and easy to ride, even for beginners.
03:14Many tourists come here just to see them.
03:16The horses are part of Iceland's cultural heritage, sure-footed and perfect for exploring the rugged terrain.
03:23Their ancestors came to Iceland with the Vikings.
03:26Today there are around 90,000 of them across the country.
03:36Each corner looks a bit different, because it keeps changing colours with the seasons.
03:43And you can sometimes spot an arctic fox, and I just think generally lava fields are super fascinating.
03:49After leading two riding tours, Elisa has yet more work to do today, caring for the horses.
03:56She doesn't mind cleaning stalls and tidying up, but does see other downsides to her job.
04:04I mean, I'm 22 now, and I already have back problems, and they're definitely not going to improve if I
04:09keep riding, like, six hours every day.
04:12And one big downside, and I think that's how it is with, like, horse jobs all over the world, you
04:17get very little money for the work you do.
04:19Like, with horses, you're not getting paid a lot of money. That's just how it is.
04:23So you need to have a lot of passion for the job to do it, because, yeah, you're definitely not
04:28in it for the money here.
04:30Full-time guides earn just under 500,000 Icelandic krona, or 4,100 US dollars per month, in one of
04:38Europe's most expensive countries.
04:41Time for a rating. Passion for horses, beautiful surroundings, unpredictable guests, little money, and health issues.
04:49Is this really such a dream job?
04:51Working as a guide is some sort of dream job for me, because I just love riding horses all day
04:56long and getting paid for that.
04:58For me, it has more good sides than it has bad sides, but it's definitely not the perfect job.
05:04So, I would say it's like an eight out of ten.
05:07How about you? How many points would you give the horse guide dream job after our reality check?
05:13All right, come back.
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