About Icelandic Horses

The icy wind blows from the north, ruffling the thick coats of the small horses huddled in its wake. The vast highlands offer little refuge from the weather, but the horses have evolved over centuries to endure it. For now, their job is to stand strong against the bitter winter. Come the spring, they will resume their jobs as mounts for those traveling over Iceland’s rugged and beautiful countryside.

A first glance at these national treasures of Iceland might leave you thinking you are looking at nothing more than a small, shaggy pony. But the Icelandic Horse is anything but a diminutive child’s mount. Contained in that small body is the kind of endurance and energy that adults can appreciate even more.

A Unique Past
The story of the Icelandic Horse begins around 874 AD to 935 AD, when settlers from Scandinavia brought European horses with them to Iceland. These horses possessed gaits in addition to the walk, trot and canter, as did many European riding horses of the time, and the imported horses brought these genetic tendencies to the island of Iceland.

During the next thousand years, horses in Iceland were completely isolated from other equines because of the remoteness of the country. Also, because of Iceland’s harsh climate and rugged terrain, only the hardiest horses survived to pass along their traits to offspring. Consequently, the breed grew to be incredibly rugged and evolved to a diminutive size to enable it to manage on sparse grasses in the harshest winter months. At the same time, horses in Iceland were expected to carry fully grown men—including the Vikings—and so were required to have great strength despite their size.

Iceland’s harsh climate had a profound effect on the breed, even in more recent times. In 1783, 32,200 horses lived in Iceland. In 1784, a severe Icelandic winter struck, resulting in incredibly cold weather and a shortage of food. In the aftermath, only 8,600 horses were left alive. The Icelandic Horses of today are descendants of the horses that survived that brutal winter.

Only until recent times, the Icelandic people relied on their small horses to help them survive on a daily basis. Farmers used Icelandics for centuries to get them from one place to another in a country where roads and bridges were virtually nonexistent. Only a tough, sure-footed horse could possibly help a people get by in a place with such a difficult climate and rugged terrain.

Special Characteristics
The Icelandic Horse is truly unique in the equine world, both in appearance and movement. Thanks to careful breeding and its long period of isolation, the Icelandic has developed distinct looks, movement and temperament.

The Icelandic Horse stands between 12.3 and 14.3 hands high, with the average horse measuring in at around 13.2 hands. Compact in stature, Icelandic Horses have very dense bones—much denser than those of most other breeds.

One of the most colorful breeds in the world, the Icelandic can be found in a huge host of coat hues and color varieties. Among these are pinto, dun, buckskin, cremello, palomino, perlino, smoky black, silver, roan, chestnut with flaxen mane and tail, gray and black, along with a smattering of unusual colors that defy definition. The only color not seen in the breed is Appaloosa markings.

Aside from its appearance, the Icelandic’s gaits are what set it apart from other breeds of horses. A truly five-gaited breed, the Icelandic possesses the usual walk, trot and canter/gallop found in most breeds. In addition to these traditional gaits, however, the Icelandic also has the tolt and the flying pace.
The tolt is the gait considered the most comfortable of the Icelandic’s repertoire. A four-beat lateral movement where at least one foot is always on the ground, the tolt provides its greatest smoothness at the moment of suspension.

The order of the footfall of the tolt consists of placement of the left hind foot, the left front foot, the right hind foot and the right front foot. Whether the horse is performing a clean tolt (where you hear a perfect four-beat sound), a trot-tolt (where you almost hear two-beats even though the horse is tolting) or a pacy tolt (a cross between the tolt and the pace)—as fans of the breed in Iceland describe the three different types of tolt—the gait is a joy to ride.

The fastest of the Icelandic’s gaits is the flying pace, a two-beat lateral gait where the legs on the same side of the horse move together. Icelandics can go as fast as 30 miles per hour at the flying pace. In Iceland, horses are raced at this gait, as well as shown in it. Not all Icelandics are born with this gait, although all are born with the tolt.

The third component that makes up the uniqueness of the Icelandic Horse is its temperament. While many breeds claim to have unusually level-headed dispositions among their members, the ideal Icelandic truly has a remarkably easy-going personality, and is virtually spook proof.

The reason for this lack of spookiness goes back to the breed’s isolation within its native land. In Iceland, horses have no natural predators, and for a thousand years, Icelandic Horses have had very little reason to worry about something sneaking up behind them to make a meal out of them. This translates into an intelligent, almost fearless personality that comes in handy out on the trail.

Not only does the Icelandic not think of itself as prey, but in Iceland, some can even be described as predators. According to people who spend time around these horses, it’s not uncommon to see an Icelandic Horse kill fish along the beach by striking them with its hoof, and then eat the delectable eggs within!

The American Icelandic
Over the past several decades, the Icelandic Horse has become visible in the American landscape. It started with just a few horses imported here from their homeland in the 1960s, and now as many as 3,000 Icelandics call the United States their home.

In the United States, the traits that make the Icelandic so valuable in its homeland are the same characteristics that are valued here. Icelandic Horses are prized in America for their smooth gait, easy-going personalities and stamina on the trail. In fact, a number of people are using this breed for endurance riding, competing with Arabians and holding their own.

Americans love to show their horses, and the owners of Icelandics in the States are no exception. Although Icelandics are bred primarily for usage and not for exhibition, some Icelandics are shown by their owners at local Icelandic shows or gaited horse shows around the country. Icelandics are exhibited against an American standard, established by the United States Icelandic Horse Congress, which provides even more detail than the Icelandic standard for evaluation.