/ chuck / 13 March 2009 / Leave a comment

Horses came to Iceland in the mid-800s with the Vikings who settled the island. These are not the types of horses you'll be betting on in Grand National betting. Their descendants became the Icelandic horse, a breed with unique characteristics in body and temperament. There are about 80,000 Icelandic horses in Iceland today. These horses are small, between 12 - 2 and 14 - 2 hands (50 to 58 inches at the withers) and weigh up to 900 pounds. They're extremely strong for their size. They can easily carry the weight of a full-grown adult. These beautiful horses have the same three gaits as other horses: the walk, trot, and canter. They also have two special gaits: the tolt, which is similar to the rack, and the skeio, or pace. Icelandic horses are bred to show all five gaits naturally, but horses that cannot skeio are also acceptable. Three-gaited Icelandic horses are extremely rare and are considered inferior. The tolt is a very smooth four-beat gait.

The horse moves its hooves in the same sequence as it would at a walk, but the hind legs move deeply under the body and the forehand rises, giving an elevated movement to the forelegs. The gait is similar to the rack, a gait performed by the American Saddlebred and some other horses. The tolt is an exceptionally smooth gait. Riders sometime demonstrate this smoothness by holding a full glass of beer in one hand while tolting. The smoothness can be viewed even in video. The tolt can be any speed, from as slow as a walk to as fast as a gallop. The pace is a two-beat gait, like the trot. A trotting horse moves its diagonal hooves together, while a pacing horse moves front and rear legs on the same side at the same time. It is generally seen as a racing gait, but most pacers are raced in harness. The Icelandic horse is ridden while pacing. Racing pacers is a very old and popular sport in Iceland. These horses are so remarkably sure-footed that winter competitions in ice riding are held every year in Iceland. The Icelandic horse is famous for its intelligence and good temperament. Both characteristics are probably a result of the breed history.

The terrain of Iceland is particularly treacherous, and horses needed both intelligence and physical agility to survive. Adult horses lived very closely with people during the Middle Ages, as did other livestock. Animals that showed aggression toward people were slaughtered for meat. Even today Icelandic horses spend months of each year living in herds on open grazing land with very little human contact. Some breeders feel that growing up with a herd that enforces good behavior improves the young horse's personality. Icelandic horses raised in Iceland very rarely bite or kick. Icelandic horses are not trained until they are four years old and are ridden regularly until they are five and have reached physical maturity. Icelandic horses were occasionally exported during the early centuries, and there are records of Norwegian kings receiving them as gifts from Icelandic chiefs. However, very few horses were imported during that period. No written records exist, but many people believe that importations were banned. There were occasional exports of Icelandic horses during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when Denmark had a trading monopoly. Many more horses were exported in the nineteenth century, after the monopoly expired. Iceland's geographic isolation has kept its livestock, including the Icelandic horse, remarkably free of disease. No import of any livestock is allowed, and even import of used equipment is prohibited unless disinfecting procedures are followed.

Once an Icelandic horse has been exported, it can never return. The World Championships for the Icelandic horse can never be held in its country of origin. There are about 100,000 Icelandic horses outside Iceland today. These horse farms have more information about the Icelandic horse.

Tolt Away Icelandic Horse Farm

Icelandic Horse Acres

Icelandic Horse Farm

Curtis Icelandic Horse Ranch

Winterhorse Park