Whence
Icelandic horse
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Where does Icelandic horse come from?

The Icelandic horse comes from Iceland. Its ancestors crossed the North Atlantic with Norse settlers more than 1,000 years ago, and on the island the breed has been kept apart from all other horses ever since.

Horses on a Viking longship

Viking Age Scandinavians probably brought the first horses to Iceland between 860 and 935. Settlers could carry only a few animals on the long sea voyage, and most likely chose their best. Later newcomers from other Norse colonies brought ponies of their own, which were crossed with the first arrivals. In the Commonwealth period, from 930 to 1262, Icelanders staged stallion fights, both for entertainment and to pick the best animals for breeding.

An island that stays closed

Cut off from other horses, Icelandic horses at home suffer from very few diseases and need no vaccinations. To keep it that way, no horse may enter Iceland at all, and one that leaves may never return. The isolation has a price: Iceland's horses have no immunity to many diseases, so an outbreak could be devastating. Hard times came before: after the Laki eruption of 1783–84 poisoned the grass, half or more of Iceland's horses died.

Pony-sized, but always a horse

Most Icelandic horses stand 132 to 142 centimetres high at the shoulder, often considered pony size, yet breeders and registries always call them horses. Besides walk, trot and canter, many have two more gaits. The tölt is a four-beat gait in which one or two hooves are always on the ground, so the rider glides along smoothly. The flying pace is fast and two-beat, raced over short distances, and some horses reach 48 kilometres an hour. Horses that can do both are counted among the best of the breed.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org › Icelandic horse ↗ · horsesoficeland.is › the icelandic horse ↗ · horsesoficeland.is › the icelandic horse gaits ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Laki ↗

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