The Icelandic horse was originally developed by the Vikings and brought to Iceland around 900 AD. It’s a small almost pony size animal but is unique in that they are the only horses allowed in Iceland. This has kept the breed very pure over the centuries. Besides being good looking they are hardy horses adaptable to the often harsh conditions where they live. And many herds run wild.
One of the most unique things about Icelandics is they have five natural gaits. Most horses can walk, trot and canter. These horses also have tölt (rack) and some can go in skeið (pace) gaits. These last two are very smooth and provide a great comfortable ride which is part of why the breed is so popular. For those who care about such things the rack gait is a footfall sequence similar to a walk ¬- right hind, right front, left hind, left front but done in a smooth level way. In the pace gate the right hind and right front move toward at the same time followed by the left hind and the left front moving forward at the same time.
There are approximately 80,000 Icelandic horses in Iceland (compared to a human population of 270,000), and around 100,000 horses abroad. Almost 50,000 of those are in Germany. The breed organization is called the International Federation of Icelandic Horse Associations (FEIF). Their website is at FEIF.
One of our friends, Einar Erlendsson, runs a wonderful photographic program in Iceland and they frequently have field trip opportunities to photograph Icelandic horses in the wild. For more information go to his website Focus on Nature.
(the photographs are used with permission from Ragnar Th Sigurðsson © www.arctic-images.com)