The Icelandic horse

The Icelandic horse has spread world wide and has represented a major export over recent decades. It has, just like other breeds of other species in Iceland, been developed in the absence of external genetic influence. Thus the Icelandic horse is clearly genetically unrelated to other horse populations. Its closest relatives are considered to be the Norwegian Fjord and Nordland horses.

Icelandic horses are small, normally weighing 360 – 370 kg and standing roughly 140 cm high at the withers. Historically the Icelandic horse has been very important for riding, transfer of goods and used for draught purposes in a country that has not long had a road network. At present the Icelandic horse is almost entirely used for riding and sports.

There is typically great colour variation among Icelandic horses and there are said said to be around a hundred different expressions in Icelandic for the colour patterns of Icelandic horses.

Icelandic horses have five gaits, including the the ‘tölt’ (smooth gait) and pace in addition to the usual ones although not all individuals have all the gaits. The tölt is believed to have been lost in other horse breeds and has become a sort of  ‘trade mark’ and symbol of the Icelandic horse and contributes much to its global popularity.

Other strong characteristics of the Icelandic horses are strength and endurance, docility, good fertility and easy handling and management. Individuals of the breed develop rather slowly and become fully mature by 4 – 5 years age.

There are 75 000 winter-fed horses of the breed in Iceland (a great number of Icelandic people are horse owners) and approximately 90% are registered in the herd book. In addition, there are some 130 000 Icelandic horses in other countries.

A large proportion of the global population of the Icelandic horse is included in an international registration system ( www.worldfengur.com ), which is effective from the year 2000 and is handled by the Icelandic farmers association, Baendasamtök. It contains information about more than 300 000 Icelandic horses, and includes pedigrees, breeding values etc.

Two colored Icelandic horse (photo: Jón Eiriksson).