The Horses

Today's Icelandic Horse is a result of a thousand years of breeding for good riding qualities - stamina, speed and comfort... It's small - about 13 - 14 hands, making it easy to mount and dismount.  It is gaited, which means in addition to the usual walk, trot, and canter that most breeds have, Icelandics possess two unique gaits - the tolt and the pace- which provide a remarkably smooth way to travel over rugged terrain. Combined with a gentle, friendly disposition and calm manner the Icelandic horse is a delight for anyone to ride.

When the Vikings settled Iceland in 874 they brought along the kind of sturdy mounts that they would need to survive in Iceland's rugged landscape. By the tenth century they were breeding horses sufficiently to give up the practice of including them as passengers  on the difficult ocean crossing in their open boats. Iceland's government, the Allthing, also banned importation for fear of  bringing in disease to the isolated horse population. The thousand years of isolation since then has developed those characteristics that the Icelanders most prize in the Icelandic horse: ridability, character, and stamina.   While there are now thousands of Icelandics who live outside of their homeland, they remain one of the worlds purest breed of  horse.  It is truly  a breed apart.

Natural selection, breeding and a philosophy of training work together to shape the Icelandic horse. Iceland's only predator - its only native land mammal - the little Arctic Fox, is too small to wreak much havoc on a horse. This means that the flight response, so common in other breeds, hasn't had much reinforcement. The real dangers to a horse in Iceland come from the land itself - raging rivers, immense snow fields, rocky volcanic slopes. The Icelandic horses who survive have had to be able to work their way around danger, rather than simply running away from it. Running might just take the horse into a worse situation. This has developed a logical outlook, not always seen in horses.

Herd life in Iceland's huge valleys and fields shapes the horses' early years.
Young  horses spend their first four or five years  with very little contact with humans.  Life with lots of horses in nature is thought to teach them the value of cooperation, and gives them the space to grow strong, and to develop those   unique gaits,  the pace and the tolt. It's not until  their fourth winter that farmers usually start training their horses, when they are physically developed, and mentally prepared to work. Icelanders  "train" their horses; they don't understand why anyone would "break" a horse when with a little more time and patience a horse can be guided and conditioned into accepting riders and direction.

The quality of a riding horse meant a lot more to Icelanders than it did to most other peoples. As farmers  and fishermen in a rugged land they didn't need to develop many roads or  highways, (In fact the road that encircles this island nation didn't get its final link, the causeway across the treacherous waterway that drains Europe's largest glacier - until 1974.) While many of the world's horses were gaited at one time, the development of roads, favored  the trot, for pulling wagons and carts.  Iceland's farmers however,  continued breeding a tough, easy-keeping gaited horse that would be comfortable to ride over road-less terrain. A good walk, trot and canter was nice, but the tolt and pace made them really useful. 

The pace is an astoundingly smooth 2 beat gait that allows horse and rider to cover smooth ground very quickly, the front and back legs on each side moving forward together . This fifth gait is not  in all Icelandics, and these days it's used mostly for competition.  Owners of most touring horses work for a very good tolt.

The TOLT is what makes Icelandics such a pleasure. In this flowing 4-beat gait the rider stretches down in the stirrup, sits back and enjoys the sensation of floating while seated firmly on the back of an athletic horse.  Particularly suited to Iceland's glacially shaped terrain, it's secure high steps allow the Icelandic horse to move easily over rough landscape that would stop other breeds in their tracks. The TOLT allows nearly anyone to enjoy riding. A friend, who's ridden all of her life, once leaned over, as we neared the end of a long day's ride, and said.."If you'd never ridden a horse before the tolt is what you would imagine riding was like."

Travel on the Icelandic horse makes a horse back rider realize how this marvelous gaited horse fits into Iceland's countryside. It may be adventure travel for us, but the Icelandic horse is just doing what it has been bred and trained for. Riding through this  beautiful  and strange country you'll understand how a land can form a horse and a horse can be bred for its land.