Icelandic Horse

The Icelandic horse is one of the most famous features of Iceland, with strong reverence persists to this day among the Icelandic people towards the breed which has been such a part of their lives for over a 1000 years. The ratio of horses to people is extraordinarily high, and the Icelandic Horse is used for every sort of work in a land of glaciers, rivers, lava fields, and stony desert, where roads are not much in evidence. The breed's use in sport is just as important, and competitive events such as horse shows and races are frequent and well organized.

HISTORY AND LEGEND
The Norse settlement of this volcanic island took place between c. AD 860 and 935, the settlers bringing their horses with them in open boats. The first immigrants are said to have been two Norwegian chieftains, Ingolfur and Leifur, and they were followed by people from the Norse colonies in the Western Isles of Scotland, in Ireland, and on the Isle of Man. The foundation stock for the Icelandic Horse was, therefore, drawn from all of these regions.

For the hippologist, the most fascinating feature of the Icelandic horse culture is the extreme genetic purity of the equine population. There have been no infusions of outside blood for over 800 years. Once, about 900 years ago, an attempt was made to introduce eastern blood to the Icelandic Horses. This failed disastrously, resulting in a long-lasting degeneration in the stock, and as a result, in AD 930 the Althing, the world's oldest parliament, passed laws prohibiting the importation of foreign horses into the country. In the early days of the Norse settlement the horse was worshipped as a deity and a symbol of fertility, and a white horse was slaughtered ceremonially at sacrificial feasts. The medieval Sagas are full of myths and heroic legends in which the horses play prominent roles. Numerous episodes describing the bloody horse-fights between stallions (which were used as a basis for breeding selection as well as being an exciting spectacle) occur in the literature and written records of Iceland's Commonwealth period (AD 930-1262).

BREED TYPES
Experts can discern four types of Icelandic Horse. There are, for instance, animals that were originally intended specifically for pack and draught. These are distinct in terms of conformation from the best-quality saddle horses, which are carefully bred to improve the ability to perform the five gaits for which the Icelandic Horse is well-known. Additionally, there were herds bred solely for their meat, for long a staple diet for Icelanders in a land where it would be impossible to winter out beef cattle. The best-known type is the Faxafloi, bred in the south west, the area that receives the heaviest rainfall.

It is very like the Exmoor the most ancient of the British native breeds. There are no fewer than 15 basic colour types and combinations of Icelandic, including piebald and skewbald. Some studs breed to a favored coat colour. In the south of the island, for instance, the Kirkjubaer Stud concentrates on a distinctive chestnut, much more red than palomino, with a near-white mane and tail. The range of colours is a matter of pride among Icelanders, and includes chestnut, usually with white or flaxen manes and tails, bay, black, grey, shades of dun, palomino, and albino.

Selective breeding on a practical scale began in northern Iceland, in 1879. Breeding programmes are based principally on the quality of the five gaits peculiar to the Icelandic Horse. The five characteristic gaits are the walk (fetgangur), which is mostly used by pack animals; the trot (brokk), used when crossing rough country; the fast gallop (stokk); and the two gaits of antiquity ? the pace (skeid), and the tolt, which in the US is called the rack. Pacing is a fast, smooth lateral gait. In pacing races, the horse changes to the skeid after a 50 m (55 yd) gallop. The tat is a four-beat running walk, which is used for traversing broken ground. In this gait the horse is capable of explosive acceleration.

RACING AND HORSE SHOWS
Despite increased mechanization and improvements to roads, horses still feature in Icelandic life, particularly in horse shows and race meetings. The first race meeting of modern times was held at Akurevri in northern Iceland in 1874, and today weekend meetings are held in different parts of the country from April to June, the biggest being that at Reykjavik on Whit Monday. Flat races are run at the gallop over distances of 1500, 800, 400, 350, and 300 m (1 mile, 880, 440, 380, and 330 yds), while races for pacing horses under saddle are over 250 in (270 yds). There are also some steeplechase races.

Horse show classes are for four-gaited horses (walk, trot, gallop, and pace) and for five-gaited horses, which are also required to show the tolt. The National Association of Riding Clubs, which is made up of over 40 riding clubs, together with the Agricultural Society of Iceland organizes regular meetings, which include show classes of all types, racing, and classes for breeding stallions.

CHARACTERISTICS
Although the Icelandic Horse stands at no more than 1.37 in (13.2 hh), and may be as small as 1.30 in (12.3 hh), Icelanders never refer to it as a pony. Though small, it is an enormously muscular animal. The head is heavy, and the body is compact. This breed is possessed of great agility and is also very sure-footed. It can and does carry grown men at speed without tiring. The Icelandic is, moreover, economical and easy to keep. Horses that are kept in semi-wild conditions, and there are still some of them, are rarely given anything to supplement their diet of grass, although they are occasionally fed the highly nutritional herrings with which the Icelandic seas abound.