The race
A few steps from the North Pole, Iceland is known for its steep terrain, a mixture of mountains, volcanoes, lava fields and glaciers... Horses have been bred there in semi-freedom for hundreds of years and have always been confronted with this land of fire and ice. The Icelanders, the "fire under the ice", placid horses of absolute kindness on foot and capable of deploying incredible energy once mounted.
The Icelandic is a race of saddle horses of small size, which forms the unique horse breed fromIceland. These animals are probably the direct descendants of the mounts brought by boat by the vikings during the colonization of Iceland. Les Icelandic remained very proud of their horses, which they regularly mention in their sagas. Horse imports have been banned on the island since tenth century and as a result, Icelandic has not undergone crossbreeding since 900s. It remained a breed exclusive to the island of Iceland for a very long time. La natural selection allows it to acquire great resistance to climatic conditions, by being content with poor food.
All coats are accepted by the breed standard so many different coats can be found, such as the classics bay, dark bay, black, chestnut ou Grey. There are also coats deemed to be rarer in horses or specific to primitive breeds such as theisabelle, le mouse, le palomino, le magpie and the roan. En Icelandic language, there are more than a hundred different names for the coats of the country's horses. The Icelandic can present the typical characteristics of primitive horses, such as welts on the limbs and la mullet ray.
