The Icelandic Horse (not finished! )
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Almost everyone knows the island in the North Atlantic, but the horses coming from there are not so well known. Coming with the wikings from the continent they were a long time up to the 20 th century very essential as being the only means of transport. Nowadays they are still used for bringing down the sheep, for touristic tours in the inner regions of the island and in sport.
In the last 30 years the horses were discovered from horsefreaks on the continent. Now there are a lot of established stuts in Germany, France and other countries. There are european and world championchips in riding Islandic Horses.
But what´s so special about them?
-they are very original
From the time when the wikings brought the first horses on the island there were very few changes in their appearance, vitality and character
-they are very robust
Coming from such a cold climate ( Iceland lies about miles ahead of Grönland) it´s poison for them to be in stable all day. What they need is a meadow or a stable with paddock where they can decide wether to stay in or go out. They need not much oat but a lot of hey and grass. When they are kept like that, the possibilities that they become ill are very low.
-two unusally gaits
Icelandic horses are able to move their feet in special ways. First there is the tölt. It´s a very comfortable gait, the rider suffers not much from tremors. And it looks really good because the horse holds his head very upright and the tail is a little bit lifted. The other one is the paß. What on our race-tracks is the galopprace is in Iceland the paßrace. That means that the paß is normaly ridden very fast. At a tournament the horseman has to show his horses in the different gaits and because there are five of it it´s demanding to train your horse to show all gaits perfect.
The most convincing things about Icelandic Horses is their kindness that makes them especially good partners as well in sport and in spare time. If you ever have the possibility to get in touch with this kind of horse, try it, it´s worth!
In the last 30 years the horses were discovered from horsefreaks on the continent. Now there are a lot of established stuts in Germany, France and other countries. There are european and world championchips in riding Islandic Horses.
But what´s so special about them?
-they are very original
From the time when the wikings brought the first horses on the island there were very few changes in their appearance, vitality and character
-they are very robust
Coming from such a cold climate ( Iceland lies about miles ahead of Grönland) it´s poison for them to be in stable all day. What they need is a meadow or a stable with paddock where they can decide wether to stay in or go out. They need not much oat but a lot of hey and grass. When they are kept like that, the possibilities that they become ill are very low.
-two unusally gaits
Icelandic horses are able to move their feet in special ways. First there is the tölt. It´s a very comfortable gait, the rider suffers not much from tremors. And it looks really good because the horse holds his head very upright and the tail is a little bit lifted. The other one is the paß. What on our race-tracks is the galopprace is in Iceland the paßrace. That means that the paß is normaly ridden very fast. At a tournament the horseman has to show his horses in the different gaits and because there are five of it it´s demanding to train your horse to show all gaits perfect.
The most convincing things about Icelandic Horses is their kindness that makes them especially good partners as well in sport and in spare time. If you ever have the possibility to get in touch with this kind of horse, try it, it´s worth!
