Icelandic horse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Icelandic horse
Icelandic horse in winter coat (top), and summer coat (bottom)

Distinguishing features:	All colors allowed, height from 1.20 to 1.45m. Has two easy gaits; tölt (rack) and pace.
Alternative names:	Icelandic Pony
Country of origin:	Iceland
Breed standards

Icelandic horse in winter

The Icelandic horse is a breed of horse that has lived in Iceland since the mid-800s, having been brought to the island by Viking settlers. The Icelandic Horse is basically a man-made breed as it is a mixture of breeds and cross-breeds which were taken from Scandinavian and European countries to Iceland during the original and subsequent settlements. Because they can be pony-sized, they are commonly called "Icelandic ponies" in some countries. This name can be considered derogatory within Iceland.

1 Introduction
2 Behavior
3 Distribution to Europe and America
4 The Icelandic horse of today
5 Gaits
6 Competition and Breed Evaluations
7 External links

[edit] Introduction

There are roughly 75,000 Icelandic horses in Iceland, and relatively few abroad, owing in large part to centuries-old Icelandic legislation that prevents any Icelandic horse from returning to the island once it has been taken to another land.

They are considered small (average 13 horse hands high, or 4'4", or about 1.20 to 1.45m, roughly 800 pounds) but very strong for their size. They can carry roughly one-third of their weight, but have to be about four-years-old before they can carry a full-sized adult male human.

It is thought that the horses the Vikings brought with them had a broad variation of looks and many colors, and as such there is today a large variation in color in the Icelandic horses, they can have more than 40 different colors. The horse has been very important as a means of transport and a work animal throughout Iceland's history. Since around 1920 the horses have been recorded in pedigrees. Jeeps and tractors have largely replaced the horse as a work animal after World War II. These days the only work related tasks horses are used for is rounding up sheep from the highlands and herding livestock (sheep, cattle and horses) on farms. Most horses are mainly used for leisure riding, gaited competition, and for an Icelandic brand of horse-racing.

Icelandic horses are bred in closed pedigrees because they must be traceable back to Icelandic ancestors. Icelandic horses have been bred only with horses from Iceland since the Middle Ages. Icelandic words are used as names for Icelandic horses, words which describe their color etc. Sometimes names from Norse mythology and Icelandic nature are used. Some examples include Grána which means "grey mare"; Teitur, which means "the happy one" or Hrímfaxi which means "the one with frost in his mane".

[edit] Behavior

The Iceland horse is less skittish than other breeds of horse. Considering that they have had no natural predators for 1200 years (save for man — the Icelanders eat horsemeat on occasion), many generations have selected for an animal that looks before it bolts, a curious animal willing to check out something new. Being less skittish may have nothing to do with predators, but more to do with their ability and tendency to conserve energy. This does not mean that all Icelandic horses are the same; some are quite skittish and more nervous and sensitive.

[edit] Distribution to Europe and America

Early documents show that horses were exported from Iceland quite frequently during the Viking commonwealth (930-1262) and into the early days of Norwegian government. Many Norwegian kings received horses as presents from Icelandic chiefs and bishops, mostly stallions to take part in horse fighting, a popular entertainment among the Vikings and their descendants until as late as the end of the 17th century. Horses from Iceland were highly appreciated as fighting horses and therefore there is reason to believe that Icelanders put more emphasis on the breeding of such horses than other nations, like the Norwegians.

Icelandic horse from Jutland (Denmark), 2004

It is believed that there was no import of breeding horses to Iceland after the end of the 13th century. The only known exception to this was an experiment in the early 20th century when a Norwegian Fjord stallion was brought to Iceland. This stallion was kept in isolation on the small island of Viðey and used on an experimental basis to cover a few mares. The experiment was a failure and both the stallion and the few offspring he produced were sold abroad. There is a widely spread belief outside Iceland that import of horses to the island was prohibited by law as early as in the days of the Vikings. No documents or other proof to confirm the existence of such a ban has been found, though, and both historians and jurists agree that this must be merely a legend. The fact that there was no import of horses to Iceland after the 13th century is not based on legal grounds as the first laws prohibiting horse import to Iceland only date from 1882 but on the fact that there was a lack of transportation facilities. Moreover there was probably never any demand or need for more horses on Iceland than were bred there by the inhabitants themselves.

Even though transportation between Iceland and other countries was poor, there was obviously some trade in horses from Iceland during the 16th and 17th century. In 1563 the Danish authorities even made a rule saying that no horses were allowed to leave Iceland unless the king’s deputy had been given the first right of purchase. Despite this there were Icelandic horses in other countries; Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) mentions, for example, an Icelandic horse that was grazing in a pasture near the English town of Yarmouth. According to Sir Browne this horse wouldn’t eat oats for months and finally he went so homesick that he jumped into the sea and tried to swim back to Iceland. During the 17th century Danish royalty showed interest in smooth gaited Icelandic riding horses. In 1637 King Christian IV wanted his deputy to buy four pace horses on Iceland and a few years later he ordered two good riding horses. His grandson, King Christian V, also ordered his deputy to send one horse with every ship coming from Iceland to Denmark.

Due to the Danish trade monopoly, established in 1602 and not fully abolished until the mid 19th century, little horse export from Iceland took place during this period. Still, there are documents showing that breeders on the Orkney Islands got permission to buy up to 80 breeding horses on Iceland and the Faeroe Islands as early as 1828. In 1851 British horse dealers finally got a permission to purchase horses on Iceland and ever since then horses have been exported from the island on a commercial basis. During the first years only a few hundred horses were exported but the yearly export grew in a few decades to several thousand, with the largest number in one year being about 5700 animals. During the period 1851-1939 more than 148,000 horses were exported from Iceland. Most of the horses went to England and many of them were sold as pit ponies for the coalmines. However there were other purposes as well, like transporting goods and supplies in the rapidly growing cities and even riding, as Páll Zóphóníasson, later president of The Agricultural Society of Iceland, put it in his report from 1910: "... a few of the horses that have been sold to England are used for riding by those who have nothing better to do with their time than ride horses for their pleasure."

The large number of Icelandic horses exported to England apparently made them quite well known in certain circles. The English author and social reformer George R. Sims, mentions them in his book Off the track in London, published in 1911:

"A little way from the scene of the sailors' frolic, lays Prince's Square. It is a picturesque old place still, with its quaint Swedish church in the centre, and its old eighteenth-century houses standing cheek by jowl with glaring examples of twentieth-century "improvement." As we turn into it the note of strangeness which dominates it is emphasized by the fact that against the railings of the square a number of little Iceland ponies are standing, surrounded by a group of admiring boys. The connection between the Swedish church and the Icelandic ponies is not obvious, and the spectacle startles us, until we remember that one of the depots of the famous horse dealer Jamrach is close by. Then the situation is at once explained. These ponies have been imported by Jamrach, and it being a fine day, they are taking the air in Prince's Square."

At the beginning of the 20th century a new market was established for Icelandic horses in Denmark. Most of the horses were used for draught and other working tasks on small farms, especially on the peninsula of Jutland. In the period 1910 to 1920 Denmark was the biggest importer of Icelandic horses and in 1915 more than 3600 were sold to Danish buyers. During this period of booming imports two associations for Icelandic horses were established in Denmark and several publications about the breed saw the light of day. In the first decades of the 20th century buyers from various countries started to purchase horses directly from Iceland. In 1901 documents show that 81 horses were sold to Norway and in 1914 some 74 horses went to Germany. At this moment the first German breeders, like the Wahrendorff family in Hanover and the Traut family in Leipzig, start breeding with horses from Iceland and still today some German horses can trace their roots all the way back to those early bred Icelandic horses. In the 1920's a number of horses were sold directly to the Faeroe Islands, Greenland, Sweden and Finland and in the early 1930's a transport of 200 animals went to Germany. In 1935 the German government was even working on a plan to buy more than 1000 horses from Iceland but this huge transport was never realized. Towards the end of this decade the first Icelandic horses were sold directly from Iceland to both The Netherlands and Italy.

In the late 19th century Icelandic horses were brought to North America. It is most likely that these horses came from England because the first direct export of horses from Iceland to the United States did not take place until 1917. Furthermore it is a well known fact that American horse dealers imported large amounts of various horses from England in the late 19th century. In the book The Centennial Atlas of Warren County, Ohio, published in 1903, this can be read:

"In 1886 a company was formed at the town Corwin, which imported a large number of Shetland, Welsh and Iceland ponies. A. P. O'Neall was one of the heaviest stockholders and had personal charge of the stock on its arrival. A few years later he bought out the other members, and the pony business has been carried on under his name and that of his son ever since. A great many ponies have been sent out from the farm, and it has become widely known as The Pony Farm."

In the 1890's livestock dealers from Pennsylvania and Iowa offered "Iceland ponies" for sale in various American magazines and The Cyclopaedia of American agriculture, published in 1909, underlines the existence of Icelandic horses in America at this time, as L. H. Bailey says:

"The Iceland ponies are sometimes imported into America, although few are bred here. They are strong, sturdy, useful little animals, rarely exceeding thirteen hands, often reaching only eleven and one-half or twelve hands. They are used for light driving purposes and as children’s ponies, and in England often as pit ponies"

Not much is known about those early Icelandic horses in America but it is believed that some of them were crossbred with other breeds. The most famous of those half-blood Icelandic horses must be the skewbald pony Algonquin who belonged to the children of President Theodore Roosevelt and was kept at the stables of the White House in Washington at the beginning of the 20th century.

[edit] The Icelandic horse of today

Since there was no longer use for so many horses, in the 1950s many horses were slaughtered. In 1954, there was an increased interest for Icelandic horses in Germany and many horses were sold there to avoid slaughter. These horses turned out to be good, fun riding horses, and breeding was started. Horses were sold to Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. In the early 1960s, a few horses were sold to Denmark. There they were at first met with scepticism, but before long they were accepted as a breed of good riding horses.

[edit] Gaits

Icelandic horses are known for their special gaits. Apart from walk, trot and canter, Icelandic horses are usually able to do tölt and skeið (pace). Skeið is a gait where the horse moves both legs of one side at the same time; it is solely considered a gait for racing, and ridden at the proper speed is called flugskeið, loosely translated as "flying pace". A slow pace, like that used in riding certain Peruvian horse races, is considered useless in Icelandic horses, and is called lull (piggypace). Not all horses possess pace. Those that do are called "five-gaited" horses. Those that do not "four-gaited" horses. Although the breeding goal is for the perfect five-gaited horse in reality four-gaited horses are no less prized.

Tölt is a gait possessed by most Icelandic horses. Tölt is the same gait as the rack; the horse moves its legs in the same sequence as while walking, with alternating one foot / two foot support, which is done at speed from 5 to 25 mph. The tölt is very smooth and is a pleasure to ride. It is a different gait than the running walk of the Tennessee Walking Horse. Many horse breeders work to breed high quality into these gaits.

It is thought that Icelandic horse have become about 10 cm higher during the second half of the 20th century, but that it probably has less to do with selective breeding and more to do with increased quality of fodder.

[edit] Competition and Breed Evaluations

Many things have happened in Icelandic horsesport during the last thirty years. Riding clubs and associations now exist in so many countries that, in addition to the national championships, championship competitions are held at the world level every two years. In championship competitions, the horses' gaits (among other qualities) are judged. Breeding horses are also evaluated for their conformation and ridden talents in official breeding evaluations. The next World Championships for Icelandic Horses are in the Netherlands in August 2007.