Fun Facts About Icelandic Horses

·         Icelandic horses come from Iceland, the Land of Fire and Ice (volcanoes and glaciers).

·         Icelandic horses originally came to Iceland on Viking ships.

·         Icelandics can perform two more gaits—tolt and flying pace—than a Quarter horse.

Odin riding Sleipnir--Wikipedia

·         In Norse mythology, the god Odin rides the 8-legged horse Sleipnir.

·         Icelandic horses were given as gifts to the Danish king.

·         Icelandic horses have been fed herring (fish).

• Icelandic horses are known as the Bridges of Iceland, since people could not drive completely around Iceland the 1960s due to lack of suitable roads--people rode horses to visit the more inaccessible parts of Iceland.

·         Some Icelandics have cannon (leg) bones as thick as some Clydesdales (draft horses).

·         Icelandic horses are related to the Mongolian pony.

·         If an Icelandic horse leaves Iceland, it can never return.

A Viking ship--Wikipedia

·         The Icelandic horse has a longer intestine than other breeds of horses enabling it to get more nutrition out of poor grass.

• Icelandic horses were buried with important Viking chieftains.

·         The Icelandic mare Tulle lived to be 57 years old in Denmark.

·         The dwarfs in the 2012 movie The Hobbit ride Icelandic horses.

·         Some Icelandic horses can change colors by season—for example be a chestnut in winter and summer and be a white body with chestnut mane, tail, and legs in spring and fall.