icelandichorse.no

a unique race

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Why all this interest? One reason may be that the Iceland Horse is a unique race with some rare peculiarities, which can be traced back many centuries. The settlers of Iceland brought with them horses from Western Norway and the British Isles. Those strong and enduring animals, with their small muscular and sturdy bodies, were of great value to their masters in peace as well as warfare.
For some 900 years no horses have been imported to the country, their ingress being illegal since 11th century, so that present-day horses are not only the same as those of the Viking Age, but probably also descended from the horses used by the legendary brothers Hengist and Horsa when they invaded England with their Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century.
The millennial isolation of the Iceland Horse has preserved in him some of the peculiarities lost in other European breeds over the past four centuries. Among them are the five gaits to described below. Many people think these gaits are some fairly new celandic equestrian trick, but that is far from being the case, as the name for the most peculiar gait, tÖlt, and for the horse employing such a gait, tÖltary, are of ancient Germanic origin. Zelter was an agile and smooth-moving horse in medieval Germany. The word also has its counterpart in Latin, for gently moving mares in imperial Rome were called thieldos. There was considerable contact between the Germanic people and the Romans during the 2nd and 3rd centuries of our era.
One may wonder how this breed of horses became extinct in Europe while they were preserved in Iceland. One major reason was the development of roads and military requirements over the past four centuries. Until the 17th century, the European horse was an all-round small family horse: a riding horse, a packhorse, and a draught animal, owned and used by rich and poor alike. He was a natural part of every household, kept near home. When extensive roads brought carts and carriages, only one kind of horse was needed, the draught horse. When at the same time cavalry turned from loose to closed formations, a special kind of horse was required. The breeds were strengthened by pedigree and cross-breeding in order to make the horse into heavier and stronger draught animals. The European peasants became poor and could no longer own riding horses. This was especially the case during and after the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). After that, only the army and the nobility used horses for riding. Peasant horsemanship disappeared from all parts of Europe, except Iceland, while riding was influenced by the need for cavalry horses, so that all manner of racing, steeple-chasing and other tricks were introduced in order to train the horses.
Obviously, the isolation of Iceland and its extremely adverse conditions played a major role in keeping the race pure and developing the agility, toughness and resistance demanded for surviving the circumstances and the treatment which the horses had to endure as a result of the semi-starvation prevailing in Iceland through many centuries.

Updates at last! :))

It is long time since we updated our news, it has happend so much and so lot of things to do!
The greatest news are that we are going to move from Finnmark! We bought a small farm in Southern Norway (Hedmark) and are going to move during April 2011. We sell "Laugen". Of course, it is a lot to do in this connection, so now we have not so much time for horses and dogs and to update our site. But we will do our best! Thanks to all of our friends who write to us and leave comments, we really appreciate that!
Now few pictures from Finnmark :))


Skjóna enjoys her training in Balsfjord (Troms) / Skjóna trives med sin trening i Balsfjord (Troms)

Skjóna enjoys her training on Stornes farm in Troms. This photo we got from Agnete Kristoffersen and there is "Fúsi" who trains her here.
 
Skjóna trives med treningen på Stornes gård i Troms. Dette bildet fikk vi fra Agnete Kristofferse: "Fúsi" har arbiedsøkt med Skjóna. 
 


Our litle Snotra becomes "big" ! / Vår lille Snotra er blitt "stor" !

Our Snotra, 1 year old mare, has been quite litle through the winter, while her halv brother Snarfari has been growing whole the time. We started to think that Snotra was going to be a very litle horse.... But just during May and June she has been growing a LOT!!! She became at least 1,5 times bigger than she was in the beginning of may, and today she turnes to become a very nice young horse!

Vår ung hest Snotra, 1 års gammel hoppa, har vært ganske liten i vinter/vår, mens hennes halfbror Snarfari har vokst hele tiden. Vi tenkte at Snotra vil være en veldig liten hest.... Men, bare i løpet av mai og juni klarte hun å vokse enormt! Hun er blitt i all fall 1,5 ganger større enn hun var i begynnelsen av mai! I dag er hun en veldig fin unghest!


Skjóna and Gæfa are in Stornes farm (Troms) for training

Our young 4 years old meres, Skjóna and Gæfa, are delivered to Stornes farm in Troms for training. There are Agnete Kristoffersen and Thorsteinn Marinósson who own the farm and arrange the horse training now. Sigfús comes 5th of July and Jón William Bjarkason comes 2 weeks later. Those professional trainers will work with the horses for Icelandic horse show and competition which will take place 17 -19th of September at Stornes farm.

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