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Things to Know
Some things you might want to know about Icelandics:
- Their height ranges from 12:2 to 14:2 hands.
- Their weight ranges from 800 - 900 pounds.
- Icelandics are much stronger than their size suggests; they can carry even
heavy riders with ease. (Vikings were not tiny people.)
- They can out-pull most other breeds by a ratio of 1.6:1 by weight.
- Icelandics have been purebred in Iceland over the last 1000 years and have
evolved by selection by both nature and man. Famine, volcanic eruptions,
harsh winters, difficult terrain and horse-eating humans weeded out the weak
and ill-mannered specimens. Only the strongest, healthiest, smartest, and
sweetest survived.
- Icelandics are extremely feed efficient; they do well on scarce pasture
and get fat on average pasture. In the winter, as a general rule of thumb,
two flakes of good hay per day will maintain their weight.
- Icelandics mature late. They are not started under the saddle until they
are 4˝ or five years of age. They grow until the age of seven and live into
their thirties and forties.
- Icelandics are very smart and have wonderful dispositions; they learn
quickly and like humans.
- They were never bred for color, so they come in all colors; grays,
chestnuts, bays, blacks, palomino, paints, silver dapples, all kinds of dun
and 40 shades besides.
- Icelandics are smooth in all their gaits, of which they have five:
- Walk: four-beat gait with at least two feet on the ground
simultaneously; most Icelandics have an extremely smooth,
ground-covering walk.
- Trot: two-beat diagonal gait with a moment of suspension with no feet
on the ground.
- Tölt: four-beat lateral gait with at least one foot on the ground –
similar to what is called a "rack" in America. It can be
performed at a variety of speeds from slow to very fast and is very
smooth.
- Canter: three-beat gait with a moment of suspension.
- Flying pace: two-beat lateral gait with a moment of suspension. This
is a fast racing gait ridden for short distances on straight, flat
ground at speeds of up to 30 mph.
- Icelandics are great for trail riding because they are not afraid of
anything and rarely spook. Their calm disposition makes them ideal for
fearful riders. They are good for endurance riding, riding for the
handicapped, showing and even jumping, pulling carriages – you name it:
they are a versatile breed.
- Icelandics are famous for their wonderful dispositions. Most of them are
extremely gentle and easy-going. They are calm and rarely spook. They like
people and have a genuine desire to please. They are safe around children.
It is extremely rare to find one that would bite or kick a human.
- Only 100% purebred Icelandic horses are registerable.
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