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The Icelandic horses has over the ages played a very important role in the history of the island. Iceland’s geography created the Icelandic horse and molded its temperament and its unique characteristics. The people of Iceland have needed the horse, respected—even deified him since the begin of their life together on this island in the North Atlantic.
Let’s look back at the history and the legends of the Icelandic horse to see how this breed came into being, what their heritage portends and how, in modern times, the Icelandic horse has won the hearts of horse-lovers around the world.A long time ago—around the end of the ninth century, Norwegian Vikings first steered their dragon ships towards the island Iceland. They were fleeing the power of King Harold who had tried to make them subject to his power. With them they brought their wives, their children, their sheep, cows—and their horses. Iceland thus became a new country and was ruled in accordance with the rules and laws established by the Vikings.
From the beginning, the horse played a central role—in herding sheep, exploring the highlands, or just getting from place to place. But from the beginning, the horse was much more than a beast of burden—a work horse. Its endurance, bravery, speed and beauty fascinated the riders, and so the Icelandic horse found its way into the sagas, the poems and the folk songs of the Icelandic people.The horses that the Vikings brought with them were of the same type as the Germanic ponies—small in stature, but full of power and endurance. Adding to the breed were the Celtic ponies which the Vikings had plundered off the coast of the British Islands during their raids. These were a lighter, more refined breed than the Germanic ponies. It is these two pony types that formed the breed foundation of the Icelandic horse.
From even the earliest times, Icelanders have been concerned with breeding and thus it was around the year 1000, that the early Icelanders passed a law that is still in force to this day—to protect the breed from disease, no more horses could be brought into Iceland—nor, since that time can any horse return to Iceland.
During the next centuries, the Icelandic breed endured many difficult tests of its strength and durability—hard winters, famine, storms—and even volcanic eruptions took their harsh toll. Following the industrial revolution, the strong, resilient Icelandic horse was used almost exclusively as a work horse and many were exported to spend their lives in the coal mines of Scotland.Once the automobile found its way to Iceland, the horse’s role as work animal and means of transportation shrank rapidly. By 1940 the breed was on its way to extinction, but was rescued by those who loved the Icelandic horse for its own sake. In 1950 an Icelandic horseman named Gunnar Bjarnason developed the idea of a national breeding show and riding competition in order to preserve the breed. And since them the Landsmót has taken place drawing an increasingly international public.
By the 1950’s the first Icelandics were beginning to make their way back to the European continent. Several children’s books were written in German about the lovable Icelandics and this flamed their popularity in Germany well before Icelandics began their conquest of other European countries. Soon national and then European-wide associations were founded to foster the Icelandic horse. In Europe there are close to 100.000 Icelandics, and in Iceland which only counts about 290.000 inhabitants there are about 70.000 horses. Today the Icelandic horse has found friends throughout the world.
Every other year FEIF the umbrella organization for Icelandic horses puts on a World Championship for Icelandics, where thousands of people come together from all over the World to compete and enjoy this remarkable breed. The next WC will be in Denmark next summer.
Icelandics have 5 natural gaits.
Icelandic horse offer more than just walk, trot and canter. Next to these so called basic gaits, an Icelandic can wow his rider with two extra ones: the air-soft Tölt (often called tolt or toelt) and the lightening-fast pace. Icelandics can tölt in addition to walk, trot and canter. Horses with these four gaits are termed “four-gaited,” those who have the additional talent for flying pace are called “five-gaited.” These distinctions can be further refined, and a horse who prefers to tölt , no matter what the terrain, are called “Natural Tölters.” Flying pace horses are those who are particularly secure and fast in the pace. Some horses have some pace, but not though able to do flying-pace, those horses are trained and used as 4 gaited ones.
So, what’s so special about tölt and pace and how does a horse move in these gaits?
The Tölt
The tölt can be seen, heard and felt. A tölting Icelandic carries his head and neck proudly elevated and a visible wave of energy flows through his tail. Even though it seems that the horse’s legs are moving wildly, the rider is sitting as quietly and happily as if on a sofa in front of the TV. The secret of this air-ride tölt lies in both the pattern of the gait as well as how the horse uses himself.
Tölt, like the walk, is a four-beat gait and the horse’s feet move in the same order as in the walk. The difference between walk and tölt lies in the phases of the gait, in other words in how many and which of the horse’s feet are on the ground at a given time. In the walk, the horse’s weight is supported alternatively by two or three feet on the ground. Within the eight different phases of the tölt, however, the weight of horse and rider are supported alternatively by two or just a single foot on the ground. In addition, walk, of course, is a striding gait, tölt is a running one
Because at least one of the horse’s feet is on the ground at any given time, the tölt has no suspension phase like the trot, canter, or the flying pace. As a result, the rider sits quietly and experiences no concussion to seat or back
All right—that’s the theoretical explanation. In practice, it is much easier to hear the tölt than it is to see it. Tölt needs to sound like perfectly even counting of 1,2,3,4—or the often used mantra “bland-and-Decker, Black-and-Decker.” If that’s what you’re hearing and the rider looks blissful, you can be sure that a tölter has just gone by.
Tölt is in no way some kind of acrobatic contortion that the horse is put through—it is a fully natural gait like walk or canter. Icelandic foals tölt merrily across the fields. Nevertheless the ability of Icelandic horses to tölt under the rider is rather widely differentiated and has a lot to do with talent, conformation and the “willingness” or “goey-ness” of the horse—and last, but by all means, not least, it has a lot to do with the knowledgeable training of the horse.
Tölt is ridden in different tempi, from stately slow to positively racy—as slow as a walk and as fast as a gallop. In competitions these different speeds are judged in categories of “slow-, working-, and fast tölt. Judges also look for the purity of the gait at these speeds, as well as the height and reach of the horse’s legs.
It is on long rides through the countryside that the magic of the tölt can be really appreciated as the rider can relax and enjoy his glide through woods and fields—it is well said in Iceland that the tölt is a true gift from God.
Flying Pace
In the flying pace, the Icelandic horse turns into a powerful, high-spirited race horse. Moving much faster than the tölt will allow, now the horse seems to truly fly over the ground. The rider sits upright, or sometimes with a slightly forward lean and encourages his horse forward. Listening to the flying pace, you hear a pounding one-two-one-two beat
Watching the pace, you will see that in the four phases of this gait the horses legs move laterally in pairs and alternate left-right, left-right. If you were to be exact, the hind foot of each pair touches down, and pushes off shortly before the front foot on that side, but this difference is so slight that it can barely be seen or heard. In the time between the left and right pair support there is a phase of suspension in which all four feet are in the air and the horse is actually in flight. Not every Icelandic horse has the talent for flying pace. Some Icelandics show a much slower variation of the pace, but this is not desirable in training and is known as “piggy pace” and is a not considered a gait and should be ridden as little as possible as it has negative effects on the gaits. Only those horses which show the flying pace in which there is a clear phase of suspension are termed five-gaited.
In addition to the genetic make-up of the five-gaited horse, the horse must be fully trained to perform flying pace. It also must have a lot of spirit and very good character in order to perfect this racing gait without becoming uncontrollable. These horses are naturally very sought after for competitions. The rider, too, must have mastered the art of riding the flying pace in order to make the transition cleanly, yet with sensitivity and harmony . The ability to stop is also judged in competitions!
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