Untamed And Untrammeled Iceland

In their native country, Icelandic horses live free from predators, dotting the picturesque hillsides in coats of many colors.

Story and Photos By PAULA DA SILVA

Arctic terns dive-bombed our small group of photographers, as we arrived close to the herd of feral Icelandic horses somewhere near the northwestern coast of the island. Laughing, we took cover. The brave little birds are very protective of their nests.

Undisturbed by the birds and our antics, the horses continued quietly grazing nearby, though a mare with a newborn foal kept an eye on us while gently poking at her baby.

These tough, wise horses look bigger than

their measured heights, usually between 12.2 and 14.2 hands. Built with lots of substance, strong bodies and short limbs, Icelandic horses can carry substantial weight for their size.

Their compact builds are an advantage in the country’s rocky footing; the horses seem to innately know how to choose the best path, even while picking through the most treacherous of lava rocks. Their extra gaits—the tölt, a smooth four-beat gait, and the skeið, a flying pace—give them an extra foot or two on the ground to further improve stability.

Icelandic horses have no natural predators in their Nordic island country in the North Atlantic, which enables them to be friendly, good tempered and patient—desirable traits for family-

Jón Gíslason of Hof í Vatnsdal rides þjónn frá Hofi across a rocky area. Icelandic horses are surefooted on rough terrain.

friendly horses of any breed.

Their temperament is partially due to a lack of fight-or-flight instinct, which our group tested more than a few times to “call their ears” for photos. They couldn’t care less. They would briefly look at us, probably worried about our mental soundness, and then carry on grazing or resting.

They would approach us to investigate, but even a group of colts never showed any aggressive or pushy behavior. Breeders in the country select horses that way, too, to maintain the breed’s wonderful nature.

During the summer months, Icelandic horses graze and raise their

The first Icelanders worshipped Norse gods, who were often depicted on horseback. Horses were the protagonists of the myths, seen as a bridge between the world of the living and the dead.

In the colder seasons, Icelandic horses grow thick coats to protect them from the bitter winds common in their Nordic climate.

Icelandic horse coat colors come in many variations, and some of the horses have blue eyes as well.

foals against a backdrop of beautiful landscapes—lava fields, black beaches, glaciers and waterfalls.

Once a year, in the fall, the farmers round up their herds, and there is a big event, treasured by locals but also appreciated by tourists. Throughout September, both Icelanders and a fair number of tourists head off to the countryside to take part in réttir, the annual sheep and horse roundup.

The activity is one of the country’s oldest cultural traditions, and Icelandic sheep farmers invite family, friends and anyone else who’s interested to help round up the sheep from their summer grazing period in the mountains and valleys.

Iceland’s Althing, the world’s oldest legislature, passed laws in 982 prohibiting the importation of

Riders Ásdís Brynja Jónsdóttir (leading) and Elina Manon Schrijver demonstrate the tölt.

Iceland’s status as a volcanic island means that water, dramatic rock cliffs and mountains serve as the backgrounds for many of the horses.

There are few trees in the Icelandic landscape, as they were heavily harvested for timber and firewood when the island was settled, but reforestation began in the early 1900s.

foreign horses to prevent diseases. Since then, not a single horse has been imported into the country. If an Icelandic horse leaves the island, he is never allowed back.

Without outside influence, it’s not surprising that the Icelandic horses are thriving. There are now around 80,000 horses in the country of about 320,000 people—about one horse for every four people.

People are also interested in the breed outside of Iceland. There are more than 4,500 Icelandic horses registered in the United States. Some are imported, but many were born there.

If you’re interested in your own trip, riding can be arranged by booking online, and while traveling you will often see horses, either while they’re being ridden or grazing in the fields. We stayed at Hof í Vatnsdal in Blönduós, a farm that’s a small hotel, and the family members who own it are also riders.

I hope to visit again in September 2017 with a small group of photographers to attend the annual roundup of horses and sheep. Then I’ll see the fall in Iceland through my lens—and with some luck also the aurora borealis, or northern lights.

“They would approach us to investigate, but even a group of colts never showed any aggressive or pushy behavior,” says photographer Paula da Silva.

Lavender lupine plants, introduced to the country decades ago to assist with slowing erosion and speeding land reclamation, are a common sight in Iceland during the warmer months.

Thanks to their lack of natural predators, even untamed Icelandic horses with foals are friendly and fearless around humans.