Icelandic horses are long-lived and hardy. In their native country they have few diseases. Icelandic law prevents horses from being imported into the country and exported animals are not allowed to return. The Icelandic displays two gaits in addition to the typical walk, trot, and cantergallop commonly displayed by other breeds.
About Icelandic horse in brief
The Icelandic horse is a breed of horse developed in Iceland. Although the horses are small, at times pony-sized, most registries for the Icelandic refer to it as a horse. Icelandic horses are long-lived and hardy. In their native country they have few diseases; Icelandic law prevents horses from being imported into the country and exported animals are not allowed to return. The Icelandic displays two gaits in addition to the typical walk, trot, and cantergallop commonly displayed by other breeds. The breed comes in many coat colors, including chestnut, dun, bay, black, gray, palomino, pinto and roan. There are over 100 names for various colors and color patterns in the Icelandic language. An Icelandic mare that lived in Denmark reached a record age of 56, while another horse, living in Great Britain, reached the age of 42. The horses are highly fertile, and both sexes are fit for breeding up to age 25; mares have been recorded giving birth at age 27. The horses tend to not be easily spooked, probably the result of not having any natural predators in their native Iceland. As a result of their isolation from other horses, disease in the breed is mostly unknown, except for some kinds of internal parasites. In Iceland, horses are maintained by laws requiring that all equine equipment taken from the country be taken back, either new and unused or fully disinfected. Once horses leave the country, and once they leave the breed, they are notallowed to return to Iceland, and so the Icelandic is a sure-fire breed for its own country.
It is also popular internationally, and sizable populations exist in Europe and North America, and there is a sizable population of Icelandic horses in the U.S. and Canada. They are known to be hardy and an easy keeper, and the breed has a double coat developed for extra insulation in cold temperatures. Their most productive years are between eight and eighteen, although they retain their strength and stamina into their twenties. They have well-proportioned heads, with straight profiles and wide foreheads. The neck is short, muscular, and broad at the base; the withers broad and low; the chest deep; the shoulders muscular and slightly sloping; the back long. The legs are strong and short, with relatively long cannon bones and short pasterns. The mane and tail are full, with coarse hair, and the tail is set low. There are no known diseases that affect the Icelandic horse, but some diseases that do affect other breeds are unknown. The horse is known for being friendly, docile and easy to handle, although also enthusiastic and self-assured. The only Icelandic breed that is not known for its good health is the ‘five-gaited’ breed, which is well-known for its ability to perform the traditional Icelandic gaits. It has no immunity to disease; an outbreak on the island would be likely to be devastating to the breed.
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This page is based on the article Icelandic horse published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
