Meet an Icelandic Horse | Horse Experience in Iceland | Thee Icelandic Horse

Meet an Icelandic Horse | Horse Experience in Iceland | Thee Icelandic Horse

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Oh the adorable Icelandic horse! Getting that epic selfie with one is almost mandatory when visiting this small Nordic Island, isn’t it?! Well, with roughly 80,000 Icelandic horses calling Iceland home, you’re bound to run into one at some point. So today I’m sharing with you the SAFE and guaranteed way to say “Hello selfie success!” with your new Icelandic horsie friend. Read on to learn more.

Icelandic Horse History

There is a lot of history revolving around this tiny yet strong breed of horse. And I think to truly maximize your “Icelandic Horse Selfie Success” you need to learn about who you’re really taking an epic pic with…So let us indulge in a bit of a history lesson.

In the 9th and 10th century Vikings settled in Iceland and brought many items, from home, with them…one being their horses. These horses were put to work; pulling carts, assisting in travel, and helping the Vikings settle into their new home. Therefore, only the the strongest and sturdiest horses were recruited for the job. They had to not only be able to make it through the trip but also survive the harsh new land they called home. The breed became a champ at living in the extreme Icelandic climate and it wasn’t long before they became one of the strongest breeds in the world.

Preserving the Icelandic breed became incredibly important and laws were designed as early as the 10th century to keep the horses pure. These laws are still in tact today. They prevent any outside horse from being brought into Iceland. Even more so if an Icelandic horse leaves the country it’s not able to return! Because of this protection there are very minimal diseases within the breed and the horses in Iceland don’t need to be vaccinated. The Icelandic horse had been purebreed for over 1,00 year now.

However, don’t let this fearless and tough workhorse fool you. Icelandic horses are well known for their sweet and well mannered temper. This is probably why they’re such a fan favorite with locals and visitors! So now let’s talk about how to meet one of these adorable creatures, and get that epic selfie!

The DON’TS on Meeting an Icelandic Horse

One of the most common and popular ways to meet an Icelandic horse is simply pulling off the side of the road whenever you see a horse and snapping a picture. I even saw blog posts promoting this foolishness. People it’s these types of activities that make locals hate tourists! Slamming on your breaks and pulling off the side of a windy narrow road is not the best way to make friends. Let’s be a bit better at respecting each other, the land, animals, and private property!

I learned from many locals that even though this experience is popular and promoted widely on the internet it can be extremely dangerous. They educated me on a couple reasons why…

1) Roads are usually one lane, narrow, and windy in the Icelandic countryside. This can of course become an issue if there is little area to park or your car isn’t completely visible to all traffic because of the curves and bends. This is a recipe for an accident. Recommendation: If there isn’t an actual parking area…DON’T PARK! You are putting people’s lives in danger. (Check out this article!)

2) Once tourists see the horses they try to draw them over with food. Seems harmless right?! Wrong! You are making the decision to feed someone else’s horse something that you have NO IDEA how they’ll react to. Locals told me that a lot of times this causes digestive issues for the horse and the owner has no idea what the horse ate because, duh! the culprit is long gone with their selfie!

3) Some people take this even a step further and jump over fences onto private property to take pictures with the animals. I actually even witnessed this first hand. Come on guys, can we have a bit more class!?!? First of all this is so disrespectful since you’re entering someone’s property without permission. And if you’ve recently been around horses in your home country then interact with these local horses you run the risk of spreading diseases that are unheard of to the Icelandic horse. Think of it this way…when I walk Lemon in public areas people ASK if they can pet her..so what makes us think it’s ok to enter onto someone’s property and pet, feed, or play with their horses??! Read this article to understand more.

(Also here is a link to a farm that is trying to fix this Icelandic horse selfie problem by offering tourists the option to stop at their farm and pay a small fee to SAFELY take a pic with an Icelandic horse.)

DO’S on Meeting and Icelandic Horse

So here is how I got my Icelandic horse fix and didn’t have to piss off any locals in the process. And I actually helped the local economy in the process. I found a tour experience with Íshestar Horsebacking Riding Tours called “Meet The Horse“. The tour was being offered on Viator in March of 2018 for $36.29. Here is a link, fingers crossed it is still available for you. (The Íshestar website price as on March 2018 was ISK 4.500 or roughly $45.00 USD.) Here is the Íshestar website with cost!

Íshestar is located just outside of Reykjavík and offers pick up options if you don’t have a rental car. They also offer horseback riding tours. This is another fantastic way to get up close and personal with an Icelandic horse. I decided not to do the horseback riding because it was rather expensive and I wanted to put my money into things I had never done before. That’s when I was so happy to see the meet and greet option.

The tour has a max size of 15 so it’s a very personal and hands on experience. They started by showing us a detailed powerpoint presentation on the Icelandic horse. We learned things about the history of the horse, present day uses, unique characteristics, and fun facts. I quickly became fascinated with the tiny creatures and even took notes on the presentation. Once you spend 20 or so minutes learning about the horses you then go out into the paddox to meet them.

Here you have the opportunity to see what goes into taking care of the horses on a day to day basis. You feed them, brush them, interact with them, and of course take selfies. At the end of the tour you have the option to ride an Icelandic horse around the paddox. Riding a horse a couple times around a paddox is nowhere near as cool as riding one in the Icelandic countryside. However if you’re main priority is to learn about the Icelandic horse and interact with them you’ll really enjoy this tour. I walked away feeling very satisfied with the experience. But, if you’re main priority is to ride a horse then you’ll be very displeased. Just something to consider when picking your tour!

Hopefully, this helps you to find a fun, safe, and relatively inexpensive way to not only get that epic selfie but also learn and spend some quality time with an Icelandic horse. Oh! They also offer you free tea, coffee, or a hot chocolate with you tour. And believe me with everything being so expensive in Iceland you’re always trying to score a deal on FREE stuff! So fill up that belly!

Icelandic Horse Fun Fact

  • Icelandic horses live across the world and every single one is registered here.
  • These tough guys can stay outside till around -8 F and -22 C.
  • Icelandic horses have 5 gaits, the 4th (tölt) and 5th (flying pace) are unique to breed! Check it out.
  • Three to six months out of the year Icelandic horses “go on vacation“. They roam around the countryside and then very skilled herders go out to round them up once a year.
  • Locals feel the horses should, “get to be horses”! Check out this article to learn more about the herding of the Icelandic horse.
  • You can also check out this documentary Herd In Iceland which goes more into detail about Icelandic horses.
  • The Icelandic horse population is made up of 40 different colors with 100 variations.
  • Don’t you dare call an Icelandic Horse a Pony!!!

Additional Tips and Information

Hello my Icelandic horse friend. Adventure awaits!

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