The Icelandic horse was brought to Iceland by the Vikings, who are said to have taken their best animals with them well over 1,000 years ago. No other breed of horse is allowed into Iceland, so Icelandics are thought to be a pure breed. Despite their small size, they are classified as horses due to their bone structure and ability to carry heavy loads. In addition to the three traditional horse gaits, Icelandics have two special gaits; a Dane I met at the airport said it was like riding on air when on one of these horses.

Icelandic horses are everywhere on the island; they’re used as work animals as well as being rented out for riding and used for long treks into the interior.

We saw a herd of horses in a pasture on the Hvalfjörður fjord and stopped so I could take some pictures. Suddenly, they all came over to the fence, but there was a ditch separating us, so I walked around to where I could get to the fence, and the horses came over there, too. We visited for quite a while – they were just delightful -- friendly and very gentle. I’ll probably make an Icelandic horse sub-gallery later because we had several more encounters with these beautiful animals, but for now, will just post a few of my horse images.

For more information and some great pictures of Icelandic horses in action, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_horse