One of the most distinctive features of the icelandic horse is its gaits. The icelandic horse isthe ONLY 5 gaited horse in the world  

 







The gaits: walk, trot, tölt, canter and (flying) pace, the icelandic horse can do it all!
Drawing is from the NSIJP                          

Besides the gaits, some other special features of the icelandic horse are:

- more than 85 different colour varieties and patterns, among which the silver dapple colours and many dun colours, such as red dun,
blue dun and yellow dun. Furthermore there is a wide variety of colours such as buckskin, palomino, smokey  (creme based) and pinto
patterns as well a very rare colours like roan.

- because of its' dense bone structure the icelandic horse can easily carry upto 1/3 of its' own weight, which is why it easily carries adults.
Compared to a 'regular' horse this is much more; they can carry around 1/7 of their own weight.

- the icelandic horse is small, upto 1.45 M

- the icelandic horse can only be exported from Iceland. Once out of the country, it can never return to Iceland due to strict
import regulations of the Icelandic government

- the icelandic horse is a pure breed which has lived in isolation for over a 1000 years in Iceland, without being mixed with any other breeds

- the icelandic horse is well known for its super character and  friendly yet independent nature