Horses : Icelandic Pony

Country of Origin

Iceland 

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Australian Status

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Uses

Hacking, trekking, pony club, shepherding, harness.

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Breed traits

Height 12 to 14hh. Known for their hardiness and distinctive gait of the tolt. Some have two extra gaits - the tolt and the pace - both are comfortable for travelling at speed in the saddle. Another distinctive breed trait is the wonderful range of colour genes. Broken colours are seen as well as bay, chestnut, grey, black, brown, dun, buckskin, palomino, silver dapple and so on - over 40 different colours and shadings. Full, thick mane and tail. Good temperament and the intelligence that comes with a breed that can fend for itself in the wild. Weight carriers. Sure-footed and strong.

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History

Vikings, many from Norway, took ponies to Iceland in the 10th century and settled there. The ponies adapted to the harsh climate and thrived; the isolation creating a breed that is now over 1,000 years old. Eventually, they became part of the economy and were traded back to Scandinavia, Scotland and Europe.

The terms 'Icelandic Pony' or 'Icelandic Horse' are both correct, as in the Icelandic language there is an inclusive word, hestur, for all horses and ponies, with no separate word for pony. They are pony sized in their homeland and some other places, however once bred on in the west in more benign environments, can grow to 15 hands and over, which is considered horse size. Ponies are generally defined as under 14.2 hands and horses over that height.

History in Australia

Mid 1990s. Earlier news articles here mentioned Icelandic ponies taken to Scotland and England in the nineteenth and early twentieth century (one load as late as 1944) primarily for mine work. Some of these steamer loads were re-shipped to Australia and America and usually sold as Shetland Ponies according to news reports; nothing concrete but probable. They also came more distantly, in the bloodlines of Scottish and English ponies sent here. There is one known arrival of four Icelandic ponies, in 1862, per the Venus, at Hobson's Bay, Melbourne. In 1868 a "beautiful little Iceland pony" went on the steamer Hero from Melbourne to Sydney, probably one of those four from the Venus.

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Breed Organisation

Icelandic Horse Association Australia

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Australian Population

2022  27 stallions; 150 mares

Photo Credit

Top: Icelandic Horse Gledi from Pennys Road owned by Gillian Hall-Smith, photographed by Laura Hall-Smith, Barossa SA.

Bottom: Geldi from Pennys Road and RA from Heldane by Laura Hall-Smith.

Page by Janet Lane

(population updated 08/05/2020 & photo updated 29/05/2020 by A.Y.)

 

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