#icelandic horses

[maureen2musings]

pixelfaenger

[happyheidi]

𝐼𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑐 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑟 𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑛

[horsesarecreatures]

Icelandic horses by Shelley Paulson Photography

[jadeseadragon]

@phyllisburchettphoto

[dharmaart]

Photos of some Icelandic horses grazing in a nature reserve. I met these guys when I went for a walk on Christmas day.

[henk-heijmans]

Fumaroles, Icelandic horses, 2014 - by Tim Flach (1958), English

[equinesandeducation]

Finishing the first draft of my thesis in between packing for volunteering at the world championships Icelandic horses in Oirschot! Stella helping, like always 😌

[nostalgiaforinfinity]

icelandic horsies be too darn cute

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Icelandic Horses

Photo by Josh Dane

The Decisive Moments Magazine (TDM)

[strangebiology]

Icelandic Horses!

I saw some horses from my window but it looked like they were moving too fast to be walking, yet too smoothly to be trotting or cantering. It turns out--Icelandic horses have a gait called the tölt! And then some are trained to do "flugskeið," or "flying pace." I think more often just "skeið."

These are very smooth and unique in that both left legs move almost (not quite) at the same time, and then both right legs. The only other animals I've seen move in this pattern are giraffes and camels!

Also odd--they are 13-14 hands high on average, but not considered ponies!

Good thing I had learned the word "flugskeið," as I knew to follow the signs for "flugstöð" when I was looking for the airport...

Edit: some of these taken by @zhar-ptitsa!

[islenskihesturinn]

Tried to take a picture of her beautiful socks, got close ups of Lilja’s teeth and whiskers instead 🦷

(Which reminds me, gotta make an appointment with the equine dentist AND my own)

Aforementioned socks:

(It’s not a lot of sock per se but I like how it’s both chestnut and blonde) (it’s also time for the farrier I see)

[orionpolanosnox]

Site supervisor Leista monitoring everything from start to finish.

Success! She and the herd are pleased with the outcome.

[horsesarecreatures]

Icelandic horses by Shelley Paulson Photography

[jadeseadragon]

@linaimages

[horsefriends]

Two Horses Near a Cave by Evelyn Paris

[dodgermd]

Okay, but can we take a moment to think about how horse back riding is a really crazy sport, because you and your giant prey animal buddy spent most of the time feeling each other and like doing some really complicated things for two friends who just roughly speak the language of the other and still it works because horses are in fact the G.O.A.T.?!