September 2025 -- Two animals are part of Iceland's national identify: sheep and horses. Like Icelandic sheep, the Icelandic horse (hestur) is the only breed in Iceland and one of the purest breeds in the world. They are the original Viking horse, descending from the horses brought to the island by Viking settlers in the 9th century.
Viking horse
Pretty paint
Lara making a friend
Back to back
Compared to US horses, Icelandic horses are smaller, only 13 to 14 hands high and 730 to 840 pounds. Many would call them a pony. But they are considered a horse and they are strongly built. It goes without saying that the Icelandic horse is hardy and rugged. While the sheep spend the winters inside being fed, the horses stay outside all year-long. They have a double-coat for insulation in the winter.
I like horses, too.
Seeking attention from passers-by
I challenged Lara to find sheep grazing under a waterfall. After all, there are waterfalls and sheep everywhere in Iceland. How hard could it be? I wanted to get a picture. We found sheep grazing in the foreground of a glacier, but never a waterfall. But we found a horse grazing in the foreground of a waterfall. There was another horse nearby with a foal.
In front of a waterfall
She's got a baby!
Close up of a beauty
During our trip around the ring road, Lara and I stopped many times to view horses and take pictures of them. They were a constant site. We observed them in larger groups than the sheep, which were generally scattered unless they had already been rounded up, in which case they were grazing the bottomlands, mostly hayfields.
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