Executive Summary

The Icelandic horse (íslenski hesturinn) is a small, unusually strong horse that has remained genetically closed for roughly a thousand years. Its compact size is often described as a case of island dwarfism, but the evidence points to a more mixed explanation: small founding stock, centuries of scarce forage and harsh winters, and deliberate selection by Icelandic farmers. Despite its size, the horse carries adult riders over rough terrain at a smooth, fast four-beat gait, and Icelanders insist on calling it a horse, never a pony.

Today the horse no longer serves as Iceland’s primary transport, but it remains central to the country’s agriculture, tourism, sport, exports, and national identity. It also sits at the center of one of Iceland’s most contested animal-welfare debates: the collection of blood from pregnant mares for hormone production.

1. Origins and Closed Breeding

The breed descends from horses brought by Norse settlers in the ninth and tenth centuries. It is the only horse breed in Iceland, and legislation prohibits the import of other breeds onto the island. The protection runs one direction only. Breeders warn that once a horse departs Iceland there is no turning back, because of the country’s strict health laws protecting Icelandic livestock.

The practical result is a population with almost no exposure to continental equine diseases and a remarkably uniform genetic base. Researchers studying pedigree and DNA data have concluded that the population is genetically uniform and, thanks to its size and a selective breeding program, well-off with regard to genetic diversity.

2. Size and the Island Dwarfism Question

Island dwarfism describes a widely observed pattern: large mammals confined to islands with limited forage tend to be smaller than their mainland counterparts. The Icelandic horse fits the pattern in appearance. Typical figures give a weight of 350–400 kg and an average height of about 140 cm, and a 1930 survey recorded the breed as small-sized, from 130 to 144 cm.

The classic island-dwarfism explanation, however, accounts for only part of the picture. Three factors deserve separate weight:

• Founder stock. The horses of Norse Scandinavia were already small. The settlers did not bring large horses that shrank; they brought small horses that stayed small.
• Environmental limitation. For most of Iceland’s history, horses wintered outdoors on sparse grazing, and famines (notably after the Laki eruption of 1783–84) killed large portions of the stock. A small body requires less feed and survives winter better, so lean conditions continually favored compact animals.
• Human selection. Farmers kept the horses that worked and survived. Size mattered less than hardiness, sure-footedness, and gait.

The honest conclusion is that the Icelandic horse is best described as an island-limited breed rather than a dramatic case of dwarfism. Its stature reflects small beginnings held in place by scarcity and selection, not a large animal reduced over time. Notably, well-fed Icelandic horses raised abroad do not grow into large horses, which indicates that the size is fixed in the breed rather than simply a product of poor nutrition.

3. Strength and Gaits

The Icelandic horse’s reputation rests on two qualities: load-bearing strength out of proportion to its size, and its gaits.

Strength. The breed is short-legged, deep-bodied, and densely muscled, with strong bone and hard hooves. It routinely carries full-grown adult riders across lava fields, rivers, and highland tracks. Research at Hólar University in Iceland has examined how rider weight relative to horse weight affects the animal’s exertion, and that work generally places a sustainable working range around a fifth to a third of the horse’s body weight, with stress markers rising toward the upper end. This is a high ratio for an animal of its size and explains why a 350 kg horse can do work that observers might expect only of a much larger one. Genetic work has also linked conformation and gait traits in the breed to variants in the myostatin (MSTN) gene, which governs muscle growth.

Gaits. Most horses have three natural gaits: walk, trot, and canter or gallop. The Icelandic horse adds two:

• Tölt — a four-beat lateral gait in which at least one foot always touches the ground. It is extremely smooth for the rider and can range from a slow walking pace to the speed of a fast gallop.
• Flying pace (skeið) — a two-beat lateral racing gait used over short distances at speeds that can approach 50 km/h.

The capacity for these gaits is associated with a variant of the DMRT3 gene, sometimes called the “gait keeper” mutation. In a country without roads for most of its history, a horse that covered long distances smoothly without exhausting its rider was worth more than a large one.

4. From Transport to Tractor Era

For centuries the horse was the primary means of transportation in Iceland, and the invention and use of tractors led to a considerable decline in the horse population. From the 19th century it also served as a draught horse and was bred as such until tractor power took over by the middle of the 20th century. The scale of the horse’s role in earlier Iceland was striking: a 1930 report noted roughly one horse for every two persons, far more per capita than any other European country.

The decline proved temporary. The breed found a second life in leisure riding, sport, and export, and the population recovered.

5. The Horse in Contemporary Iceland

Population. According to WorldFengur, Iceland had 92,000 horses in 2024, with 215,000 registered globally; the largest foreign populations are in Germany (73,000), Denmark (46,000), and Sweden (37,000). For a nation of under 400,000 people, that is still among the highest horse-to-person ratios in the world. The number of breeding stallions has risen from 400 to 1,481, and there are no subsidies for horse breeding in Iceland.

Agriculture and the sheep roundup. In the autumn roundup (réttir), farmers ride into the highlands to gather sheep that have grazed freely all summer. Much of this terrain remains impassable to vehicles, so the horse continues to do practical agricultural work that machines cannot.

Tourism. Horse trekking is a fixture of Iceland’s tourism sector, from hour-long rides near Reykjavík to multi-day highland expeditions. The tölt makes the breed unusually accessible to inexperienced riders, which suits the tourist market.

Sport and breeding shows. Competitive riding centers on gait performance, with national events such as Landsmót drawing riders and buyers from across Europe. Breeding evaluation is coordinated through WorldFengur, which has served as the studbook of origin for the Icelandic horse since 2001. The international federation FEIF links the breed’s communities in 26 member countries.

Exports. Iceland exported 1,318 horses in 2024 to 19 countries, with Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Sweden accounting for about three-quarters of the total. Export horses are a premium product precisely because the breed’s homeland remains closed and disease-free.

Meat production. Iceland also maintains a horsemeat market, chiefly from surplus foals, which is tied economically to the blood-farming issue below.

6. The Blood-Farming Controversy

The most serious contemporary issue involving the breed is the collection of blood from pregnant mares to produce equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG, also called PMSG), a hormone used mainly in intensive pig breeding to regulate fertility and synchronize reproduction. The eCG currently sold on the European market comes from Iceland, Argentina, and Uruguay.

An Animal Welfare Foundation investigation described around 100 establishments and 5,000 Icelandic horses involved, with five litres drawn from each mare weekly for up to ten weeks. The economics are straightforward: with foal prices at rock bottom, the mares’ blood became far more lucrative.

Regulatory pressure has mounted. In September 2023 Iceland accepted that collecting blood for PMSG falls under the EU directive on animals used for scientific purposes, admitting it had failed to meet many of that directive’s obligations, and committed to bring collections under full compliance from November 2023. Opposition has continued. In October 2025, 300,000 signatures urging the Icelandic government to stop blood farming were submitted. In 2026 the FEIF board again called on the Icelandic government to end the practice, with advocates arguing that alternatives already exist and that continued reliance on pregnant mares risks Iceland’s reputation for high animal-welfare standards. Defenders of the industry point to rural income and veterinary oversight; critics point to the volume of blood taken and the semi-wild temperament of the mares. The matter remains unresolved as of this writing.

7. Conclusions

The Icelandic horse demonstrates that size and capability are separate questions. Its small stature reflects modest founding stock held in place by centuries of scarcity and selection more than a textbook case of island dwarfism. Its strength, sure-footedness, and smooth gaits made it indispensable in a roadless country and now make it valuable in tourism, sport, and export.

Three pressures will shape its future: maintaining the closed breeding system that gives the breed its health and market value, balancing export demand against domestic stock, and resolving the blood-farming question in a way that protects both the mares and the breed’s international reputation.

Sources:

• NordGen – Equines in the Nordics: Iceland
• NordGen – Íslenski hesturinn
• IHSGB – Horses exported from Iceland 2024
• Hreiðarsdóttir et al., Icelandic Agricultural Sciences (2014)
• Iceland 1930 statistical survey
• Eurogroup for Animals – Products derived from equines
• Eurogroup for Animals – Iceland admits breach
• Eurogroup for Animals – Blood farm investigation
• IHSGB/FEIF – Press statement on PMSG (2026)