Icelandic Pony

The Icelandic horse is descended from horses brought to Iceland by settlers over eleven centuries ago. Comparison between the Icelandic horse, at the time of the settlement of Iceland, and ancient Norwegian and German horses show them to have similar bone structure. In addition to the standard walk, trot and canter, the Icelandic horse has tolt, a “running walk” similar to the gait found in the American Saddlebred, Paso Fino and Tennessee Walker. Some are also bred for a special "flying pace" or skold, which is a very fast lateral gait used for racing short distances. Some horses can reach almost 30 miles an hour using this pace.