Meet the horses

Of the eight we have today at our Icelandic horse farm, six hold Icelandic passports. The other two were born in the U.S. All horses here are trained in the Icelandic tradition, which means "in the nature".

No horse has entered Iceland for more than a thousand years, and once a horse leaves the island it can never return. These horses have been selectively bred for intelligence, courage, and hardiness, qualities that matter when you live in a rough, volatile environment that's pretty much always trying to kill you. Raised outside and kept wild for their first three to four years, Icelandic horses swim glacial rivers and climb treacherous lava rock. They are survivors.

They are badass.

They are fierce and fiercely loyal.

But they also have "the magic five" gaits. Besides the three gaits that most horses have (walk, trot, canter), Icelandic horses have a fourth gait, Tolt, that lets you ride up to 30mph without spilling your beer (yes, that's a thing we compete in.) Some Icelandic horses have the most prized gait of all, the Flying Pace. It is an all-out, racing gait, but when you ride it you have the sensation of floating in space.

When you see Icelandic horses in fast tolt, they all look like Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse of the Norse god Odin (father of Thor).