I got carried away in my last post, and was heading for snow, before I had posted about these marvellous creatures. The ancestors of the Icelandic horse were probably taken to Iceland by Viking Age Scandinavians between 860 and 935 AD. The Norse settlers were followed by immigrants from Norse colonies in Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Western Isles of Scotland. They are pony size, but are referred to as horses. In fact on the 4 x 4, I said pony, and I got an Icelandic hard stare from our driver, until I corrected myself. These were the first horses we saw and the lovely Icelandic driver, just incase he reads this, stopped and let us take some photos of these lovely little horses.
As we were making our way to the snow, we returned over the lava fields, and this time we could see the moss very clearly, the moss is a lichen whose erect or upright, leaflike habit gives it the appearance of a moss, where its name likely comes from. We stopped again so we could take some more photos of the moss. rocks and lava fields. I like taking some photos of the houses, although a few are holiday homes with fantastic views. The next post will be a snow one.
Cruise – March 2018
Echoes of the Past 
What wonderful horses! So shaggy, which they would have to be to live in Iceland. Thanks for the close-ups of the moss. Hard to believe how old they are. Is that a rift from an earthquake? I know Iceland has that kind of geology. The brightly colored houses are great. I’ll bet they really stand out in the snow. 🙂
Yes the rift is from an earthquake, although it is quite small, I will be taking you to a much larger one soon, I hope 🙂 And the little horses are just so cute, and they are more horse than pony……you will see the difference when I post about the Shetland ponies 🙂
So glad you remembered these lovely little ponies. 🙂 (They look like Shetland Ponies after all!)
They have such nice warm shaggy coats. 🙂
So glad you like them, they are just so little and cute, they are more horse than pony, but pony size, I would love one…….but not sure the dogs would like it 🙂
I would love to have one grazing on my lawn, but as you say – what would my dog make of it? 😀
Yes quite so, what would they think, my smallest would think ….dinner 🙂
They are beautiful little horses. They look so much like the wild mustangs (ponies)on Assateague Island , as a young girl ,when we would visit that beach ,the horses would sometimes show themselves. Sad to say I haven’t been to that beach in ten years!😏
I googled Assateague Island and what wonderful place, thank you for mentioning it……love to see new places. They do look similar to the wild mustangs. Maybe one day you will return, I think I would like to walk along the beach with the ponies 🙂
I sure want too!
Very nice photos
Thank you, glad you liked them 🙂
The roads here look amazing.
Yes the roads are great, no big pot holes like we came across on the Isle of Skye just over a week ago. The roads there are terrible at the moment.
That’s good. Although there’s something to be said for a bump road too though. Really, I meant more, they just look like there are adventures at the end and along each of them and are amazing in that sense. The biggest road hazard I’ve come across in Skye has been almost plague levels of frogs along the lanes.
Ha ha, yes they do look like it and of course there are great adventures to be had, especially for adventurous young people 🙂 Interesting about the frogs, would love to see that 🙂
The frog thing was plain weird. They littered the whole road. I have some notes about it I’ll publish soon if you have an interest. Can’t wait for some Iceland adventures though.
Yes please do a post a post on them 🙂 You will love Iceland, lots to do 🙂