Physically

Icelandic horses ...

... range in height from 12:2 to 14:2 hands.
... range in weight from 800 to 900 pounds.
... are much stronger than their size suggests; they can carry even heavy riders with ease. (Vikings were not tiny people!)
... can out-pull most other breeds by a ratio of 1.6:1 by weight.
... were never bred for color, so they come in all colors; grays, chestnuts, bays, blacks, palomino, paints, silver dapples, all kinds of dun and 40 other shades.
... are extremely feed efficient; they do well on scarce pasture and get fat on average pasture.
... mature late. They are not started under the saddle until they are around five years of age. They grow until they are seven and live into their thirties and forties.

Personality

Icelandic horses ...

... are very smart and have wonderful, calm, inquisitive dispositions.
... learn quickly and like interacting with humans.
... have a genuine desire to please.
... are great for trail riding because they are not afraid of anything and rarely spook.
... are great for fearful riders because they're calm.
... are good for endurance riding, riding for the handicapped, showing and even jumping, pulling carriages - you name it: they are a versatile breed.
... are safe around children; it is extremely rare to find one that would bite or kick a human. Aggression towards a human was the quickest way for an Icelandic horse to become dinner!

Icelandic horses are smooth in all of their gaits:

Walk: a four-beat gait with at least two feet on the ground simultaneously; most Icelandic horses have an extremely smooth, ground-covering walk.
Tölt: a four-beat lateral gait with at least one foot on the ground - similar to what is called a "rack" in America. It can be performed at a variety of speeds from slow to very fast and is very smooth.
Trot: a two-beat diagonal gait with a moment of suspension with no feet on the ground.
Canter: a three-beat gait with a moment of suspension.
Flying pace: a two-beat lateral gait with a moment of suspension. This is a fast racing gait ridden for short distances on straight, flat ground at speeds of up to 30 mph. Not all Icelandic horse offer this gait.

Icelandic horses are a breed apart.

Only 100% purebred Icelandic horses are can be registered; all of our horses come with registration papers.
Icelandic horses have been purebred in Iceland over the last 1,000 years and have evolved by selection by both nature and man. Famine, volcanic eruptions, harsh winters, difficult terrain and horse-eating humans weeded out the weak and ill-mannered specimens.
Only the strongest, healthiest, smartest, and sweetest survived - with the conditions in Iceland, an unsatisfactory horse was a liability that the Icelanders couldn’t afford.

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