Aug 3, 2023

Together, let's protect Icelandic horses from infectious diseases

Are you on your way to Iceland? Here are a few must knows before coming.

In 982 AD the Icelandic Parliament, the Althing, passed a law prohibiting the importation of horses into Iceland. Even exported Icelandic horses cannot go back. This isolation of over a millenium on the island has lead to Icelandic horses having a unique genetic heritage as well as the great characteristics we know today.

However, this also means that Iceland in in a unique situation in the world where diseases such as strangles, equine influenza, equine herpes virus type 1, and many other serious illnesses have never reached the country.

We would of course want to keep it this way and therefore ask anyone going to Iceland to read the poster below.

Here is a downloadable version

 of the poster you can share on your webpage or print out and hang anywhere you'd like.