10. ADMIRE THE COUNTRYSIDE’S HORSES. The history of Iceland’s horses goes all the way back to the settlement of the island, making it one of the oldest horse breeds in the world. (It’s also the purest: No other horses are allowed into Iceland, and once an Icelandic horse has left, it can’t come back—
ever.) Like Iceland’s sheep, the horses are allowed to roam free for part of the year, and are herded together and returned to their owners in the fall. Icelandic horses work on farms, give rides to tourists, participate in competition, and end up on the dinner table. (According to Modern Farmer, if they weren’t culled, the horses would overpopulate the country, exhausting the natural resources, and starve to death.) These hardy and energetic horses, adapted to Iceland’s rugged terrain, are smaller than the equids you’ll find in other parts of the world, weighing up to 840 pounds and
measuring a little more than 4.5 feet tall. Just don’t call them ponies—Icelanders
find that insulting.