Nordic Championships for Icelandic horses

The Nordic Championships for Icelandic horses alternate between the Nordic countries, and on the 8th – 11th of August 2024, Denmark will host the event in Herning, in the middle of Jutland, close to Highway E45 and airport Billund.

So far Herning has – besides other big Icelandic horse events – hosted 2 World Championships and a Nordic Championship in 2014. Everything is very suitable for the Icelandic horse sport with good tracks for Icelandic horses and a competition area with complete facilities. The site of Herning is one of the best competition arenas in northern Europe.

The competition is organized in collaboration between the Danish Icelandic Horse Association and the organization team of NM2024.

NC is usually held every two years.

There will be up to around 250 horses, accompanied by their riders and grooms. In addition to this, the national team of each participating nation comes with its coaches and team members as well as family.

During the event, the competitions are the main focus, but the event is also a large festival that brings people of all ages from all over the Nordic region together. During the competition breaks and in the evenings there will be additional program and events. Besides the competition area visitors will be offered a food court with different food trucks and stalls. There will also be a market with booths where both Danish and foreign companies offer their products for sale.

Icelandic horse competitions can be interesting for everybdy, including people who are not Icelandic horse riders or owners. In short, at competitions for Icelandic horses participants are judged for their presentations in the different tests. The Icelandic horse differs from other horses because they have two extra gaits; in addition to walk, trot and gallop, they also have tölt and pace. The focus in the different classes is thus to show the horse’s gaits and rideability as correct and smooth as possible.

On the oval track, the riders and horses compete in sport and gaeðinga competitions where the gaits are judged. In addition to the competition disciplines arranged on the oval track, more fast-paced pace competitions are also arranged on a special track. Everybody, regardless of age and gender, competes on exactly the same conditions in the different classes and disciplines.