Cold, warm, Icelandic fire and spectacle, are the ingredients for the 3rd European Championships for Icelandic horses on ice.
Warm, cold, Icelandic fire and spectacle is what Horses On Ice offers you on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

After successful previous editions (2006, 2007 and 2009) Horses On Ice (HOI) will be even bigger in 2011. The competition format is changed, a large grandstand will be built in the ice rink, there is a food-square and there will be a nice shopping ‘village’.

As in 2009, Horses On Ice 2011 will be once again (held under the auspices of the FEIF), the European Championship for Icelandic horses on ice held in Haarlem.
The organization expects approximately 100 participants (50 national and 50 international riders) will give their appearance on ice.

All information about the event Horses On Ice can be found on this site even as general information about the Icelandic horse.

Riding contests with the Icelandic horse on ice seems to be a promising form for competition. According to experts the ice floor is ideal for the Icelandic horse. Nowhere are their gaits so explosive, their movements so impressive and the Icelandic horse so much in its own element as on the ice.

To make this event even a bigger show, we decided to change the competition form, the horses will only be shown at one long side of the ice rink. In the normal Icelandic competitions we know this as Gæðingakeppni, but the horses will not go back and forth on the ice, they will show their gait at one long side of the ice rink.

Previously the test were held over the full length of the track (400 meters), leaving only a small part of the track to be overlooked. Since the organization of Horses On Ice is always looking to improve our event, but also the fact that we find horse welfare very important, we have decided to make a new competition form.

On the inside of the ice rink there will come a grandstand with 2500 seats, making it even better for the public to follow the competition.

All participants are personally invited by the organization to determine both the quality and safety of the event.
The invitation is bases on an invitation policy with makes it possible for both riders and public to see how to select.
The invitation policy of this edition of Horses On Ice can be found on this site.

The Icelandic horse is a small but sturdy animal, which was bred in isolation on Iceland since the early Middle Ages. Characteristic of the horse are the extra gaits, the tölt and pace. Well into the twentieth century, horses were the main means of transportation in Iceland.

In the winter they drove over frozen lakes and rivers. Formal competitions with Icelandic horses we know from the late nineteenth century when the first horse competitions in Iceland were organized.
More information about the Icelandic horse and the history of driving on ice can be found on this site.