Let me paint the picture, you’re vacationing in Iceland, but work emails keep on coming through breaking your holiday groove. Luckily the tourism division in Iceland noticed this problem, and brought quite the creative solution: Let Icelandic horses type your out-of-office emails for you!
Launch of the OutHorse Your Email Campaign
In their recent initiative to promote the relaxation of their visitors, the tourism division of Iceland launched the OutHorse Your Email campaign. Where they trained the pony-sized Icelandic horses to walk over a large keyboard replica to type out-of-office emails. Your boss will never guess that the email reading “PPIYEGgjaea fbjk”, did not originate from you!
Choosing Your Equine Email Assistant
On the OutHorse Your Email website you can sign up and choose one of the Icelandic horses to write your email. Each has a very cute and entertaining CV with a photo and a short write-up of their writing style – my favorite is described as assertive, efficient, and has shiny hair. Actually, it’s not that easy to choose, because I relate to the fast typer who might take a nap. But, who can ignore the friendly, trained in corporate buzzwords applicant?
I guess there is only one way to test their capabilities – let them write my next out-of-office email!
Get to know Icelandic Horses
Now that the Icelandic Horses grabbed our attention, let’s look into some interesting facts about these magical animals.
| Height | 52 – 56 inches. But the tallest recorded was 61.8 inches and the shortest 44.4 inches! |
| Weight | 730 – 840 lbs |
| Demeanor | Spirited, friendly with large personalities. |
| Gait | Five-gaited breed |
| Color | Over 40 |
The Five-gaited Icelandic Horse
An animal’s gait is the pattern of movement of its limbs during locomotion. Basically, it is the way an animal moves from one place to another. An animal’s gait is influenced by their anatomy, biomechanics and the purpose of the movement, for example walking, running, climbing or swimming.
Icelandic horses have an additional two gaits compared to other horses. Naturally, horses can walk, trot and gallop but to Icelandic horses two additional gaits – tölt and flying pace – come naturally. Many of these pony-sized horses are five-gaited horses being able to achieve all the mentioned gaits. Others are considered four-gaited, as they cannot achieve Flying Pace.
Tölt
The tölt is a distinctive four-beat gait in which a horse’s footfall happens on the same side of its body, creating a rhythmic sequence: right hind leg, right foreleg, left hind leg, left foreleg. This half-suspension gait involves moments when all four limbs are off the ground. The support movements alternate between one and two limbs, setting the Icelandic Horse apart from other breeds
Flying Pace
The Flying Pace is a key trait of Icelandic horses, featuring a two-beat gait with momentary suspension. Limbs on the same side move in synchronized fashion: right hind leg, right front leg, suspension, left hind leg, left front leg. Ridden at high speeds over short distances, this pace is recognized as one of the oldest Icelandic sports.
The Colors of Icelandic Horses
Icelandic horses are seen in over 40 different colors! These colors occur in variants of their base color – any shade of chestnut-red, black-brown, or bay. On top of these base colors, the other color variants appear – dun, skewbald, grey, palomino, roan, silver-dapple and splash-skewbald. With the rarest colors being roan and sabino. In fact, the first sabino was only recorded in 2003, and the second in 2013 and today all sabino’s are traced back to these two!
With the second rarest color being roan. Roan horses are known for having different colors in winter and summer compared to spring and autumn. Showing their true color in winter and summer coats, but appear white in autumn and spring as their middle coat has no color!
Last word on Icelandic Horses
The OutHorse Your Email campaign playfully tackles work-email woes during vacations while showcasing the charm of Icelandic Horses. Grabbing our attention with their corporate email skills, unique gaits and variety of colors in celebration of these small, hardy companions.
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