Some thoughts on the imported horse 

These are general things that apply to most or all horses when exported, nothing to be afraid of.  But if you keep this in mind, it will be easier for you to understand your new horse's mind.

A big change lies ahead for the icelandic horse that is leaving it's home now and going to the big world.

It's the climate change. It is often easiest for the horse to be exported in a cold season, because then the temperature difference isn't a big one, and it gets slowly adjusted to the warmer climate and the bugs.  In the first summer in the new home the horses are often a bit lacking in energy, but soon they do well, and I'm often amazed when I travel abroad, and see how well the exported Icelandic horses are doing in temperatures around 100°F.  The climate in Iceland has not very cold winters, but not very warm summers, and there are not a lot of bugs here.

It's the change in feed.  The hay and grass in Iceland is very nutritious, and the horses here are often not used to eating grain or strong feed.  Alfalfa is not good in hay for Icelandics (at least not in a big percentage) as it's too high in protein, and should be evaded, they thrive better on good grass hay.  Feed your horse minerals and offer salt, and see if there are some special deficiencies in the hay in your area, so that you have to give your horse a special mix of minerals.  Fruits and vegetables are very expensive in Iceland, so the horse raised here has usually never eaten carrots and apples, but they learn soon the art of eating those delicaties.  Soft bread and grass pellets are the main treat in Iceland, and most horses appreciate them.

It's the environment, all the new things.  An unstarted horse will get slowly adjusted to them, but a started horse might be a bit scared the first time you ride it and show it the new things.

Have this in mind if you are going to ride the horse soon:

The horse has never seen a huge tree, higher than maybe 12 feet. The horse has maybe never seen a tree higher than around 3 feet. It needs to get to adjust to the huge trees, their "whispering" in the wind, their chaotic movements in the wind, and all the things that can jump from out of them, like dogs and deer. Barking dogs are frequent on the roads here but they can be seen from far away.  The horse hasn't been in a thick forest, where the horizon is so closed it can hardly see it's own hooves.  It hasn't been on roads with traffic, where there is no way to go from the traffic because the trees are growing to the edge of the road.  The horse has maybe never seen a harvest combiner or a truck with more than 8 wheels. It has never seen or heard a train. It has never seen emus, moleholes, irrigation pipes with water gushing out, beef cows (but usually they're used to dairy cows here and are not afraid of cows), deer, moose, pigs, big horses and such strange creatures. And there are thousands of other things I can't think even exist which it has never seen.  Give it a chance to see lots of scary things, while you are leading it like a dog around. You'll find out what the horse is concerned about in a safe place that way, and you can pet and comfort the horse if needed, and take the time to get the horse to trust you and the crazy stuff it sees. After a few such hand-walks you'll suddenly find that the horse is acting bored with the hand-walking, and then you can start to think about riding.

So, when people are bringing horses from Iceland, it's best to take as long time as one can to adjust them. Often people are treating them with "silk cloves" for the first two-three months, and not riding them for the first 4-6 weeks.  It's not nessesary in most cases to take such long time, but it's better to take too long time than hurry so much that the horse never can keep up with you, mentally.  I've sent a few horses to owners that were so exited they almost rode them off the plane, and even though it went superbly in those cases to ride the horses almost right away, I was on the werge of getting a heart attack from exitement up in Iceland *smile*, thinking about this.  I want the transition to happen safely for the new owner, and the horse.

It's also very good to go with another rider/horse for the first rides (an icelandic horse, or a big horse that your horse has gotten to know well and trusts), even for the first 2-3 months, if you can, that helps the horse.  I would not reccommend riding the horse untill it's been at least 5-6 weeks at his future home, the trip and all the changes drain it's energy a bit to begin with, and it's not untill after a few weeks that the horse becomes very self-confident again.

The horse has to adjust to new people, that speak language in which it knows no or only some of the verbal clues. The horse has to figure out the new words, and connect them with what it already knows, know that the new sound it hears means it's supposed to "trot" like "brokk" meant in old iceland, etc. It has also to adjust to a different style of riding, especially regarding the fact that in many countries riders are used sometimes to using much more leg than icelandic riders, and often much less rein contact. So, if you think your horse is going too fast, take off the lower leg (below the knee) and take more rein. With a smaller horse, you use the tights and the knees to "stick" on the horse, not the lower leg (just imagine the proportions, if you'd be using the lower leg on your icelandic, it would be comparable to riding with 50% longer legs on a quarter horse).

Start riding the horse in a small enclosure, preferably a pen/paddock, while you are getting used to each other. Many of the horses here in Iceland are also used to being driven into a barn to be ridden, instead of caught in a pasture, and for some of them it can take a few days to learn to be caught out in the open. Just give the horse treats when it's caught, and if the horse can't be caught in the start in pasture see if you can make some sort of u-corner in the pasture where it can be caught (with some sort of fencing), or drive the horse into a stall. Releasing the horse into pasture with a break-away halter to begin with can be enough to catch them untill they learn the art of eating treats. Another different thing is that usually people here lead the horses behind them, not beside the human. Your horse has propably learned to be led beside the human, but is not as used to it like following the human and will maybe hesitate to begin with.

One characteristic many icelandic horses have (and I actually prefer that type) is that when they're in confusion, seeing something scary, they're reaction can be to stop (while other types of horses often jump around if they are scared). So, to begin with, you can know that if the horse is stopping stiff and looking at things, staring, it's good to lead it up to the scary thing, and give it 15-30 seconds to check it out. Then it know's it's okay. If the horse stops and refuses to move, it might be seeing something for the first time in it's life.  This type of a horse is likely to think it's way out of scary situations, instead of running, if it isn't punished for it.  If a horse is scared, stops, and then gets kicked, it might learn that the next time it's propably better to run (to avoid the kick), and nobody wants that to happen.

Here in Iceland horses are usually mounted by holding the reins a bit tight while mounting (I look for horses that can be mounted with loose reins, and have propably mentioned this to you if your horse can't).  If your horse steps occationally forward when you mount it, you can try mounting it by holding the reins tighter, and see if this corrects the horse.

This is not a good time to start something totally new and exiting with your horse. Wait a bit untill you start teaching it to jump, or taking it to a crowded clinic where there are many riders at the same time in the ring, or doing something like that which is totally new and stressful to the horse. There are so many other things the horse has to figure out. Give the horse at least 2 weeks, or simply all the time you can stand to wait *s* to adjust, untill you see the horse is totally at ease. It might take less time, it might take more time.

Vaccines are absolutely nessesary. As we have virtually no infectous equine diseases in Iceland these horses have never had any vaccines. You need to talk to your vet about making a plan on how to vaccinate the horses, maybe some of it can be spread over time (so they're not dosed with everything at once). Also, one thing you need to know, is that some individual horses in this breed get something called summer exzema, which can be kept totally down by letting them wear special boett-blankets (which are not very expensive) a part of the year (with the blanket it doesn't bother them at all). If your horse gets the exzema, you can contact me, and I'll lead you to good resources of info.

Otherwise there are no breed-specific health problems.  The horses do not know how to seek for shade, as they are not used to intense heat, so if they have a mate at pasture (a horse which is used to the heat), that is good, then they can learn that it is for example cooler under the trees, by following the set example. The icelandics that are imported are though quick to learn this.

Remember that iceys need company, they'll be unhappy totally alone in a pasture or a barn, especially for more than a few hours (they can learn to be alone for shorter periods of time). They appreciate being with other Icelandics in the pasture, as they seem to use a tiny bit different sign language than other horse breeds, but in most cases they get very well along with horses of other breeds.

Iceys are herd bound, so it's easiest to either ride them without the company of other horses, or along with other horses. It can be difficult to ask your horse to leave other horses and riders you've been riding with, and if your mate rides away while you're mounting your Icelandic, your horse might get exited, so it's a good habit to wait untill everyone is mounted.

Often icey's seem conserned about sucpicious looking puddles, that's because bogs and quicksand-like mud-puddles are common in the nature here. They have to learn that your muddy puddles are not horse-eating monsters.  They usually learn it quickly.

Because of the dramatic climate changes the hooves of the horses in Iceland are generally in worse conditions than in many countries. On some farms the hoofcare of youngsters is not good enough either here.  That will improve very much over the first year in the new country, when the climate causes less changes in the feed.

Male horses almost never have their sheath cleaned here in Iceland (it's usually not needed), so if you have a gelding in your hands, he'll have to learn that. Clipping is also rare (no need for that) in Iceland and very likely your horse has never experienced that. Bugs are also rare here, so the horses have usually never encountered fly-spray before and have to learn to accept that.  As it rarely becomes very warm here, horses are usually not hosed down, and it's very likely that your horse does not like it to begin with.  Choose a warm day to do this for the first
time, and begin slowly, by using a hose with a little stream of water on the horse's feet.  Or use a bucket and a big sponge, to cool the horse with the sponge (it's less dramatic than the horse).

You do not have to be afraid that this will be too much, the horses that I choose for export are usually (if you have not asked for a different kind of horse) calm horses, horses that tend to think but not run if they aren't certain about what they are seeing. But this will maybe help you understand your horse, and give your horse a better chance to be a happy horse with a happy owner.