One of the features of the Icelandic horse which makes it so unique is the variety of colors. Colors are not as important for breeders as they are in many other countries. And that is because you do not ride the color! Breeders are more concern about breeding the best stallion at each time than focusing on the color and that has lead to some colors almost got extinct. For a long time the grey color seems to be going extinct but luckily there are usually few grey stallions that are used for breeding.
The colors of the Icelandic horse can be a bit confusing since black horses are not called black but brown, and horses that seem to be brown are called ”Jarpur”and white horses are called grey. Many horses have so-called blazes and stars and are due to the genetic material that causes these forms to appear on the faces of the horses. These forms can both be regular and irregular and vary between horses.
Some horses are roan horses. Those horses can change colors when changing to summer or winter coat. There are not many horses in Iceland like this since there are not many roan stallions used for breeding. The change in colors occurs because they have different inner and outer color which grows when winter is coming and falls off during the springtime.