ABSTRACT
This chapter critically analyses the way in which the national sport and heritage festival of Icelandic horses and riding of Landsmόt in Iceland functions as an arena for the construction and expression of identities. The event is found to be constructed as a professional equestrian sporting event and at the same time as a heritage festival closely connected to national Icelandic identity, related to rurality, farm life, relation to nature and the outdoors as well as horsemanship. This overall image of Landsmόt clearly adds to the branding of Iceland as a tourist destination for; nature experiences, outdoors with particular focus on riding and encounters with horses. The images of the festival also connect the festival with rurality, with horsemanship and gendered identities of the participants as well as the visitors.
