The story of the Dalacarlian Horse
How come that a painted wooden horse became one of the most famous symbols of Sweden? And why did we choose to make that particular horse our own?
Follow us on a short trip through the history of the Dalecarlian Horse.
For us humans, horses have been important practically since the dawn of time. They arrived in Sweden in about BC 2000 along with the Neolithic Battleaxe people (as we call them today), who had learned to tame them and set them to work. Horses, whether used for riding or carting, soon became valued as a means of transport and were seen as a symbol of strength, courage, loyalty, wisdom and dignity.
Horses were also a symbol of the mysterious beyond; they seemed possessed of an inherent holiness, and in Nordic mythology they were the property of the Gods. Odenís own steed was the eight-legged Sleipner.