>>> "Many breeds develop within themselves specialized types of horses, where a halter horse is quite different than a show jumper, and the jumper still different from the western pleasure mount. The Haflinger, on the other hand, has breed shows that are designed to encourage that breed's versatility, and "all around" horses are what the breed strives for.... The AHR National Show features the breed in classes such as English pleasure, western pleasure, dressage through Second Level, bareback equitation, barrel racing, pole bending, jumping, leadline, draft halter, pleasure halter, various driving classes from pleasure driving and reinsmanship to draft teams. Many individual Haflingers place in a variety of events.
See, I can see Icelandic's being shown that way - maybe not all in all those classes, and probably not many to second level dressage, for example. I don't know how well the Haflingers meet that goal as a rule, but I think there are a lot of people who like to dabble or play around with their horses in various ways. That's an appealing image to me, and to a lot of people, I think. Contrast that to Icelandic's, where if dressage is mentioned, it may be to talk about Spanish Walk, or levade or piaffe. Those are extremely difficult and advanced moves, WAY above second level - and when they ARE demonstrated, they are usually demonstrated incorrectly. I think it looks a heck of a lot more credible to people for a breed to mention a more reasonable level of a sport, and actually follow through, as opposed to talking about exaggerated accomplishments and looking silly in the process. Which of those classes would Icelandic's NOT be able to do, at least to some degree? I don't think we're going to see many AQHA-type western pleasure winners, but I can think of three Icelandic's who have nice jogs...Some of the more strongly gaited Icelandic's may not be able to trot strongly enough to do the dressage, but some certainly can. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
