On Fri, Aug 24, 2007 at 12:31:59PM -0400, Karen Thomas wrote: > >>> Training usually begins when the horse is four winters old. > > Ima will soon be "four winters old". I call that 3.5 though and I'm not > planning to start her any time soon, at least not under saddle.
a horse considered ready to train is a coming five-year-old. > Hmm, that sounds like the same-old, same-old to me. yes, this is obviously a very basic page written by a non-native english speaker, outlining the basics in a short space. > I don't like the sound of "making it run in circles inside a fence." We do > very little "free lunging" (round-penning, whatever you want to call it) but > mainly just enough for the horse to feel how a saddle and girth feels, with > stirrups flopping, but without a rider up to add to the confusion. huh. i still do a lot of it with stjarni, who is quite grown, to see how he is moving without a rider (we do it without tack either, and our ring is not round, but i think the idea is the same) and also to work on voice commands. (i would not take a student on the trail if i weren't pretty sure stjarni responded to my "whoa" even when i'm not on his back.) > why should a horse have to wait to learn about "life in the stable" at the > same time he's about to learn so much else? because icelandics in iceland spend a lot of time out of the stable as well, and need to understand that (quite hazardous, if i understand the terrain) and herd dynamics very well to get along there. > Yeah, yeah, yeah. That "never-before-seen-gait"...unless you live in the > south, where it's called "rack"! :) i still think that the icelandic term "tolt" refers to a spectrum of gaits, including both the english "rack" and other english subterms such as the "amble" and "foxtrot" and "running walk". > >>> Once the training is completed the horse should either be gentle enough > for children and inexperienced riders or be able to compete in tournaments > with professional riders. > > And how long should that take? Why is it a given that most/all horses > should be able to compete in shows? Why not focus on the kind of training > the horse will be used for, instead of claiming the horse to be perfect for > all jobs. they SPECIFICALLY don't claim that; they said "or", not "and". --vicka
