>I don't think that the icelandic riding style is anywhere near how we ride >the horses here. Oh, I agree - but that's also changing. You only have to look at various websites from Iceland which now advertise horses which stand still on a loose rein to be mounted, tolerate the rider flapping their arms and legs etc. You would never have seen that 10 years ago.
> >The icelandic riding and training style may use the words but the underlying >knowledge of the how and why of horsemanship is just not there yet, in my >opinion. Can I ask, without meaning to be contentious, how long ago it was that you visited Iceland? I believe it was a while? Things really, really have changed. You may not see it on the videos, or on the internet, or in the magazines, but look around the horse people and it's obvious. > >How could that possibly be true when we have so many horses imported from >Iceland that do not have brakes? Maybe you are importing the wrong horses? ; ) Certainly the horses which come here from Iceland all have reasonable brakes these days. > >I think perhaps we are talking about different things. Are the "good >brakes" you are talking about occurring because the horse has a tight >noseband and the rider braces in the stirrups and pulls on the horse's mouth >with all his weight, and the bit digs into the palate of his mouth? Absolutely not. The good brakes I mean are the ones cued by tightening the thigh muscles and sitting "down" slightly more, at the same time as giving a half halt. Hardly any rein contact... (though the horse may well be wearing a drop noseband, correctly fitted). I really wish you could come and ride some of the horses trained here by a typical Icelandic trainer - or many of them (not all, of course) in Iceland. > >I don't see having good brakes as the horse being ridden on a casual rein, >stopping when the rider asks by an imperceptible cue from his body. > And you can see that more and more often now in Iceland. NOT often on the competition videos etc, it's true, but visit the majority of trainers, go round the horse houses etc, and you will see it. I think as there are more and more "hobby riders" in Iceland (many of them women, working mums etc), as opposed to competition or "working" riders, the "USA-type" horse gets more and more popular - and of course, easier to find for buyers, as the trainers tend to train the horses to sell. Now, if you go to Iceland saying you want to buy "a competition horse" you may get the more old-fashioned yee-haa thing, but even there, there's much more emphasis on suppleness, obedience and being pleasant to ride. Mic Mic (Michelle) Rushen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Solva Icelandic Horses and DeMeulenkamp Sweet Itch Rugs: www.solva-icelandics.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes"
