>>>> Hey, maybe we should be referring to "German Traditional Icelandic Style Riding...."! ; )
No, no, no. Now, Mic, that's not politically correct at all. :) Ironically, the two people I met first and spent time with in conjunction with Icelandic horses were Anneliese and Christine Schwartz...both Germans for whom I have great respect. Come to think of it, they both have great senses of humor, so they'd probably take it ok. We can amend the name to be the Non-Christine-Non-Anneliese-German-Traditional-Icelandic-Riding-Style. Catchy, huh? The real irony to me is how this has gone full circle in a few decades - speaking of the German influence I mean. I've heard from a couple of different sources this story and I believe it. When the first boatloads of Icelandics went to Germany (1960's maybe?) there were essentially no gaited horses at all left in Northern Europe. So...where did they turn? The version I've always heard was that there were a few American Saddlebreds being imported into Germany about that time - so they turned to some American show horse trainers. And of course, a look back at history will show that the darkest era in American gaited horse history was probably about the 1960's and 1970's...in the show ring. By the time I got my first TWH, in the late 1980's, the Big Lick thing was already going into its backlash phase here in the USA, at least in my part of NC. But then people like Janice and me who have known gaited horses for a long time got into Icelandics, and we see some eerie similarities and we got lectured to "educate ourselves." Duh. Honestly, those of us who have been around American Saddlebreds will tell you that the similarities to today's Icelandic showing is not funny at all. It's downright scary. Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.12/1203 - Release Date: 12/30/2007 11:27 AM IceHorses Community for Photos and Videos: http://kickapps.com/icehorses "The greatest enemy of the truth very often is not the lie- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer [] Lee Ziegler http://leeziegler.com [] Liz Graves http://lizgraves.com [] Lee's Book Easy Gaited Horses http://tinyurl.com/7vyjo [] IceHorses Map http://www.frappr.com/IceHorses Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IceHorses/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IceHorses/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
