>>> I've always been taught - and experienced - that horses with an upright >>> shoulder have a much harder, less comfortable trot.
I'm sure there are a lot of factors in determining how comfortable a horse is to ride, traits as simple as strength, relaxation and balance, so that may be true sometimes. As I said earlier, the upright shoulder suggests a shorter stride in front, but other joint angles/ bone lengths can work against, or for, that trait. Ironically, since the breed standard for Icelandic's is drifting more and more towards favoring high knee action (which seems stupid to me) whether they realize it or not, they are probably breeding for upright shoulders with long, angled humeruses. If they aren't breeding for that, then the poor horses will need harsher riding, and more weighted boots/shoes to manufacture that "lift." For instance, Melnir has both a well sloped, angled shoulder and a flat, long humerus, so he has a lot of "reach" in front...and no noticeable lift at all. (Thank goodness.) Melnir's trot is very smooth too, even though his front-end conformation is about as opposite from smooth-jogging Tivar's as you can imagine. I don't think Janice will mind me describing Tivar's conformation. Tivar jogs - and nicely too. His shoulder angle is pretty steep/straight, and his humerus does nothing to counteract that, so he's basically not built for much "reach" in front. His rear-end, however, IS built such that he can reach, and he has a back-end for running-walk or foxtrot. But his back legs can't reach, because of the restriction in the front. There's nothing about his back-end to make it hard for him to take shorter strides, and so he can do an awesome jog, so that tends to be his favorite gait. But, as a gaited horse, his front-end really doesn't match his rear. The great thing about Tivar's build is that all the traits predisposing a horse to long-term soundness and weight-carrying ability are there: big cannons, well-sprung ribs, wide chest, wide loins, no cow hocks, etc. Unfortunately, that's what happens when people only think about breeding a "four-gaited" or a "five-gaited" horse. There's just SO much more to consider. To me, a well-bred Icelandic horse should have all the soundness traits that Tivar has (missing in too many Icelandic's btw) PLUS have all the traits for gait too. Melnir has similar angles in his rear-end to Tivar's rear-end, but his front-end allows Melnir to easily foxtrot and run walk, as well as trot. Melnir also has good conformation traits for long-term soundness...but he's too small to be an ideal horse for a large person, like Cary. In other words, if Melnir could just share with Tivar a little bit of his shoulder angle, and Tivar could give Melnir just a bit of his "bulk", then we'd have two perfect Icelandic geldings. Or, we can just say that Melnir is perfect for me, and Tivar is perfect for Janice, and I'm thrilled with that. :) To me, it's usually not so much that a sloped shoulder is particularly a good thing or a bad thing - it depends on what job the horse is doing, and how well that particular body part blends into the big picture...and that we don't ask the horses to do something they aren't built for. Janice and Tivar seem perfectly well-matched, and they certainly have their fun times, so I really don't care about his shoulders. :) Karen Thomas, NC
