I also noticed in the videos of the pacers that their heads are pretty
steady and not tipping and torqueing like the Icelandic Horses when they
pace. Why the difference?
smaller proportionate heads maybe? stjarni's a 14hh creature with
shortish legs, but a full-horse-length head and and oversize throatlatch.
pacers tend to be longer-legged with smaller heads, so maybe the motion
doesn't propagate to unbalance them that way so much.
I don't think the size of the heads has anything to do with torqueing and
tipping of heads like we see in the Icelandic show videos. If that were the
case, then TWH, who generally have the world's most humongous heads, would
torque and tip when they speed rack or pace worse than any other breed. If
the size of the head has anything to do with the way that horses move, the
big heads MAY influence a more pronounced head nod at the walk, flat walk
and running walks. But a nod is not the same thing at all as a horse
tipping or torqueing his head. A nod is a rhythmic motion, in cadence with
the horse's footfalls. If Judy's thinking about what I think she means,
she's talking about a form of tension - as in fighting the bit.
And that is what I think the key difference here is. The pacing horses in
this video don't have bits, and the riders have given the horses the freedom
to use their heads as they wish. In Icelandic pace races, the horses are
often in shanked Icelandic bits, and almost always ridden with heavy
contact.
On the subject of head nods at the running walk and foxtrot, I've noticed
that, while there is a head nod present with a running walk and foxtrot in
Icelandics, it's not nearly so pronounced as in most TWH and MFT. I suspect
that's because most Icelandics have shorter necks than most of the TWH and
MFT, but maybe I'm wrong.
Karen Thomas
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
