--- Karen Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In that realm, can Icelandic's do ok? Well, first > of all, you don't look at > the BREED, you look at the individual horses, one by > one.
That's true, but how is the breed supposed to be promoted? I wouldn't think that generally a gaited horse is really great at jumping. I wouldn't buy a gaited horse if jumping was what I wanted to do. Icelandics are supposed to be gaited, but a lot of them tend towards trot, I think that is why some of them might not be so bad at jumping. I can't imagine very naturally gaited horses being able to jump too well. I used to jump and I don't think I would want to try approaching a jump without a clean trot or canter, you really have to pace them to get them to take off at the right place, if their gait isn't clean, that could be a disaster. It's hard enough to pace them without throwing gait into the mix. I honestly can't imagine trying to jump my gaited filly ever, I look at her and she just isn't built for it, just doesn't move the right way. I'd rather see less trotty Icelandics rather than be able to promote them as jumpers, there are plenty of pony jumpers out there, I had a couple of them as a child, inexpensive and unregistered, and ungaited. Kim
