On Wed, Jan 10, 2007 at 04:54:53PM -0800, Judy Ryder wrote: > > i have no knowledge of farriery, but it seems that the > > "normal realms of shoeing" in iceland include practices > > you don't approve of. i guess i think being educated > > about the effects (whether or not they are within your > > idea of "normalcy", as long as they are things students > > are likely to encounter) is a good thing. > > > Gosh, Vicka, I'm not sure what you said above, but a gaited horse should > retain it's gait, at liberty, without shoes, without being dependent upon > angles.
well, you could read what i said again. but it in no way contradicted what you said, either. holar does teach farriery; gudmar learned it there, and stjarni came with shoes (four plain shoes; i have no way to judge angles, but my next farrier didn't say they were odd) that gudmar had put on. stjarni's gaits have been fine, except that he got kind of clumsy when it was too long between trims, and his back feet were "ouchy" for a few weeks when they were first bare. right now he's shod in front (with borium, for the sake of ice -- it really is icy out today) and bare in back. i haven't noticed any changes in his gaits like that, unless something i'm attributing to our work on gaits (a more four-beat tolt with fewer breaks into trot, and better sustained trots with fewer breaks into tolt) is due to his new (standard for all breeds in this area) shoeing arrangement. > For the most part, the iceland-style training works on forcing gait (for > example, with the heavy contact), or obtaining gait mechanically, by > manipulating shoes, angles, weights, concussion, etc. so you say. i did not, however, see this evident in the one shod-by-a-holar-alum horse i've viewed extensively, nor did i see it in the other horses at his barn, who all appeared to have quite straightforward "four plain shoes all around" (they have a lot of sharp gravel trails, which is why they shoe in general; when i asked about changing stjarni to go barefoot gudmar said he thought it would be a good idea if my terrain was not nasty). > This type of gait is not solid. It will come and go, depending on tack, > footing, who is riding, contact, etc. honestly, it seems to me that all gaits come and go depending on tack &c. a saddle misplaced or misfit, as we discuss at length, can vastly affect gait. stjarni will offer me trot at once if i ask for it *just* the way he wants, but by and large he offers tolt to new riders, and if they post (mistaking it for trot) he paces. in mud, stjarni really prefers to walk, unless i make a fuss to push him through it. none of this seems odd to me; does it seem to you that he's not "solid" for these behaviors? > A solid natural gait is one that you can put grandma or a baby on, and the > horse will gait, if asked, whether the rider knows how to get gait or not. stjarni will tolt for anyone. he'll trot if asked nicely, and as he trots beautifully at liberty, i suspect this is the result of his experience (that some of his earlier riders preferred tolt). i guess my question is, should i not consider the trot one of his natural gaits? by the above standard i shouldn't, but i don't think that's very fair or descriptive of him or his abilities. > We'd like to see the training be more natural, allowing the gait to come out > and rise to the top when the horse is properly prepared. i agree with that! --vicka
