>>>>> Since I am on my soapbox..... They are called Icelandic HORSES only >>>>> because they are horses not ponies...... <<< > > Hi Christopher, could you explain how you come to the conclusion that the > Icelandics are horses and not ponies? How do you, as an individual, > define > or separately categorize horses and ponies?
Let's look at this logically. >>>Only in America is a pony defined by height and not ability.... A "pony" is defined by height in the show world. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with pony characteristics. My 14 hand TWH will never be a "pony", and my 14.3 hand Icelandic will never be a "horse". Pony is not defined by "ability". There are certain pony characteristics that make ponies ponies. http://iceryder.net/pony.html See the information about the ancestors (ponies) of Icelandics: [] http://iceryder.net/ancestors.html [] http://iceryder.net/origin.html [] http://iceryder.net/historyshort.html >>The Icelandic horse is the only horse that is 12 to 14 HH and can carry a >>250lb man (or Woman) for hours unaffected.... That would kill most >>ponies... << I'm not sure that's true, on two accounts. Many pony breeds can carry adults. Whether they can carry 250 lbs for hours being unaffected, we don't know that as there have been no studies proving it. Icelandics have high incidence of spavin... maybe they are hurting by carrying large riders. What about the Fjord Pony, being stouter than an Icelandic, and with a back that does not sag as much with a rider? Can the Fjord Pony carry more weight with less negative impact than an Icelandic? >>The rest of the world calls them horses why do Americans have such a >>problem with this..... <<<< I don't think that's really true. The rest of the world seems to understand they are ponies and call them as such. In Europe, they don't seem to have a problem calling them a pony: http://www.island-pony.com/ http://www.amazon.de/Keine-Angst-Islandpony-Krista-Ruepp/dp/3314014023 http://www.research-projects.unizh.ch/p3439.htm http://www.norway.com/directories/d_company.asp?id=6075 http://www.pferdeecke.de/wissen/rassen/island-pony.html http://www.kindernetz.de/oli/tierlexikon/pics/druckversion.php?tid=38&reiter=steckbrief http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isl%C3%A4nder_(Pferd) http://www.pferde.de/index.php?id=646 http://www.tiere-rassen.de/pferde/pony/island-pony/ http://www.pferde-wissen.net/island-pony.html http://www.islandpony.ch/ http://www.world-of-animals.de/tierlexikon/tierart_Islandpony.html http://www.reitenonline.de/pferdewebverzeichnis/reitsportwebverzeichnis_registrieren.php http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Journals/Journal/450483 Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
