>>>> Now, I doubt I would breed this mare, I just wanted an overall opinion. When looking at the MH breeds, I can hold my own, but I don't know much about this breed.
Ok, fair enough. I will warn you though to be very careful about believing some of the stories you'll hear. Personally, I can't tell you of a single bloodline I'd avoid in this breed. I was a little angered once to see someone write that a particular horse was "difficult, as offspring of his sire usually were." I happen to know several offspring of that sire, and they were all wonderful, easy horses. One thing to beware of, and I hate to say it, is that there are a lot of breeders and trainers in this breed who have owned horses for maybe 5-10 years, some less, and virtually all of their experience is with this one breed. That simply doesn't give them a lot of perspective. In the case I mention, I suspect that the so-called "difficult" horses had one thing in common - the same sort of training, and that training wasn't particularly easy or gentle. If you hear something bad about a horse or a line, please do yourself and the horse a favor and double and triple check it. I hate to see anyone walk past a good horse because of hearsay, or from conclusions too hastily drawn. And I really hate seeing a good horse not getting a fair shake in finding himself a good home, just because someone jumped to conclusions. Another couple of things to ask that might be a lot more relevant: who trained the horse, how was he/she trained, and how much attention did the horse get as a young horse. I worry more about young horses in this breed being too harshly started than about their bloodlines. If you'll send me the name of the horse off-list, I'll tell you if I own any close relatives - I own about 20 Icelandics, of different breeding. No guarantees, because any horse I own won't be a clone, but I'll tell you what I can. Karen Thomas, NC -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.16.14/636 - Release Date: 1/18/2007 4:00 AM
