> > stjarni was trot-challenged only due to his training; i think his > previous owners did not love trotting the way i do. at this point, > after a few months with trot-loving me and a bunch of good advice, he > picks up the trot readily (from walk, tolt, or canter) and stays in it > as long as the footing's good, and does it beautifully (albeit quickly; > he hasn't learned to rate it yet). i may indeed try to teach some people > to post on his trot later this spring (i'm now quite on my own, and he's > my only school horse) but we'll do that on the lunge line and see how it > goes; if he doesn't keep the trot easily it i will recommend they take a > few lessons elsewhere until they can post well enough to keep stjarni > happy with it. > > --vicka, owner of a 14h chunky tank ;) >
I think as he trots more and more he will develop muscles and brain wiring to trot, will probably end up being an expert trotter. As a person who is relatively new to icelandics and the whole euro mindset with horses, as a person immersed in the southern gaited horse aristocracy both geographically and actually, I literally cringe when I read about people who encourage even a minimal of trot or pace in a strongly gaited horse. When I read about it being encouraged so strongly I am just apalled. but thats me, where I come from, in my world. A beautiful natural easy gait is just such a prescious thing... Around here, you are just so blessed and lucky to have a well gaited horse, people who value gait would not take the least chance on messing that up. To lock in gait in a young horse, people either use cruel devices/methods etc., or like me, work on building musculature, wiring etc by reading what gait experts say, going to clinics etc. and practice with many hours in the saddle. if I wanted a trotting horse I would get a trotting breed horse or an icelandic strongly wired to have a gorgeous natural floaty trot like my Tivar. I ride my Tivar with non gaited horses or on rides where there is a mixture of both, or with people I know who dont like to go faster than a nice easy trot. I would not be in the least surprised to hear you post six months from now that Starnji has a screwed up tolt. I'm sorry, thats just my experience from years and years of natural gaited horses. I could be wrong, I dont have that much experience with icelandics. But I dont see apples and oranges the way most icelandic owners do. since I have been around gaited horses of all breeds for many years I see all gaited horses as gaited horses, whatever the breed. And when you ride a horse at one particular gait be it walk trot canter rack whatever, and discourage other gaits thru the way you ride, communicate etc., the horse begins to compensate in musculature and brain wiring to do that gait all the time. And this is well known for people valueing various gaits in different registries. My Fox will saddlerack, for instance, but he has a runningwalk to die for, so I work on him being relaxed and lowering the head and walking and now he rarely racks. My stonewall would trot everywhere in the field and now and then under saddle but I discouraged it and now he has a gorgeous smooth saddle rack to die for. natural and barefooted, all my horses. I have just seen too much gait manipulation in my life, good and bad, to not know how it works. And how it works is a good horse begins to figure out what you want gaitwise and if it is comfortable for him either way he will go toward what you want. just my opinion, and experience. then the musculature, tendons etc., go the same way. Maybe you should look for a nice trotty icey! (I know I will be flamed, possibly even by my friends but this is how I feel, and not necessarily how all should feel :) I saw a thing on farriers on tv and it said if a gaited horse is unbalanced by farrier work it begins to compensate the same way, say, a two year old child would if you kept it in one flat shoe and one shoe with a two inch heel. All its muscles and tendons would begin to develop and compensate to that. To me its the same with gaiting all the time. It begins to "lock in". Around here that is an established, well understood by all, concept. people will say "hows your new racker, is his gait locked in?" and everyone knows exactly what that means. and if someone said "oh yeah he has a great rack but I am working on him trotting beautifully all the time when asked" they would look at you in shock mingled with disbelief and die laughing at you behind your back. And these are people who know gaited horses, have had families breeding gaited horses for 200 years or more.. Janice-- yipie tie yie yo
