>> How can we promote the breed as a usable horse for riders in North >> America? >> >> What would be ways to make the breed seem more familiar, user-friendly, >> and functional? > > why, aside from the profits of breeders, do we need to do that? they're > hardly obscure as it is; they appear even in most kids' books of breeds.
I think we should promote the breed in a way that is more familiar, user-friendly, and functional for the American market. As to breeders, I'm not really focusing on them, nor would the promotions that I'm thinking of, be to make money for them. There are people who have jumped into Icelandics thinking they can make a bunch of money fast by puppy-mill breeding the horses, then a few years later having to do herd disperals, dumping a glut of untrained, not well bred, unpapered, inexpensive horses on the market. There's no point in promoting the breed for those people to make money. The point is to promote the breed so that it gets into the hands of people who can do right by the horse; people who are knowledgeable about horses, and educated about horsemanship.... or people who are willing to learn. I think that if we saw the horses doing trail obstacles, western riding, tricks, it would show that the horse is smart, willing to learn, able to fit into the requirements of the potential / targeted audience. As it is now, what people see is a horse that is tied up tight, held onto tight, runs like crazy, and has to wear *protection* or it'll cut it's leg off when it does a supposedly natural gait... The people who admire or buy into that stuff, may not have the horse's best interests in mind. Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
