On Wed, Mar 07, 2007 at 09:07:09PM -0500, Karen Thomas wrote: > >>>> it's not like the information isn't there, and i don't see a whole lot > of use in replacing those who'd rather have say an arab or an appy with an > icelandic. > > That doesn't really make sense. How would someone KNOW they'd "rather have > an arab or an appy" if they haven't seen what Icelandic's really are?
didn't someone on this list recently say they made a list and went to the internet? or personally, i had an instructor give me a lesson on my lease-horse at the time (an arab) and end up talking to me about icelandics. in neither case do i think "meeting one" came first. (that said, one of my own hopes for promoting the breed is seeing if stjarni makes a good parade horse -- but then i'm sure i'll take a bundle of grief here for presenting him as a "circus pony".) > >>> there's always going to be a largish supply available from iceland, at > least for the foreseeable future, because of their breeding and rearing > practices. > > I, for one, would never buy an imported Icelandic, not knowing the big risk > a horse coming into the eastern part of the USA has for summer eczema. it might interest you to know there's currently a vaccine trial going on in iceland on this issue, as well as much medication work. for me, it wasn't even a question: after i met stjarni, *he* was it, and if he develops sweet itch it'll just be something to deal with, like my own chronic illnesses of various sorts. > Frankly, I think it's rather cruel that people keep importing them, knowing > how high the chances are that the horses will suffer, when domestic-bred > horses (of all breeds) have very low risks. it's 20-30% in imported iceys, and 3-7% in horses of all breeds. this is certainly a large difference, but i don't know that it's profound. last year at our barn the sweet-itch victim was a morgan/friesian cross, not an icey (and her case was horrible, and *not* being an icey i think delayed her proper diagnosis and treatment). > or an Icelandic that had a 50+% chance of being miserable half the year where did you get this figure? and what makes you say that the disease is so unmanageable that the horse is guaranteed misery? --vicka
