but expecting to see trained, well-conformed, sound and sensible riding horses for $3500 is quite another. If you are wishing for $3500 quality riding-age Icelandics any time soon, all I can say is be very careful what you wish for.
I strongly believe that price is what is keeping the numbers down in Icelandics but I would prefer to see fewer numbers than lower quality horses. It has always amazed me that people will look and look for a bargain price horse then spend more in training and vet bills than they would have if they had bought a quality horse in the first place. The ones that really frost my ---- are the parents that buy a bargain horse for their child and then put their kids life in jeopardy by putting them on the horse. I do think on the other hand, though, that breeders will never get back the worth of what they put into horses they breed. Horses are a luxury, a necessary luxury for some of us, but a luxury nevertheless. If we really paid the worth of what breeders put into them, none of us could afford to have them. We all have to weigh the cost of owning a horse against being able to put food on the table - for some of us it's easy to do both - for others, not so easy. It's an age old problem --
Laree
