> > >> Speaking of gaits, cues and softness - is there such a thing as a nice, > >> slow, collected canter with Icelandics? > > > Yes; there should be.
I really hate to go there because I don't want to open up the demo debate again, but at Equine Affaire I attended some of the breed demos and the Icelandics showed all of their gaits but their canter was really, really fast and then going to some of the other demos, the other breeds always showed a nice soft canter. I thought about it and don't remember ever seeing an Icelandic doing a nice soft canter and wondered if they can. I tried to figure out if part of it is an optical illusion because of the fact that their short legs have to go a little faster (or appear to any way) The way you described them lunging into the canter due to their lateral-ness made a lot of sense because that's the impression you get. In other words, they can do the canter as one of their "five gaits" but it's not what I would call a nice gait to ride - it makes it no surprise that many folks would rather they just go into pace than canter. > -- > Laree
