>>> so there have been "good" necks a long time ago and there are still "bad" necks around nowadays.
Boy, Thattur had an odd ewe neck, didn't he? Jasmin, I'm 100% serious here: I'm not really sure which of these horses have "good" necks and which have "bad" ones. To be honest, none of those necks look like they are ideal for dressage, if that's what you're talking about. (I remember you mentioning horses being able to easily bend at the poll in an earlier e-mail in this thread.) I simply don't see Icelandic's as having "nice" necks from the classical conformation definition. It doesn't bother me - I don't think necks are so terribly important in what I'm looking for in a horse. But, if I were looking for a horse purely for classical dressage, I wouldn't give any of these horses a second look, not even close. They all look thick through the throatlatch to me. Obviously, though, Icelandic's are my favorite breed, so that's not what I'm looking for. I'd never seen a picture of Ofeigur. He's my favorite of that bunch of pictures, but I don't single out any of these necks...but granted, it's probably because he's pictured standing pretty squarely, at liberty, not influenced by an extreme riding position, and I can see him most clearly. And because he has a wonderfully sweet and pleasant look about him. He reminds me of my Falki...I don't see either of them doing high-level dressage though, or even much mid-level dressage. He looks like he could be a very nice pleasure horse though - which is where my priorities are. BTW, I wouldn't begin to judge Orri's neck from that picture. It's taken at an odd angle, and the way he's being ridden has no doubt seriously affected his neck development - much like a human body-builder's neck will be quite exaggerated and unnatural. I have one of his granddaughters (of course, she has three other grandparents too!) and her neck certainly isn't anything special. But she's a pretty horse, sweet, smart and has good gaits. But I can't for the life of me see anything about his neck from that picture that looks like hers. Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.8.9/832 - Release Date: 6/4/2007 6:43 PM
