> WOW Trish, that post brought tears to my eyes. Good for that person! It > sounds like it's a much needed start in that country. Hopefully,it > will start to spread and that person can have some like-minded friends > there soon.
That is exactly why we are here, doing what we're doing, trying to bring good horsemanship to the Icelandic Horse breed. To get back to the topic, with PNH (and we don't have to restrict it to Parelli, but any type of natural horsemanship), we don't have to have nosebands, and we certainly don't want them tight. We want to learn to communicate with the horse, and the NH programs are mostly designed to teach the handler / owner / rider / trainer how to better communicate with the horse. We don't need all the other restrictive tack that goes with icelandic-style training and riding. We can learn to direct the horse with our bodies and not thru discomfort from a bit. We spent a lot of time with groundwork establishing a relationship. Over the past ten years, we have been in an educating position, raising the level of knowledge about tack, gaits, biomechanics, etc., within the breed. The newer Icelandic Horse owners have a very small view of the Icelandic Horse world, and if so-and-so trainer says "ok, you don't need an icelandic saddle", we, on this list, can claim responsibility for that advancement. It was much different a handful of years ago when everyone was told that you *had* to have an icelandic saddle to gait! The newer owners may not be able to see this yet as they don't have a clear view of the big picture. So, whether people like what we're doing or not; we are progressing and advancing to our goal, and better riding and training of the Icelandic Horse. Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
