> Ice seems rather hard to me (whether it's lake ice or manmade ice)! And > it looks like they ride fast on the ice.
I think we have a problem with semantics, and the definition of some of the words that we use, as they may not mean the same culturally. Our "hard" ground may not be the same as the "hard" ground in Iceland. What we consider as weights, may not be what is considered weights in Iceland. When we think of as overly tight nosebands, they may be considered OK as two-fingers snug in Iceland (remember the video of Diddi showing how to measure for snugness in the noseband, and he had to dig his two fingers under and between the noseband and skin to get them in there?). We think of the tight icelandic saddles, and they are placed differently in Iceland, so they feel they "fit". It's just so hard to communicate and reach an understanding when our perspectives and definitions are different. Add to that our vastly different levels of knowledge and experience in horses, from beginner / novices to students of the horse to aspiring horsemen. Remember the Stages of Learning: [] Unconscious-Incompetent: you don't know that you don't know [] Conscious-Incompetent: the hardest step for many - admitting that you don't know that you don't know [] Conscious-Competent: you know what to do, but you really have to think about it [] Unconscious-Competent: it's a habit, you do it without having to think it through Now we have the benefit of pictures and video! At least we can see some of what we are discussing, altho we aren't yet able to feel "hard" over the internet :-). Some Icelandic Horses are just fine *in spite of" their training, not *because of it*; and some aren't, hence the high rate of Icelandic Horse rehabs and rescues. Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
