>>>> The thing I love about Andi the most is his attitude. But I attribute a lot of his attitude to the clicker training I have done with him for the past 3 years while waiting for him to grow up.
I've done very little clicker training with my Icelandic's but overall, I've never seen a breed with such a good attitude. I don't think I'd credit it to any particular training style. I just think many/most of them respond with heart-warming enthusiasm to any good, gentle and positive training method. Sina, my first Icelandic, was absolutely THE star with the Parelli Seven Games, of any horse I'd seen up to that point - and she's still probably the top student I've seen. I've never seen any horse, any breed, learn so fast. She was an inspiration to be to try to learn as much "finesse" in training as possible. Since Sina, I'm not only inspired to get the horses to learn something or do something, I'm now inspired to do it with the most subtle cues, with the very least pressure possible - almost to the point of aiming towards "thinking" them into an action. Sina is truly the first equine "partner" I'd ever had, but I think of most of them as my partners now. I could always see that she was just as interested in learning to speak "human" as I was in learning to speak "horse" - we are into every effort as a team. She was, and still is, an inspiration for me to take my training skills to a whole 'nuther level. If it weren't for her, I would never have been brave enough to take on any rehab. Karen Thomas, NC
