On Sat, Sep 01, 2007 at 01:39:03PM -0700, Judy Ryder wrote:
> I think we have very different requirements and expectations of horses here
> in North America versus Iceland. They want their horses to have that
> skepticism (healthy fear?) of people, whereas a priority for our horses is
> to be used to stuff like flags, mailboxes, loud noises, and pool toys :-).
hm. stjarni is the only icelandic at my barn. he's also the steadiest
horse there in parades, on the trail, and in the ring when the neighbor
kids' basketball bounces in.
i suspect one of the other horses (a mexican-bred qh) may have been
handled little while young, but i'm certain several of the others --
including some of the silliest and spookiest -- were raised, possibly
not optimally but definitely *with* a bunch of human contact.
which is just to say that i don't think that the handling of foals is
especially predictive, in the sample i have, of spookiness in adult
horses at american-type riding issues.
--vicka (who has watched stjarni basically fail to react with more than
mild interest to pop guns, exploding balloons, mountain bikers,
dogs, frogs, kittens on his back, and the aforementioned basketball)
