As you know, we own our first Icelandics so I'm not a good person to write about their 'traditional" training, but they certainly are not the first breed to be roughly handled because they will cope with it. When I bought my first horse in 1963, I hung out with the cowboys for about six months. They used some very quick and dirty methods and the horses did okay, but they had that "look". Twist, who came off the trotting track has it too. He went to the track young, as they all do, and came away sort of squelched. He's sweet. He's easy to handle. He's a love and absolutely bomb proof, but he doesn't have any fun.
Nancy
