The following comment was posted on a blog, but it appears on different websites about Icelandic Horses. Included is my response to the comment:
>>>The Icelandic Horse is incredibly respected in its native country of >>>Iceland.<<< I've always wondered if this statement is true or not. In Iceland, they eat the ponies; sometimes they are bred and raised for meat, sometimes they end up at the slaughter house because they are lame, or sometimes they end up as food because they are untrainable. They use saddles that are too tight for many of the horses. And they lay heavy on the horse's mouth when riding. And maybe don't pay attention to why the horse is fighting the bit. Or put heavy shoes on to get the horse to gait. I don't know if I would call that respect. Seems like working *with* the horse, doing natural horsemanship, riding better, with less negative impact to the horse, would show respect. Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
