On Sat, Dec 22, 2007 at 10:21:12AM -0800, Judy Ryder wrote: > Horsemen and people who know horses do not take lessons from Icelanders; > it's mostly the new and inexperienced people who take lessons from them.
isn't that a mite prejudicial of a statement? you're dismissing an entire nationality of people here. how would you feel about someone dismissing instructors from the western states as "let-em-buck-it-out" cowboys, or everyone in tenessee as "big lick people"? before i started with e--a (i realize i'm not supposed to name iceandic names on this list; the above is my attempt at compromise) i rode stjarni with the very excellent american instructor with whom i had done my apprenticeship (jen). i totally adore and admire jen, and i think she's an excellent horsewoman; that said i did find it a bit frustrating when i said i thought stjarni's tolt was getting "pacier" and she did not understand what that meant. she had "experience with icelandics" -- she had previously trained half a dozen -- but all apparently of the trotty type (like miss molly) and none quite like stjarni before. it is a comfort to have an instructor more familiar with a five-gaiter, and my only other option around here seems to be a saddleseat barn another hour away. (i don't know how to ride saddleseat, and i'm pretty sure it does not include jumping, which is stjarni's current favorite thing -- having had our successes at two-phase last summer i am hoping to try three-phase next season; he's already an ace at the water jump :) --vicka
