>>>> I've never yet been at a clinic where the Icelander didn't bother about >>>> the lead (unless the rider was a complete beginner who had never >>>> cantered before or something like that, and even then it was mentioned >>>> in theory).
This rider had been riding with one of these clinicians, at least a couple of times per year for seven years. She had previously shown her horses some. She was not fearful of cantering - just blissfully ignorant that there is more to riding than "kick 'em to go". Additionally, before we rode, they showed us a video of a "for sale" mare they just happened to have at the farm. She was four, just imported a couple of weeks prior, and they were also taking her to that show, to compete her. (Yep, four years old, and imported just weeks earlier. She looked very depressed to me. A real bargain at ONLY $12,400. sheesh. So much for the old myth that they don't start them before they are 4.5 years old...) One of the other auditors, who had no Icelandic horse experience casually noted, "I notice that the mare is not tracking up in her gaits. Do you not care about that when you ride them?" The same "student" who later asked, "What's a lead?" asked, "What does tracking up mean?" Sigh. I told them I wasn't interested in the imported mare since I live in a risky area for SE, so I stick to domestic born horses. One of the clinicians flat out said that no horse he'd ever imported to KY had ever developed SE, and that the SE risks are way exagerated. Oh yeah, right. He asked where I'd gotten my first horses, and I told him from Robyn at the Icelandic Horse Farm and from Anneliese at Unicorn Valley. He told me that they only have inferior horses...yeah, right dude! The "for sale" mare was narrow-chested and toed-out, and any idiot (at least one capable of defining a canter lead) could see she had bad legs. Melnir, Brunka, Saga, Sina and Bjola have glorious conformation compared to the "superior" import he was hawking that day. I knew then that disreputable "horse traders" exist on every continent and island. The disappointing quality of instruction of the clinic was one thing, but slandering the Ice Farm and Unicorn Valley was just over the top. My life is too short to deal with scoundrels like those two. >>>Sounds like this guy needs shooting! Remember, it wasn't just "this" guy. There were two of them giving this clinic together, both of whom have competed at the international level. Both were "certified trainers" and both were Holar graduates. They both looked absolutely smashing in their riding breeches and tall boots. Beyond that, I'm having trouble thinking of anything positive to say about the clinic - just VERY happy that I didn't take one of my horses for that experience. NO ONE would have ridden my Sina the way they rode that mare - no one. Karen Thomas, NC
