>>> It seems to be pretty rare for Icelandics to manage a nice slow collected canter.
Not here. We don't rush their training and thus, they don't "rush" into their gaits. Of course, we're not trying to do any "collected" canters, not in the true sense of the word. But, nice, relaxed canters? Every Icelandic that we've started here can canter easily, as opposed to some lugging or rushing gallop. I can't think of any Icelandic in my pasture, or who has been in my pasture, who doesn't show both canter and gallop at liberty. >>> Ability, or training? The latter, I think, though some 5gaited horses find it really hard. Overall, I agree with you, Mic, but I'd revise that last sentence to say "pacey horses seem to find it hard to canter." Beyond that, some horses need extra help finding their balance in canter - and that is totally blind to breed or gaitedness. If the rider is out-of-balance, or inexperienced, that can be a huge drag on the horse too. The two worst canters that come to my mind were Mac, the show-trained TWH who was inherently fairly pacey....and Sundance, who was big, clunky, tended to fall on the forehand....and he was a three-gaited QH. You couldn't ask for two more opposite horses re: gaitedness than Sundance and Mac. In contrast, Joe, the big App who's the other "big" horse (16H-ish) we've owned, has a lovely, easy, relaxed canter - not w/p slow, but one that was perfectly appropriate from the get-go for low-level dressage tests. (We began working him "towards collection" but he was an easy candidate for that discipline.) The gaited horses I've met who really, truly find it hard to canter are the horses who are pacey, the ones who seem to have absolutely no trot in their repertoire. That's another place I think the term "five-gaited confuses things. I am thinking of two Icelandic's (and one little TWH mare) in my pasture at the moment who have the full range of gaits, from trot to pace. Sina is one - she's 13H. Of all the horses I've ridden, any size, any breed, she has the best, easiest canter - true three-beat, relaxed, delightfully smooth, and not rushing-fast. Another is Trausti - also the full range of gaits and the kind of canter that just makes people grin - smooth, soft, and not at blinding speed. Both of these are definitely canter, and not gallop. Oh, they CAN gallop, but they don't feel obligated to rush into it. I could go on and on. Generally, it seems to me that if the horse has a wide NATURAL range of gaits (and that's what "five-gaited" suggests to me, although I think it's often a euphemism for "pacey") then getting a nice canter shouldn't be an issue at all. Holly, my TWH, is also multi-gaited with the full range from trot to pace...and pre-Sina, I said she had the best canter I've ever ridden: smooth, relaxed and balanced feeling from her first attempts under saddle. I think we need to look at canter problems as, at least, two types of problems. One issue would be the tends-to-pace horses, who are so lateral that they can't seem to get a three-beat canter without rushing into gallop. Then we have the horses who need help finding their balance with their canters - be they naturally klutzy, strung-out, insecure, have out-of-balance riders, whatever. The horses of this last type can often be helped to canter more nicely, whereas the pacey ones may simply not have a good canter in them. Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.2/1270 - Release Date: 2/10/2008 12:21 PM IceHorses Community for Photos and Videos: http://kickapps.com/icehorses "The greatest enemy of the truth very often is not the lie- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer [] Lee Ziegler http://leeziegler.com [] Liz Graves http://lizgraves.com [] Lee's Book Easy Gaited Horses http://tinyurl.com/7vyjo [] IceHorses Map http://www.frappr.com/IceHorses Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IceHorses/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IceHorses/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
