>Yeah.... but..... it's not Americans who are putting the BL stuff on >the Icelandics! It's the Icelanders and Germans.
Oh, I agree (and the Swedes...) - but the whole BL training method was originally developed in the US, wasn't it??? Not that it matters really. > >But now we are gaining in the number of Americans who are trying to >bring "natural" to the Icelandic Horse. > Americans are certainly not alone in that, there's also a huge "natural" scene in Europe, the UK and even in Iceland - it's just that people don't make much noise about it. And, what saddens me most, is that horses trained with true natural methods simply don't do so well in competitions under the current standards, so they are not "famous" there either. >How will we help people to understand horsemanship for the benefit of >the Icelandic Horse? to understand natural gait versus mechanical >gait? to understand why Icelandics aren't set in gait? I wish I knew. Since I started running a lot more natural training method articles etc in STP, I have lost virtually ALL the "traditional" subscribers, so they certainly did NOT want to hear it. >How can we get the word out? Start a worldwide club for Icelandics trained without harsh methods, not in opposition to FEIF, but totally separate. Hold lots of gatherings and shows etc with judges who do not want to see Big Lick Icelandics, and reward the ones showing good gaits naturally. Hold our own breeding assessments and get a register of breeding horses who have good natural gaits without interference and who have the conformation for long term soundness, as well as calm, cooperative temperament. Get mainstream horse magazines etc interested so they promote us. Promote ourselves in a positive manner, NOT by constantly bashing the traditionalists and creating even more of a "them and us" culture, but by showing how happy and successful naturally trained Icelandics can be. Not spend so much energy and emotion trying to change people who do not want, under any circumstances, to change, and instead do our own thing and publicly show what a great time we and our horses are having, so people coming into the breed, and those with no great commitment to traditionalism, will come over to the natural way. Mic Mic (Michelle) Rushen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Solva Icelandic Horses and DeMeulenkamp Sweet Itch Rugs: www.solva-icelandics.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes"
