>>>> Or do they step gingerly, picking their way for the most part?
>> That would be more like it. I think the telling statement in what the 'vet'said was "diagnosed" - not being diagnosed with a problem doesn't mean it can't exist and we know spavin exists. And how many horses in Iceland are slaughtered for being lame, with no definite diagnosis? We know it's a high number compared to what we are used to. As far as footing being a common cause of lameness, that's been common knoweldge as long as I've owned horses - I don' know how much prior. I can't count the number of articles I've read about the science of good footing in an arena, neither too deep, too soft, or too hard. It's known that horses can become lame from going on hard pavement. We don't have tons of ice here, but we do have more than our fair share of mud. We were told not to jump our horses in the mud, or on slick grass from our very first lessons. We were told to avoid slick surfaces (and ice is the slickest of slick surfaces...) as well as hard surfaces. I can't imagine how people think that Icelandic's are miraculously immune to the laws of physics. Karen Thomas, NC
