> > Seriously - I wish you (Renee), Wanda, Judy, Janice, Karen etc etc > could have seen this show and the way the horses reacted. > > As I said, I like to make up my own mind, just as I did with certain > forms of competition riding at the last WC, and I have. I did not see > any problem with the UK IceTolt. Period.
If I had seen it, I may have thought the horses were ok with it, I may have thought it fun and exciting... look, there are things some do on here that others are just deadset against that I am ok with. Some are deadset against endurance riding. I have never formally participated in endurance riding, there arent any close to me but one I think... but I used to ride my horse fifty miles at a fast clip two and three days a week and enjoyed the heck out of it, and he seemed to also. he was in great shape, tip top shape, had good legs etc. unfortunately I was doing some irreparable damage to him saddlefit/back-wise, but for now, thats beside the point. The point is--- take for instance altering gait. Most on here don't believe in altering natural gait and these same ones of US, me too, on here, believe Lee Zeigler to be the foremost gait expert that ever lived... yet Lee believed a stepping pace should be cured. That it was hard on a horse. Since then I have come to sorta understand that some if not most of all horses that stepping pace dont do it so smooth as my Jaspar, who can do it effortlessly, endlessly, no jarring, its his gait of choice, very fluid, easy going, smooth etc. why on earth would it be hard on him... why on earth would i try and change it. Well I did try and change it, in the ways that Lee descibed, for two years. I did get a runningwalk out of him now and then, and a nice flatwalk. But any time i let up on it he would revert right back to his gait of choice. So I know in my heart, my soul, Lee was wrong about this in my case. I don't believe icetolting is good for a horse, neither would rushing thru deep sucky mud or sand or asphalt. If ice tolting never had a curve maybe it would be a little better. But I just cant see how a horse can go around a bend at any kinda speed at all without some torque going on. What I would want from you, is that you try and excercise diligence. Like I do at biglick shows. I watch for things, i take pics, I stand around at the hot dog stand and chat and when people say gosh that looks like its hard on a horse, and I say oh it IS!! They sore them, they hurt them, they nail shoes on over golfballs crammed into the frog so each step is agonizing... I just go on and on real cheerful and their faces start looking more and more horrified and then i say well, thanks, nice chatting and stroll away. We could be right, we could be wrong. But for me, I do what I can where I can to help horses in situations where I think they are in situations that arent good for them! and I think just our exposure to all these varying opinions on here make us more aware and more observant, and horses are helped by it more and more lately because of all of us! Janice -- even good horses have bad days sometimes.
