----- Original Message -----
From: "Skye and Sally ~Fire Island"
> Well Mic I starting researching the breed 9 years ago and I never saw that
> written in any of the websites or brochures that I recieved<
Hi Skye,
A lot of perception about a breed of horse often comes via word of
mouth as a person explores and researches and talkes to present
owners/breeders.
Word of mouth is what I relied heavily upon when I was investigating the
breed 18 years ago. This was before the internet was really there and not
too much in print. I heard a lot of "superman type" myths from people who
were breed leaders at the time. While many of these myths are no longer
held as valid or have been misproven, they linger and die hard IMHO. I
still come across them from time to time on websites and in seeing what
various folks write to various lists. Many folks, for example, are quite
sure Icelandic saddles and tack are the best for Icelandic horses --
period -- and that any trainer not familiar with Icelandics specifically
can't do them justice. Many people are still "balancing" a horses' gaits
with shoes.
And people like Karen, who recently kept diligent track of her pregnant
mares for foaling, are admonished in certain circles for being silly as that
practice is unnecessary because hey -- all the foaling problems have been
"bred out" of the breed long ago, since no one watched or watches pregnant
mares in Iceland. I heard this myth years ago too when we decided to
breed our own, imported mare. She'd had one foal already in Iceland and we
wanted the experience of raising our own. All of the folks I knew who were
breeding at the time simply went to bed and woke up in the morning to see if
there was a new foal in the pasture. Imagine my own surprise, horror, and
shock when our Rose's foal was stillborn and we nearly lost her too. (Thank
God we were in attendance, and called the vet immediately so he could stop
her contractions before she prolapsed her uterus.)
Anyway, here are some snippets from older articles you might find
interesting:
>From the February 1989 issue of Horse and Horseman article entitled:
"Icelandics: The Doing Breed" written by Ann Passannante:
"There are no natural predators in Iceland, but the harsh landscape --
volcanoes, lava mud, quicksand, rock slides -- caused the demise, in fact,
of the horse that panicked; the survivors were those that responded calmly
and intelligently to danger. The results is a horse that does not panic,
spook, or abandon common sense in the face of even extreme danger."
"They have no inherited ailments, are not prone to foot or leg problems,
breed and foal without intervention of humans and keep themselves almost
injury-free."
"Despite their small size, they are extremely powerful, carrying three
hundred pound men with ease."
>From the article "Horse of the Gods", featured in the December 1994 issue of
Horse Illustrated:
"A 900-pound dog" is how Icelandic owner Jane Lane describes the breed,
"I always said I would never buy a horse until I met one with Mercedes gaits
and the disposition of a dog. These ALL have Mercedes gaits and
dispositions of dogs, even the stallions."
"They claim the reason these horses are the way they are in temperament
is that in Iceland they have no natural enemies, and the horse grows up very
much like a member of the family."
In the article, "The *Why* of an Icelandic" written by Anne Elwell for a
mainstream horse magazine (sorry, only have a copy of that one, not the
original and I didn't write the date and magazine it was from, but early
90's I'm guessing), it says:
"The Icelandic Temperament: Icelandics think, feel and act very much like
Golden Retrievers."
These types of comments did not serve the breed well, I think. People got
the wrong impression that owning an Icelandic was somehow less involved
care-wise than owning any other horse. I remember the Hamiltons took a
horse back that they sold who had been injured when the new owner decided to
stake her "big Golden Retreiver" out in the yard to graze, and ODDLY enough
(for the spookfree breed!), the horse spooked and pulled neck muscles in the
process.
I wonder how many people left their mares to foal by themselves and lost
them in those early days? Or let someone way too heavy ride their horse
and hurt their back because all Icelandics can supposedly carry 300 lbs.
effortlessly all day long. . . .
Anyway, it's good you excaped the propaganda. But believe me, it existed,
and unfortunately, it still does to some extent.
-- Renee M. in Michigan
