>>> Tosca has a short thick neck and she carries it in both gaits in what I
>>> think is a
>>> very acceptable natural (lower than Hunter's) position. Are there
>>> Icelandics that
>>> both tolt ventroflexed and trot in true collection? I'm reasonably sure
>>> that Tosca's
>>> conformation would make it difficult for to use her neck as a dressage
>>> horse needs to.
Obviously, I haven't seen every Icelandic out there, but I've never seen one
with a neck
suitable for medium-upper level dressage. I'm sure a good many Icelandic's
(most?)
could do the Introductory and Training level-type work, and a few might go a
level or so
above that. For those of us who like to "piddle around" in our backyards with
lots of
sports and activities, that's fine...that's plenty to keep me busy. But it's a
LONG way
from levade and such... Remember, collection is the goal of dressage, and
collection
tends to improve a horse's TROT...do we won't to hone our horse's trots to that
degree...?
I don't. I like for my horses to trot if they are capable, but not to the
expense of
losing gait. Think of the disparity - if the horse is pacey, he/she isn't
going to be
able to collect easily at all - not even to a minor level. If the horse is
trotty, I'll
allow, even encourage him to do it, but not to the extend that it kills his
gaits. On the
other hand: There are plenty of low-level dressage goals that will help ANY
horse,
without getting to collection... plenty of worthwhile goals to pursue, like
forwardness,
relaxation, straightness, implusion...
What sickened me about the subject of dressage in Icelandic's was the change I
saw over
the first couple of years I had Icelandic's. When I first joined the lists
(just five
years ago - I'd had Sina for a year when I joined), the prevailing attitude was
that
dressage is boring. Fine, if that's not a part of the horse's history - I
don't have the
interest or ambition to pursue upper level dressage myself. Then, poof, a
year or two
later, we started seeing a few questionable Icelander trainers showing what
should be
upper level type moves - warped and incorrectly done, of course. One trainer
was named
Halldor (Halldor Gisli Gudmonsson? maybe), and there was a picture on the web
at one time
(maybe in the Quarterly or in Tolt News too - I can't remember now) of him
doing a
"levade" - only it wasn't a levade. It was more like the horse was rearing -
no
collection in the horse's rear. Then, of course, there was the picture that
Jolli (head
instructor at the much-touted Holar college) chose for the cover of his video,
doing what
I've dubbed the "redneck Spanglish walk". It was like a compilation of all the
"don'ts"
that one might do incorrectly in Spanish Walk, all rolled into one picture.
("Ignorance
is bliss" is the old saying that came to my mind, since he seemed blissfully
unaware of
how wrong his form was...) Anyway, you and I know that "dressage" takes a lot
of time to
learn and for the horses to become mature and muscled to do correctly...and we
know that
many horses can do the lower stuff well enough, but that VERY few horses can do
the upper
level stuff without jeopardizing their soundness. It just boggled my mind to
see these
trainers touting the contorted moves they showed as "dressage"...apparently out
of the
blue, with little to no training considering how quickly and incorrectly the
pictures
appeared. Then of course, a couple of years ago, Gudmar actually did a spiel
at Equine
Affaire in OH about dressage in Icelandics, the gall of which amazes me. I
didn't see the
demo, but I was able to see someone's home video of it. It wasn't impressive
at all. He
had a few words right, but what he showed didn't agree with his words.
To see Jolli's sad video cover, go to http://astund.is and select "English".
Then you can
find it at
http://astund.is/index.php?id=24&activemenu=24&prod_cat=73&catalog_item=1466
by naviagating through "Catalogue" then "Books and Videos" or
http://tinyurl.com/54ruvh .
Notice the position of the mare's neck...and the fact that the rear legs are
trailing out
behind....and that the horse's legs aren't diagonally paired... and of course,
that the
mare isn't reaching out in front, but instead he's making her do that
gawd-awful,
chin-banging knee action...complete with bell boots and probably weighted
shoes, of
course. To me, that just makes that mare's neck look pathetically weak and
short. She's
probably a fine Icelandic mare, just not at all conformed and conditioned to
do...well,
whatever the heck it is that he's trying to get her to do. Remember, this guy
is the
head instructor at Holar in Iceland, the much-revered (by a few anyway) riding
school in
Iceland... If it weren't so sad, it would be hysterically funny....but poor,
poor
horses...
Karen Thomas, NC
