>>> 1. Are all Icelandics gaited and if not can they be trained to be by >>> slowly developing muscles?
I think most Icelandic's are gaited, but some only walk/trot/canter. A few are pacey - so that depends on whether you call pace a gait. >>> 2. Do they need to be shod to tolt? I've always had my horses barefoot. Horses don't need shoes to gait, no matter what the breed. If they don't gait without shoes or boots, or if they need any kind of special tack or special training, the "naturalness" of the gait is questionable. Horses MAY need shoes for several reasons: 1) protection, 2) therapeutic reasons, or simply because they have weak hoofs - and those reasons are the same no matter what the breed or gaitedness of the horse. None of my horses wear shoes, because they don't need them. BTW, how do you define "tolt"? Tolt is simply the Icelandic word for "rack", so if that's the only gait you're interested in, then many/most Icelandic's don't do it naturally - not of the flashy, show ring style, that is. Most Icelandic's do other soft-gaits and for most of us, those other gaits are wonderful. Those gaits include foxtrot, running walk, saddle-rack (the less flashy version of a rack) and stepping pace. Many Icelandic's also trot - which many of us consider a plus, but not all of us do. For what it's worth, gaits are gaits, whatever the breed. I think Icelandic's are wonderfully special, but if gait is your only criteria, there are other gaited breeds. The normal terms within Icelandic circles are "four-gaited" and "five-gaited", but those are VERY misleading. I have never met an Icelandic who naturally does the breed-signature "five-gaits" - if they can naturally do both trot and pace, then they probably can do several (or all) of the intermediate soft gaits. >>> 3. Since I am looking at younger horses and they will not be trained to >>> saddle, what do I need to look for (the potential of a good tolt) and >>> what questions should I be asking? The best book on gaits is by Lee Ziegler: Easy-Gaited Horses. How young are you looking for? Karen Thomas, NC
