The first horse shown on the video, moving directly towards the camera,
appears to be frothed and fighting the bit.
The next horses shown entering the arena, again, moving towards the camera,
are showing the winging flight of poorly conformed legs.
Some big bits are used with nosebands.
The bit evasions are obvious in just about every horse on the video.
What are the people cheering?!?!?
What's up with the current fad of making the horse go behind the vertical?
Is anyone listening to the horses?
What exactly is a slow tolt? Does it have a definition? Is it a two-foot /
three-foot support gait? or a one-foot / two-foot support gait? Or is
one-foot / two-foot / three-foot support allowed as some of the horses were
doing?
Heads tossing, above the bit, behind the bit; mouths trying to open, lips gnashing; odd tipping of the head,
crossing the jaws...
Heavy contact... always. Why? Are any of the horses naturally gaited to
gait on easy contact?
And the feet.... long... shoes... boots... can any of these horses gait
barefoot?
And loosing a foot in the competition?!?!?
That's.... odd.... really odd.
Some of those tolts look pretty bone-jarring, as can be seen in the
rider's bodies.
Nosebands.... seems they are tight; some placed relatively low, not allowing the horse to
breathe enough?
And the people are cheering.... why?
Whips for ponies?
Tail wringing...
I don't understand what was being judged. There did not appear to be much
horsemanship (as horsemanship has an applied meaning of "good" which was
not in evidence).
Was the point to see how much force the horse could take from a rider? how
much it could lift it's feet without losing a foot?
How much it could run without having enough incoming air?
How much pain it could take in the mouth, bearing the weight of a rider on a
broken bit with long shanks?
Or could it be that the horse who could touch his chest with his chin was
rated higher?
What in the world were the people cheering and applauding at this
competition?
Do *they* even know what they were seeing?
________________________________
A reader's comments: "The video was very troubling - if this event served to showcase the
talents of the Icelandic breed, it fell far short for me. Not only
did the horses look as if they were in extreme distress, but did you
notice the grimaces on the faces of the riders (as they had their
hands in the horses' mouths)? It's distressing that the audience
applauded the obvious mistreatment (my personal observation) of the
horses."
From Germany: "I have seen very bad things, everywhere. So I dissociate from the
Icey-Szene. They are too hard and brutal. Whatever you see: hoofs, training
method, bits, saddles and more. I fear the worst when I think about the Championship."
