They can do shorter distances, a days jurney on the Icelandic plains (or what
it is called) is around 40-50 km, well around 30 miles.
And then you have 2-3 horses per man. Not really allowed in the usual
endurance-rules :-)
LJ> I am sure they can go the distance (and keep
LJ> going and going and ...) but with their muscle mass (if indeed
LJ> they are as muscular as their pictures look) can they meet
LJ> criteria at vet checks in the allotted time?
It has been tried, but they are really too insulated for enduring endurance.
Leif Neland
Internet: leifn@roskildebc.dk
I'm not sure how competitive they'd be in endurance, but we usually have
Icelandics turn out for our Sage Hill CTR. (There are a number of breeders
in our area). The Novice ride is 24 miles Saturday and about 15 Sunday,
with some really good climbs and every year the Icelandics clean up in
Novice, both heavyweight and lightweight, with excellent recoveries. When
the group first considered doing the ride they came to some of us in
management, concerned about the horses' ability to hit the P&R criteria
because the horses "always have high respiration". We pointed out that
they were shaggy little beasts and this was southern California, not
Iceland, and why didn't they body-clip them? So they actually tried an
experiment the first day -- half the horses in their party came already
clipped and the others were "natural", and they compared P&Rs Saturday
night. Then they fired up the generator they brought with them and Sunday
morning all the horses sported clip jobs -- and all ribboned!
-- Lynn