Just to clear this up. Icelandic horses are horses. They may look like ponies, may be the same size as ponies, and be called ponies by everyone outside Iceland, but they are horses! :-)
Hope that clears things up!
*runs away in a hurry*
UPDATE: Thanks for all the comments below.
10 comments:
Ha!
Of course, they are ponies!
Their ancestors are ponies!
Hi...they are ponies! <:]
So you would say you´re an ape?!
What have i started?
>>>So you would say you´re an ape?!<<<
Oh, gosh, no, possibly you misunderstand.
For example, I am English. My parents are English, my grandparents are English, and my great-grandparents were English.
So, I am English because my ancestors are English.
My husband is Irish. By using his last name, it doesn't mean that I am Irish. Maybe I want to be, but I'm not, and using the name doesn't make it so.
Back to the horses...
Mitochondrial DNA studies show the Icelandic Horse in the same cluster as the following North European ponies: Exmoor, Norwegian Fjord, and Scottish Highland; as well as another Another mtDNA type, cluster E, consists entirely of Icelandic, Shetland, and Fjord ponies.
ha Icelandic horses still are classified as horsemeat. of course, ponysteak would sound too cute, uh horrifying. Then of course one needs to be courageous enough to ride a horse in Iceland first (Judy declined...all of Iceland is laughing about that)to call the icelandic horse a horse. Some American Icelandics are ponies so certain clicker trainers dare ride them.
Well, in America, Iceponies are the horses that do all sorts of funny gaits, wear strange saddles and most of their owners belong to Judy's list where they are told that anything icelandic is wrong and cruel.
DO not base your thoughts on the posts of a few. Many icelandic Horse owners in the USA and Canada are very happy to call them horses and treat them like the horses they are and not pets.
Judy, now you got me completely confused. What has a name got to do with the origin of the horse? You are saying that you are English because your great-grandparents are English. If you would go thousand years back and discover that your ancestors were Irish, would you still say you were English?
>>>now you got me completely confused<<<
It's not that confusing. Maybe this will help:
The differences can be seen by the eye:
http://iceryder.net/images/ponieshorses.jpg
And there are certain characteristics that are specific to ponies.
Additionally, the Horse Genome Project has now been completed.
"Of the genotypes which correspond with geographic areas, cluster C1 is the
most striking one: It is geographically restricted to central Europe, the
British Isles, and Scandinavia, including Iceland. 17 of 19 documented
horses of the C1 type are North European ponies: Exmoor, Norwegian Fjord,
Icelandic pony, and Scottish Highland. Furthermore, 14 of 27 horses with
insufficiently documented pedigrees of C1 type were ponies, including
Connemaras. Two ancient Viking horses were also found to have the C1 type.
Another mtDNA type, cluster E, consisted entirely of Icelandic, Shetland,
and Fjord ponies."
Also, a couple of comments from Iceland:
"By: Olafur R. Dyrmundsson/Emma Eythorsdotti: The closest relatives are
presumably the Norwegian breeds Fjord Horse and Nordland Pony, as well as
the Shetland pony."
"By: Tróndur Leivsson: DNA studies of the Faroese Horse conducted at the
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in 2004, show the closest
relationship with the Icelandic Horse compared to other north-western
European pony breeds."
A horse is a horse, or course, of course!
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