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Show Horse Promotions Mary Murray
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Jean Philippe Giacomini (JP) |
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“CAN I JUST TELL IT LIKE IT IS?” by JP Giacomini.(Copyright, ©2002, PUBLISHED 2002)“Breed Good Horses: It Might Save Them A Lot Of Abuse Later In Life !” |
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Another essential part of the solution is to breed horses with good minds, good conformation and a genetic ability for the job at hand. If training easy horses is hard to do for most aspiring horse trainers, difficult ones can be a nightmare for both the rider and the horse. Horses need to carry a rider and do a little something at the same time. If they are built wrong (physically or emotionally), their conformation will get in the way of their rider’s desires at every moment and result in unfortunate and repeated conflicts with dire consequences for the horse. Here are a few examples of the most common problems I see when I am helping riders fix their training problems. Downhill horses (particularly with no withers) cannot carry a saddle without becoming sore on the top of their shoulders. “Soft backs” (or sway backs) horses cannot carry the weight of the rider without lumbar pain or without raising their heads, which makes them excited, which brings the rider to use stronger bits, gadgets, etc.., which induces more pain and frustration all around. Straight hocks who do not flex effectively and therefore do not push the horse forward or help the back round (to carry the rider in a mechanically correct way). Feet too small to carry the weight of big animals or too poor in quality to sustain shoeing. Pasterns too straight and knees bent the wrong way that cannot absorb concussion. Dressage horses without enough energy to willingly produce collection. Pleasure horses with too much energy to ever be relaxed on a trail ride. Unfortunately, all these problems result in either acute abuse (frustration and battle) or chronic abuse (everyday pain, unsoundness and poor performance) in spite of the rider’s good intentions. What is the solution? Breed horses that are versatile, rather than specialists (big trot or slow lope or big stops), because versatility implies balance of movement and harmony of forms, resulting in ease of training. Find a versatile INDIVIDUAL to breed to, coming from versatile parents (for more genetic guarantee). Choose one that walks AND trots AND canters with EQUAL quality: long walk = flexibility, big trot = strength and energy, slow canter = balance, one that (at least) COULD decently participate in Equestrian Sports at entry level (as opposed to just win subjectively judged Horse Show classes), such as dressage, jumping, racing, endurance, combined driving, reining, barrel racing, etc.. In other words, even a horse destined to do Saddleseat, western pleasure or park classes, HAS to stay sound and HAS to get out of his own way without blinkers, special shoeing or daily medication. Over the past 40 years, my experience covered thousands of horses of most breeds, used in most disciplines. I like all good horses, whatever their color or their “accent”, as long as they like the job they have been chosen for and they are physically capable of it. I know I won’t need to do anything to those horses they will hate me for. I try to give them comfort through adequate saddle, horseshoeing, nutrition, turnout and an occasional massage session. I also make sure that their behavior is conducive to learning. But if they are not suited, I suggest to the owner that they need another job, and that it MUSTN’T be breeding!! Unsound, unwilling, incapable horses do not belong in the gene pool, even if they are the greatest pets and deserve to be loved for the rest of their days. I breed Lusitanos (Portuguese cousins of Andalusians), because most of them are athletes, loving to work and incredibly sound. They are versatile: my past stallion Novilheiro was first a Grand Prix dressage horse, then an event horse and an international show jumper in England, his full brother Opus was a star of bullfighting in Spain (a very demanding sport!) and some of their cousins won the World 4-In-Hand Combined Driving Championship. They both lived to be 30 while pasture-breeding in their retirement, producing many look-alike offspring. The reason for these great results is due to the Lusitano breeders adhering for centuries to a “breed standard” that ensures soundness and versatility, a need for absolutely ALL breeds! These breeders have focused on the quality of the back as the centerpiece of a riding horse’s biomechanics (straight, horizontal, medium size). They insist on an “uphill” build and self-carriage, concentrating their gene pool around preferred qualities and eliminated the poor specimens. For centuries, Lusitano were used for High School, war (the toughest test) and exported as improvers of other breeds. In American breeds, sensible people regret the progressive disappearance of “Old Style” Morgans, Saddlebreds, TWH or Quarter Horses. Strange fashions in show ring halter classes bear a lot of responsibility in this, but on the other hand we now see better conformation, due to the increased competition in performance classes. Due to this selection, the “Iberian Conformation Factor” is reappearing occasionally in many breeds who once used that blood. The Iberian breed standard, designed around qualities that are indispensable for practically all saddle horses, can easily be used by all breeders as a guideline for success without going away from the breed they love. This policy would speed-up the selection process and be a good development for horse sports in general. The resulting horses would suffer a lot less “forcing” in their training as a result of increased innate versatility and all it’s implications. JP’S ESSENTIAL HORSEMANSHIP: CORE SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR HORSE & YOU ™ Send reprint inquiries or REQUEST COMPLETE LIST OF ARTICLES: Email: tmundi@alltel.net |
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Most horses suffer abuse in their life not so much through the malice of their owners (most folks really love their horses), but through their riders’ ignorance of effective training methods. A popular answer to that problem is naturally to improve the public’s education, and such companies as Purina sponsor lots of good clinicians to enlighten horse owners. But improving horsemanship is a never ending project and many horses will end up at the “knackers” before enough people learn how to ride at least as
well as they can drive a car!
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