It's a... llama?

I want to know why the modern halter Quarter Horse is so trendy. In my opinion, they're as ugly as sin. But hey, that's just my opinion. I'm a Thoroughbred person from the realm of general English riding, and my idea of a good horse seems to be the exact opposite of what halter QH people look for. The stock breed halter industry in general seems to like the same kind of conformation.


Massive, chunky bodies and tiny everything else. Short, skinny necks, tiny heads, and teeny little feet. It looks like their little legs can barely support their bodies. I believe the horse in the first photo is only a 2yo. I think.

They also have really steep croups and their huge butts make their tails look tiny. And they're downhill. In most disciplines, a downhill build is a no-no. Most people want a horse that's well-balanced and athletic, and I can't see any halter horse being either of those. Those horses aren't big boned, yet they have that insane muscle tone and it's not a good balance. I really want to know, can these horses do anything other than stand in an arena and square up? It looks like they have a hard time moving because they're so massive.

Halter Stallion.

I just don't see how that could be desirable. He's tanking around on his forehand and he looks really stiff. Kind of like his legs are toothpicks.

You'd think that horses like this:
would be more desirable. The gray horse looks a lot more athletic and well-proportioned than the other ones. He could easily go English or western, and just about any discipline. I wouldn't worry about his legs giving out if he tried to trot. ;) He's got nice muscle tone and the bone to support it.

I want to see a halter horse doing something besides halter. Can you even ride them? Maybe the weight of a rider would be too much for their little feet.

Where have the good hunters gone?

Hunters are stereotyped as goofballs who can't ride out of a wet paper bag. Well, there are a lot of hunters out there who look like frogs going over fences and are famous for sticking their butts out and lying across the horse's neck. It's a broad generalization, but I think hunters have lost a lot of respect in the horse community. Could it be because hunter-type disciplines are popular with novice and young riders? Whatever the reason, I think it's sad. The talented hunters out there don't get enough recognition and the discipline's reputation suffers for it.

Let's run a comparison.

Here's a good hunter:

And a goofy one.

Good hunter:

Goofy hunter:

Good hunter:

You're getting the picture, yes? See, there are some good hunters in the world. At least, I thought the good ones in the pictures looked pretty good. It's time to bring back our sport and restore its reputation. I'm tired of hearing, "Hunters don't know anything" and "Hunters can't ride".

Hmph.

Goofy show trends that I don't understand.

When it comes to showing (and horses in general), I'm all old school. In my opinion, classical and traditional is the best way to go. That's why it annoys me when people come up with these ridiculous gimmicks to "improve" (and I use the term lightly) their horses and their chances of winning. I don't understand how anyone can think that these things look good. You might get a good laugh out of some of this stuff. I did.

First on my list is the infamous grease. A very, very conservative amount can look nice on certain horses, like Arabians, but nowadays people like to just slather it on.

This horse looks like plastic. It's like the groom took a big gob of the stuff and smeared it all over. It's not like there's goo on the horse; the horse is inside the goo. Gross.

Which brings us to the second subject: clipping. Again, clipping can make or break a horse's appearance. Clipping the whiskers and the fuzzies under the jaw makes the horse look tidy and well kept. But when you completely shave off everything on the horse's face, it starts to look goofy. That combined with the grease makes the horse look like a Breyer model. You gotta have some hair or else it looks fake. I like to see natural ears as well. It looks nice when the ear fur is just trimmed, not completely shaved. But that's just my personal preference and I also think it depends on the horse.

Next, we have the lovely tail extensions. I went to a few shows last year and I kid you not, almost all of the horses had fake tails and all of them looked like the one in the picture. It was terrible. It was like the exhibitors all had brain farts. What the hell were they thinking? I don't even know how you can't realize how yucky that looks. Ye gods.

Some of the extensions didn't even match the real color and you could see where the real hair ended and the fake stuff started. It just hung there and didn't move with the real tail. To be honest, I've never personally seen a fake tail that wasn't obvious. And trust me, most judges don't go for gadgets like that any more than I do. At least in open shows they don't.

Another thing people will do is if their horse has a clubbed foot, they'll epoxy the hoof and cover it with polish. Why??? So your horse has a minor flaw. So what? Every horse has some kind of imperfection. Everybody knows that. You should be proud of your horse, flaws and all. Don't try to cover up every little detail you don't like. It turns the judges off.

Now this last one is the only thing that actually makes me angry. Look closely at this horse's feet.

You see those huge, square shoes that make his feet look twice as big as they should be? They do that so they can have as big and heavy a shoe as possible so the horse lifts his feet higher. The horse in the photo doesn't look at bad as a lot of the ones in my area. I should get pictures sometime. Most of them have flat, cracked hooves and are long overdue for a trim. They also have no heel whatsoever. If you've gone to any draft shows, you've probably seen it. They even shoe baby ones like that. They often have arthritis before they even reach the double digits, which is why you never see any older horses at the fair and whatnot. You won't see any working plow horses shod like that.

What's weird is that most of the draft people I've talked to are pretty decent and they seem to love their horses. It's like it just doesn't register with them that they're damaging their horses. A lot of show abuse cases are like that. Most owners are probably raised using certain methods and they think it's just the way things are done. Sad.

This will make you grind your teeth.

Youtube is polluted with retina-burning images of horsemanship FAIL. I particularly have a problem with the so-called "dancing horses", where a horse is tied between two posts and some asswipe stands to the side and flicks its legs with a whip until it's too freaked out to stand still. That's how they get that awkward, grotesque version of the piaffe. If you can call it that at all.

I love how this little horse is tied up and hobbled while that POS is going to town with the whip.

caballo azteca

Another SOB who has no scruples about using a whip. Sure, it's easy to hit a horse that's totally confined and helpless, the coward. Did you see the horse try to kick out at him?

Patron dancing

And isn't this one charming? A kid riding a foal.

"Caballito Bailador" 2

Look at those hooves.

El Duende

I love it when they disable comments. Chickenshits.

Dancing Horse

I could keep posting these all day.

Napolian dancing horse

villa juarez navolato

Yegua Bailando

CABALLO BAILANDO LA CANCION EL HIJO DE LA GUAYABA

CABALLO BAILANDO SINALOENSE

CABALLO AZTECA BAILANDO

Caballo Azteca "El Conquistador" en venta

caballo bailador

EL TONTO BAILANDO

caballo bailador

caballo bailador el R15

If the sheer amount of dumbass-ery doesn't make you sick, the horrible music will. The crow-hopping, pinned ears, thrashing tails, head tossing, and striking out should be obvious to anyone. I don't want to hear the "cultural tradition" excuse. Live sacrifices were a cultural tradition in a lot of ancient civilizations and there's a reason people don't do it anymore.

And there is a huge difference between that garbage and Alta Escuela.

I want to know why those horses are always on hard surfaces. Would it kill them to at least let them do it in sand or grass? Many of them had horrible feet. A few were underfed. All of them were stressed out and angry.

Why don't those whip-happy morons take up something else, like goat herding or something? That hideous trotting-in-place thing is not a piaffe, it's not dressage, and it's definitely not High School. Notice the utter lack of cadence or rhythm, and almost all of the horses were heavy on the forehand. I have no idea how one could consider it High School. All it is is the product of some inbred Sasquatches having too much time on their hands. They think they can skip the years of schooling and imitate the real dressage riders. It's nothing but a mockery of the real thing.

I'm back!

And I'm scared.

BLUE is a 9 year old registered paint gelding with aexceptional mind great attitude quite he does it all he has many high points &reserve high points I'm away at college he has been retired for 2 years he has a lot of life left he does have some arthritis in his hocks but is very manageable he will ONLY be sold to a good home call xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx

She's talking about this horse like he's freakin thirty!

He still has a lot of life in him? I would hope so! He's nine! That's not even half of a normal horse's lifespan! Why does he have arthritis at the ripe old age of nine? I get the feeling that she probably broke and showed him as a two year old. I would bet money on it. Those kinds of equestrians think it's normal for a horse to retire at nine. *facepalm*

*sigh* A nine year old horse should normally be perfectly sound, assuming he doesn't have any hereditary problems or was mistreated. And yes, I consider backing two years old to be mistreatment. It's never a good idea and there's nothing in it for the horse.

I don't know this horse's story, I'm just going on a hunch. It just bothers me the way she's talking about him.

Missy is my trainer's horse. She's 32 years young and still sound, healthy, and ride-able. She was a Western Pleasure horse in her day, and the photo was taken during a showmanship class last spring.

It is possible for a horse to be show-worthy past the age of ten. There's nothing wrong with waiting three or four years before backing your youngster. It's just one thing you can do to ensure that the horse will be a sound riding partner for the next 20+ years.


Judgment is seventeen years old in this photo. He put the eight year olds to shame! If you watched the 2008 Sporthorse Cup, you'll know that he and Beezie kicked butt! I believe he retired just recently. That's a damn good career. A lot of people should learn something from the two of them.

Besides the fact that riding babies is wrong, there are so many other things you should be doing with them in the mean time. Ground manners, loading, ponying on trails, long reining, standing for the farrier, desensitizing to things like cars, kids, water, etc. Teaching things like yielding the fore and hindquarters will make riding them a lot easier.

How important are bloodlines?

It always amuses me when people brag about their horse's pedigree, especially when the horse is less than impressive. It's even more hilarious when people say, "He goes back to the Bedouin Turk!" or, "He's a great-great-great grandson of Man O' War!"

Ha. Victor is from the Man O' War line, and that's not something I'm particularly proud of. Man O' War was a nasty son of a gun and horses from his line have a tendency to be quirky and high-strung (Vic's living proof!). Granted, knowing a horse's pedigree is nice and it's even nicer when it's a good pedigree. I like to know that my horses have good health and soundness in their family.

On the other hand, it won't turn me off when I'm looking at a horse that has a not-so-famous pedigree or no papers at all. Bloodlines mean next to nothing to me, unless he has an ancestor like Impressive. I care about the animal I'm seeing in front of me. I couldn't care less if he's sired by Doc O' Lena if he has nothing to show for it.

I was at an auction a while back and this snooty girl rides in on a skewbald gelding. The horse is cute, but not gorgeous. She's all cocky and starts spouting off about the horse's incredible pedigree and apparently famous roping stallions that he's descended from (I don't know much about stock breed pedigrees, so I don't remember exactly what she said). But ummm... the only reason I would care about bloodlines is if the horse actually inherited the traits that made its ancestors famous. Or if I was going to do breed circuits. Which I don't and I don't plan to, so I rest my case.

The primary things that I care about are level of training, conformation, and temperament. I know some people who don't care as much about temperament, but to me it's just as important as good conformation. If our personalities clash, it sucks the fun right out of it and it's not even worth it.

One more thing I look for is a "perfect face". It's not as important and I try not to be too picky, but I'm a sucker for horses with perfect necks and faces. I can't get past jug-heads, knife-necks, or ewe-necks. I like curvy, muscular, well-shaped necks that tie in nicely to the shoulders and head. I especially like faces with sharp, chiseled features and gentle eyes. That's just my personal preference. Some people like the softer, cuter look. And some people don't care either way. ;D

I'm not sure how we got on the subject of faces... hehe.

Stop abusing your horse and use a bitless bridle!

Re: A bit is not horse abuse

That video is extremely biased and one-sided. Not to mention utterly uneducated. This is just one of the many anti-bit videos that I've come across. Reasonably knowledgeable horse people see right through it, but beginners probably soak in every word. I can see how it would make a newbie think that anyone who uses bits is a horrible animal abuser.

Here are my two cents. With the exception of things like gags, bike chains, twisted wire leverage bits, etc., the bit itself has nothing to do with abuse. There are some monstrosities out there that are designed to cause pain and those ones should all be melted down and prohibited. However, generally speaking, bits don't hurt horses. People hurt horses. Allow me to illustrate.

On the left, we have a horse in a double bridle. He's slightly ahead of the vertical, as he should be, and he appears relaxed and comfortable. Eyes bright and calm, ears pricked and alert. I don't see anything in his body language that would suggest that he's in pain. I also like the slack on the curb rein. This is the way the equipment should be used.


Now on the right, we have a Rollkur picture, otherwise known as "how NOT to use a bit and bridle".

Are we seeing the difference? Both have essentially the same equipment, but the look on this horse's face is heartbreaking. His mouth is open, despite the crank noseband, his tongue is lolling, his eyes are rolled back. Look at the taught reins and the angle of the leverage bit. This horse's head is in a vice grip, and it must be miserable.

The one factor that determines whether or not a bit is cruel is the rider. Instead of blaming a piece of metal, we need to look to the real source of cruelty: the hands on the other end of the reins. Even something as simple as a halter can turn into a torture device in the hands of a thoughtless rider. The same could be said for any piece of equipment, including hackamores and bitless bridles. It's not what you put in the horses mouth, it's the skill and knowledge of the person using the equipment.

Choose your weapon Pt. 1

I like this guy. He explains bits very well and I think he does a good job of getting his point across.