To terrify the horse so that it doesn't fidget, rear or lie down even when under tremendous pain in the fronts.
Once that is established, ie once the horse has been forced to move and perform under severe soring and the resultant movement is a solid habit, it needs nothing but a slight reminder to keep it going that way. A tiny little pressure in the shoe and just the voice of the brutal trainer will usually do it from that point on. And voila, a flashy horse, seemingly happy and cooperative in the proceedings, testing negative in all tests for chemicals and abuse.
IMHO it is the judges of these events that deserve the baseball bat treatment. They are the ones who have the authority to dismiss these presentations as non horsemanship without any further proof of soring or abuse. They are the ones who define what is acceptable and what not. As long as these judges are allowed to organise these events and promote this circus of caricatures, it will never stop. It will only get worse. Aren't there any horsepeople left in your beautiful country ? Or have they all developed at least one blind eye ?
there has always been a problem for judges to differentiate between talent or terror in any of the flashy breeds/disciplines. They fail to notice "that look in their eyes". Think about that Totilas horse for a moment?
They can see it, Brian, all judges can see it and they all know how wrong it is. But they choose popularity, attracting competitors and spectators over the purity of the sport and the well being of the horse. Their main argument is that " If we mark them with 3's and 4's there will be two people competing and 5 watching. " True, one must admit. Good Dressage, as with all good riding, looks effortless, plain and boring. Nothing for any big crowd to enjoy. If you want crowds, customers, members, money, you need to allow something more dramatic. And that's where the circus begins.
That's It! The perfect solution is : during the down time between rides there should always be a mini cooper with 2 dozen clowns in it, racing about with squirting flowers and very loud horns. LET THE CIRCUS BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Christos, would you agree that if there were massive crowds that watch dressage there would be more reason for abuse? On the other hand, do you think that although abuse can lead to winning in Big licks and other horse competitions, wouldn't dressage be the opposite? Wouldn't abusive training lead to poor scores due to tenseness and fear?
I was just thinking that too. Most TWH that show are high strung and excitable. If a clown danced in front of one, and the horse never flinched, that would not be normal. Reason to investigate.
Not here at the shows I setup and shoe at? I find here that Walkers stand awhole lot better than most quarterhorses do? I guess it is because of the NON packaged horses here. DQPs catch shoes wider than 3/4 inch and only other shoe legally wider is a Plantation without bands...no pads allowed either...even tho when I would cut the bolts off of Plantationa and Padded feet I used a grinder and was impressed they didnt dance on my head...
Yes, Karen, massive crowds will generally bring abuse. One reason is that true horsemanship and the correct training of horses is difficult, takes a lot of know-how and a lot of time to master and many years to produce. If you want to produce large numbers of horses to serve a large audience, either as prospective buyers or simply as spectators, you will need to cut corners, speed things up, force a progress that is not so true to the sport but is still acceptable for the bigger audience's lower standards. And the marks will be adjusted accordingly to serve this bigger crowd and its lower standards. With a smaller crowd of a few dedicated fanatics the knowledge and standards are usually higher, and forced, fake results are not tolerated. See with classical dressage, the Spanish school of Vienna, the school of Jerez, the Cadre Noir, the Portuguese School, the work of Sylvia Loch, Philippe Karl and so many others. There is no room for haste, violence and abuse there. This is actually what puzzles me and angers me with this TWH story. One would expect the specialists and the authorities of this smaller crowd to be puristic about this special heritage, about these special horses. But this is clearly not the case and I do not understand one bit of what's happening in their heads.
I've noticed that too Gary, but I guess we're both wrong as a non-Farrier horse owner here , who doesn't enter Farrier discussions, says they're high strung.
Christos, I know what you mean. Where are all the purists? I think it goes the way of the racehorse in a way, money, breeding, and money. Maybe there's no money in being a purist. Although it puzzles you, do you have a theory? Does anyone here? About TWH story?
No, I am most likely the one that's wrong because my thoughts are second hand, not hands-on experience like you and Gary have. Bill this is a general discussion basically about animal cruelty. I don't think that animal cruelty and why -is a subject anyone should be barred from.
No, Karen, I have no idea, this is beyond any form of horse abuse I have ever seen or heard of. And IMHO comparing it to the abuse in any other discipline or industry is downplaying it, excusing it, accepting it.
Very well said. To me one thing that sets the crawl of the TWH apart from just about every other bonafide equestrian discipline is this simple truth: A thing of grace beauty and power never needs to be explained. I have yet to see a newbie spectator view a crawling TWH that did not ask what on earth was wrong wit the horse.
Oops, just saw this on the first page. No, Karen they were not created in America. Gaited horses already existed and were used extensively a couple of thousand years before the Spanish brought the first horses in America.
I think the only thing America gets full credit for is going the way of purely mechanical devices to pull, cram and stack a horse into what looks like balance. Did Europe ever suffer this madness?????? I know the Icelandics came close but never as depraved as the TWH was/is subject to.
Nope, that's unfair to your country and historically incorrect. Europe has a very rich, very old and very sad tradition of twisting different horses into different shapes. Natural horsemanship, which is a recent fashion and completely novel idea, is imported from the US. Yes, and it still does. Not to the extent of this TWH thing, but still plenty. What is interesting is that the gaited breeds seem to suffer the most "specialized" treatment. Not to mention the ones that don't gait naturally but their owners consider this a minor hindrance and force them to gait anyway.
