I can communicate with horses and this one says OUCH!
Apr 17 2010
I think I have just developed the ability to communicate with horses just by looking at their pictures, because I looked at these and this horse is screaming “ouch!” I can hear it as plain as day!
Ad text:Â “lover is a big beautiful aqha halter horse stallion with 5 grands and 7 reserves in his short lived show carrer. unfortunately he broke his leg two years ago in may, and is back to breeding sound. dont miss out on this oppertunity to have world class quarter horse babies in your barn. discounts are avilable. he is out og ima cool lover by ima cool skip. and is western impress on the bottom. please email or call for ore info.”
Doesn’t he look like he just can’t figure out which foot to put more weight on, because they all hurt so much?
So then I found their Facebook. This place is Rising Star Equestrian Center, except it’s more like Fallen Star. The horse’s name is The Georgia Lover, and he is a son of a HYPP N/H horse called Ima Cool Lover. Greeeeeat.Â
I checked AQHA and they don’t have a HYPP test on file for him. So no one has bothered to figure out his status before standing him at stud. Awesome.  But hey, I talk about HYPP a lot. We all know it’s bad. Today, let’s talk about how a six year old horse winds up with that front end. Yep. Six years old. Let’s talk about how to ruin your horse’s legs!
1. Overfeed your babies with tons of oats!  Watch the joints swell! Make sure they wind up with OCD. You wouldn’t want to actually ride them or anything. Horses aren’t good for anything after age four or five anyway – that’s when you sell them and go get a new baby.Â
2. Treadmill and longe your weanlings! There’s nothing like torquing them around in a circle or having them trot up hill repetitively to put those big, popping muscles on them. (Well, other than HYPP, which contracts those muscles for you, like those electric belts they used to sell on late night TV that were supposed to create a flat stomach)
3. Supplements! You can’t add too many. It’s not at all necessary to have any knowledge of nutrition or how much of a particular mineral or vitamin a young horse should get. If someone on the Internet tells you it will make your horse fatter/shinier/more muscled up, you should TOTALLY go for it.Â
4. NEVER turn them out. I mean, they might get a scratch! So keep them in that box stall 24 hours a day, except for when you are treadmilling or longeing them.  This is an actual quote from a halter horse person, advising others about how to fit a weanling “We work our babies for 5 to 7 minutes daily at a jog. They have a neck sweat on at this time. They are tied when they come in for 30 minutes. We will tie them so that they can get to their hayfeeder and grain. We do this so they dont get bored and develop bad habits. After they are sweated, they get their necks washed off. Try not to wash your baby any more than you absolutely have to as this takes out the natural oil in the skin and makes the hair look dull. The baby is then tied for another 15 minutes or so to dry. We do this 6 days a week. On the 7th day we just turn them out in the round pen for a few bit to roll and relax. “ WOW! One day a week, they actually get to go out IN THE ROUND PEN for a bit.  You would not want them running with their pals and developing actual bone density or anything, after all. I cannot imagine why they break legs at age four, can you?
*sigh*
Here is a very good article on feeding babies if the above does not sound like a good plan to you:
http://www.behindthebitblog.com/2008/06/young-horses-feeding-for-healthy-bones.html
As many of you know, AQHA now has regular halter and “performance” halter to give the horses who actually ride a chance. It makes no sense to me that we even have halter classes that do not directly relate to riding use. Why would you have a conformation standard at all if it wasn’t to promote an ideal that we should be breeding for? Horses are for riding and driving and participating in horse sports. This is the entire purpose behind domesticating horses! Why do we have to have a “performance halter” class to give the riders a chance? The riders should be the ideal. Â
I mean, here is some video of the World Champion Performance Halter Gelding:
He is still a big, bulky guy but here’s what I note:
– His legs are fine
– He isn’t angry at life. Watch his expression. He’s bright, calm and not stressed. He isn’t trying to eat his handler, like a lot of the regular halter horses I see.Â
Why isn’t this our ideal? This horse looks like a classic AQHA horse, but he goes hunt and western and is, you know, USEFUL. Isn’t it time this WAS the standard, instead of some kind of sub-class and pat on the head to those of us screaming about the muscle-bound, frequently crippled regular halter horses?
Here is what I’d like to know today: Who has a horse with stock breed halter points, how old are they, and how sound are they? I notice how many of them just go poof. They are gone. They don’t re-emerge in some performance discipline. It is rare that I even find them in the 4-H show results somewhere, or on someone’s facebook page as their much-loved pet horse. I find the mares and studs being used for breeding but the geldings disappear. Where do they go? If you have one, tell us about him/her and reassure me that they don’t all wind up as sandwiches.
This was mentioned briefly in the comments, but there is a lady named Kim who is beloved in the Morgan horse world in Washington, and she has had a brain aneurysm that ruptured, putting her in critical condition in the hospital. She has two little kids and a husband who ring stewards many of the shows at the Tacoma Unit. Please send whatever prayers and healing energy you can out to Kim. I’m also told the Morgan community has been great and has stepped forward to care for the couples’ horses while they go through this difficult time, so kudos to all who are helping.
135 comments to “I can communicate with horses and this one says OUCH!”
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I know you roll your eyes when you hear FQHR but…my 17 y.o. gelding, shown both AQHA and FQHR is still going strong. He drives, pleasures, reins, and does trail…I call him my “brainless” ride because I don’t have to think to ride him. Sound (knocking on wood here) all his life, goes barefoot all the time…no injections, just good feed. I started him slow…he was a long 2 y.o when we started driving, long 3 when we started riding…I wanted him to last. I hope my mare will be the same.
I don’t know how she is bred or if she ever won anything, but I’m currenlty working with a QH palomino mare that screams halter bred. She is between 10-15 years old, haven’t gotten a chance to really look at her teeth since she doesn’t like her mouth being messed with but I did look at them while she yawned! But she is huge and muscle bound but hasn’t really done anything for the last 4 years except be a pasture ornament. She is broke to ride but you can tell that she has an old injury to her front leg. Not sure if it was broken at some point in time or not. But it doesn’t seem to bother her when she is galloping around the pasture. Plans are to get her going again under saddle and show her in some local shows as a western pleasure horse. And of course she will be HYPP tested before all that happens. I ain’t risking my neck. But would love to figure out how to find out who she really is…. any ideas?
With your description, if she is HYPP N/N watch her carefully and if you believe she has muscle issues (tying up), adjust her to a high fat diet
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My mare could be probably do okay in AQHA halter classes. She carries her head in the correct position and she is slooooow but I have no plans to show her. My comment is about the no turn out. Okay so people don’t want their show horses to get marked up but really, turn out only once a week in a round pen?!! The more I read on this blog the more I love our boarding barn. When the weather is good all the horses stay out twenty-four, seven except for when they get their grain. It is such a pleasure to go and ride a horse that is relaxed and happy because it’s been allowed to be a horse!
I’m generally a fan of boarding barns offering turnout. However, there are horses who are absolutely miserable being turned out for more than just a short time. I’ve met many in my 22 years with horses.
My horse is one of these. He was shown from a young age, but always got turnout in between the seasons, and was on full day turnout for the past several years, so it’s not like he’s never had the opportunity to get used to it… He had a run in stall attached to his paddock and pasture, and spent 90% of that time standing in the stall with his head peeking out the door.
He hates wind, sun, bugs, rain, snow….
I moved him to a new barn last year after my family shut down their farm, and he was turned out for a while because with my work schedule I couldn’t make it out most days to get him worked. He had his own paddock because he plays rough and I didn’t want anybody else ending up with a vet bill because my horse is socially inept… on the family’s farm he had both individual and group turnout…
He was crabby and destructive… would just stand there and kick and kick and kick. He broke fencing with his kicking, chewed the boards, Paced at the fence to be brought in whenever somebody came out behind the barn…. He dropped a bunch of weight just from fretting and pacing, and got sore hocked.
I asked that the barn owner go ahead and leave him in when we had to increase his feed by more than 50% to keep him from getting too scrawny.
He stays inside, gets worked 5 days a week, and I generally let him loose in the arena to roll and get the kinks out after I work him. Large door at the end of the arena opens up, and he goes and has a look at the great outdoors, but then comes and hangs out with the spectators instead.
He’s relaxed, doesn’t wear kick chains in the stall anymore, and he’s putting weight on….
I’ve known several horses who want to be inside rather than constantly turned out, from trail horses to show horses. My best friend’s little grade trail horse prefers to be in the barn except during the nicest parts of the day.
shoot… somehow the above post ended up as a response to a different post than the one i was responding to… sorry…
I accept your challenge Fugs! How about an Appaloosa? Thats a stock horse correct? Or atleast in my mind it is. So how about a stallion with in hand points and performance points and not only THAT but also is a Krazy Kolored Champagne! His name is Straw’s Mighty Magnum. Here is a link to his accomplishments page: http://www.stillseeingspots.com/smmsite/accomp.htm
Here are pictures: http://www.stillseeingspots.com/smmsite/gallery.htm
Also he has a full brother Straw’s Mighty Legend who can be seen on this page: http://www.parsonsblueribbonranch.com/stallions.htm
He is also a champagne as well as being an App. He has halter wins and performance wins
I am lucky enough to say I owned their mother as my very first horse. I am the kind of person who expects an all around horse and i was the teenaged girl who had their mom trail riding and doing games and jumping and hunter on the flat and well, Everything! Seems that ability passed on. I couldnt be prouder.
PS didnt you once upon a time ask to see Krazy Kolor stallions who could actually DO SOMETHING? Well here ya go! *big grin*
I believe Fugs was looking more for straight halter horses, not performance halter horses. But nice pair, either way.
Forgive my ignorance, but is “Hunter in hand” a halter class? Or is it a performance halter class? It SOUNDS like a performance halter class. But then, I don’t own or show any stock breeds, so I could be mistaken. But I think that her point was about regular, traditional halter vs. performance halter, and since your guy has only won anything in performance halter (assuming) I don’t think he counts.
I could be wrong, though.
I have a site that I really think needs to be advertised here. lol.
They have every kind of mare you can think of. Thoroughbreds, Tennessee Walkers, Quarter horses, Paints, Appaloosas, Perchons, Rocky Mtn Horses, Minis and a Cremello Saddlebred at Stud that they are breeding EVERYTHING to.
Anyone that wants the webpage just give me a shout.
So they are breeding. The question now is, are they breeding shit? I’ll be honest, I don’t really think this is the place to be advertising a we-breed-everything farm, esp. with all the constant reminders of where mass breeding gets us (Eunumclaw stock yards).
I think she meant ‘advertise’ in a sarcastic fashion, given that this is the fugly blog.
You should send me the website. kthtrainer@gmail.com
I am so glad you posted that ad. I saw it yesterday and thought that had to be the most painful looking horse I’ve seen in a long time. He really looks like he can’t decide which leg hurts more………. what I want to know is how did he win those awards with the way he looks? I know he broke his leg but, he really doesn’t look put together very well regardless.
I have a friend who has a halter-bred paint. Before they got him, his owners showed him in halter while he was a baby. They used steriods and all the typical things. He showed as a stud and was bred a few times. He was gelded before my friend got him though. I don’t know much about his childhood (foalhood?) but whatever happened to him, it’s a crying shame.
That horse is so screwed up physcially and mentally. They say he can’t be handled without a stud chain because he goes nuts, he bites, bucks like CRAZY, and is just mad at the world. If you walk by his stall he pins his ears and gets really defensive. He gets no turn out ever, and doesn’t even get to free lunge in the arena. They have a bunch of excuses for this, but mainly it’s because they say he gets dangerous once you set him loose and try to catch him.
His hocks are almost completey shot. He gets hock injections all the time and will never be completely sound. He’s not a even a pretty mover. He’s very bouncy and has an exaggerated choppy stride. He gets ridden maybe once a week at the most. In the mean time, he sits in his 12×12 being angry.They don’t let him go on trail rides because he gets excited and bucks (I understand bucking is dangerous, but I bet they could find a trainer out there somewhere who could fix it so he could at least do one fun thing). They show him in 4H and local open shows and do english, western EQ, showmanship, and halter. He always wins halter.
I love my friend, but I don’t agree with the life she gave this guy. If he were mine, he’d be given groundwork lessons, love, and a pasture because I’m sure freedom of movement would feel a lot better on his bones than constant restriction.
Like I said, it’s a crying shame what happened to him when he was younger because it set the tone for how the rest of his life would be. He’s gorgeous, but he’s not a doll, he’s a horse. And every horse deserves the chance to be just that; a horse.
Yes, I have a perfect example of what you’re looking for… Last year around this time, a friend of mine sent me a picture message of this beautiful, tall breeding stock APHA gelding that was apparently for free! Only 8 years old, 4 tall white socks, big blaze, one blue eye simple beautiful gelding. Asked if I wanted him, I of course said yes! His only real downfall was that his feet were pretty baddly chipped down from just being thrown out to pasture, he was out of shape and had 3-4 Sarcoids on his chest. My little Arabian gelding has sarcoids too that I was already treating so no big deal to me. She brought him to me, and man, he was a beast! 16hh, 1250lbs at least, wore a size 3 front shoe! He was a big boy and moved great, I knew he would make my next show horse. It was a few months into owning him that it became quite apparent what type of horse he was…
So I found out who one of his many previous owners were, called them up to get some info on ‘Ben’ whom I re-named ‘Cowboy’. He was from RH MR. IMPRINT, by a crop out mare named FRIT C REED. He had been shown in halter and sent me pics of him at shows as a yearling… He also had a HUGE scar across his tongue, half inch deep, almost looks like someone put a rubber band around his tongue- which was apparently from his Halter trainer when he was a baby. This horse was supposedly a big puppy dog and was broke to ride bridleless. I was excited to hear all his accomplishments, he asked how much I bought him for, when I said free he was in shock and said he sold him for 9k as a four year old… Ok, so he had at LEAST 5 owners before me, and was sold for a good amount of money, so how did he wind up for free in a pasture?
I cleaned him up, got his feet looking great and in my journey to find a saddle that fit him I came across a girl who owned his 1/2 brother from the same sire, and the same ranch had trained him as well, they shared the same brand on their left shoulder. She warned me to get rid of him now, that they were dangerous horses and would snap, and thats why she has the saddle because no amount of training could make her horse un-aggressive and was forced to sell him. So far Cowboy hadn’t been too bad other than his nipping problem, in fact he was low man in the pecking order when around other horses!
Well, that day came sooner than I thought. I was feeding him a carrot over his stall and he was pinning his ears, so I snapped my fingers, pointed and said ‘Back’ He reared and came at me over the stall, teeth barred, ears flat, nostrils flared! I grabbed a crop that was hanging on the stall next to his and popped him good on the nose. Found out quickly, if you even SHOWED him a crop, he would straighten up… Seems he’s had run ins with them before..
As time progressed he got worse. The biting got worse, he never kicked at me, but did strike at me once or twice. Eventually he started to come at me if I would free lunge him, but on a line he was fine. I paid to have the sarcoids surgically removed (which I have since learned thats apparently the worst thing you can do for them) and then they got worse, more of them appeared on his chest where the surgery sites were. I was leasing my good ol’ arabian gelding at the time to my brother in law so all I had was Cowboy, this horse caused me to leave the barn in tears all the time. I eventually decided the tears, and being afraid of my horse were not worth it and decided to sell him..
I e-mailed the guy who trained him and sold him for 9k, told him I was selling him if he was interested. He said “Oh I found his papers by the way, I’ll mail them to you.” But he told me the papers went to whoever he sold him to, so how did he still have them?! AND he never transferred them into his own name, they still had his 2nd owner on them as the owners. So I got his papers, I worked with him everyday until I found him a home. Told the gal he was angry, but that he was generally better if he’s turned out (which was true, he was a big puppy in the pasture, a lot of it was stall aggression, and thats all I had to keep him in at the boarding facility. (there ARE pastures but can’t leave him out all the time.) she knew of his sarcoids, came out, rode him, and bought him and took him that night.
I was honestly RELIEVED that he was gone, and wondered how such a beautiful horse ended up so torn. Apparently he was one of those babies that lived in a box stall, constantly man-handled, and honestly I don’t think he knew HOW to be a horse… he was a huge horse with a weanlings brain… Sad… below are links to some pictures. I took him to a schooling show or two, he seems to enjoy the little gaming playdays we did, but was just too angry of a horse for me to deal with. He instilled a lot of fear into me I didn’t used to have…
Him as a yearling:
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/103/l_3ec3a7421c2b49469e2ed9e7612b0d78.jpg
The day I got him, you can see the sarcoids on his chest:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs108.snc1/4626_107118416194_680206194_3201299_5316130_n.jpg
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/107/l_2dfbbe729a06401aa6dbd2e526eb12e8.jpg
With my arabian:
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/79/l_64098b73a4164001aa00ff669ce07f05.jpg
Here he is at the last schooling show I took him to before I sold him:
http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs187.snc3/19475_291550686194_680206194_5012815_5931385_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs483.snc3/26420_412328681194_680206194_5652011_2109471_n.jpg
I now have a 16hh Arabian gelding who is 9, I got him for free as well, but he was not broke so I was able to start him my way, and he is actually doing fantastic. Everyone says “Starting him at 9 years old?! Thats going to be tough..” And actually, he was been SUPER easy and willing, I look at it like he has been preserving his joints for 9 years
He is with a friend of mine’s rescue right now and so far so good but he is out on pasture, as you noted. Assuming someone can deal with some ground quirks, what is he like to ride? I may have someone for him.
Just curious — did the rescue friend buy him from the op, or did he get flipped again in the mean time?
It sounds like he got flipped again.. This is not the life I wanted for him, I tried to help him but I couldn’t deal with the ground problems and didn’t have the ability to keep him out all the time. Last I heard the gal I sold him to said she was discontinuing use of xxterra on his sarciods (it stings and he was not a fan of being doctored), and was considering having them either frozen off or lazer removal, both were spendy- and we both learned how serious sarcoids can be.
Is he really? Thats so sad… I did not want him to continue jumping homes but he was too much for me to handle as an only horse. He was great to ride when he got lots of turnout, rode him in a loose ring snaffle mostly. The last time I had taken him on a trail ride he did act up, but he had been inside a lot due to weather. Took him on a lot of trail rides though, he gladly goes in water, over logs, up and down hills. He can make someone a good boy, he wasn’t right for my situation. Do you know how his sarcoids are looking? Its too bad, she told me last I heard she decided to keep him.
I have video of me riding him if you are interested in looking to see how he is. It was when we played around with gaming, he liked it much better than endless circles and equitation, but I still think needs a life that mainly consists of being outside, I think he’s done being a show horse, and unfortunately, I needed a show horse. My friends 17 y/o daughter rode him a few times under my supervision and he was fantastic with her. Has a great jog, but a big lope, feels like he’s bucking almost but he’s just elevated..
Well, I currently have 3 Appaloosa mares that have halter as well as performance points. My most accomplished mare Comet actually got her halter points later in life and in broodmare halter after she had an injury to her left forearm which took away some muscle in that forearm. She aslo has points in cutting, working cow horse, steerdaubing, reining, and has her ROMS in barrels, poles, keyhole and figure 8 stake race. I have had her qualified for the worlds in both broodmare halter and performance events at the same time. http://www.llappaloosas.com/page5a.html Also, I still show her as well as keeping her bred at the same time, so in my opinion she has truly proven herself as a mare. She just had a foal here on the 9th of April and will be bred back to an outside stallion for a future prospect and then I will also start getting her into shape for this year’s show and barrel racing season, as well as running in the Cheyenne Frontier Days matched horse races.
All of the mares that I currently own and breed to my stud, got their halter points while they were also being shown in performance and pleasure classes as well.
And those are the kind of mares that should be bred. Good for you!
The “lead ‘em and breed ‘em” crowd has existed in the AQHA world well before my time there (early 70s). I had a “performance” gelding that was “too light behind” and he winged or paddled or something, but his track was straight. He was terrific under saddle and had I wanted to get halter points on him, I’d have had to pay a particular halter trainer/breeder, now retired, who led horses before judges that looked “at the wrong end of the lead.” Then I’d have had to give the guy $100 for every point he put on my gelding (a bit out of my league in those days). Of course we didn’t have “halter” halter and performance halter, and no one had to wear a suit to show — just a long-sleeved shirt, clean jeans, boots and a hat. Didn’t need a fancy bling halter, either.
The “good old days.”
That said, this same halter trainer/breeder never bred/led a horse from halter weanling or yearling to anything under saddle. Some of the weanlings didn’t make it to be shown at yearling halter. Fat FAT babies, teacup feet. A shame.
It didn’t start with him, and of course it goes on today, too — different horses, breeds, personnel. Veterinarians who are in on this deal as well, and my thought is, what are THEY thinking? Fine to be owner of the world champion or reserve champion APHA, AQHA, A-pick-one-A filly, mare, stallion, gelding, colt, ??, but if it doesn’t go anywhere after that, THEN what?
I’d rather have a horse that was put together well enough to travel smoothly and has a brain inside that head. A jugheaded horse may not be very attractive, but y’know? Put a nice bridle or headstall on that horse, groom it to within an inch of its life — BRAID it, even — and that horse will carry itself with a LOT of pride. I’ve seen that happen more than once.
Looks aren’t everything. You cannot ride looks if there isn’t a brain to make things work.
Thank you, Fugs, for mentioning Kim’s ordeal. Her husband and parents are at her bedside, Grandma is taking care of the kids, and the horses are moved and cared for. We are all praying for a miracle.
I actually was talking about something like this with one of my horsey friends today. The problem with horses that are bred for such a specific sub-discipline is that there is always HUGE holes in the breeding where things were just completely overlooked. Unfortunately, it seems to be a horse’s mind most of the time. But in this case (coupled with this horse’s FABULOUS upbringing) it seems to be physical. He might as well be a bodybuilder with the skeleton of an 80 year old woman with osteoporosis. Great example: Horse at my farm, most gorgeous mare I’ve ever seen, fantastic gaits, has potential to get to a very high level in dressage. Only problem? She is PSYCHO.
Also, my Appaloosa stallion, Dial A Challenge, has produced 2 foals that have both halter and performance points. His 2004 colt, Hey Hollywood, last year, in his first year of ever being shown, and he was five, gained points in halter, hunter in hand, reining, working cow horse, heading and heeling, judged heading, judged heeling, timed tie down roping and judged tie down roping. He also garnered 3 National Chapion titles, a Res. World Champion title and 3 ROMs. Then his 2005 filly, Challenges Shamrock has a halter point and points in barrels, figure 8 stake race, poles, youth barrels and youth figure 8 stake race. So the all around horses still do exist.
I have to say that I am not real impressed w/the performance halter horse. His feet and lower legs look too small for his body bulk. And I suspect that the performance he engages in is only the show ring. He needs to come ride the trails at my place to prove performance to me. For QHs, I prefer the look of the working ranch horses.
Of course, he is a few steps up from the standard QH halter look.
The closest I can come to your request would be my Morgan, Cloudy. He did show in-hand (halter) a few times as well as carriage driving and now, at age 27, is still trail riding the BLM land in Arizona w/his mid 60′s owner.
I totally agree with you – the “Performance Halter Horse” looks like he couldn’t do 2 miles with those tiny feet and overmuscled rear end! His neck is pretty and he has a kind eye – but I’m not impressed with the musclebound look – doesn’t really look useful at all!
And the fake tail!! Yikes! Clean and well groomed is one thing, a bit of a shine here and there, ok, I’ll buy that, but all out fakeness bugs the #*@&$^@^ out of me!
He’s mostly attractive until you get to those legs … zomg … they are like crooked toothpicks. For those who like conformation examples, his back legs are a poster for post legged. With tied in cannons, short pasterns, light bone, and a straight shoulder, I think riding him would be like sitting on a jack hammer that was about to break.
The idea of QH conformation is supposed to be about powerful, athletic horses. If they can’t move forward more than two steps, that defeats the purpose of all that engine in the back there.
He does have a pretty neck tho.
As for the horse above, the crazy paint, I just wonder if all those drugs do something to their brains .. we don’t think of horses as having complex brains, but I think that horse maybe just has a screw loose because of chemical cocktails? Sometimes they really are just not right in the head, and it’s not just something simple like saddle fit or management. I would like to believe in most cases good management can solve these problems, but you have to wonder.
I like a lot of QH and Paint halter horses – above the knee. It’s below the knee that they fall apart. They do usually have lovely shoulders, hips, necks, etc. But you need a foundation appropriate to all of that!
In college in my horse judging class we had this ancient old professor teaching us … when we had to give reasons for placing a horse in the bottom, we were always required to say something nice. So he gave us the phrase, “he has nice foxy ears.”
So we could happily say about our guy here, “I placed number one at the bottom of the class. He has a foxy ear and a well shaped neck, but is straight shouldered, tied in, upright in the pasterns, post legged, and lacks the quality of underpinnings of the other bajillion horses I am comparing him to!”
Too funny… because our euphemism for a crappy horse is “He’s got a nice tail”. For any not so great horse that needs a sale video, we even take its tail down cause “He’s got a nice tail”.
It’s like seeing a homely baby and saying “ooh, what a cute outfit!”
haha, went to a class with a teacher that had the same philosophy. With every negative you need a posative, so if you said his tail was set on too high you could also say but it was nice and full or very shiny and healthy. He called a non offensive negative judging (NON J for short) At the end we had a mock show and where put into groups to judge under different teachers and you could hear him yelling all day”OK, I agree with your placing but wheres your NON J incase these people paying your salary approach you?” By time my group got to him we had figured out to put down a NON J and he was tickled pink.
The back post leg is not nearly as disconcerting as those creepy little disproportional, probably very weak front legs. Which I might add he is dumping all of his enormous weight on.
HUH??? First I ever heard of a “performance” halter class. Is that in case they might have some “scars” or something? How rediculous can the horse world get???
I have four. One is a half Friesian/half QH that is in the little picture by my name. He will be four in July. I have had him since he was 1. He got ground work the first year I had him and more last year, got the saddle on him late last summer and into it a few times then. He was 3 then. I had one more semester of school and so he grew up some more here and as soon as the weather gets above 50 degrees I can work him some more. I hope to have him well broken and on trails by mid summer if all goes well. Have a 2 year old appy filly who will get some more ground work this summer and maybe get the saddle on her and in it just a couple of times by the end of summer, just so she knows what that is about. She will be 2 1/2 then and she can go do nothing over the winter, then will work on getting her fully trained next summer. Another is a halter type of appy, she was started later, around 3, nothing the first summer I had her, as we battled rain rot (what a miserable disease) when she was four, and last summer she went out to a trainer for 2-3 months since I was in school. She is 5 now and ready to rock and roll. The last is a 7 year old appy, also started later in life and green broke for now, will be staying with a friend over the next year and get some more training. I’m glad I learned about starting them later here on Fugly. I guess I always thought because race horses were running at 2 that it was ok. So when I started working with these four, I just took my time and have let them grow up and mature, mentally as well as physically.
” It makes no sense to me that we even have halter classes that do not directly relate to riding use.”
It makes PERFECT sense to me: the AQHA is the Wal Mart of the horse world. Sure, there are some nice products here and there, but they’re really about VOLUME, and don’t care about churning out JUNK in bulk, because there are plenty of buyers. I’m so cynical about them. It’s a shame, because there are a lot of really awesome quarter horses.
The halter thing makes my stomach hurt. Adult horses shouldn’t even be allowed to show at halter unless they’re also entered in at least one performance class.
That sorrel/chestnut horse’s ass is melting off his monster body, and his legs and feet?!?!? OMG. WHo judges these shows? Did they not even take a 4H judging course? Sheesh. I swear to freaking GOD.
Make fun of the Foundation people all you want, but at least THEY are perpetuating true-to-type, useful, athletic and sane horses. No, they’re not always “pretty,” because they get dinged up in the pasture or while doing work, and no one puts a fake tail on them (yay!!!!!), and their conformation isn’t picture-perfect, but it’s FUNCTIONAL, and isn’t that what it should be about!?!??!!
I talked to a guy who does Rangerbred Appaloosas. I liked what I heard, and the pictures he had. Those aren’t always “pretty” horses either, but by God they will go all day, and do anything from endurance to reining to jumping.
I am not a QH person but every time I wonder why they breed these useless halter horses, I just remember the AQHA is pro-slaughter. Yea, I am cynical. I am tired of hearing of these states that are trying to get slaughter. Some people seem to be breeding for it.
I don’t have any links to the Web sites, but take a look at some of the APHA World show winners of ANY year, especially the yearling classes (yearling MARES, not fillies; yearling STALLIONS, not colts — and you’ll see why when you take a look at the SIZE of these “yearlings”). It’s not just AQHA that creates “monsters.”
On another note, last year a new horse group organized and the gal who works VERY hard putting the shows together (organizes fundraisers, gets sponsors, works the office, handles complaints, gets the judges, etc. etc.) was worried about having enough entries to cover expenses. I thought about entering my OTTB in the aged geldings halter class just for kicks. Thought about it for maybe two seconds because a) I do not have a bling halter and there is no such thing as an inexpensive one; and b) he is not cornfed or pig fat. He’s well muscled — dressage work and lots of “riding down the road” walks that muscle on — but we would have stood out like a pair of brown shoes (well, okay, CHESTNUT shoes) at a black tie affair.
Then I looked at the handler’s “required garb” and I didn’t have any of THAT, either.
It’s all about the total picture and, to be frank, I think halter classes filled with QHs with the level “ears to croup” look and those ridiculous full, banged tails that scream “FAKE!!!” are beyond silly.
As it turned out, the show season for this new club was a great success, due in no small part to the hard-working organizer, and my meager contribution to the cause was neither needed nor missed. But I certainly learned a lot while contemplating halter.
Different strokes.
It makes MY knees hurt just looking at that. People are breeding warmbloods who look like that too…I have just one question: WHAT THE HELL are people doing this for???
Completely and TOTALLY offtopic, but remember how I was telling you guys I had my first show coming up?
Well, today was the day!
I participated in 4 classes, placing in the top three in three of them. (:
Yay me!
Yay, Dotgunner!!
YAY!
Good job! Congrats on your first show! Much cheering and hugs!
congrats to you! what do you ride and which classes?
Yay you indeed!! Congratulations, and yes, do tell us what, when, where, etc. DETAILS!!
Yesterday, at the stables I ride at. (:
I rode in four classes. The first one, like I mentioned, was Walk Trot. Drummer did good, he responded really well to my leg and stayed on the rail like I wanted him to. The next class, Walk Trot Canter, was pretty bad. First, he would randomly stop and start backing. He did that about three times. Then, a girl was thrown from her horse and we had to stop and wait for about 10 minutes. :L The jumping was okay, he clipped a pole but didn’t knock it down. The last class was absolutely terrible. We started walking around and when we were told to trot he stopped, starting backing INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC, and then after I smacked him on the butt he flipped out and started bucking and spooking. I stayed on, thanks to my Velcro butt. (: We started trotting a few laps then he did it again, we repeated the process, and then on we went. By the time we were off again it was only me and this little girl left. She won because he spooked and I lost my balance, therefor the “dollar” fell.
Thanks guys! I did the correct diagonal posting someone mentioned a few times and that bumped me up a lot. (: I was so excited! My family & friends were like, Score. xD
I ride English, but participated in Walk Trot Equitation, Walk Trot Canter Equitation, Equitation over Fences, and ride a buck. RAB is when they put a “Dollar” between your calf and the saddle and it’s basically elimination by losing your dollar. (: I got 2nd in that, but I would’ve won if my horse hadn’t been a complete and total douche. : P
Fugs,
You really should do a blog about this:
>>An Arizona couple face multiple animal cruelty charges for allegedly killing a 26-year-old Arabian mare by injecting the animal with a homemade cocktail of pool acid and sodium bicarbonate. <<
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=16143
Do it yourself euthanasia? WTF?!!!!!!!!!!
I read about that. Freakin’ sick. I’d like to shoot them up with pool acid.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW! How is he even standing at all? I don’t get it. I just absolutely don’t get it. Only a human being can take something so naturally beautiful and majestic and turn it into something actually painful to look at. And he has 5 Grands and 7 Reserves???
The closest I’ve ever come to showing halter was a couple of showmanship classes at schooling shows. Unless you have a baby not old enough to ride yet what really is the point anyways? If I wanted to lead an animal around on a rope all day I’d get my dog. My horse I want to ride or drive or something.
I just don’t understand the lead ‘em and breed ‘em mentality. Why? Is it because they can’t/won’t/are afraid to ride? Why don’t these people just stick with Breyer horses, they do pretty much the same thing? At least that way they wouldn’t have to worry about vet bills and disposing of the horses after they keel over from a HYPP attack. I can see them now, prancing their little plastic horses in front of a judge in their blinged-out rhinestone encrusted costumes…
I have no experience with halter horses at all and just cannot fathom breeding a horse that is unsound to do anything but hump or pop out babies by age 5. Kudos to anyone that breeds halter horses that can have a career after their halter career is over, but it sounds like the deck is really stacked against anyone that tries to do that in the AQHA.
Scratch that- I have encountered 2 halter horses over the years, both on trail rides. One tied up after 2 hours of riding on moderately hilly trails and had to be hauled off to Ohio State. The other keeled over dead from an HYPP attack on the trail, putting his rider in ICU for 3 weeks and is buried at my favorite horse camp. I will never forget seeing that big bay laying dead next to the trail. I thought it had been there for a few days and was bloated from the heat, then someone informed me it had just died 2 hours prior. It was so huge and over-muscled it looked deformed.
That rider’s trip to the ICU is why I will always argue these horses should not be ridden. Riding is risky enough without riding a ticking time bomb that could fall over at any time. No WAY would I get on a positive horse.
off topic: found these facebook pictures that put all the craigslist bad parenting photos in a new perspective… I thought I was crazy when I was a kid- helmets? who needs helmets?
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62852&id=684171361
I’ve seen those before and I LOVE them! *Sigh* The good ole’ days. How cool would that have been to watch in real life???
And I’m pretty sure helmets were NOT the norm back them.
I will be one to admit that I never rode with a helmet as a youngster, and I am only 23. The horses I rode were dead broke, but I learned on a bareback pad with someone leading me around. I was 6 the first time I rode. The horse’s name was Sassy and she was a 15 hand Arab. God love her, she is still alive and kicking at the ripe old age of aproxiamtely 32. My dad’s friend owned her and it was the highlight of my day when I would go pet her over the fence because I was not allowed in with them alone.
So in all, I can count the number of times I;ve worn a helmet. Twice. It was the first 2 times I rode my mare when I first got her home and took her on trails. My mother-in-law didn’t want me to buy her because she was green and lunged to death when I tested her out. A supposed 11 year old that was truly 3. Thank goodness she loves trail riding and has never thrown a buck or spook even though she ended up knowing nothing at first.
Whoa! That’s some crazy stuff
And that guy has a BAD habit of leaning over and looking down at the jump….
I’ve lost track of him now, but we once had a AQHA gelding that was supposedly “undefeated in halter on the buckskin circuit”. I’m not sure what he won anymore exactly, but he had his own trophy room. He was just a gorgeous horse, and muscled, but not in the puffy ‘roided out look I see today, he had long good legs with actual bone and hooves. He’d been kept in a stall since weaning at a couple months old, and had never really been out with any other horse besides his mother. They had tried to use him as a stud for two years, but he couldn’t figure it out so he was gelded. He had no idea of horsie culture, no clue about body language or anything, and was so annoying to most of his kind they attacked him constantly. We had to keep him with the kind gelding we turned out weanlings with. (Still, he didn’t go completely batshit nuclear when he saw grass like a certain WP horse I was acquainted with, you’d think the Clue Train would hit you when your horse is kept so artificially that it is absolutely terrified of its natural food source.)
Anyway, a friend of ours liked him so much she bought him, and had him trained in dressage by her mentor. He said, “I’ve been working with warmbloods so long, I forgot how smart horses could be!” My friend unfortunately had to sell him, but last I knew he was being shown dressage against warmbloods and doing pretty well.
Course, I could add that my old Arabian mare was shown halter as a young horse. Her career couldn’t go very far though because she isn’t perfectly flat across the croup, but she has one of the best hindquarters of any Arab I’ve seen IMO. There’s actual muscle back there. Anyway, she’ll be 27 in a month, and is still sound. Her back is sagging, but she rears and bucks all the time in the pasture, she wears out her 4 year old appy buddy, and outruns her too, will stand on her hind legs to peer over the stall wall into the feed room at me if she thinks I might be going for cookies. She stills comes running for dinner with a terrific sliding stop at the gate and showers the unwary with mud. Heck, we were still jumping things when she was 25, which was far more her idea. She knows that I won’t stop a horse if they are locked on a jump, the brat. She’s built old school, with great big joints and big hard hooves (still never been shod!). If the weather is changing she’s reluctant to go down steep grades sometimes, especially carrying weight, but that’s it. The vet said, “She probably has a little arthritis, but she doesn’t seem to have noticed yet.” I used to ride her about every day, and in the summer from about 5am to dark, before I graduated college and had to grow up and get a job,
.
OK, I’m sure this is a really stupid question, but, I’m going to ask it anyway because I really don’t understand how this happened.
How did halter bred Quarter Horses end up looking like they do now?
I mean the AQHA still has that Orren Mixer painting as the standard for the breed, at some point there were horses being shown in halter that looked closer to that and horses that were evolving into the monstrosities they are today (there is nothing quite as disgusting looking as that saggy diaper butt) so how did judges start placing the “freaks” (I truly hate calling them that, it’s not the poor horses fault they look like that. but….) over horses that actually were closer to the breed standard? I honestly don’t understand how that happened.
It’s an interesting question. They are all so darn cute in the 1950s. I guess we could see a pattern if we put pics of all the world champions each year side by side. You know, it’s like fake boobs, LOL. At one time they were primarily utilized by A’s wanting to be C’s. Now you have these freaks like Heidi Montag that look like they are going to tip right the heck over. If some is good, IT DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN that even MORE is better!
I used to live in Wichita Falls TX. I interviewed for a part time job at a barn while there. It was at a place being leased from a cutting trainers family – only they just never replaced the sign. I thought for a moment I would be working with cow horses. I was wrong. When I got there – there was not one horse outside on a beautiful balmy and sunny 60 degree day. They were all in the barn wearing their sweats and all different kinds of protection to prevent them from getting rub or scratch marks. They asked me to lead a large yearling paint filly outside and back into her stall. Then critiqued me when she came back in as she wanted to rub up against the side of the stall door (which is an absolute nono for their precious horses). I was like well she was just wanting to be a horse – they were like uhh noo our horses only go out to pasture for 15 minutes a day and are hand walked by us for a few minutes. They are valuable show horses and cannot have a mark on them. I actually felt sorry for those horses – not allowed to just be a horse – especially a yearling filly who should have been zipping around and kicking her heels up.
My sister-in-law had bought a young paint filly from a dealer in Lawton OK that she made the mistake of trusting. The dealer “friend” told her the filly was hypp n/n and that she was waiting for the papers but got the results by phone from the lab. What a lie. She had a seizure and the vet came down and took some tests (I wasn’t there – so don’t know what kind), and treated her. She was doing ok and was getting better. Sis-in-law made changes to her diet and then it happened again before they got the lab results back. She almost died the 2nd time – was down in the barn aisle for almost 4 days before they were able to get her up and into a stall. This is the same dealer who later sold another horse to a friend of my sister-in-laws that had a positive coggins,
I do not like small boned horses, I have only had afew in my life – but was lucky to have had ones with good bone. We looked at a “free horse” that was supposedly a winner in barrel racing, but I was not at all impressed with his twigs for bones. I vetoed him right away. Was not a good conformationed horse and thankfully he was not allowed to pass it on.
Almost funny thing is that Impressive was originally bred to be a racehorse and not just strictly a halter horse. But I feel a horse had got to do alot more than just stand there and look pretty. My old neighbor had a mare (the kind you never get rid of) who retired from racing at age 3, earned a double show rom in hunt seat and a superior in western pleasure, and earned a few halter points back in the early 70′s. She wasn’t halter horse in build, but had good conformation and was pretty headed. She also did some ranch horse work as well as lesson horse and babysitter that you could trust your kids with. She was an awesome mare and extremely quiet and gentle, but not dead headed low and slow like the pleasure horses are nowadays.
This neighbor also instilled in me the belief that only proven winners or horses that have worked hard and proven their worth should reproduce. And even then the get of both dam and sire need to prove themselves.
AQHA has serious straightening to do in this department.
The problem is 1. Most of the higher ups and whos who of that world breed and show that type of halter horse. 2. The ones who don’t aren’t sure where to start or how to approach it with out getting trampled on by the people who dont see a problem with it.
My solution (cause you know I have one for everything) is that the little people, 4H, pony club, local area show clubs and the likes need to install a rule that horses of a certain age (6-7years) must be shown in a performance class when shown in an in hand class. Once the little show guys have set a standard and work out kinks the big dogs can start implementing rule changes. I know this may take a few years to take hold but I know if we all strive for a better all around horse it can happen!
I have a dream that breed registries will hold their breeders accountable for breeding quality useful performance horses, and train their judges to cast out animals not bred or treated well. Upholding the standards of animals rights whose ancestors backs this country was built on, and would make our forefathers proud to claim as animals of their own. A dream that a foal being born is a blessed event that is waited on for weeks and looked upon as a miracle instead of an assembly line or cash crop. A country where ponies frolic a horses run in fields free instead of boxes like slaves waiting for death and the final release. Yes Fugs, I have a DREAM!
I share your dream! Heck, if it were up to me, lack of turnout would be ILLEGAL.
I know I may be opening myself up for criticism and to be made fun of on this website and I expect the sarcasm. But I am one of the individuals that decided to buy an old AQHA halter gelding with hundreds of points and world championships with hypp n/h that nobody wants anymore. I show him locally and love him dearly. I can’t ride because of my health and age, but I can sure can shine him up and take him down the road to the local show and have so much fun even at my age. He has no symptons and I take very good care of him and he gives me endlless hours of enjoyment. I just love watching him because he is so pretty. He actually is turned out for the first time in his life to come and go from pasture to his stall as he wants. His old trainer actually told he has NEVER been able to walk around a pasture before. So see, these old horses you make fun of do serve a purpose to some people. I’d never sell him because I’m afraid of what would happen to him because I do realize he is worthless to some, but to me he is priceless and well loved.
OK, first of all, since when do I make fun of old horses? I love seniors and I love your story, by the way. One of the few PERFECT and SUITABLE uses for a HYPP positive horse is exactly what you are doing with him. You’re not risking a bad accident by riding him. You’re letting him do what he’s trained to do at a local show where he can still be competitive. He has a great home. You’re not going to get even a tiny bit of snark from me or anybody else here, missy.
I just got my first snark remark from you —missy—. You do make fun of hypp horse—all the time.
I wouldn’t call it making fun – I flat out BASH people who breed them, because it’s irresponsible as all hell and should not be tolerated by any breed association, and I advise people not to ride positives because of the risk of an accident. I have zero tolerance for knowingly breeding a H/H or N/H horse, or for failing to test, before breeding, a horse that MAY be positive based upon the breed or breed combination, whether or not your registry requires you to. This is a disease that would NOT exist anymore if people would stop making more of it.
The horses are victims. I feel sorry for them and hope they won’t meet an unpleasant end.
Fugly, If the AQHA refuses to register the hypp horses now, are you talking about other breed association that continue to breed the hypp horses and register them? If so, then I see where the continuation of this hypp sad situation will continue. I don’t even see where the AQHA Journal advertises stud horses with HYPP any longer, so I assume that don’t encourage the breeding of such a disease which would decrease the number of hypp AQHA horses. So are you on the band wagon against breeding hypp horses from other breed assocations or who out in the horse world continues to do such as thing?
AQHA refuses to register H/H horses. They still register H/N horses.
APHA has No Rules regarding HYPP.. they dont’ even require testing, so they are worse, in my book.
Congrats on taking care of your guy, may he continue to do well!
That’s awesome! I wish every unridable horse could end up with an owner like you, and I’m so glad you’re having fun with him. The problem is the irresponsible breeding – horses like yours are more likely to come to a bad end than a good one, yet breeders continue pumping out huge numbers of them, the registries keep encouraging them, and the shows keep rewarding this inane and crippling standard. That whole cycle needs to get changed, and Cathy’s working towards that with this blog. We all love our fuglies, and I’m sure most of the people here have owned and loved a ‘worthless’ horse at some point, we just hate to see more getting made when we know they’re likely to end up crippled, neglected or sent to slaughter.
I briefly worked for a lady who bred Palomino Appaloosas for halter. She seemed so nice at first. All of her horses were well taken care of and beautiful but I quickly learned that these horses were nothing but money for her. Her crop of foals last summer were three very beautiful babies, one a chestnut muscle boy who was hypp positive and the sweetest little man in the world. She told me that he would be her halter champ for the next few years. I asked what she’d do with him after that, would she train him to ride so he could have another career? She stared at me blankly and said “He’ll be a halter horse all his life. When he is done with that he won’t be useful anymore.” The second baby would be her “rider” in western pleasure, and she’d be sending him to be broken when he turned two so she could take him to the world show. And the third baby a filly with beautiful color was described to me as “Crap.” She would be dumped at an auction once she put a little more weight on her. She then went on to tell me about how “sad” she had been the previous year when the best of that years crop had been injured during trailering. She had been planning on selling her for 25k but after the injury she was useless. She dumped her at Simons (the local horse death camp), and made $250 on her. This was a woman that could afford to pay me $400 cash a week to clean stalls and groom babies. Who bought two brand new trucks with cash during the two months I worked for her. And she still thought it was a waste of money to euthanize her horses. Obviously she could afford to do it. My last straw was when she took me with her to drop off some old “riders” with a friend at Simons. They are 20 something geldings that were no use to be ridden anymore. Her friend cried a little while holding her expensive lap dog, and her Gucci purse. “I’ll miss them so much.” She said. And my employer said, “Well yeah, we love them, and they are our pets. But they are livestock still, and its better to make the $100 bucks out of them then to spend the $300 to euthanize them.” Such bullshit. They obviously didn’t love these horses. If they could they could never ditch them for a horrible death. I’m ashamed that I worked for her so long. I guess I thought maybe I could change her mind, or at least give her horses some love and attention in hopes they would be so sweet when she finally shipped them off that they might find a good home and a future. I cried when I left those sweet babies, and I still think about them everyday hoping that they escaped her, and found a place where they would be loved and appreciated for not only beautiful show animals, but also as loving companion animals.
Me! Me! Me! Waving hand excitedly! I’ve got one!
I am the proud owner of “The Thrill Seequer,” a 19 year old APHA paint, now double registered quarter horse who was APHA reserve WC Amatuer Aged Halter Stallion back in 1995. He has 19 APHA halter points and stood Grand or Reserve Champion 9 times. He and I crossed paths in 1999 and I just fell in love. His owner and breeder sold him to me at a steal, and suddenly I was in the paint horse breeding business. This horse indeed has some structural issues. Number one, he has extremely light bone structure, and size 00 feet. He is extremely upright in the shoulder, pasturn, and the hooves themselves. He is NOT posty hocked, nor over at the knee. He has general weakness in his joints, just live covering caused him pain. Over time, we have gotten him up to single 0 sized shoes, and a reasonable hoof angle. While I knew show horses, and felt that I knew how to produce good ones, what I didn’t know was the breeding operation/business. We bred for 2 years, produced one NICE foal, decided the breeding business was not for us. By this time “Thumper” is 10 years old, and we are quitting the horse “business.” Not willing to let this second “love of my life” horse go, he was gelded shortly after his 11th birthday. This took staying a week at a University vet school, and one trip back into surgery when his intestines dropped into the incision, but he emerged with flying colors.
Next chapter of Thumper’s life is as a youth show gelding for my daughters. This year, my 9 year old daughter is showing him in showmanship, western pleasure, horsemanship and trail at quarter and paint horse shows. He is a decent mover, very well trained and obedient, and loves the show life. Like they say, a nice stallion makes a great gelding. A well trained, mannerly stallion becomes a well-trained mannerly gelding. I could not write a script and describe a better teacher or baby sitter for my girls. We hope he will hold out for the next 3 years as a show horse, and are planning to retire him as my daughter enters the last year of her 9-13 age division.
What does it take to keep him comfortable? He has been diagnoised with severe navicular disease, and has arthertic changes throughout his body, latest teeth floating showed a lot of deterioration of his back teeth. First we had his coffin joints injected, and took his halter weight off of him, this held for 6 years. Last Thanksgiving, he was given a Tildren IV treatment, he has improved steadily since that time. He is on Previcox anti=inflamatory medication, joint suppliments, and once a month Adequan IM injections. He also gets chiropractic treatments occassionally, and practices his stretches. Will we eventually have to nerve him to keep him from hurting? Who knows, and who knows if we will agree to do it? I sure don’t know. But, for my heart horse, he will be taken care of. This horse means so much to me, as a companion, that just writing about him, both the good and the bad, brings me to tears.
Why are we doing all this? This horse has been treated as a show horse since he was a WEANLING. He expects to be the center of attention, to be pampered, and to have something to do. During various periods of pasture rest, he becomes extremely depressed, listless, and generally miserable.
What will happen eventually? Well, I know I will never sell him. I don’t believe that anyone else will work so hard to keep him comfortable and happy. It is possible that he will go out as a free lease to someone else who wants to dote on him, he is a pocket pony and a lover. HE WILL NEVER BECOME A SANDWICH!!!!!
I love you and you just made my evening.
What a great story! Thank you for giving him everything he needs to stay comfortable and useful.
Thanks Fugs. I was almost afraid to tell that whole story, that someone would bash me for continuing to let him be useful. I forgot to add that he is out in a large paddock 12 hours a day, and he wears rocker shoes (they have to have the wedges ground down, this horse couldn’t stand any higher heels), and pour in pads. I kept him barefoot as long as possible.
I currently own an 11 year old AQHA/APHA/PtHA mare named Simply Red Dee. She is a 15.1 hh sorrel rabicano that I show in the all around events in Paint and Pinto. I personally don’t like to show in the Quarter Horse ring because it is so political and stuck up in my area. My mare and I compete in western pleasure, showanship, horsemanship, trail, reining, barrels, halter, hunter under saddle, and equitation at every show. She currently has 127 performance points in APHA, along with 5 open halter points. Before I got her she had earned 71.5 AQHA performance points, and I have earned about 1.5. She has enough muscle to look good, but she isn’t bulked up like the ulgy halter horses (therefore we don’t collect the halter points). (Picture http://circlemtrainingcenter.com/deedee.htm. Crappy video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU9KbPnT6nE) She hasn’t taken a lame step in her life as far as I know, and I’ve owned her for about a year. She has some conformational issues, but nothing too extreme (a little buck knees-no jumping, pigeon toed). I agree that those horses are definitley lame, and that the performance halter winner is beautiful. I wish that the halter classes would turn more towards the performance horses and less to the big muscles. I personally have known 2 horses that were shown in the halter ring (not very sucsessfully) that are now going around in the pleasure and hunter under saddle ring.
What I find disturbing – and I don’t really follow the Western disciplines closely, so correct me if I’m wrong – is how the AQHA halter ideal has infiltrated other registries. I realize it’s possible to cross-register in both APHA and AQHA, and that Appaloosas are eligible for double registration as well. But I see so many pics of overmuscled, tiny-footed, upright-pasterned Appys now. That is so far from what the breed was supposed to be – now it seems they’re just Quarter Horses with spots.
Some of the QH halter champs are downright ugly. They look like beef cattle.
It makes me sad to look at pedigrees when I’m window shopping for horses. A lot of ApHC champs are just that: QH with spots, tiny feet, and maybe HYPP for good measure. They’re moving away from the Appaloosa ideal on purpose, with high-profile folks like Terry Thompson saying that eliminating the breed’s legendary stamina is the only way to make them usable horses.
It’s about to get worse, though. The ApHC Board of Directors approved a rule (#39-07-09) that will allow horses with Appaloosa-like color and/or characteristics to be registered, even if their sire and dam are not part of the ApHC registry. The potential fall out of this rule, from what I’ve read, is that horses that would otherwise be registered as Arabian, TB, QH, or were a combination of these breeds can now show and breed as Appys. Before this, at least one parent had to be registered with the ApHC.
I think, if I want to find an actual Appaloosa, I’m going to have to find a descendant of the Old Herd.
That move is about money and nothing else. Paint did it, Palomino is doing it. What is the point of having a breed association if you are going to throw the standards out the window to gain members? How about recruiting people based on their love of the breed?
This guy was an ’81 or ’82 AQHA/PHBA horse we got when he was 9. (He’s 9 in the photo.) He was top 10 in (PHBA) halter as a yearling at the world show, and with me was 10th in the nation in youth hunter hack on year, and we won state championships in somewhere over 10 classes. Mostly youth: Halter, showmanship, hunt seat eq, hunter hack, hunter under saddle, western pleasure, horsemanship, trail, road hack, western riding. Some we did open as well. We never had the chance to go to the world show due to my parents’ divorce, but someone I rode against (and always beat in those classes) won showmanship, horsemanship and hunt seat eq. at the youth world, so we were doing ok… We jumped him up to about 4′ oxers, because I was scared to jump higher, though it was easy for him. I sold him in ’96 because he was starting to get arthritis in his hocks when I had him vet checked. I wanted to ship him to my school in NH, but wanted to make sure shipping him across the country and keeping him in miserably cold winters/miserably humid summers was ok for him. He went to a family who just needed a horse who wouldn’t hurt them, let him stay in an acre field with shelter 24/7, and they rode him about twice a month… including taking him to 4-H shows for years after.
Looks like I failed to say he was getting arthritis in his hocks at 14/15. He was sound – but it showed on x-rays, and I didn’t want him to suffer from the travel and NE weather, and didn’t want to sell him to a show home where he might not be treated well – so we found the perfect home for him through my farrier who knew this family had one horse unsafe for their daughter to ride and wanted a companion for him/safe horse to ride. We let the family see the x-rays so they would understand there was a risk he wouldn’t stay sound (in which case they would have kept him anyway) though he was sound for many more years.
FEI AND USEF CHARGING MICHAEL MORRISSEY FOR WHIPPING!
The FEI and the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) have both initiated charges under their respective rules against Michael Morrissey (USA), following an incident in class 101 at the Wellington CSI 2* held on 27 February 2010. The FEI will also be investigating the role of the Ground Jury in this incident.
Given the fact that both the International and National Federations will issue charges for the same set of factual circumstances, the FEI and the USEF will coordinate their existing regulatory procedures to ensure a fair process for the rider and seek the right outcome for the equestrian community.
Chronicle of the Horse: http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/fei-and-usef-initiate-charges-michael-morrissey-abuse-case
Jane Savoie’s barnmice blog: http://www.barnmice.com/forum/topics/michael-morrissey-to-be
Hunter Jumper News: http://www.hunterjumpernews.com/?p=11701
Well, and it only took two months of negative Internet talk to bring it about!
At least something is being done. That was total crap!!!
Ok, talk about Arnold Swartzihorse…. Check out this guy. The one thing I can say is it looks like he might have decent sized feet on him. But the muscles look obscene…
http://www.quarterhorsestallions.com/western_impressive.htm
I know, that sort of horse makes me ashamed to say I own a QH!!
I hate the look of the Aaahnaold Swartzihorse too.
But I do love MY guy!
Here is a link to some photos of him.
http://sharonmcleod.ca/blog/archives/459
I think that is the best “horsie yawn” photo I’ve ever seen.
You shouldn’t feel ashamed to own a Quarter Horse. The Quarter Horse industry still has alot of good people and good horses. Is your horse part Arabian?
Hi, I just noticed these comments. Thanks for the nice things you said! As for if he’s mixed, well, I’m not absolutely positive, but his previous owner said he’s “all QH”. I believe he’s appendix, so has some TB mixed in there. My trainer rants on and on that he’s got Hanoverian in him. I doubt he does, but I see a LITTLE bit of what she’s talking about.
I’ve looked at a million pictures of QHs, and I really do see that he’s appendix HQ though and through though.
Mainly, he’s just a big goofball. But he’s my goofball.
OT: The Midwest Horse Fair came to WI this weekend and I was upset to see them raffling off a horse for a dollar. There was at least one and possible two, it was hard to tell if it was more than one person raffling off the same horse. The one I saw was a yearling Clydesdale filly. I can’t help but wonder how many levels of wrong are going on there. ANYONE could purchase a ticket. EVERY kid there was begging mommy and daddy to buy a ticket…for a YEARLING CLYDESDALE! Hmmmm. I’m thinking NOT a good match. The horse-raper from your last post could buy a ticket, and I didn’t see anywhere that you needed to provide references before you could take the horse if you should win. I sincerely hope they would, but I wonder sometimes if it isn’t just someone’s ploy to dump their horse in a poor economy. I wonder who the poor horse ended up going home with and what auction I can go to to save her when Dolly’s dad finally realized what kind of money it takes to own a growing Clydesdale. I just don’t think raffling off a horse is a responsible thing to do. Every time I see it, I cringe.
I agree. I think that is horrifying. I see a very pushy, ill behaved Clydesdale who hasn’t had his feet handled coming down the road on that one!
Oh dear. That reminds me of a couple I read about on the internet once… they were trying to raise enough money for their daughter’s rare medical condition by raffling off their house, 50 dollars a ticket. I actually thought about buying one because I felt bad for them… this was in the news so it was likely legit… but then I had a horrifying thought. What if I WON? I’d have a house in the States which probably can’t sell which is why they’re raffling it off. I’d have to pay taxes on it and… and rent it out? How could I do that from Canada? But if I let it stand vacant who knows what would happen. And I’d still have to pay the taxes.
I wished they’d had a donation page or something. XD I wasn’t going to take a chance of getting stuck with that.
My N/N gelding is 19 years old and is a flunk out from AQHA Open Halter. I always joke that his conformation must not have been crappy enough, but honestly, if I put up a conformation photo of him and you compared it to that poor unfortunate creature featured on the blog today, you’d see how my guy is the prototype from 20 years ago of what is being produced today. It’s a sickness.
Anyway, back to points: my gelding doesn’t have any Halter or Performance points in AQHA. Like I said, he flunked out as a 2YO. My dad bought him for me as a 5YO, I’ve had him ever since. He has a long career behind him as a Hunter/Equitation horse at regular open shows and in his later years we’ve fooled around with the Low Jumpers, Eventing and now Dressage. Oh and he’s a Krazy Kolor – red dun.
His dam, on the other hand, was a palomino daughter of Two-Eyed Jack and she had 27 points in Open Halter and 6 in Amateur Halter. She produced 12 foals, 6 of which were point earners in Halter AND Performance disciplines. Two of her foals were also Halter and Performance point earners in the Palomino Horse Breeder’s Association. Out of her 12 foals, she only had 2 sorrels. Everything else was either palomino, grey or red dun. Her best example was a palomino gelding by Zan Parr Bar who achieved both his Open and Amateur Performance ROM’s. That horse has a laundry list of Top Tens and qualifications for the World Show that span 1986 to 1998 in team roping, plus a handful of Open Halter and Amateur Halter points. Talk about hitting the genetic jackpot – comformation, ability, disposition AND color! He also had a full brother, a sorrel, that was left a stallion who also achieved his Performance ROM, but no Halter points on that one.
I used to have a Two Eyed Jack grandson myself and I will always say that is one bloodline you can’t beat. They keep going and going and going and they are so level-headed. He sounds cool, got pics?
I just read in the program that there were three horses at least that were being raffled off. This just makes me mad. There was, apparently, the yearling draft horse filly, a yearling quarter horse filly, and a “Tennessee Walker Gaited Pony”.
Fugly, I tried to email you but seemingly your account is closed?
Anyway, our Most Reviled Abuser (Doug Spinks) made the front page of Drudge! No fooling, link to story is below the photo of Pelosi on the right of the page:
http://www.drudgereport.com
I saw this last night-not sure how I feel about it, except that it’s good that this has made national media.
Fugly, you know what I can’t understand? Is how someone can just send an old halter N/H gelding to his doom after he was accomplished so much like he was just nothing.
Another thing…during my lifetime I have watched the show fads come and go and most still puzzle me. During my hayday, I owned a Skipper W bred gelding and showed halter, pleasure, reining, English, showmanship, barrels, poles and the goal was to rack up the most points at the AQHA show. Now, fast forward many years later and go to an AQHA show after being out of the ring for many years and everything has changed. The halter horses are huge and that is all they can do is one class and most pleasure horses are rail thin and their noses drag the ground. The nose dragging the ground in pleasure classes was awlful and couldn’t understand that. I couldn’t image someone driving half way across country to just show in ONE class like halter and not all, but most of the western pleasure horses all looked like flounders. It seems like things are changing and for the better it looks like. The pleasure horses don’t look as cripple when they try to lope but their gaits are still manipulated and don’t look natural. The overall horse is coming back it seems and I’m glad to see that. I still think the western pleasure horses need to have more meat on their bones. Even the horses we showed years ago in pleasure were stockier than the ones now, but weren’t as tall.
I wonder that the next fad for the AQHA shows will be?
Thanks for letting me vent.
My palomino I posted pics of above was a “Skip” bred, too. He was a very versatile guy – the fact they’re not like that anymore is why I switched to dressage… I prefer horses who can move to what’s out there now!
Yeah, I just don’t understand how the QH breed standard got so darn weird! I know so many non halter type QHs that are just lovely, athletic, and extremely versatile. It creeps me out to watch those poor halter horses shuffle around on their ugly legs and tiny feet while their grossly overmuscled bodies jiggle around. Ew. QHs were bred to be athletic, quick, and useful working horses. Even that performance halter horse looks ridiculous to me.
You know which horse I thought was really lovely out of those worlds videos, the senior working cow horse. Now that’s a looker. Put him in a halter class:
http://vimeo.com/7718195
Now that’s a good looking QH!
I have a appendix that was bred in Canada. He’s out of a world champion halter horse. I don’t really float in the AQHA world so I didn’t know much about his bloodlines til I did research and talked to people who are in to the quarter horse breed shows. I do know that he was bred to be a halter horse on the circuit. But he didn’t mature as fast as they would have liked and he didn’t quite get the head they were looking for so when he was 4 (they were smart enough to wait) they started him western to be a ranch horse on their cattle ranch… only problem is that was when he decided to actually grow and he shot up to 16.2hhs. They thought he might do well as a hunt seat horse and sent him to the lady I snatched him up from.
He may have been bred to do absolutely nothing but he’s one of the most talented horses my trainers and I have ever come across. I like to say he has junk in his trunk. (He was a late bloomer but once he did he did so beautifully) We do the modified jumpers at “A” and “AA” shows and school higher at home occasionally. People think he’s a warmblood. He’s 12 going on 13 years, I got him when he just turned 5 and will have him til he dies. So far he’s never been lame more than 12 hrs, has the quarter horse mind set and loves his life. So he’s one halter gelding who is in a good home and performing.
We have a 26YO QH gelding who supposedly was something in his day. His name is Justa Jim Dandy. He took my friend’s daughter to 4H States 10-12 years ago and did very well. Now, he’s a pasture bum. Gets his senior feed, has a field and shed all to himself, Minis on the sides for companionship. I look at him and think, “I could go for a ride…. nah.” He’s earned his retirement!
Dammit that is so f*cked up!
I come from South Africa and I have only shown in a handful of inhand classes with the warmblood X mare I was leasing.
In 2007 our provincial “open” showing championships was combined with the provincial warmblood showing championships.
My instructor (just happened to be the mare’s grandmamma) wanted me to show her in some of the inhand warmblood classes. If memory serves right it was something like “warmblood in hand” and “warmblood broodmare inhand”. These classes are very much judged on conformation and the horses that have the best conformation to be PERFORMANCE horses win. Horses with straight shoulders and pasterns and tons of conformation FAULTS do NOT win. The horses are also checked for lameness and of course a lame horse could never win, especially if the lameness was due to conformation faults. Surely this is how all inhand or halter classes should be judged? Seeing as that modern horses are bred to be performance horses or at the very least sound horses? Shouldn’t the horses that are best suited to be performance horses be the ones that win? I think so, and I believe that is how they are judged in those breed classes in South Africa.
Reading all this about the breed registries and such, I can fully appreciate that people are trying to compare apples to apples and pears to pears, but in South Africa the Open showing world is much bigger than the breed showing (I think Breed shows only happen once or twice a year – I could be wrong but the last I checked it wasn’t very often) but as a result people are aiming for “one specific type of show horse” i.e horses with good conformation that win.
Halter and inhand classes are also very limited (usually only in breed shows)
We would never ever see such a beefed up horse that looks like a cow in the big show rings, let alone winning.
Now don’t get me wrong, we do have our share of fuglies, but they would never EVER make it in the show ring…
Basically, I guess I am saying that while it is good to have breed registries, maybe it shouldn’t be to such an extent where horses are bred to be so different that they are deformed and don’t uphold to the universal idea of good conformation..
On a somewhat related note: What the hell is the guy in this video doing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRT79xoLrGo
Start watching at 3:20 (you won’t miss anything, I promise). He jerks on the halter a couple of times, steps to the other side of the horse, moves his hand away from and towards the horse’s head a couple of times, and what the hell is he doing at 3:25? I really hope I’m not seeing what I think I am, and I don’t want to put ideas into anybody’s head… I’m hoping that I’m the only one who sees that. What do you all think he is doing right there?
What did he take out of his pocket? I’m not familiar with all the little “tricks” used so I have no idea what he did with it, but it looked like he did something to the inside of the horse’s nostril with whatever he took out of his pocket. Can you enlighten?
I’m not sure either, but it looked like he held a lighter under the horse’s head to get it to lift it up higher.
What an asshole.
I have a 9 year old APHA gelding that earned points in halter as a yearling and two year old. Mostly in the summer, since he was allowed to be a “normal horse” and I let him grow a hair coat and be as muddy as he wanted to all winter long. When he was started under saddle as a late 3 year old, he went on the excel in Western Pleasure, Showmanship, and all of the Roping events. He has won several saddles, a bunch of buckles, and a lot of checks in team roping. And still can kick butt in Western Pleasure. Way back in the day, in order to win “Grand Champion at Halter”, a horse had to not only exhibit correct conformation in halter but also had to be able to compete and win a performance class. All in the same day. Now days it is a beauty contest or a lead shank contest (as in who is leading your horse) that wins more than following the “ideal” breed standard. I would love to see any of todays modern halter horse go out and rope and hold a steer.
I have an older QH gelding (15 years old) who was a fairly successful fellow in his day. He has one of the BEST brains I have ever had the pleasure of working with and is SUCH a gentleman. Freddy Fever is his name and he is a buttermilk buckskin, absolutely a gorgeous boy and still looking “all that” at 15. He was a western pleasure horse, halter champ, horsemanship, trail…. you name it, he has tried it (and got ROMS etc while doing it!)
I think that if you train them right, do RIGHT by them…. you will have a useful horse well into their teens and twentys! I mean, this guy is learning a new discipline at 15! 
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Qh’s after being a WB girl most of my life.
Since I bought him (at 14 years old) we have done hunt seat, popped over some jumps and he has been selected as a mount for the upcoming Para-Dressage CPEDI3* in Ontario this upcoming April. His rider has a chance to qualify for the World Equestrian Games and I could NOT be any prouder of this awesome older man!
Boy, was I missing out.
I would love to post a pic for you, but I don’t know how to link them.
I am techie non-nerd.
Yowsers!!! That poor horse looks miserable! Haven’t read the comments but do we know which leg he broke? That front one looks really wonky. A baby is supposed to run and play to grow strong and sensable. Sounds like they’re raising veal, oh wait, maybe they are!
Nope, not sure which but neither looks good!
Okay…What is with the nasty hind ends I see in Quarter Horses now? The tibia seems to be at a 90 degree angle; the whole leg structure is 90 degrees straight down from the stifle to the ground. It looks nasty and deformed. Quarter Horses didn’t always look like that, did they? Gross. Poor animal…
Plenty of QH’s still don’t look that way…thank heavens!
I have a PtHA registered pony mare that has “stock type” on her papers and has halter points from being shown as a yearling. I have owned her for the past 2.5 years she has been 100% sound, and has GREAT feet. She has been trained up to third level dressage, and can also quietly jump around a 2’9 course with auto changes all of which she could do as a 5 year old. I have been reasonably conservative with her workload as I am aware that she was still growing she was just so smart that she picked up on everything very quickly without needing to “grill” anything into her. Although she is definitely a stocky build she certainly is not close to the extremes you see. If you would like to see some pictures go to http://www.fittpersonaltraining.com/studio.html
we have several ‘old timers’ at our KBHA shows that are very sound and strong. One 25yr old still looked like a 7 yr old and was showing last year, and I can think of 2 more 15 yr olds that are still showing. Actually, I can think of several on the AQHA circut as well.. but one thing they all have in common.. they aren’t halter bred, and they are all used as all around horses.
I’m the beamingly proud owner of a beautiful paint gelding – the one who I have posted before here about how he carries himself low and slow. He was not “all that” in the halter world, but he was shown since he was a weanling and has 6 Open APHA halter points and a futurity win – I do not know his PtHA record but I do know he was shown that as well. He has his conformational faults and he is no world champion, but I still think he is gorgeous. He was broke for western pleasure as a two year old, and has been shown in that as well but never APHA or PtHA – he does very well at local level though.
He was sold as I believe a four year old and used for breeding for a handful of years – and just about nothing else… his babies are not all that and a bag of potato chips but from everything I have seen and heard about they are adored by their owners and do their jobs very well. When his then owner’s wife died and he decided to get out of the breeding business, he then went to an abusive situation for “training.” He endured that about six months before he ended up at my trainers as a dangerously aggressive stallion that no one really wanted to buy. He and I hit if off somehow and after he was gelded (which resulted in a big attitude adjustment) I bought him.
He turns fifteen in May and he is a healthy as well… a horse! He windsucks and he can be a biter, and he can be a bully for inexperienced people but other than that he is very mentally healthy (no spook, no buck, and you can throw a saddle on his back after a four month pasture break and without lunging have a wonderful ride). I have shown him locally in halter, western pleasure, and western riding and he has done very well – always finished with a ribbon. I have also started him in trail but it hasn’t progressed like I want him too, not because he is not capable of it, but because I don’t have the time to work with him right now. He also trail rides like a champ, and is beginner safe although once again if you don’t know what you are doing he will try to take advantage of you by stopping and standing.
He has been turned out with mares and geldings, horses his size, bigger and ponies and he gets along with just about everyone. He has never been in a true mixed herd, but when he has been out with mares (and no other boys) he pretty much takes on the role of lead stallion and with geldings he is fine as long as everyone knows he is the boss. He has been stalled and turned out, but I personally feel he is happier with 24/7 turn out. He has only been lame once – in the shoulder, and that was due to a bad boarding situation that is long and complicated and off topic. He is shod in the front, and gets ouchy in the summer if he doesn’t have them – not lame and he never limps, but he just doesn’t keep 100% comfortable.
So to answer your question; yes, there is life after halter.
Wasn’t there a QH stallion on Fugly (last year maybe??) who won World Champion 3(?) year old who had the worst posty legs I’d ever seen?? I actually gasped out loud when his picture came up – now I can’t remember the name … anyone else recall?
I have two AQHA horses with points, both 15 years old. My stallion has 33 halter points (no Impressive breeding) and is sound both physically and mentally. My mare has 4 halter points, is NH and is not sound, she has hock/stifle problems. Both of them, like the others I have, will be with me until they are not comfortable anymore-then I will have my vet put them down. I have had both these horses since they were 3 and 2 respectively. I haven’t bred any for a few years, don’t intend to, and refuse to sell- I don’t want any horse of mine to end up slaughtered.
I have a registered 10 year old American Paint Horse who is all Quarter Horse for those of you who know Paint lines. If I had not bought her when she was 5, who knows if she would be sound now. She was broke by real cowboys out in Iowa (I”m on the East coast) when she was 2! I guarantee she was not mentally or probably physically ready to be ridden when she was 2. Not only were they riding her for ranch work with the cows, but hey decided to start barrel racing her “for fun”. What I got, was a horse who only knew how to walk and run flat out and if she wasn’t allowed to run she would start bucking ,twisting, and rearing. Not exactly the makings of a fun ride. I have had her for 5 years back in January and amazingly enough, she has turned out mostly ok. She is amazingly sound and seems to have no lasting joint problems but she is still quite young. Unfortunately, I have not been able to fully break the habit of bucking and/or rearing if she is in one of her really temperamental moods but for the most part she is a very different horse.
Minnie Mouse (my Paint) is a thick and muscular girl and only stands 14.3. While she is thick and nicknamed my bulldozer, she is still athletic and has amazing balance. She also has no HYPP blood just for the record. I did barrels with her, some roping, and basic cutting just for fun. We do obstacle courses and of course lots of trail riding. She even enjoys jumping small things just for fun but she is all about a western saddle. An English saddle just looks funny on a thick horse to me. Probably because of her build, she excels in Halter classes but I am by no means going to ever dream of locking her inside all the time. That horse has a love affair with every mud puddle in the field and I would feel awful separating her from them. She is a horse that loves life. However, I will be the first to admit, that if she was much thicker, she would probably not be athletic or what I call a “using horse”.
Hm. Stock type horse with halter and performance points….. that’s sound, sane, and working….
I know of a few half arabs that fit the bill, but they don’t count… and I know darn well my 16 y/o PB gelding who won national in hand and under saddle honors at 14 won’t cut it either….
It seems to me that the halter horse is judged the same way as market animals like steers and swine. The preference is for animals that will grade well on the rack. I guess that’s where a lot of them go after 4 years…
Not all of them, of course. But most look more like meat animals than working stock. So short term soundness for minimal mobility is all that is required.
It happens every time people start breeding for looks rather than purpose. Look at purebred dogs. Working breeds, real working breeds have two separate gene pools: dogs that herd or hunt, and dogs that show. Which are the healthier, happier animals do you think?
Beauty pageants for animals are even dumber than pageants for women. Form must follow function to preserve the animals we love. Breed for health, longevity, temperament, and work. Being “colorblind” with our animals like we tell our kids to be with their friends and classmates is best for our companions and our families.
It just occurred to me how cool it would be if we had pageants for women that included competitions that would reveal who had common sense and intelligence!
Yeah, I know. Never happen!
You wanted to know about studs with halter points that are sound – we own a 8 YO AQHA stud – linebred Skipper W with an outcross thru Beduino (TB). He earned 13 AQHA Halter points total with multiple Grands and Reserves / World qualifier, we did not break him out to ride as we are too old to do it ourselves and do not know a trainer to trust. He is sound as the proverbial dollar. Oldest foals 2 YO in 2010, 6 foals of show age and 4 with points + 1 Halter ROM. See photos on our website: http://www.springledgequarterhorsefarm.com. We breed for the Impressive / Skipper W cross – ALL HORSES negative for HYPP – GBED – PSSM – HERDA – OLWS. Stud also negative and vaccinated for EVA.
and you have a CREMELLO with a ROM?
Holy crap. That’s like seeing the Loch Ness Monster!
Good for you, and very good for you for being strict on the genetic diseases. I love that!
Yes we are the folks that went out and showed the first cremello in AQHA history to Halter ROMs – White Downtown Girl – sired by the late great Mr Be Downtown (HYPP N/N) and out of a WC producing 100% Skipper W mare. We found overall the judges to be VERY fair – only 2x in 2 years showing did we have a judge that seemed against the double dilute color. If anyone has a double dilute of quality – go out and show !!
re: genetic diseases – we have been testing all the horses as soon as any tests were available. Sure wish other breeders would do that and/or the breed associations would have stricter policies. We feel that as a breeder you have a great responsibility to at least know what you may or may not be passing on to future generations.
This comment is really late as I’ve been out of town/computerless for a week. I sold my stock breed mare with halter points just last year as a trail horse when she was 11yrs old. She is an Appaloosa and I got 3 halter points on her at a breed show in my area several years ago. The weekend before that, I rode her in the mountains and camped overnight. The week after the show, I rode her in a clinic doing rollbacks, flying lead changes, etc for 5 days. She is HYPP N/N. She was never lame a day in her life and I rode her a lot. She didn’t do as well climbing steep stuff in the mountains all day as my lighter built Appaloosas but she had plenty of heart and I kept her in good shape. She would not have made a competitive halter horse at the national level because she lacked the massive bulk of top competitors but she was pretty enough to do well regionally and all-around.
Since I know how many of my readers are amused by hate mail, particularly of the ignorant variety, I am sharing the response I received today from this stallion’s owner:
Iam the owner of the AQHA stallion you are talking about on our web site! If you dont remove these pics and take of your stupid little blog of what YOU Think a halter horse should look like. then i will be getting the police involved an a attorney! So please do remove these little ads and blogs you have! Thank you ne wat but he is not crippled, showed fior many yrs and is making tons of babies, so keep ur opinions to your self! I have been breeding and showing AQHA world champion horses for many yrs now! Thanks so much! let this be your warning to remove it at once!!!!!
Needless to say, I will not be changing the blog, and I sure do wish I had a tape of the response the police give her when she complains that someone has DARED to have an opinion on the Internet!
OMG hilarious!!!
Nice to know she’s “making tons of babies”… more generations of horses like these comin’ right UP!
I don’t know, something about how she writes leaves me… scared? No. Impressed? No… Girl, read some books. Reading voraciously gives you better grammar, spelling and a much bigger vocabulary.
Ooooh, oooh! The police AND an attorney! Watch out!
‘Making tons of babies’ …..great. Just great. I look forward to them being future fugly installments.
I know. I feel like sending these people a t-shirt that says “The Kill Buyers of America Thank You For Your Support!”
“Here is what I’d like to know today: Who has a horse with stock breed halter points, how old are they, and how sound are they? I notice how many of them just go poof. They are gone. They don’t re-emerge in some performance discipline. It is rare that I even find them in the 4-H show results somewhere, or on someone’s facebook page as their much-loved pet horse. I find the mares and studs being used for breeding but the geldings disappear. Where do they go? If you have one, tell us about him/her and reassure me that they don’t all wind up as sandwiches. ”
Yeah, I’m a johnny-come-lately to this posting but I couldn’t resist giving my two cents on this one.
My 28 year old pasture pet ApHC gelding has a Superior Event award (>100 points) and two youth National Championships (with a previous owner) in Halter. My family campaigned him to earn the Superior Event award while I was using him as my all-around horse. Granted, this was many years ago, but I was still showing him and doing well in the youth halter classes when he was in his teens. Oh, and while I was doing this he was also kicking butt in trail, working hunter, and hunter hack.
So, it can be done. The video of the World Champion Performance Halter gelding sort-of reminded me of my guy when he was younger. He wasn’t super buff for halter horse standards, but he was well-muscled and absolutely correct in just about every aspect of his conformation. And he could move and was sound as a dollar. He never won any of the open halter classes on a National level (the highest he came was a fourth at Nationals), but he was an exemplary example of a true all-around.
Now days he is a bit arthritic, but still gets around his pasture just fine. Most who meet him for the first time and who have some horse knowledge cannot believe he is 28. He is still well-muscled — especially around his withers, back and hips.
They just don’t make ‘em like they used to…
Nah, they make some good ones. The problem is people ride them too young and ruin them so they don’t last like they used to. I have a sound 30 year old, too!
Just a little FYI- he is HYPP NN.. so thanks !