This message is from: "Gail Russell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Another thing that I believe contributes to the perception that people call "presence" is *high headedness.*
Diamant's owner liked him because he has a tendency toward upheadedness, probably from his Rei Halsnaes breeding. His owner referred to himself as liking "high headed horses." If you think about it, promoting high headedness is what saddlebred, morgan and Arabian halter showing is all about. In the quarter horse world, no one is worrying about that kind of "presence"....they want to see a horse's head DOWN.....where the cows are!....and want "cowiness." When Beth trained Rom she did a very good job teaching him to lower his head. He puts his head *to the ground* when being bridled and unbridled. This is not where his head would be if left to his own devices. This is a typical behavior used by the cowboy/vaquero/natural horsemanship/negative reinforcement/calm down cue training model. It would be interesting for the evaluators to be able to quantify in their own minds the physical things that result in their perception of "presence" as there is the possibility that we could be unconsciously moving in the direction of the saddlebred, Morgan and Arabian world. If we are, we should be aware of it. It is always good to be aware of the conformation and training techniques that we are selecting for. Gail
