This message is from: Pat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
I've been lurking with all the talk about type. Carol does liven up the chat
room.
I must say Anne is very articulate and conversations are interesting. Since Mike
brought up the Quarter Horses, I have to jump in with a thought I've had for
awhile.
All this talk reminds me of the early 70's in the Quarter Horse world. This was
a
time of a major transition is the QH's and I feel like I'm reliving it. Halter
classes were literally the tallest horse down to the smallest, and the more
white
the better. smooth muscled horses vrs the old bull dog. Big time change and alot
of dissension. All I ever hear now is how the Quarter Horse has been ruined and
how we the trainers, breeders, exhibitors and the guy who drug the arena and set
up the speaker system has caused a down fall in the breed. The Quarter Horse
Association is the largest breed registry in the world, I think they grew
because
the versatility of the breed reached out to the different avenues available.
Yes,
the hunter/jumper QH's now stand almost 3/4 TB in some cases, but a registered
QH
took the Jr Jumper Championship at Penn National this year. Look at Rugged Lark
(by Really Rugged, a TB) what he and Lynn Palm did for the QH image and
dressage,
hunters...then think about the reiners and the QH's in the Olympics..... If the
QH
remained the same, bull dog, cow working, calf roping animal in the sand hills
of
Texas....hummm....in my opinion it would be a waste. There are still QH's built
and bred for cow work, pleasure, and yes the horrible...horrible world of "only
halter horse".....although I do not agree that the halter QH is ruined either.
To
own a QH now means as an always asked second question, "what do you do with
yours".....the answer can mean everything from cutting to driving and everything
in between....in the late 60's-early 70's the english pleasure classes was a
trot
race, of short strided horses, noses stuck in their chests, seeing who could
trot
faster that the other, with the influx of horses like Swift Solo, Geetas Cat,
Really Rugged and breeders like Jon Riker and Carol Harris, and trainers like
Sandy Vaughn and Lynn Palm, QH's can now go back and forth in AHSA, USDressage
Association, USCombined Training Association, ADS as well as AQHA ..OH.....AND
take little Sally to Pony Club or Sally's great grandmother on a trial ride
safely. .
I don't look to see Fjords becoming anywhere near the size and popularity of
QH's,
and I suspect alot of you would bail out before it did. But lets keep the big
picture in mind before we condemn. We have 23 Fjords here and EACH one is little
different, its fun and interesting to see and find what they each do well.
I've gone on to long, ....and I still don't kiss horses.
Pat with to much coffee @ Green Valley Farm
