Apparently I still have a subscription to Equus magazine. There was an article titled 'Showing in slow motion'. It talks about how the QH and paint horses winning in the show ring are not showing two beat diagonal gaits, but 4 beat lateral gaits and the lope is 4 beat stepping gaits. The scientist studying the gaits said that "We are essentially making non gaited horses gaited. Obviously, there is a huge disconnect between what is supposed to be winning in the show ring and what actually is". It goes on to say that a similar study was done in 2001 which showed the same result and the breed association rewrote the rule book in 2004 but same stuff is still going on today. They say these artificial gaits are causing arthritis and damaged hocks.
Showing horses with low heads vs high head and dragging feet vs high foot action results in non gaited horses being gaited and damage to the horses. I normally work on Sundays and the local fairgrounds is kind of on our way home. Many Sundays they have the quarter horse shows and I'd stop and watch for a few minutes. It drives me nuts to see these horses doing the shuffling gaits that don't resemble jog/trot or lope/canter. The horses still have their head way too low and they are going way too slow. It doesn't look fun for anyone. Maybe I'll make copies of the article and give them to the judges next summer. -- Anna Southern Ohio
