Shoulder Up

Television is going to be the ruin of us all. It communicates to us too clearly, too blatantly, too rapidly. It teaches us horrible horrible habits, and encourages us to overlook subtlety.

Compared to a toy commercial on Nickelodeon, horse conformation is about as subtle as you can get. You have to analyze, think, apply... and horse conformation is not blatant. It takes training and time to recognize specific traits, and picture from the image of a stationary horse how they will likely look in motion.

I have to remind myself of these things because the difference between these guys' shoulders:




















And these guys' shoulders:





















just doesn't scream at me.

But I believe the difference is there. All of these guys have reasonably sloped shoulders with a good length to them. I believe that the first two, however, have steeper shoulders than the second two. I'm still struggling to be sure of this.

The first set of horses are English Pleasure champions, and I think the few degrees difference between their shoulder angles and the other horse's shoulder angles affect this discipline. The slightly steeper shoulder encourages a higher knee action that is especially noticeable when the horse is moving at a strong trot. And now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the second set of horses could be taught to lift their knees just as high (in other words, their conformation does not prohibit it), but a long smooth stride would come to this second set much more naturally.

So you'd choose something like dressage or hunter for the second pair. Because when teaching a horse how to move his body is already so difficult, why not just use them as their body suggests?

Now, if I could train my eye to distinguish between a horse that would have a good hunter trot, and a horse that would have a good dressage trot (from a standing snapshot), I'd consider myself quite the pro. *Sighhhh*... maybe in a decade or so.

Don Quixote At Large

Apparently, I was not as interested in starting this blog as my initial caffeine-induce enthusiasm would have suggested. I pretty much substitute my desire to write anything here by reading other horse-y blogs. Everyone else is already saying it so well!

But today, I have an itch.

I am a frequent reader of the FHoTD blog, and my itch began with blogs like this one. Particularly, I'm talking about the brilliant owner of the Akhal-Teke who, hopes that "decades from now...[she] will be remembered as the pioneers of a whole new line of sport horses, talented, and prize winning in both the hunter and dressage arenas!" Naturally, she is referring to how crossing an Akhal-Teke:



















with a Quarter Horse:


















is going to revolutionize the modern sport horse.

What I envision from this cross is an animal with toothpick bones and Arnold Schwarzenager muscles. Yet the breeder proposes that she will be celebrated for this cross! I propose that she could have helped inspire Don Quixote.

Let's review:
1)
Don Quixote was steadfast in his delusions of grandeur.
This woman is steadfast in her hope to taste immortality by breeding the next big thing in dressage: An Akhal-Teke/AQH mix.

2)
Don Quixote rode a fugly-ass nag whom he--seriously--referred to as a Noble Steed.
This woman looks at the Holsteiner and--seriously--says, "I can breed a horse that will blow that one out of the water!"

3)
Don Quixote went galavanting about the country side with a chamber pot on his head.
This woman is galavanting about the country telling people that Akhal-Teke/QH mixes will be excellent sport horses.

4)
To return to point 1: Numerous pieces of incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, Don Quixote maintained to the very end that he was a True Knight.
So will this woman continue to breed a species of "sport horse" that the world neither wants or needs.


Reading the FHoTD blog has made me realize that there are hundreds of people just like this woman. But she takes the cake because she comes right out and says it,
"I am motivated by dreams of grandeur."
To be sure, there are far worse breeding programs to be found on FHoTD. Far, far worse. And there are Plenty of breeders out there who maintain the delusion that their Fresian/Tennessee Walker cross is going to make them a Millionaire. In many ways they, too, are Quixotic.

They simply fail to capture the spirit of Quixote so well as the woman who believes she is making a major contribution to humanity for having thought up the Akhal-Teke/QH cross.