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Oct. 13th, 2013 08:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickDear Arabian Horse people: I'm kinda-sorta stallion shopping for an indefinite time in the future, some years hence (I like to be prepared) and I'm looking at videos and whatnot to see what I like. News Flash: You are not doing marketing very well and it's no wonder that your breed registration numbers are in the toilet.
Let me start by saying that I actually like Arabians. I ride them, and Arab crosses, near-exclusively. I have started four purebreds (besides Nick, who makes five) to saddle: Whims, Peak, Te, and Fiddler. I feel that I have some idea of what the breed is like. The arabs I've met have been pretty good horses. They're typically smart, personable, cute, hardworking (except for Te) -- good solid riding horses. Some of them have been freaking outstanding in terms of depth, usability, soundness, trustworthiness, etc. So I am a fan, here, and I'm trying to buy something I already know I like.
In googling, I came upon the Scottsdale Stallion Class 7+ which, I thought, would contain mature stallions that I could look at and stuff. Y'know, to see what I liked. Now, do note that I am already a fan of these horses. I AM A FAN. And I was appalled. Yes, the horses are of quality, but... you do realize that I do not allow my 2 yr old gelding that I have been working with FOR THREE DAYS to behave like that in-hand, right? Like, it's totally forbidden for him to proceed beyond me. He is to STAY WITH ME, at all times. He is NOT to bomb forward and slam into the end of the lead with his head in the air. That bullshit is totally not allowed. Obedience is a primary skill. I want attentive and I want obedient. If I'm having him circle around me in-hand, I don't want him looking at other horses (or ducks or four-wheelers or lawnmowers or passers-by or anything other than me) and having him bent to the outside while he's doing a circle around me is right out.
Maybe it was just that class? Then I checked out the Senior Stallion Championship. In the first thirty seconds of the video, the exhibitor showing the flashy chestnut with the FINE trot lays his horse down. In the ring. LAYS HIM DOWN. Seriously, Arabian Horse People? WHAT THE FUCK?!?!? (Okay, yeah, I have laid down a horse I was handling in-hand. Multiple times. Mostly when that happens, the horse is under a year old and rearing up on its hind legs at me in a fit of pique. Rearing up is totally 100% forbidden, so horses that go up in the air will be put on the ground if I can possibly manage it. Baby horses that rear can typically be yanked to one side or the other, whereupon they fall over and get up substantially less starchy. Typically, we like to have the "rearing-up" problem fixed before the horses are riding size.)
I thought, possibly, that the problem might be the stallion classes. So I looked up the Senior Mare class. Now, I *own* a senior mare. Nick's 16. If she behaved like any of the horses in that class, I would beat her and she would consider that she deserved it. (Nick is not a halter mare.)
Maybe my problem is that I just don't understand how Arabian halter classes work. After all, Scottsdale is a big show with very seasoned, quality horses on display. These are very expensive horses that are well-trained and heavily campaigned. This is what is winning in the show ring, what people spend lots of money and effort and plastic-bags-on-sticks trying to get their horses to do.
And I suppose that when the horses are not spinning out at the end of of the lead, they are displaying lovely movement... but the classes make the horses look like idiots. I'd really rather see a style of halter class that emphasized displaying good, controlled movement. I would like to be impressed with the manners and controlled fire of the horse, rather than watch it dance around like an idiot.
So, here I am, Arabian Horse People, a pretty-solid fan of the thing you are selling. And I go to look at videos of one of the pinnacle shows for the breed. Looking at the videos, the behavior of the exhibitors and the horses disgusts me. If I didn't already know that the horses are WAY BETTER THAN THAT... if I didn't already personally know Arabians and how sturdy and useful and kind and smart they were... I'd think they were crazy-assed idiots owned by people who were completely useless on the training and handling fronts. Your breed shows are doing a serious disservice to the breed you are allegedly promoting. I should not feel like I have to apologize for the way my breed is shown in halter. I should not have to explain that the trendy halter style is, yes, disgusting and uncontrolled, but that in spite of the halter style the horses are honestly quite sensible, hardworking, smart, robustly sound, and delightfully fun to ride.
Let me start by saying that I actually like Arabians. I ride them, and Arab crosses, near-exclusively. I have started four purebreds (besides Nick, who makes five) to saddle: Whims, Peak, Te, and Fiddler. I feel that I have some idea of what the breed is like. The arabs I've met have been pretty good horses. They're typically smart, personable, cute, hardworking (except for Te) -- good solid riding horses. Some of them have been freaking outstanding in terms of depth, usability, soundness, trustworthiness, etc. So I am a fan, here, and I'm trying to buy something I already know I like.
In googling, I came upon the Scottsdale Stallion Class 7+ which, I thought, would contain mature stallions that I could look at and stuff. Y'know, to see what I liked. Now, do note that I am already a fan of these horses. I AM A FAN. And I was appalled. Yes, the horses are of quality, but... you do realize that I do not allow my 2 yr old gelding that I have been working with FOR THREE DAYS to behave like that in-hand, right? Like, it's totally forbidden for him to proceed beyond me. He is to STAY WITH ME, at all times. He is NOT to bomb forward and slam into the end of the lead with his head in the air. That bullshit is totally not allowed. Obedience is a primary skill. I want attentive and I want obedient. If I'm having him circle around me in-hand, I don't want him looking at other horses (or ducks or four-wheelers or lawnmowers or passers-by or anything other than me) and having him bent to the outside while he's doing a circle around me is right out.
Maybe it was just that class? Then I checked out the Senior Stallion Championship. In the first thirty seconds of the video, the exhibitor showing the flashy chestnut with the FINE trot lays his horse down. In the ring. LAYS HIM DOWN. Seriously, Arabian Horse People? WHAT THE FUCK?!?!? (Okay, yeah, I have laid down a horse I was handling in-hand. Multiple times. Mostly when that happens, the horse is under a year old and rearing up on its hind legs at me in a fit of pique. Rearing up is totally 100% forbidden, so horses that go up in the air will be put on the ground if I can possibly manage it. Baby horses that rear can typically be yanked to one side or the other, whereupon they fall over and get up substantially less starchy. Typically, we like to have the "rearing-up" problem fixed before the horses are riding size.)
I thought, possibly, that the problem might be the stallion classes. So I looked up the Senior Mare class. Now, I *own* a senior mare. Nick's 16. If she behaved like any of the horses in that class, I would beat her and she would consider that she deserved it. (Nick is not a halter mare.)
Maybe my problem is that I just don't understand how Arabian halter classes work. After all, Scottsdale is a big show with very seasoned, quality horses on display. These are very expensive horses that are well-trained and heavily campaigned. This is what is winning in the show ring, what people spend lots of money and effort and plastic-bags-on-sticks trying to get their horses to do.
And I suppose that when the horses are not spinning out at the end of of the lead, they are displaying lovely movement... but the classes make the horses look like idiots. I'd really rather see a style of halter class that emphasized displaying good, controlled movement. I would like to be impressed with the manners and controlled fire of the horse, rather than watch it dance around like an idiot.
So, here I am, Arabian Horse People, a pretty-solid fan of the thing you are selling. And I go to look at videos of one of the pinnacle shows for the breed. Looking at the videos, the behavior of the exhibitors and the horses disgusts me. If I didn't already know that the horses are WAY BETTER THAN THAT... if I didn't already personally know Arabians and how sturdy and useful and kind and smart they were... I'd think they were crazy-assed idiots owned by people who were completely useless on the training and handling fronts. Your breed shows are doing a serious disservice to the breed you are allegedly promoting. I should not feel like I have to apologize for the way my breed is shown in halter. I should not have to explain that the trendy halter style is, yes, disgusting and uncontrolled, but that in spite of the halter style the horses are honestly quite sensible, hardworking, smart, robustly sound, and delightfully fun to ride.
