This is KC. He is about 13 years old and has been riding with me for a year. He is also a first rate young trainer. He does not look like a trainer of wild horses, does he?
This is also Kiowa. She is a three year old USERL mustang with about twenty hours of training. Last week Abbie took her on her first ride in the woods. She found her to be one of the lightest and most comfortable horses that have trotted through our rough trails. She does not look comfortable and smooth, does she.
There is little in her that the established horse world would approve of. Since that world knows all about how a horse must be put together, this horse must be a rather pathetic ride. I mean, she does not appear well conformed. The reality that she is a spectacular ride does not matter because she does not appear to be a spectacular ride.
That is the essential difference between our horsemanship and that of the established horse world. They are interested in appearance and we are interested performance.
1 comment:
The photo that you have provided does not allow us to see if she looks comfortable and smooth. In horses, function very much follows form. Therefore, I assume that she does have the conformation of a smooth, comfortable riding horse.
As you point out yourself, the equine establishment is often more interested in appearance than performance. Award winning conformation is often of an extreme type that is not functional and produces horses that are unsound by the time they are adults. Even the performance desired for some showring disciplines is so extreme that it requires functionally unsound conformation. Unfortunately, in many breeds “good” conformation does not equate to a good riding horse. (So just how insane is it to intentionally breed a horse that is not good for riding or driving?)
I don’t know your policy regarding the promotion of other sites on your blog, but I think Deb Bennett’s Equine Studies Institute website [www.equinestudies.org/] is a good place to learn about functional conformation.
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