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Re: [RC] Letters to the World -- showing - heidiThe AHA judges pool is made up of trainers, enthusiasts, breeders, etc. and I think the majority of them try to objectively judge horses on their qualities and merits. To state otherwise is to cast aspersions on the integrity of some very fine people in the Arabian breed. Then I guess I have to cast aspersions. Although in terms of integrity, I will grant that in many cases, it is actually ignorance. Our judging pool is by and large poorly educated about what constitutes functional conformation, let alone classic type, and tends to "objectively" put up the horses with the most extreme aspects of certain body parts that match what they see in the major magazines and at the other shows. The "good old boy" network is alive and well in the show ring--riding under a judge one week that you will be judging as a rider next week. But you are correct that that doesn't apply to ALL judges. The judges who make me ashamed are the ones who KNOW what it takes to be functional and yet persist in putting up the extremes of necks, croups, legs, bodies, etc. Yes, they are being "objective" all right--but they are rewarding things that are destroying our breed. Yes, there ARE a few judges who will heave a sigh of relief and pin a good horse if he shows up. But since the good horses by and large are ignored as not being sufficiently "extreme," they rarely bother anymore. Additionally, this push toward the non-functional extreme in the show ring has caused breeders who strive to breed show winners to BREED for these extreme traits--to the detriment of the breed. It is a sad fact for those of us who love the Arabian as he was--a sturdy, functional, sane, well-conformed RIDING horse--that the breed HAS by and large earned the bad rap that it gets in the public opinion. Heidi ============================================================ REAL endurance is reading the LD vs. Endurance thread/debate every 3 months!!! ~ Heidi Sowards ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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