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Re: [RC] SHOW RING ABUSE DISCUSSION - Chris PausThanks Mr. Levine for speaking up and telling us the other side of the story. It is important to have these discussions from a point of knowledge, not just emotion. I'm glad things work well in Region 9. I wish I could say the same for what I've seen in Region 8. Although, I'll admit, I've got a limited knowledge from just a few venues. I think what happens in the show industry in all breeds is that exaggeration is rewarded, so breeders and trainers work ever harder to obtain that exaggeration until the horse becomes almost a caricature of the original breed standard. If a pretty arched neck is good, then an exaggerated snakey neck is even better. If a dish is good, an extreme dish is better. In the QH world, if some muscle is good, then a horse that looks like a beef steer is even better! And so on. A judge pins a horse for whatever reason, but if it has these
characteristics, or it moves in a certain way, then everyone else falls over themselves to try to meet that new standard. Even though it wasn't really a standard. Maybe that particular horse was the best the judge had to work with in that class of horses that day. To me, it's not all about the overt abuse. And to be honest, I haven't witnessed it at the Class A shows I've attended as a spectator, although I'm sure some happens. What bothers me is the poor riding, poor horsemanship, and poor examples of horses I've seen at the shows I've attended. Walking through the rows of stalls, I saw horse after horse with an exaggerated face and neck, but wasp waisted, weak loined and legs so thin they look like they could break. That's not what the Arabian horse looked like centuries ago in the desert, or even decades ago in Poland and England. Two years ago, i attended the American Royal
Arabian Show. In almost every riding class, the winners had their horses down on the forehand, behind the bit. The few riders who actually rode the horse from back to front got nothing. It is especially exaggerated in the WP classes where I saw behind the scenes, trainers scolding and scolding horse and rider for not getting the 4 beat canter. Gadzooks, that's not even a canter. Just because QHs do it (and it's wrong for them too) why should we emulate that? I saw riders constantly jerk jerk jerking on the horse's mouths to get the horse more in a frame, more behind the bit and more on the forehand. Not very many understood that the frame comes from behind, not from holding the horse's head to his chest. Frankly, I was in awe of the good disposition of the horses who put up with such treatment. They never got rewarded for the right answer. They never got a release from the pressure. They just kept trying to please the humans.
Our Arabian horses are so beautiful and animated by nature. They don't need to be hyped up or yanked down to show off their beautiful features. A friend of mine is moving away from the Class A world to the Arabian SH world. He loves to show. Showing is his thing. But he recognizes that so many breeders and trainers are being rewarded for this exaggeration. He wants to show the horse within a set of guidelines that reward form to function. He's even breeding his mares to my Polish race bred stallion.. not for endurance or racing, but to get back to that form to function.. a horse built to do something and look pretty as a bonus. Every once in a while, I go back to a Class A show to see if things have gotten better, then I walk away and swear I'll never do this again. There are so many ways to enjoy our horses. I'm glad that people like you do take
the time and effort to show your horses in a human and responsible way. I'm hoping more people like you will become the influence and set a new standard. But the way I'm seeing people migrating from Class A to Sporthorse, it makes me think that we've got a long way to go before the industry as a whole "gets it." chris Richard M Levine <richardmlevine@xxxxxxx> wrote: I have received numerous emails direct responding to my 2 postings on this
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