And how do you know those "sale" horses didn't
come from a careful, selective breeding program?
I do agree it is good to look at the horse as
much as the breeding.
I agree. I got a
wonderfully wellbred horse from the feedlot in L.A. County. I have
his papers. The horse has very good conformation and, after a
number of years when he finally relaxed, is a total sweetheart. He can't
be ridden in endurance because of an inoperable bone chip in his rear fetlock
but he did not have that when I got him.
He ended up at the feedlot
after being sold during his breeder's divorce. He had one other owner
prior to the feedlot who apparently terrorized him and starved him (he gained
weight at the feedlot even though the conditions there were not ideal and he
was grossly underweight when I got him). He tossed me three times, all
but killing me, before a natural horsemanship trainer Harry Whitney was able
to communicate with him. The result (before his bone chip problem) was a
horse that was a dream to ride, so responsive you only had to think and he was
there for you. I rode him in a sidepull which, for him, was
perfect.
Bottomline, wellbred, well
trained horse, badly abused and frightened, at the feedlot and set to go to
slaughter. As I have said before, "bad things happen to good horses" and
most of the time, the "bad things" are bad owners. My philosophy is that
once they're mine, they are my responsibility.
