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[RC] On the other hand......... - Bruce WearyI have a 5 year old grey Arab gelding who has nearly perfect conformation, and feet to die for. He is very sweet, and mature for his age. He likes to lead, and doesn't spook. He is an absolute magician in how he places his feet when negotiating terrain. While there are certainly some generalities out there, I think it is impossible to formulate rules about horses (chestnuts are this, greys are that, white feet are this, black feet are that, QH's are calm, Arab's are flighty, etc.,.) when there are so many exceptions to almost any rule anyone could come up with. Such "rules" often only reflect our preconceived notions that we have already accepted as truth, no matter what evidence to the contrary is shown to us. "Don't confuse me with exceptions, I've already made up my mind," so to speak. Following such rules could cause us to miss out on a truly great horse. Exceptions tend to disprove rules, not support them. It would seem more advantageous to evaluate each horse on it's individual merits than to "pre-screen" them based on color, conformation, breed, etc.,. In people, they call that "profiling." Maybe it's better to let each horse prove itself, or not, and go from there. We had a horse named Big Nose George, whom some here may remember. He had terrible conformation in his hind legs, very cow hocked. He had an old hind hoof injury that deformed his foot, and would have retired most other horses. Instead, he did all five days of the Outlaw Trail several times, and carried my kids in his later years up to his career total of 4400 miles, never falling or injuring anyone, and he carried more than 20 different people on rides of 50 miles or more. I'm glad we didn't screen him based on his physical appearance. He was an OTT bay, and Crockett will remember him quite well. My wife, Dayna, was riding him one day, when he was about 17, and she decided to open his throttle just to see what he could still do. After about 400 yards, she reeled him in, got off trembling, and said, "Never again!" :> Bruce Weary =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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