Re: RC: Arab or TWH

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

Hi Jerald - you wrote:  "have just seen people having a lot of trouble
trying to keep them {Arabs} sound"  and further "would find more legs
problems with the Arabs especially after a season of campaigning".

I guess if you figured out what the ratio of unsound to total number of
endurance Arabs is, and compared that ratio to the ratio of unsound to
total gaited endurance horses, and found that the proportion of unsound,
bad legged Arabs is higher than that of gaited,  then I'd be impressed
with your observation.  Personal observation of the number of
Saddlebreds in your area is not a convincing argument, because my
personal observation of the Arabians that I know of that do endurance
within 100 mile radius here reveals that a total of none had suspensory
or other injuries from doing endurance.  So what?  That doesn't prove
anything about the ultimate suitability of either Saddlebreds or
Arabians for anything at all.   Personal observation is just that.  It
doesn't provide conclusive arguments about anything other than what
you've seen.  For instance, 9 years of your observation does not address
the issue of how Arabians actually became the predominant horse for the
sport, especially since at the time of AERC's birth Arabians were not
common horses, were mostly used for show.  Why would an uncommon show
breed become the most commonly used for endurance if there were better
suited breeds?  Why would people continue to prefer Arabians if they
could do so much better with other breeds?

By the way, when you wrote "gaited horses do have more bone" I assume
you refer to cannon circumference.  This of course is not a measurement
you compare across breeds.  You compare within breeds, or you compare
ratio of bone to body size/weight (I forget what it is) from one horse
of a breed to the ratio in another breed.  Otherwise of course you'd
find that Saddlebreds have shamefully little bone compared to say
Percherons, which isn't useful or fair comparison.  Anyway, bone
circumference is not important if the bones aren't able to withstand
impact.  That's a whole different area, I believe it has to do with bone
density.  There have been quite a few articles in "Equus Magazine" about
the study of bone density, which is as important, if not more so, than
bone circumference.  Big weak bones are useless.

My feeling is that the best argument for suitability of breeds for a
particular use is success.  If you can achieve endurance success with
gaited horses, then I think you should go for it all the way.  As should
mule people, mustang people, and everyone who wants to.  After all, this
is a sport for humans and their equine partners, no mention of breed
requirements in the rules.  Good luck!  Lif

PS
Paul went to a reference book and looked up Traveler.  He said he had
always understood Traveler to be an Arab, which is not correct unless
you count the Arab blood in thoroughbreds, which would be kind of
cheating.  The reference is _The Horse in War_ by J.M. Brereton, Arco
Publishing Co, Inc. NY 1976.  Brereton is/was an expert on military and
equestrian subjects, a one-time regular in the Royal Horse Artillery and
the Indian Cavalry.  He provides a bibliography to support this book.  I
quote from pages 107-8.

Traveler was "a big 16-hand, well made iron-grey gelding... he was more
than half Thoroughbred and had in him the blood of Black Hawk, one of
the most celebrated of the early Morgan sires.  He was bred in 1857 by a
gentleman-farmer, James Johnston...  as a colt, with the name of Jeff
Davis, he took first premium at the Greenbriar Fair....  As soon as he
saw Jeff Davis as a four-year-old in the spring of 1861, he bought him,
changing his name to Traveler..."


--
                                    ____________
Lif & Paul Strand   STRAND ENTERPRISES   http://www.fasterhorses.com
          Arabian Horses (looking for new homes!)
         Nutrition for People & Critters * WebArt
                     Quemado, NM  USA



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=