Saddle Seat
Monday, November 8th, 2010why does American saddle seat focus so much on artifical aids?
like heavy shoes and chains, it seems morgans, arabs, saddlebreds, TWH, and hackney horse shows are too focused on putting junk on the horses legs, why did this get so popular. Arabs move wonderfully even without shoe sas do saddlebreds, so is saddle seat really about a flashy horse or is it about horsemanship?
this is the reality of the horse show world. those flashy high stepping horses are the ones walking away with the world grand championships! heavy shoes and chains don't hurt the horses in any way, it's all the chemical burning agents that cause damage. it's not just saddleseat horses that get this kind of treatment! it's just as bad in quarter horse showing. you can make any horse go low and slow if you drain enough blood... it's done everyday by big western pleasure trainers! halter horses are bred to carry the HYPP gene so they have muscle spasms and bulk up due to the muscle activity. that's just as artifical and MORE harmful that using simple aids in saddleseat horses. more and more "trainers" are trying to burn their horses just to compete with everyone else! the sad fact is that a natural horse will never beat a sored one in 99 percent of all classes! yes, all horses have to be inspected but more often than not the big trainers with the sored horses are friends with the inspectors and judges and the officals are bought off and wont prevent their sored horses from being shown. things are getting better after the 07 TW world show where the USDA inspectors showed up and wouldnt let any horse show with scars and the world grand championship class was cancelled. around here the USDA randomly comes to gaited breed shows and will suspend any trainer with a sored horse on the grounds and write tickets and fines to owners. horsemanship doesnt count in gaited shows unless the class specifies "academy, horsemanship, or equitation" it's all about how the horse performs, not the rider. you can hang off sideways as long as your horse is moving correctly!