When you see the rubbish being sold its just a sign of the times I'm afraid, look at this lot:
Copied from DD as link wont work
Savanna, 16.2hh Irish Draught Mare
Savanna, 16.2hh Irish Draught, 12 years young. Savanna is a school master, she speaks for her self. She has competed/hunted...
How is this horse sound in the back legs never mind the dangling front ones??
Think the bunges have been used with this one with that odd snapping action.
Dreadful
Depends on the age and model of your A4. You need to check the exact model in the book.Some have tow limit of 1900kg and 148 break horse power. Which you might be ok with for short distances on the flat, but its still a bit too close for comfort.
Ballastar no, not a safe combination, the 1.5 will be underpowered to pull it and far too close to limit to stop it. Horse move about and you need weight, power and grunt to be safe in the tow vehicle. You need at least a 2L car with 1800kg tow weight and high brake horse ie over 150 ideally.
Great article, agree with all the salient points.
We must keep up the pressure and express our thoughts good and bad if we want to see changes in horse welfare at all levels of competition.
Watched the latest test. Thought it was less awful than the previous one, the mouth was less resistant and pained with less snapping, and I thought I saw a longer rein and even slack in the reins in some movements. Hate the curved inward hands. Felt the rhythm in the passage and canter...
As title really, dont know if I missed a thread on this.
If this is a winning test I despair. Grand Prix FEI 6th leg at Mechelen.
Behind the vertical 90% of the time, blue lolling tongue, mouth grinding and snapping, incredible tension, pained expression on the horses face, this is unwatchable...
I found my first pony heres his thread.
https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/th reads/ive-found-him-at-last.710167/
He is in same home and looks amazing now another 8 years later.
Aquaintence kept her 2 big horses turned out in clay over winter, over the fetlocks for 12 hours everyday. After 3 years both crippled with DDFT damage in front legs at just 12 and 9, light hacking only before that once a week so never worked hard. She thinks bad luck.
I blame the mud.
This is so hard to advise depending on your circumstances.
Do you have kids, partner, other job and/or comfortably well off??Could you afford to never work again? Sorry to be morbid but you need to be realistic. The steel will stop your back bending for the next fall, possibly causing more...