Bream's Horse In Puissance - Is It Me?

Maesfen

Maesfen

Extremely Old Nag!
Joined
20 June 2005
Messages
16,720
Location
Wynnstay - the Best!
photobucket.com
Was it just me that thought the grey looked very scrawny and not right in its coat even though it jumped its heart out for him? I know it's not the best looking or moving horse there but compared to some I thought it looked positively poor, very prominent hip bones to say the least; or am I just being picky?
confused.gif


Disclaimer: I haven't seen good show jumping for I don't know how long and I don't know the history of this horse so I don't know if normally looks like this.
frown.gif
frown.gif
 
I wondered the same thing about the hip bones; could just be that being stabled at Olympia has been a bit stressful and it's lost some weight

But no, you werent the only one
 
I'm sat here with my friend and we both said the same thing.
This is the first time I've seen it so I don't know if it looks like that normally.
 
Glad it wasn't just me then!

To me, it looked like something that had had a long and hard season and is ready for a bit of a break and time out to regain some weight and recharge the batteries. Even though I know there really isn't a closed season as such, I'd hate to think that it will have to carry on jumping right through without a break (naive I know!)
 
I'm not into showjumping at all, I just happened to have the TV on when the coverage started, and I concur with your opinion completely - in fact, I thought the horse looked awful (to be polite!), scrawny. poor, angular. UGH!
 
Mmm I agree but a lot of these Irish horses simply do look like this it seems. He was a real bog irish type. I remember that there was another bog irish type doing Olympia a few years back and it also looked the same. ( a liver chestnut with a huge head if anyone remembers it!)
I think they are so oddly put together that perhaps they just cannot ever gain the muscle and topline? I think that the same thing happens when you have a badly put together racehorse, they are just never capable of building up the right muscle or topline due to their conformation and therefore they use themselves in a compensatory way.


Finbaar looked very Irish too and also looked weedy but then I saw he was so narrow in the chest and his front legs came out of the same hole, so again, bad conformation meaning that its not ever able to gain huge amounts of topline.
 
Reading your reply jogged my memory and Breen's (got it right this time!) ned reminds me of how I've always pictured Jake's horse (was it Nelson or Admiral, something like that?) from Jilly's Riders! It might not be how she described it but how I've always pictured him!

But at the same time, a horse can be fit and still look a picture of health even if it is super slim; this just didn't look right in its coat at all and there is no need at all for his hips to be so prominent; makes me think whoever is in charge of him does not have the required horsemastership skills they should have. It must have a heart as big as a house and love the job though.
 
First of all shane's surname is BREEN!!!! and yes billy(the horse) always looks positively scrawny! his owner damian is a friend of mine as is shane! he is actually pretty much built that way...if you saw him standing in a field you'd thing he wouldn't walk over a pole never mind jump...thats just him!! he's a dote though bless him and he really loves puissances! him and his owner damian hold the bareback puissance record here!!!
 
he hasn't done anything since belfast in oct coz his regular jockey got a rough fall off a youngster and broke leg in several places. trust me the horse is just built that way...he actually doesn't look as bad close up but bless him he just ain't one of life's lookers!! got lumps and bumps at each corner...i know his hips look sticky outy etc but i cannot stress enough how good the horsemanship of the people looking after him are!!! even when over fat after his holidays his hips protrude a bit...tis just him!!
 
Yes, now to me, I thought that the horse looked scrawny but did it's job well and clearly isn't in a ny discomfort.

Ditto the lumps and bumps - scars on his hips too, which indicate they probably are always like that.

Am I right in thinking he has Clover Hill lines?
If so, it seems big hips are in the family - it would be easy for a horse to loose condition stabled at Olympia enough for this.

I did honestly believe that the horse was just like that..
 
It did look quite lean and angular, but bear in mind these puissance horses (leonardo the exception) are usually freakish creatures, and often much bigger than the others, most are of advancing age and will have been transported from show to show rather than having a break.
I was personally more concerned when O' Connor's horse stumbled, definitely looked sore for a step or three!
William and Leonardo, a very easy on the eye combo, if ever there was!!!
blush.gif
At my age, Young Man!!
grin.gif
 
Ditto about the sore steps! I was worried for a second or two!!
crazy.gif


The grey horse was obviously just built like that.. if he was poor there is no way he would be able to muster the energy/power to get over that wall.... to me he just looked big boned, my old showjumper was similar, and however much food I gave him/whatever work he was in I always thought he looked skinny over his back end..
 
i did think he looked a little on the lean side - but these are the pro's and the horse is probably better kept that a great deal of horses so i personally feel not in a position to judge !!

I think its also worth saying a hell of a lot of horses, competition ones and otherwise, are a little > hugely over weight - that is worse than looking a little on the lean side IMO.
 
Actually correction - instead of attacking the poster of that comment you might want to know that tim stockdale happened to agree with her! He said that the reason the horse had it down was all down to the fact that Rob smacked the horse with the whip (or waved the whip at him) which distracted him and caused him to spook to the left.

However - I'm shocked at some of the judgemental comments on shane's horse and the people who look after him - this horse has looked like this from the word go and does his job wonderfully and from what amage said has had time off since october.
And no - puissance horses are NOT passed around the world from place to place without EVER having a break - what a silly generalisation to make.
Sorry but made me angry.
 
i thought he looked absolutely fine, just like a fit Irish horse. I'm usually the first to notice things like that, and it didn't even occur to me. Better than being fat, which some of the show-jumpers look to me. I was taught that you should be able to see the outline of the last couple of ribs.
Having watched last night, I've decided i can't stand this fashion for flowing tails though, it looks as if no-one could be bothered to give it a nice trim or rake.
frown.gif
 
It just the way its built to a great extent.
I owned a half brother (Lissyegan Cruise Clover) and he looked similar unless he was carrying a bit more weight than he needed
Lissyegan Clover Diamond
lissyegancloverdiamond.jpg


Lissyegan Cruise Clover
horse1.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top