Spudlet
Well-Known Member
Just a general musing really...
So to take one at random, some people think Arabs are very spooky horses, cobs are slow and fat, etc etc...
But are these traits totally down to the breed of horse, or are they partly down to people not taking the tendencies of the breed into account and not adjusting the way they keep them accordingly?
So for example, moving away from horses to dogs for a moment: many people will tell you spaniels are crazy dogs. But often, the problems people experience happen (in my opinion anyway) because people take a dog that was bred for working and hunting all day and expect it to be happy with a wander round the park a couple of times a day. If you exercise them enough and train in a way that harnesses those traits, you are much less likely to have a loopy dog. Surely the same could be said for horses?
So cobs, for example - bred to be in hard work with possibly not much in the way of high-quality nutrition available - so very good at getting maximum benefit from minimum grazing. Keep them on a lush pasture with just a small amount of work, and surely it's obvious that they'll get porky?
And Arabs - bred to survive in the desert and be warhorses that needed little in the way of food or water - surely the same applies - except that they may well get a wee bit loopy?
Do people have enough awareness of the breed traits of the horses they buy, or is there still a tendency to think of horses as just horses - and to assume that the way you keep one breed will be ok for another?
Just a Sunday morning musing really
So to take one at random, some people think Arabs are very spooky horses, cobs are slow and fat, etc etc...
But are these traits totally down to the breed of horse, or are they partly down to people not taking the tendencies of the breed into account and not adjusting the way they keep them accordingly?
So for example, moving away from horses to dogs for a moment: many people will tell you spaniels are crazy dogs. But often, the problems people experience happen (in my opinion anyway) because people take a dog that was bred for working and hunting all day and expect it to be happy with a wander round the park a couple of times a day. If you exercise them enough and train in a way that harnesses those traits, you are much less likely to have a loopy dog. Surely the same could be said for horses?
So cobs, for example - bred to be in hard work with possibly not much in the way of high-quality nutrition available - so very good at getting maximum benefit from minimum grazing. Keep them on a lush pasture with just a small amount of work, and surely it's obvious that they'll get porky?
And Arabs - bred to survive in the desert and be warhorses that needed little in the way of food or water - surely the same applies - except that they may well get a wee bit loopy?
Do people have enough awareness of the breed traits of the horses they buy, or is there still a tendency to think of horses as just horses - and to assume that the way you keep one breed will be ok for another?
Just a Sunday morning musing really
