WOW! not in a good way

Jenko109

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I don't like it. It's not for me.

As ridiculous and alien as it seems though, having a horse slogging along like that on a loose rein, surely can't be hugely detrimental?

Yes. It is icky and it does make my eyes bleed, but I am not entirely appalled.
 

Widgeon

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Why, just why. 😡
And a thousand likes already.
Although in fairness, there are also a lot of comments expressing what I can only call disgust. So that's something. I completely agree with @Gloi - where's the pleasure in riding that! Utterly bizarre.

I don't think it's necessarily fair to compare it to Big Lick though - like @Jenko109 says, it looks like an uncomfortable slog, but it isn't 24/7 horse torture in the same way as Big Lick (unless I'm missing something major)
 

SpeedyPony

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It doesn't look particularly comfortable to ride either, which I thought was the point.
The old boy (QH X) can do a lovely jog- head low, relaxed, easy to sit. I can understand why that sort of gait is bred/trained into them, as it's a pleasant gait for travelling faster than a walk without the bounciness of a trot. I can imagine a proper lope is similar, but the extremes the showing circuit has taken it to is a caricature of what started out as a sensible gait.
 
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4Hoofed

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And that's why they still have PSSM 1 in those western pleasure horses - they're not allowed to move properly so no one knows when they can't 😡
I keep getting US breeders in my feeds trying to justify it and saying it’s all “natural” there’s just how they move 🤢🤢🤢 by showing clips of when foals slow up in slow motion. Too much money not enough sense.
 

Surbie

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I really wish I hadn't clicked on the Big Lick link. The pleasure horse video is truly awful, but the Big Lick one haunts me. I cannot fathom the 'why' for either.
 

paddy555

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I keep getting US breeders in my feeds trying to justify it and saying it’s all “natural” there’s just how they move 🤢🤢🤢 by showing clips of when foals slow up in slow motion. Too much money not enough sense.
I'm sure barrel racing is not without it's faults but I guess they too are quarter horses as are cutting horses and they don't move like that. Barrel racers look barely under control as they leave the collecting ring at a gallop. Working horses out in the "wild west" IRL would never keep up with the cattle they were driving at that speed. :eek:
 

Widgeon

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Barrel racers look barely under control as they leave the collecting ring at a gallop.
While I am not 100% on board with the ethics of barrel racing, I do think it's kind of a fascinating sport - I'm not sure the horses are "under control" in the conventional sense of the rider telling the horse what to do. My impression is that a good barrel horse knows the patterns and would produce a pretty good run with a stuffed monkey on top, and the rider is there to fine tune it / urge them on a bit more. I suppose a lot of cow related work is like that though, the horse has to know its job inside out without the rider having to micro manage.
 

Snowfilly

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While I am not 100% on board with the ethics of barrel racing, I do think it's kind of a fascinating sport - I'm not sure the horses are "under control" in the conventional sense of the rider telling the horse what to do. My impression is that a good barrel horse knows the patterns and would produce a pretty good run with a stuffed monkey on top, and the rider is there to fine tune it / urge them on a bit more. I suppose a lot of cow related work is like that though, the horse has to know its job inside out without the rider having to micro manage.

There was a clip I saw a while back of a barrel horse running the pattern loose after the rider fell at the first turn and he managed it very well indeed.

You’re definitely meant to be able to just sit on a good cow horse, you point out the cow you want, the horse gets it and you stay out the way. There’s pics of some high level riders riding with folded arms or hands on their thighs to show off, it’s impressive.
 

SEL

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There was a clip I saw a while back of a barrel horse running the pattern loose after the rider fell at the first turn and he managed it very well indeed.

You’re definitely meant to be able to just sit on a good cow horse, you point out the cow you want, the horse gets it and you stay out the way. There’s pics of some high level riders riding with folded arms or hands on their thighs to show off, it’s impressive.
I sat on one in Australia and he made me look like I knew how to cut cows! Obviously that was the plan but it was how fast he moved that surprised me. Stock saddles are great for keeping a rider in the saddle 🤣
 

Snowfilly

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I sat on one in Australia and he made me look like I knew how to cut cows! Obviously that was the plan but it was how fast he moved that surprised me. Stock saddles are great for keeping a rider in the saddle 🤣

I’ve always thought it’d be fun to try and sit on one! Like how I’d like to sit on a schoolmaster who does tempis and passage from ground commands just so I could feel the movement. Get on, hold on, shut up.
 

AShetlandBitMeOnce

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I sat on one in Australia and he made me look like I knew how to cut cows! Obviously that was the plan but it was how fast he moved that surprised me. Stock saddles are great for keeping a rider in the saddle 🤣

I would love to do this, I am SO jealous!! The cow horses are fantastic animals, and despite lots of people saying 'they do it on their own as foals' re: many horse sports, they are the only horses I have genuinely seen do a version of it as a month old foal.
 
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