I am new to the gaited horse showing, 2 years+. And what I have learned is that MANY(not all) "sore" their horses to get the high step! Diesel and coppertox mixed and covered with saran wrap, and chains over that!!!Heavy wooden boots, to fake them out and throw their feet alittle higher,Ginger enemas, to make them "scoot" a little better, and long story short- I have learned- The process to making a 5 gaited show horse either makes an AWESOME (but unnatural) show animal, or one CRAZY S.O.B!! Anybody got another take on it??Like I said I am new to this ring!!

quote:

Originally posted by Redyre Rottiess:
You cannot sore a horse that is expected to trot.

I showed Saddle horses for year, both 3 and 5 gaited.

The Walkers and the Rackers (maybe, not sure about the rackers) are the ones that always used soring.

They made rule after rule, and some people would always find someway to get around it. I presume they still do.

We did use chains during workouts on our Saddle horses, but no chemicals such as you describe. The chains are to teach the horse to pick the feet UP rather than fling them out in front.

Yes, i should have clarified TWH!

The chains used to practice are small and minimal and with those I have no problem! It is the chains used in the stall AFTER practice in combination with the chemicals (but just overnight, don't want to lose any hair, I was told!) that I do NOT agree with!

quote:

Originally posted by Amused:
The chains used to practice are small and minimal and with those I have no problem! It is the chains used in the stall AFTER practice in combination with the chemicals (but just overnight, don't want to lose any hair, I was told!) that I do NOT agree with!

BUT THEY DO USE THE ENEMAS IN SADDLEBREDS (studied at a ASB show barn) That particular barn trained LEGALLY, but informed me of the cheating practices!

quote:

Originally posted by Redyre Rottiess:
The Ginger is used on most horses with set tails to keep the tail up during the showing.

It is not used during training at all.

It is not used on horses who do not have tails that are up, and not used on some horses which use a brace on the tail, or humane type tails.

You can put a tail up without ginger if you care to, but most that I was around did use it at shows.

Yes, I mean the purpose of showing or right before.I was saying that IMO, that is awful!!Man, I would SURELY stick my tail straight up!!

Its setting the tails that get to me. I seen what one breeder does and it looks terrible and I was horrofied. Give me a natural tail ANY day. I have also seen and heard of this ginger thing. OUCH! Such cruelty. I'll stick with my stock breeds. I love the warm bloods but they are not for me.

quote:

Originally posted by crittermom:
Its setting the tails that get to me. I seen what one breeder does and it looks terrible and I was horrofied. Give me a natural tail ANY day. I have also seen and heard of this ginger thing. OUCH! Such cruelty. I'll stick with my stock breeds. I love the warm bloods but they are not for me.

Hey CM!I just woneder if runway models know about that little Ginger trick?? I have nothing against setting tails,although i've seen a couple of "tails gone wrong"but I think they are just as beautiful natural.
NOT the Ginger though!!

How is that not considered cheating, I mean, if the breed is supposed to have a certain tail set, and throw their feet a certain way, how can it not be cheating to go in and do things to them to make their tails higher and their feet get thrown higher.
Another reason I don't like Western Pleasure. For one I think the horses are too tall and lean, like a thoroghbred, another I don't like how they have trained them to hold their heads so low, and sweat their necks so much. Its just not natural.

That is the reason I was quickly jaded with that type of showing. It was more popular to TWEAK alittle here and there.That CANNOT be compared to WP!! I do agree the "type" popular today is not text-book QH, but neck-sweatting and head lowering in WP is a FAR cry from ginger, chemicals, the head and tail set harnesses in 5 gaited walkers.

Well yeah, but my point is, to alter the horse from their natural way of performing, no matter how drastic the measures, is just cheating to me.

I think in WP since they are supposed to be judging the QH in the way a QH is supposed to move, then by all means it should be naturally in motion, not trained to hold its head unnatural and the neck sweating,well the QH is supposed to have a thick neck and they are supposed to have a thicker build and not be so tall.

I know the heights range on QH, but the ideal QH is short and stocky, look at all the great foundation studs.
They ranged from 14.2 to 15.1 and anything over 15 hands was considered pretty damn tall. Now in the shows everything is 16 hands or better, except the working classes, where everything is still pretty much under 15 hands or close to it.
Thats becuase the ONLY way the QH can preform the way they are supposed to is to be the height and build they are supposed to.
It just sucks that you can't get the same type of performance out of the halter horses, since after all halter classes are supposed to be showing you what a true QH looks like, and you can't get the same performance in working classes from the WP, cause again, they are not how the true QH should look.
Now i know there are "some" halter or WP horses that show in the working classes, but still, they can't compare to the true working class horses, the performance of the "show" horse is nothing like the performance of the "working" horse.