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Show Farm and Garden Guide 1 Abilities relates to shape, size e 14 VfcM Want your horse to be a real athlete? Since man began using horses, he has prized their athletic abilities. Dr. Larry M. Slade, animal scientist, Utah State University, suggests that in evaluating the conformation of a horse you relate its physical shape and size to the skills you wish it to perform. He said, Apparently different athletics require differences in body structures. r v n V , J't, , Jr 3. fS&fev ( -- ' t ft V- r ' - HnJ- . - TSSi'''-yif' ggg; .v;: 4 ..?. . . X5 9 m - J fr:-y- . r V. jSl A ,:?; 4v w " . Xkkff1V, - MlMUMai Dominic Guarascio exercises one of his Arabian mares at D & M Arabians in Elmo. Proper exercise is an important aspect of owning any horse; different training methods and exercises serve to enhance different portions of a horse's body. Horse training enhanced Understanding personalities By LARRY M. SLADE, Ph.D Utah State University Training or behavioral modification of horses is often difficult to accomplish because of lack of understanding of the personality of the horse. The horse is generally very good natured and friendly towards man, and much more sensitive than is usually assumed. He is receptive to attention and possesses a marvelous memory. He very quickly acquires habits and sticks to them. He is also quite timid and can easily be frightened by rough handling or punishment. It often srikes me, when I am watching a horse being schooled, how very little intelligence the trainer is displaying and how very good natured the animal is he is said M.F. trying to teach, many years ago. Unfortunately this is still true today. Although horses are gentle by Mc-Tagg- are also easily confused. Fear or and frightened a number of cause quite fright sudden and undesirable actions, such as stopping short, shying, jumping sideways, bolting and rearing. nature they Such difficulties should seldom by attributed to disobedience, but the explanation should be looked for in some other underlying cause. Many experienced horsemen use fear as an important motivating tool. One such use is the natural fear by the horse of anything that inflicts pain or discomfort. The horse is taught to develop a strong desire to escape the pain, which is used as punishment. He learns that if he does what is expected he will not be punished and there will be no pain or discomfort. For example, when a young foal is being trained to lead with a rump rope, the feel of the rope around his hindquarters inflicts discomfort. To escape the unpleasant feeling of the rope, he moves ahead and soon is leading. The same is true of leg pressure on a horses ribs. The horse does not like the feeling of being touched in the ribs and learns to avoid this mild form of discomfort by moving away from the leg. There are some situations where something more than mild discomfort must be used to get the horses attention and to motivate him to learn. Whips or spurs are commonly used for this purpose. After a horse has learned that these devices can cause considerable discomfort to his thin sensitive skin, they can be used mostly as threats and little or no pain need be inflicted. Horses can be taught to regard the voice as a mild form of punishment or at least a warning. A sharply spoken word to an alert, responsive horse may be all that is needed to punish him for doing something wrong. There is one very important point to remember about inflicting pain or discomfort when disciplining or punishing a horse and that is if it is going to be effective and meaningful, it must be used im mediately after a disobedience or mistake. With even a slight delay, the horse may not connect the punishment with his error and thus it will only confuse and frighten and serve no useful purpose. Punishment inflicted when a horse is fearful brings about an association which only heightens the fear. When a frightened horse is abused, he usually learns nothing about proper discipline. His fears are associated with the trauma, and usually a lot of bad habits are associated with avoiding the object of his fears. If any device or piece of equipment should harm him, it will be very difficult to accept later on in his training. A horse is likely to be afraid of any object if he first sees it while he is being ridden. Possibly, he feels helpless because he is not in command of his own fate. When the horse is confronted with something fearful, he often is temporarily out of control and everything but his overwhelming fear is blocked out of his mind. Horses often associate certain objects with fearful situations. For example, if he should be frightened by a piece of paper in the arena, he may later react fearfully to that location (or similar locations) in which the experience took place. Some riders will themselves cause a fearful reaction in their mount as they telegraph their nervousness about an aversive object to the sensitive horse through weight, leg and hand aids. their Differences in the physical features noted are; the massive shoulders and necks and steep croups of draft horses important in moving a load; the refined, light limbed form of the saddle horse that contributes to ability to cover ground and carry a rider smoothly and comfortably. The height and stretch of the race horse that gives it length and rapidity of stride so necessary for speed; the overall size and strong rear muscling of the jumper that enables it to push into flight and arc and tuck and land gracefully; and the balance of many physical traits which allow the stock horse to spin and change directions so quickly as exhibited in a cutting horse demonstration. Research is being conducted at Utah State University to find more accurate methods than presently used of evaluating such things as balance and symmetry as they relate to performance. Research at USU relating physical structure of the horse to athletic skills has shown that there is a positive correlation between the body length and height and length of shoulder and arm of the horse and its length of stride at the walk. Other traits such as pastern length, femure length and slope of hip and elbow joint angle have the greatest influence on trot length of stride. Slade emphasized that the structures and alignment of the feet and legs are probably more important than any other aspects of conformation in the horses athletic performance. He cited the axiom No foot no long used by horsemen: No horse. no leg leg. He said a stylish body with a beautiful head and neck is pleasing to look at but if carried on weak, faulty underpinning which cannot stand the stress of mass and acceleration it is of questionable value for athletics and, therefore, undesirable for breeding. He noted that when you evaluate the conformation of the horse, you consider the shape, size, blending together, alignment, and freedom from defects of all features which make up the total horse. However, in judging horses for performance as well as for breeding, you must place major emphasis on the feet and legs. Next, consider muscling and breed characteristics along with overall balance and symmetry as they relate to performance. 3 |