BREEDS

["Tracey" <tracey@tbt.co.za>]

I've been reading the thread on breeds (which has developed into Arab bashing / supporting) with interest.  I don't have an Arab, but get similar comments from the hunter/jumper/dressage crowd re TBs - they are loopy, have "soft" legs, can't "collect", etc, etc.

 

 

Having 2 TBs myself, it led me to thinking:

 

 

TBs are ex-racehorses, backed VERY (too) young and taught to run long, with a low head carriage; and

TBs are fed A LOT of grain on the track; and

TBs come cheap off the track, hence every Tom, Dick and Harriet who first gets into riding gets a TB; and

they follow the rationale that a TB NEEDS a lot of grain (out here, most TBs get +- 6 - 8 kgs per day); and

they do not appreciate how clever and sensitive TBs are

 

 

HENCE all of their TBs are OTT.

 

 

My two boys both raced, were brought on slowly off the track, only get a maximum of 1.5 kgs of grain per day and, although Toc is a bit of a shit, are not "hot" horses.  Our outrides are spooky, involving huge drops, crossing rivers, encountering hot air balloons, motorbikes, etc, and the horses are very, very safe. 

 

 

Yesterday, I hacked Toc out bareback with a headcollar - tell that to most TB owners out here and they would simply platz.

 

I have had a WB - hated it.  Love my TBs and wouldn't have anything else (until I can afford my ID/TB cross, that is).

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, yes, Arabs are hot-bloods (duh!) and very clever and very excitable.  But someone who understands Arabs would not see this as a problem to be overcome, but something to work with.  And in response, the Arab would be the safest, kindest ride imaginable.  An Arab person would know how to feed and work the Arab to bring out the best in the horse.

 

 

If you are not an Arab type, then having an Arab, despite its unarguable natural ability at endurance, would not succeed with an Arab. 

 

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I've always thought that owning a horse is like a marriage - you find someone you can relate to and bugger what the rest of the world has to say.

 

 

But then, as I said before, I don't do endurance, so let the flame war begin....:-)

 

 

Tracey