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Re: [RC] Rios brother - Heidi SmithThis was true of the original Arab horse, and the ideal of Arabs until....when? How come people started wanting 16 hand Arabs? I know there are some absolutely splendid tall Arabs, both in endurance and other disciplines, but WHY? Is bigger equated with better, as in hamburgers, cars, boats, whatever? Maybe it's because we became taller people, through better health care and better nutrition. Seems to me to be a psychological thing. Although Susan G's Tevis study deals with weight rather than height, it pretty clearly demonstrates that making the horse bigger is not an advantage. As we seem so wont to do in our culture, we've taken a lovely, balanced thing--the Arabian horse--and "improved" upon it so that it fits some mental image that we have, which in turn has decreased its athleticism. It is no surprise that the majority of the athletic ones are still in what was traditionally considered to be an optimal range, despite the fact that so many being bred are so much taller. (And I guess one would have to define "splendid"--while the large horses may "fill the eye" so to speak, I've seen very few that even begin to capture the balance and grace of their more average-sized counterparts.) Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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