On Stallions:
>Lauren Horn <fourhorn@mail.fia.net>
>What shocked me the most was information in regards to arabs; that
>there are more stallions registered than geldings!!
I have three registered Stallions. However, if you look at them
you'll find they are all geldings. Why? Because you register
your foals when they are under 3 months old. After that the price
goes up. I don't geld my boys until they are around 6 months.
Since I'm not particular about the papers, I may not even correct
the color on my "bay" who is currently turning grey.
Just because a horse is registered as something, doesn't mean it
hasn't changed. Particularly the stallion to gelding item. Very
easy to remove.
On Bits:
It is interesting to read all the "halters are best" type of posts.
And that a more "sevear" bit is bad. Really it depends more on the
hands of the rider. If you look at the bits that a very high level
dressage horse uses, you'll find very "sevear" bits. But in reality,
the rider is looking for a very fine and very high sensitivity to change.
For example, a high tuned sports car takes very little motion of the
steering wheel to make a change in the car. The old heavy truck drives
like a "truck":-) and takes a heavy hand to turn. If the rider of
a finely tuned horse, has a finely tuned hand, they can use what might
be considered a very harsh bit, use it lightly and get a response that
makes people go Ahhh.
No one should say that one bit or bitless is better. Each horse and
rider will need to tune themselves for the training and conditions in
which they ride.
On Horse/Rider weight:
>Susan Evans
>The average weight carried by Top Tenners was 180.7 pounds, and the
>average rider weight ratio was 20.3%. The Top Ten horses averaged 892
>pounds.
Was the weight of the horses measured by scale, tape weight, or rider's
guesstimation? Also, was this the before or after weight? Or was
both taken. I'm just curious about the amount of weight loss during
this ride.
>The conclusions drawn from at least this particular study was that
>horses are capable of carrying weights in excess of 30% of their own
>body weight for 100 miles, IF the horse has sufficient body fat to
>supply the ongoing demands for metabolic fuel. The thinner a horse is,
>the quicker he is going to run out of energy in direct proportion to how
>much weight he has to carry.
A caution about this should be taken by all the newer riders.
The key word is sufficient body fat. You want a horse that is in
proper weight, not too fat, not too skinny. Each horse will be
different. A thinner horse isn't good, but neigher is the fatter horse.
A different study was taken at a the OD and ROC a few years back
concerning the amount of feed given to horses. The results of the
ride were figured in to the final tally. The horses that did the
best were those that were feed the most calories per mile of training.
The numbers were those given by the riders in a written survey.
I have seen and heard of some atrocious practices by people who say
they are endurance riders. They want their horses to *look* like
endurance horses, so they over train and under feed their horses.
These poor skinny animals are then over ridden at the rides. Luckily,
these people don't seem to last more than a couple of rides. Loosing
will do that to them.
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Hewlett-Packard Company e-mail: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop A2 Telnet: 229-2182 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 Fort Collins, CO, 80525 FAX: (970) 229-2038