ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Gaited vs Arab - irrelevant?

Re: Gaited vs Arab - irrelevant?

Niccolai Murphy (niccom@aerostructures.com)
Tue, 11 Mar 1997 06:26:06 -0800

I suspect that the perception that Arabs do well as E-horses may be a
matter of coincidentally selection. It may be that a specific body type
- lean, light muscled, big heart, efficient lungs, light framed and
tough, does best. This would be similar to human endurance, don't see
many NFL types running winning times in marathon runs or bike rides.
Many breeders apart from Arab breeders have been going the way of the
large horse (or so it seems). So it may be that the breed issue is
really a red herring.

As far as the temperament and intelligence in general of a particular
breed is concerned, (having put a fair milage on anything from Curlies
to TB's) I suspect a horse is a horse and it is what you make of it. If
you want a hot headed QH you can make one, if you want a quiet Arab you
can make one. It seems that a number of Arab folks have been trying to
dispell the myth that Arabs are spooky animals and I'm with them on
that. Intelligence. Measure it accurately, give me a test that we can
give 10 different testers to give ten different horses and even get the
same ranking let alone the same score and may be we could perhaps judge.

Gait is more difficult to measure an effect. I have a gaited (TWH),
ungaited and a cross. I wonder if, given a good body type (everything
being equal), whether being gaited causes a horse to be more predisposed
to back problems. Just my thought, I don't know enough about these
things to say. 

-- 
Nicco Murphy - San Diego County

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