Tori Shepherd
10/11/17 Ms.Feliks Senior English Competition is something that is born into human nature. The tendency to go beyond the limits to win is becoming more and more common as technology advances. Sadly, when this competitive gene starts mixing with competition involving animals, it is often is the animal that suffers. One of the biggest industries in the world where this cruelty is prevalent is in western pleasure. The exaggerated slowness of the horse's movement puts extreme amounts of stress on their joints and can lead to lameness. Injecting the legs, making the horse move too slow, and not allowing the horse to move freely are the three main causes of the joints breaking down. The biggest joint in the back leg that supports the weight is called the hock. The western pleasure world makes this joint hold such an odd movement that this leg tends to break down, so instead of changing the way the horse moves, they inject fluid into the joint instead so it doesn’t effect the horse. This procedure is more commonly known as hock injections. Today this is seen so commonly through every show ground that know one takes a second glance, but this technique damages the horse even further. In an article about hock injecting the top American Paint Horse Association trainer stated that stronger steroids are injected at horse shows to try and get the horse a quick fix ( Vanderwende). The steroids that are injected last around 6-8 weeks but will always need to be replaced to keep the horse in the shape that the owner wants. Hock injections are like putting a band aid on a bullet wound. The faster you train a horse the faster they will be able to compete which means the faster they will make you money. The problem with this though is when a young horse is pushed really hard the training process often starts taking shortcuts. The trainers will put quantity over quality and the joints suffer from this. AQHA, the biggest breed association in the world, stated on their website that when trainers rush their training artificial movement will occur in the horse (Hamilton). Often times that artificial movement is early signs of a horse's joints fusing and getting a mechanical look. This article from AQHA is one of many trying to fight back to get better moving horse's, but they are experiencing backlash from big name trainers. Dianne Eppers is the Executive director of the National Snaffle Bit Association and in an article that featured her thoughts on the exaggeration of movement she stated that trainers will put too much of an emphasis on slowness and will create a hesitation in the lope which is a fault in their training (Eppers). Such a common fault in training is leading to be a national disaster. The way we make our horse's move often follow the people who are winning. When people see a horse with a hesitation in their gate win then they train their horses to be exactly like that without taking into account the stress this training puts on their horse's joints. The judges in the horse industry are some of the leaders in affecting how the horse's move. When judging a class, the judge determines based on a set of rules and personal preference who they will place to win. This affects the direction the industry will go in. If all the judges got on the same playing field and all agreed to place more flowing horse's that didn’t have any hesitation the trainers would follow in their step because they want to win. The AQHA executive director of judges Alex Ross recently commented in an article and said in regards to judges that they should “ Utilize your advantage and assist us in moving western pleasure in a positive direction. If this is not the direction you want to go, you need to request to be removed from the list of AQHA- approved judges” (Ross). This quote is calling out the judges to take matters into their own hands and change things for the better. If the western pleasure world does not start making strides in the right direction there will be no more sound horses to ride. The horses end up being disposable because none of them can last in this world. When we change the way things are done the horse's lifestyle will improve ten fold. Works Cited Barnes, Gerrie. “Cunean Tenectomy.” A Simple Procedure Could Be the Answer to Your Horse’s Hock Pain, 9 Dec. 2009, www.aqha.com/daily/health/2016/health-archive/cunean-tenectomy/. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017. Eppers, Dianna. “Stopping the Head Bob at the Lope.” AQHA, American Quarter Horse Journal, 14 Nov. 2010, www.aqha.com/daily/training/2016/training-archive/stopping-the-head-bob-at-the-lope-part-1/. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017. Ross, Alex. “Re: We Ask the Judges: Has the Western Please Class Regressed?” Gohorseshow, GOHORSESHOW, 29 Apr. 2012, gohorseshow.com/2012/05/we-ask-the-judges-has-the-western-pleasure-class-regressed/. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017.
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