How poor judges effect all of us

So sorry about the length between posts; I’ve had health, hard drive and time issues and have barely kept up with any of my online groups and blogs.

I’ve been watching the Olympics and I’ve been disgusted with the dressage. Why are the judges rewarding shit riding? The one competitor's horse stopped and fricking reared up. It balked once more in the pattern and still ended up in the medals. And I don’t care how well Anky’s butt stays in the saddle her horses look miserable. They drip with sweat, they drool excessively and they look tense the entire ride. She does not ride classical dressage; she rides gimmick dressage and should not be rewarded for it.

This brings us back to one of the sorest topics out there: Why do judges reward crap riding, poor behavior and muscle bulk over bone structure? WTF are they thinking? Do they not realize they are setting the standard for a breed or discipline? Can they not take responsibility for how their poor choices affect the horse industry?

I picked up an Equine Chronicle recently and just about spit my drink out over all the post-legged halter horses. These horses are National, World and Congress champions and have hind legs that are straight up and down. They are built like brick shit houses, but their legs are not going to support that heavy muscle mass long term. Why are the judges placing this shit?

Against my better judgment I read the Qh Journal and almost puked over their idea of a hunter under saddle. There can be no excuse for placing the shitty headsets and poor impulsion except that the judge’s seeing eye dog was sick that day and couldn’t bark the back numbers for him to write down. Who are the judges placing this crap? What is their motivation? Is there some super secret award for placing the worst possible mover?

I don’t have access to the Paint Journal, but I do read the Appaloosa Journal and Modern Arabian Times. The AJ is nothing but dreck on the editorial front, and the ads look just like the QHJ ads; post legged, bad movers and poor judgment. The MAT had some good articles, especially the one on sport horses in hand, but the saddle seat ads are a major turn off. WTF is the deal with the heavy hands and poor posture of the riders? I don’t remember seeing that crap to this degree when I lived in Scottsdale. Why do the judges reward poor riding that makes the breed look pathetic?

I really don’t understand how the industry tolerates self-interested individuals bringing it down. I hear big breeders bitch about the BYB all the time, but really the BYB isn’t the problem when a breed, or discipline, based magazine blatantly shows how biased and stupid the judges are. I don’t even want to hear: Most judges are not that way.
It doesn’t matter if most aren’t. Enough are that way to give the entire industry a bad name. Every post-legged halter horse that walks away with a national title is a disgrace to that breed. Every low headed, poor moving, hunter under saddle makes that breed look like a joke! Every single dressage rider that works a horse into a frantic lather and still gets high marks means the judges have quit considering the horse and only consider the mechanics. It’s a disgrace, when will it end?

The Walking Horse people are at it again

Just when you think the TWH industry might be cleaning itself up, we read about this: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=12242

What can be said? It's an industry based on cruelty, vanity and abject stupidity. The TWH show ring is an embarrassment to the horse world and to the state of Tennessee. Disgrace is too mild a word for how the Big Lick horses are treated.

After reading the article I can't decide if we're supposed to be sympathetic to the poor Big Lick trainers that had to withdrawal or risk "overly aggressive" inspectors. Oh, you poor babies! Overly aggressive inspectors that might actually bust you for soring and cruelty!

Let's get back to the state of Tennessee and their endorsement of Big Lick cruelty. The state horse is the Tennessee Walking Horse, and the photo they show of this horse on their website is a Big Lick walker. Nothing like statewide promotion of such cruel practices.
http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/homework/symbols.html

You can even get a picture of one of the poor crippled buggers on your license plate and drive around advertising abuse and cruelty: http://www.tennessee.gov/revenue/vehicle/licenseplates/misc/misc.htm

There are several things in the horse industry that piss me off, abuse being the main one. But it seems the TWH show industry is the only one that supports abusive measures on a whole scale basis. They endorse it, promote it, and try to excuse it. They try to insinuate that the rest of us are stupid because we don't see the merit in putting a horse up on stacks and making it walk with chains around its ankles. How shortsighted of us!
Looks like even their own association is ashamed of the abuse:

http://www.twhbea.com/gaits.htm The pictures on this page show the big lick horses. But the videos that pop up first are all flat shod. What's the problem TWHBEA? Don't you want people watching horses stagger around throwing those stacks up in the air and struggling to make it around the arena? You have to click on the menu option of the video screen to see the "performance" horse moving. The canter gives me the creeps. There is no reason a naturally comfortable horse would move like that. http://www.twhbea.com/gaitsVideocanterFSH.htm

When is the horse show industry going to stand up and refuse to sanction anymore of this blatant and unnecessary abuse? At what point do we stand up and say: ENOUGH!

Whatever happened to equitation?

I know I keep harping on equitation, but I’m really disturbed that is seems to be missing from the show ring. When did people stop knowing how to ride? I’m not talking about children, or non-pros. I’m talking about money making trainers that ride like absolute shit. Look at any western pleasure trainer and you’ll see what I mean. For the record, I think the women riders look better than any of the male trainers. The leaning back crap is just so stupid. Do they not realize that their profile looks like they are trying to snort raindrops? It makes their horse’s back look concave and it really makes the line of the horse look awkward. To make it worse they poke their feet forward like they are stomping on the brakes of a 1966 International Truck.


Come on people, sit up straight and use your leg correctly. I realize that teaching a horse to spur stop relieves you of having to teach your horse how to work in a bridle, and leaning back makes it impossible for him to move out well, since his kidneys are screaming with every step. I’m so sick of “Drequitation”. Why do the judges reward this crap, unless it’s because they ride like that too?
What is it going to take to get actual balanced riding, both English and western, back in the stock horse show ring?

Crooked Trainers and Judges

You can’t talk about showing without discussing crooked trainers and judges. We know they exist. Just looking back at our past Olympic stars, like Barney Ward, shows you to what lengths a person will go to make money in the horse industry. My concern is with the more regional shows, since few of us reach Olympic heights.

I know of several prominent ApHC, APHA and AQHA trainers and judges that have been suspended for everything from drugging horses, to abuse and other rule violations. What amazes me is that horse owners still hire these pieces of shit knowing they are crooks. I’m not talking about a trainer that gets busted on a bute violation. I’m talking about a trainer that has used reserpine or other illegal drugs. I’m talking about a trainer that gets suspended on an abuse charge. WTF is someone thinking that would put their kid or horse under the care and supervision of someone that sees nothing wrong with giving a horse an anti-psychotic drug? Is winning worth the possible injury to your horse or child?

To take it one step further: some of these same trainers are also carded judges and they still retain their cards. WTF is the organization thinking letting them still judge? I don’t give a shit if the violation did happen ten years ago; if you’re a judge then you’re supposed to be above reproach. It’s bad enough to know Big Brown’s trainer was a multiple offender with drug use, but to find out our top WP and halter trainers/judges are also abusing the needle is unbelievable.
And what is the deal with the judge/trainer back scratching? I’ve seen judges place their trainer/judge friends that are showing horses that have serious soundness issues. Don’t they realize how sorry assed this makes them look? Giving your buddy’s post legged halter horse first place, just because you want the same treatment at the next show is just inexcusable. Judges, more than anyone in a breed, influence how a breed looks. They can alter public perception just by a few shoddy placings. They can create crappy trends and encourage defects just by placing their friends over more deserving horses.

How do people interested in showing combat these trends? The first way is to not show under shithead judges. Then write the organization that carded them and tell them you won’t show under that judge and why. Also let show management know that you won’t show under that judge. Since most shows are multi-judge shows your refusal to show under a judge means a show is losing multi-judge entry fees.

As for the crooked trainers: don’t hire them. If you do hire them you are a piece of shit too. You are hiring an animal abuser. If I see that your horse was shown by a piece of shit trainer I will not use any of your farm’s services. I will not use your stallion, buy your foals, board my horse or engage in any manner of business with you. Why? Because you are an abuse enabler and therefore a shithead supreme.
If a trainer previously suspended for drugs showed your stallion then I know your horse’s show record will always be suspect.

Nothing you do will ever remove the stain of having Mr. Drug Abuser on the end of the lead or in the saddle.

Get with the program and quit condoning and enabling the people that are ruining the horse show industry.

Reining, raining, reigning

I love a good “bridled” horse. There is nothing prettier than a horse that stays within the bridle and works as lightly as a hummingbird. I love nice controlled spins, dynamic slides and lead changes that seem to come about because someone stroked the horse with a thought.

Sadly, these horses rarely exist nowadays. What I see in the reining ring are young horses, ridden by huge men, and popping their hocks on every stride. I see absolute shit shoeing jobs, bits that should be banned and evidence of drug abuse.

Of course these statements will drive the reiners crazy and they will deny, deny, deny. Too bad for them that the videos showing reining on youtube bear my statements out. When is it acceptable for some 250 pound man, on a 60 pound reining saddle, to be galloping a 14 hand reiner around? There are videos of reining horses so small that all you can see sticking out are the horse’s ears and his tail.

Drug use? It’s prevalent. I’d go so far as to say it’s condoned and encouraged. You can walk through the barns after a reining show and find syringes laying in the aisles. The dumpsters are filled with drug paraphernalia after every show. How’d those syringes get there? Little drug fairies must have brought them in the night just to give the reining people a bad name. That stuff falling from the sky itsn't rain, it's dexamethosone condensing and forming drug clouds over the NRHA.

The reigning problem in reining is the use of shit bits and blocked tails. Reining is supposed to be a dance between horse and rider. It should not be an inquisition where the torturer uses some Myler jaw cracker to get a hard slide. Yes I know about bridleless reining. I’m as impressed as anyone by Stacey Westfall. She’s a good trainer. But there is only one of her. There is an industry full of big redneck guys on little bitty horses jerking them all over the place and trying to hide it with drugs and blocked tails.

And what is with the screwed up riding style? Is there some unwritten rule that if you show reining that you can’t use the slightest bit of equitation? I have a word for the riding style the big reiner men use:Drequitation. I’ve seen 4 H kids with better seats. And what the hell is the deal with pushing your legs in front of the horse’s shoulder? Does having a balanced seat elude people? If you’re such a hot trainer shouldn’t you also be a hot rider?
I’m sad about the state reining has reached. You’d think with their own national organization they’d do better than anyone else.