Horses Ain't Whut They Ustabe

Something is going on. It's in the air...or people's breeding programs, not sure which. Has anyone else noticed how horses, over the years, have gotten wussier??

Ustabe, horses in my barn (this was decades ago) never colicked, never needed their teeth floated, didn't need so many yearly shots to stay healthy, if they got a cut, salt pretty much healed everything with not much scarring. Hosing a cut worked wonders that would rival any meds on the feedstore shelf.

Nowadays, horses need scheduled vet checks, shots, periodic wormings, if they get a cut, there are so many products on the market it's hard to know what to do/use first.

I have hardly ever used a vet for a vet check. My version of a vet check years ago was to get out and ride the horse almost into the ground. You wanted to stress the horse physically and mentally to see if he could stand the pressure. When I say, ride the horse into the ground, I meant that I'd make a horse sweat by going up hills, over rough/rocky ground, into tight spaces (there are plenty of hairy places to get into on most ranches), things like that. If he were still sound when you got back or the next day or so, then probably he was going to stay sound. If his mind was so that he wouldn't blow up or fret himself to death by sweating, then you had a using horse to depend on. As an aside, I never lamed a horse by doing this back then.

In today's world, I don't think this would work. If I rode a horse that hard out of a stall, he'd almost surely be too sore to go on the next day. These hot house flowers that I see everyday won't make the cut. When they get older, the owner is pressed to buy all sorts of supplements and painkillers for the horse.

This is one of the reasons I still like most of the Foundation-bred horses. They may not be able to halter and may look odd, but they can do the job and stay sound in body and mind.

As a f'instance, take the Appaloosa. The pretty Apps don't seem as tough to me overall. I know of a World/National halter champ who was sent out to be broke and he came back lame. His knees were mush. But you take one of the Foundation-breds, they ain't purty but will stay sound. Someone mentioned to me a while back, the uglier the App, the better the horse. I would agree mostly with that. After thinking back over the years, my best Appys weren't the pretty ones. No one was banging down the door to buy them TILL they saw them out working or showing.

Matter of fact, I've had so little experience with lamenesses of my working horses, that I had to sit down a couple of years ago and brush up on simple stuff, like bowed tendons and dropped pasterns. Just have always had an eye for the most part for a working horse that's sound.

So, I guess what it boils down to is that times have changed...and I've not done a very good job of changing with it. Don't really want to either.

Ride safe...