Old Vs. New

Oh, boy... You know how I've been harping on the 'old ways'?? Welp, it seems that some think that the old ways are to be dismissed and even *slightly* dissed. Not totally dismissed but with a peer-down-the-nose sort of dissed, if that explains it. To tell the truth, I'm a little, teensy bit teed off about it.

Let me explain it again... I'm from the old school when it comes to horses and life in general. I have tried many, MANY of the new ways only to find out that the older, settled, traditional, classical ways are much better and less stressful on me and my horse(s). I'm not touting the old ways just to be a pain in the ass, I truly believe and have seen firsthand that a lot of the old ways are far superior to the fluff that now passes for horse training and knowledge.

Take as an example, and the reason for this got started on a horse board, the subject of conformation. Let me be really clear on this...good conformation is a must if you are to show your horse. You are judged on how your horse is put together and if it comes down to you and someone else, everything being equal and you have the nicer horse, you're going to win the class. The whole point of showing in my book. The show-conformation angle is not quite new but I used to show when confo didn't much count so, show-confo to me, is one of the 'newer' things.

However, for a saddle horse of whatever discipline, good confo is great but he doesn't have to be perfection horsified. If his legs aren't quite straight, he MIGHT have a bigger chance of going lame and then again, depending on external factors, he might not. You have to look at his bloodlines (certain bloodlines are known for unsoundness but they look great), what he's been fed from the very beginning in his dam's womb, where he's been kept and a really important one is, who is your farrier. A bad farrier can make a good horse travel bad and cripple themselves. My mare scalps big time and her legs are clean as a whistle. Not a knock on them and she's now 14 years old.

My version is more the old fashioned way, looking at the whole pie instead of one pie slice, the paragraph above.

I've noticed on the TV trainers (see other posts) that they are trending back to traditional training instead of 'carrot sticks' and cradle bridles (you can just imagine what I think of those...). Ol' Clinton A uses a lot of Kel Jeffrey's techniques that are on youtube. Mr. Jeffreys videos are from the 1950's, that I've seen anyway. I've written of McNabb too. I likey his way of starting a colt, short and sweet and to the point. No fiddling around asking Snookums if he feels like working today. Chris Cox is very good but he's over a lot of people's heads but right up my alley. There are some others I like and they are more the traditional types and produce good, sound horses that last for decades. Not cripples either.

So, this is what I'm talking about when I get bent out of shape over the 'new' stuff. It's fine and great to know the 'new' stuff but any well rounded horseman/woman should know classical/traditional too and be able to use tools from the older-knowledge toolbox.

Okay, I think I'm about over my teed-offness. :-) Hope this explains it better.