Renaissance of a Breed
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For those of you not overly
familiar with the Walking Horse industry, and the division within the
breeders and exhibitors, let me give a brief synopsis, as I see
it.....
In the early days of the breed,
the walking horse was a family/plantation, all purpose mount, bred for not
only smoothness and stamina, but temperament as well. It was prized
as a plantation horse and used by owners and overseers to cover hundreds
of acres as well as pulling the family buggy for outings. Shod with
flat, working horseshoes it exhibited a naturally smooth, 4 beat stride
that ate up the miles while not overly tiring the horse. Their
stride had a characteristic "swing" to the back legs, without the normal
lifting of the hocks, that epitomized the "walking" gait. Coupled with the
naturally rolling shoulder creating a pulling front step and a headshake originating from the shoulders, it worked all
parts with a gliding propulsion. This was a gait uniquely
their own, smooth as glass and awesome to watch.
But as with many things,
the competitiveness of the show ring brought about changes; some subtle,
but many not-so-subtle. Temperament and smoothness of gait began to
take a back seat to a showy attitude, swinging backend and most specifically an artificially
high, front step. Next
was the emergence of the performance (or padded) horse, who's gait evolved
to carry large pads and heavy chains on their front
feet. Please note: in order to execute a
4 beat walking gait with heavy equipment nailed to their front feet, breeders
began to select naturally pacing horses to compensate for the weight of
the action devices.
Picture a scale with the hard
"pace" at one end and a hard "trot" at the other,
with the natural 4 beat flat-walk right in the middle. By manipulating the weight on the
front feet, a horse's natural
stride can be altered along this scale, changing a natural
"pace" into an unnatural walk. A naturally
flat-walking horse with pads and chains added to his front feet would
begin to trot, therefore in order
to compensate, breeders began producing offspring by the thousands, of
pacing horses. Ask anyone who knows a true 4-beat flatwalk how hard
it is to find one when shopping for a horse in middle Tennessee!
Another side effect of
the performance breeding was a gradual decline in the loose rolling shoulder, and naturally stepping horse. Because
of the artificial action devices (and quite often "soring" practices) used
to enhance the front step, it quickly became less of a concern to breeders
of performance horses to preserve this trait.
Additionally, rigid line-breeding to reproduce
performance "champions" have produced a deterioration in the
nature and temperaments of many of these horses. I've seen
horses that are down right vicious, used for stud. It became secondary to the show gait.
Bottom line is: can you expect a performance horse WGC, who's gait has
been seriously altered through artificial means to pass on natural talent to his
get? Serious breeders, looking to actually improve the breed MUST analyze a horse's gait and temperament in a natural
state to have the least clue to what he might pass on.
But the
performance horses are being bred by the thousands each year
from sires crowned champions when artificially manipulated. The most promising are
culled from the pack for intensive "training" for show and the rest are often tried on "packages" as early
as 16-18 mos. old, then dropped down to flat shoes and sold off as "pleasure" horses to an unsuspecting buying public. These are commonly referred to as "barn
rejects",
and often haven't had a lot of affection and understanding shown to
them by their human caregivers, making it very difficult for them to
be loving and good natured. In my opinion, however, these are the lucky ones
from those barns.
By the
1960's the performance
horse had become the "money machine" driving the entire industry, and a generation of breeders, away from producing naturally gaited
and even-tempered horses. I won't go into some of
the many horror stories of the abusive practices these horses were,
and still are, subjected to. Let's just say "it ain't a pretty
picture", and now, over 50 years down the line, we have a breed that is
much different. It has evolved much pacier and weaker of shoulder
than the original foundation stock. The trainers have
replaced a natural from-the-shoulder headshake with a mechanically forced and exaggerated high front step
and an obscenely twisting and grinding rear
"walk". The truly sad thing about all
of this is the fact that we have an entire generation of breeders,
trainers, riders and judges that not only do not understand how a natural walking
horse is supposed to move, but have no clue how to recognize and help
develop the truly natural gait in those horses within the breed that
still have that foundation talent.
Hope still remains, away from the
performance horse "puppy mills", small breeding operations that are
dedicated to producing show and pleasure horses for families and the trail
riding public that remain true to the authentic gaits of the foundation
horses. There are many of us who realize the "barn
rejects" from the performance barns constantly flooding the
horse-buying market seldom have the characteristics of their
foundation ancestors. While many of these horses can make wonderful
pleasure mounts with enough love, care and understanding, most do not have the
conformations needed for breeding to re-establish the true walking gaits almost
lost in recent decades.
But there has
begun quite a resurgence of the natural "walking" horse, thanks
in much part to groups of individuals, utterly offended by the abuse and
politics of the "big-lick" show circuits, that have begun
"sound" horse organizations dedicated to promoting and
sanctioning horse shows that reward naturally gaited, walking horses. These groups also fight against the abusive practices in the
political arena as well; bringing to light the
knowledge of "big-lick" barn soring practices, lobbying and
supporting USDA efforts to enforce the Horse Protection Act, which came
into being in 1970 specifically to protect these horses from soring. Thanks as well to the
breeders who are dedicated to seeking out those traits almost lost in
decades past, and the few knowledgeable trainers that are trying to get the word out there again on how to develop correct gait. People who raise and train these horses in
understanding and loving environments, allowing them to NATURALLY be
the best they can.
We are fortunate to be witnesses
to a RENAISSANCE of
this very special breed. I salute, and seek to join efforts with those
individuals striving to preserve a horse very
much worth getting back to and worth protecting. A horse with a
wonderfully sweet-natured attitude, a big "trying" heart and the
most wonderful ride of your life: The Tennessee Walking Horse.
by Anita Howe,
owner/trainer
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