Horses and such...
 

As yall may have noticed from my handle, horses play an important part in my life.

Usually I'm not a big flagwaver, but I'm very happy to make an exception for our Dutch national show jumping team becoming world champion on the 2006 World Equestrian Games at Aachen (the "Wimbledon of Horses") ahead of a strong Team USA and the big favorite Germany. Great job guys and a great come back after the slump last year!

This is already the 2nd Gold Medal after winning the Dressage Kür by Anky van Grunsven.

How popular the equestrian sport has become is evident that the events draw crowds of 40-50.000 people!

Holland has something with Horses...

http://www.aachen2006.de/aktuell/200...0831NDL_gr.gif

http://www.planet.nl/upload_mm/c/c/9...5_ankie337.jpg


Edited : darn spelling and syntax...

In the States, many athletes are jumping into the stands after a great victory...

Thank you for sharing the victory with us.

I have a Paso Fino and in Puerto Rico and Colombia, horse shows are also very well attended. It does not seem to draw as much of a crowd here in the US, for which I am saddened. I love watching beautiful horses and I do attend the nearby shows to take photos.
hh

Paso Fino's are very rare in Europe, can't even remember seeing one in real. But looking from their pics I've seen they are beautiful horses.

Here's one of our New Forest's with my daughter (front). A little less crowd here too I have to admit ;)

http://sabailand.bizland.com/Suus.jpg

Any Olympic equestrian aspirations for the young lady (not Patty Smith)?

Your daughter's NF Pony reminds me of the Pasos, small, rounded and compact. The difference is gait. Her pony looks like a sweetheart.

I just went and had pics taken of me with my Q (Querida) today. First nice pics of us together...and I've had her for 18+ months! I think Germany has quite a small collection of Pasos, enough that they have an all Paso show there that several US trainers/judges fly over to officiate at...
hh

Next year, come to Devon. You'll leave with a different opinion.

I was at a dressage show here in Indy about hmm 10 years or so ago, I was really suprised to see William Shatner(from Star Trek) there with his wife and their horses,I guess he is a really big fan of the sport, the crowd was only a few thousand so it seemed pretty intimate made for a really nice memory. If youve never been to one its worth the time just to go check it out. I was around horses alot when I was a kid so Ive always had an affinity for them somewhere on my list of to do's it says buy a nice little farm and get a few horses. I usually take the kids and wife out to the state fair and we always go to the barns,the big draft horses are my favorites,always wanted to ride a big Begiun, think that would really be riding a horse.

Belgium is big on horses, also. :cool:

Re: my comment about not drawing large crowds here in the US...
Sorry, I meant the Paso Fino shows I've attended. I know the dressage and jumping shows are very well attended.

It's a mare, so you know how it goes, a sweetheart but sometimes a bit moody ;), but like all NF's she never lets you down. She's at her 3rd level dressage now.

TBH, aachen seemed to be about dressage only. At least, that's all I saw on the Eurosports coverage. Does the whole thing cover show-jumping. eventing, et al?

Here are some pics I took of a Paso Fino show in 2003.

Two up, two down. This shows the lateral gait, how the legs on one side support the horse as the legs on the other side travel.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...%20pics/vr.jpg

A nice shot in silhouette, with the trees beyond the arena in sunshine and the horses in shadow going around the far end.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...%20pics/wk.jpg

Three kids in the junior's class. I just like how all three were sort of lined up.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...xpfavorite.jpg

All of this is very interesting. But I do have to ask... could you explain a little more about the gait differences between the horses? I can't say I have ever seen a horse walk with the legs on one side at the same time rather than one on each side. So they do that naturally? Does anyone know why some walk (trot?) differently? I just had to know more. :blush:

It is genetics. You cannot train a horse to gait who does not already have the genetics to be ABLE to gait.

I am unfamiliar with the American gaited breeds; American Saddlebred, Tennessee Walking Horse, Racking Horse, Rocky Mountain Horse, Pacers et cetera...I have only recently educated myself on the Peruvian Pasos and Paso Finos, as those are the two gaited breeds I have owned in the past 4 years.

In 1493, Columbus' second voyage to the Caribbean, he brought horses from Spain to Santo Domingo. They were of Andalusian, Spanish Barb and Spanish Jennet descent. The Andalusian and Barb horses provided the phenotype (the look) and the Jennet provided the genetic propensity to gait smoothly, genotype (genetics). The Andys and Barbs are thriving today with a loyal following, but the Jennet is extinct.
Horses were taken to Puerto Rico by Martin de Salazar in 1509. Diego de Velasquez invaded Cuba with eight horses and mares in 1511. 1512 saw horses at the Isthmus and in 1517, Cortes took 17, including one foal born aboard ship, to Mexico.

The horses that Columbus and the other explorers brought are the foundation of our native USA Mustangs. Sometimes you will hear stories of the Pacing Stallions of our American West, these stories are about the gait that managed to carry through from those first horses the intrepid explorers brought with them.

Anyhow, for 500 years, the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic and the mainlands of Colombia and Peru have been breeding these horses with little outside influence. This has managed to keep the gait genetically within the breed. Our USA Mustangs have experienced many outcrossings of diverse domesticated horses, turned feral or purposely turned loose, of TB to draft blood and I feel the gait has been lost through those crossings.

In Peru, (Peruvian Paso) the breed is known for the wide swinging front legs, called "termino", a movement actually begun at the shoulder. This is a variation of the gait that was developed from environmental influence. In the Pampas (area where cattle are run, very swampy) the horses had to lift their front legs over the mud and learned to swing them out to the side before putting them down. The Peruvian Paso also developed a larger body mass, though the phenotype still looks similar, with rounded bodies, high head carriage and luxuriant manes/tails. This resulted from their geographical isolation and different grazing available for the land.

The Paso Fino travels without termino. I called it lateral in the above photo of the horse with 2up/2down legs because in that photo it appears to be lateral (same side) movement...but the gait is actually "isochronal", which means evenly spaced. The Peruvian and Paso Finos have a 4-beat footfall with evenly spaced steps. It sounds like: taca taca taca. Because it is an evenly spaced 4-beat gait, it is not a pace, which is truly lateral. The pacing horse lifts both legs on the same side at the same time and sets them down together at the same time, making a 2-beat gait. The trot is also a 2-beat gait, but the diagonal legs move together.

Back to 4-beat gait.
This gait, being isochronal, is actually BOTH lateral AND diagonal. There are periods in the gait when the horse is supported by two legs (sometimes the same side, sometimes diagonal sides) and times when it is supported by 3 legs. The legs appear to move in a wave...the R hind lifts, then the R front lifts. The R hind sets down, the L hind lifts up, the R front sets down and the L front lifts up and begins the process over again.

All horses can walk (called a flat-walk by the gaited breeds), trot, canter and gallop. Gaited horses are able to do the 'extra' gaits, basically a 4-beat gait called different things by the different breeds; Icelandics call it "tolt or flying pace", Paso Finos call it "fino, corto and largo" (3 different speeds), Peruvian Pasos call it "paso llano and sobreandando" (2 different speeds), then it is also called "racking" or "running walk" in our American gaited breeds. The one thing these horses have in common, is their ancestors trace back to gaited horses or the Spanish Jennet. If the genetics aren't there, the horse cannot gait.

Was that too much info? :D

Here is a short video of Emperador gaiting in his corral. He is a Paso Fino stallion about 24 years of age.
http://home.earthlink.net/~lynngallu...rt10_27_04.mov

I'd like to thank both Hippikos and HH for a very interesting thread read.
And for the pictures and video provided.

Very cool info.

Pacing, incidentally, is not a natural gait. It is faster than trotting, but has to be taught to American Standardbreds, which is why a lot of pacers wear a special type of hobble harness to enforce the gait. Breaking into a gallop disqualifies a pacer. Somewhere in the back of my head I have a bit of trivia that says the hobbles are called "Indiana Pants."

Sorry Wolf, I disagree.
The Naragansett Pacer was defined as a breed because of its' gait. Today's pacing horses are pacing Standardbreds, and again, I feel they must have the/a gaiting gene to enable them to travel at that specific gait. Icelandic horses have a gait called a flying pace, though I do not know if it is 2-beat or a very, very fast 4-beat or singlefoot step and only called flying pace.
Most Standardbreds compete in trotting races like the Hambletonian, harness racing's Kentucky Derby.

I feel the pace is a natural gait, the hobbles are used to encourage the horse to remain in gait while racing and not break stride into the gallop. Putting hobbles on a non-pacing horse will not make them pace, it will only confuse them.

I'm glad everyone has enjoyed the info and the video.
Please note on the video...that while the horse's front and back ends look "bouncy"...take note of the center of his back, where a rider would sit, moves smoothly along on a flat plane...THAT is the crux of the smooth, glide ride!
hh

We went to the trotter races yesterday at Tioga Downs. Pete forgot the camera! They have hobbles for some of the trotters as well to remind them to stay in gait.

Gaites
 

Pacing is genetic determined and therefore not unnatural for many horse breeds, like Icelanders, Lippizaners, Friesians, several warmbloods. Pacing used to be very popular for hundreds of years because of it's smooth ride. In the medieval ages pacing horses were the most expensive riding horses. Increasing use of coaches and better roads lead to different requirements in horses. After that pacing or gait horses disappeared gradually.

Tölt and pacing is not exactly the same. To make it visible look at the figures below.

4-beat Tölt:
http://www.gangenpaarden.nl/tolterje3.gif

(lateral) Pacing:
http://www.gangenpaarden.nl/telgangertje.gif

And this is the usual (diagonal) walk gait:
http://www.gangenpaarden.nl/flatwalk.gif

Not all gait horses are the same as HH said, so differences within the pattern are possible.

As for dressage we don't use the pacing or tölt, we use the basic 4 gaits: walk, trot, canter and gallop with several sub gaites, depending on dressage level, such as extended or working trot and gallop and several figures during the gaits, such as pirouettes, passages, appuyements etc.

There are even more gaites, such as slow gait, fox trot, rack, but I think this is enough for the time being.

Horse breeds have their own gait strengths and weaknesses. For instance our New Forests have strong trot, canter and gallop, but weak walk, they tend to dribble instead of walk. So we train them hard on a steady and relaxed walk.

I'm glad Hippikos started this thread as it's reminded me to let you know that those little horses in the field behind our place are Haflingers - I posted pics of them here

We seem to have a few more now - very intelligent they seem - one new young lady foal is a right madam as well - may try to get some more photos now this thread has prompted me....

The Haffy's are beautiful!
hh

Young girls luuuve Haflingers! They absolutely adore them. We had one couple of years ago.

http://sabailand.bizland.com/Stin.JPG

The world can always use another horse. ;)

one more

Wow. Were you there?

Foals still have the big-eyed baby thing going on, but are less fat n dimply than humans/cats/dogs etc at that stage. I suppose spindly is necessary when you have to be up on your feet to run so quickly.

My horse submission - 2 rescue horses at the farm where we had my Mum's 60th (other photos posted in Images)

Nope, those pictures came from Argentina. :D
I've seen enough horses, cows, sheep, rabbits, cats, dogs and i don't remember what else, being born, to last me the rest of my life. No people though.

Wild horses of OBX

http://pic7.picturetrail.com/VOL205/.../187104521.jpg

http://pic7.picturetrail.com/VOL205/.../187082247.jpg

http://pic7.picturetrail.com/VOL205/.../187104526.jpg

That was plenty of information, but not too much. Thank you so much! :) Thanks for all the pictures and links.

Thought you might like to see the farm....Lipica, Slovenia.;)

More?

OK, just one more.

*sigh* I could look at beautiful horse pics for-ev-er...

Once have been to the "Spanischer Reitschule (Spanish Riding School)" in Vienna where they exclusively use Lippizaner. Wonderful noble horses.

http://www.viennaticketonline.com/re...eitschule2.jpg

December 3, 2005 I saw the Spanish Riding School Lipizzaners in Atlanta, GA. $300 for two seats, within 3 rows of the arena side and we were seated next to the Celebrity Box. The Celebrity that evening was General Patton's grandson. This tour of the SRS was commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Gen. Patton rescuing the SRS horses during WWII. During intermission, I approached the grandson and spoke with him and he offered to sign my program.
My grandparents were in the Navy during WWII. That is where they met.

That evening was very special to me, and I was very surprised at how much Hubby enjoyed the performances by the horses.
12/03/05 Atlanta, GA:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...neous/SRSd.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...neous/SRSj.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...neous/SRSr.jpg

lost link:http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../188102030.jpghttp://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../188102264.jpghttp://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../187104526.jpg

Thanks Jim, I read about the Corolla horses at a horseBB. I'd love to go to Chincoteague and Assateague to see the pony penning, but I don't think I'd enjoy the crowds. I'd also love to see the Abaco Barbs of Aruba...maybe I could talk hubby into vacationing there....(?)
Do I have to answer affirmatively if he asks if there are horses involved? :D

Hefflinger update
 

The two foals in the nearby field are growing up fast....
First the original baby....

.

Another one solo, then a photo together with the younger foal...

.

...and more of the younger lady (she's quite a madam!)

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Final two pics of the younger lady...

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Nice Haffies Cycles, my daughter would fall in love instantly... :)