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Quarter Horse Movement

6K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  QtrBel 
#1 ·
Give me your opinion on how/what they move by. It is genetics? Or can it be changed?

Example.
I feel that the big time horses (im talking quarter horses because that what i do) are too big for their own minds. They don't understand their own limits or where their feet are. All they know is to move according to what they are allowed to do. English horses the big 17hh horses i find move over themselves. They are certainly too big for their own thinking. Breeders are breeding only for height now. They are forgetting about the horses mind. Like for example. Invest, Art, and Invitation are all nice bloodlines. They are HUGE. But you notice when you see them shown English, they are moving way too much over themselves. They move ah-head of their thinking. Personally i like the Zippo bloodlines because those horses move to themselves. They seem to understand where and how they are moving. Invest, Art and Invitation seem to just move without thinking. What i found changes that is groundpoles. It forces the horse to think about where its feet are. Also it forces the horse to carry itself better. So, what if you have a horse that moves over itself? It makes sense to me that groundpoles could fix that.
 
#2 ·
Hello,

I agree that ground poles would fix this problem. I don't agree that the bigger the horse the better. We do not breed for height.

Our stud stands, 14 3hh
Mares:
Kita-14 2hh
North 15 hh
Tana-14 2hh
Nita-15 2hh

So I don't think this is a problem in Quarter horses but rather taller horses.
 
#5 ·
My last horse stood 17.1hh, and he definitely knew where all 4 feet were.. especially when he bucked. It's true that the trend is saying "bigger is better!" and it's too bad! I had a lovely 15.3hh TB mare that (after years of training) knew her job - I could get on her and ride her med. level dressage and jump 3'6" - 3'9" and then turn around, plunk a kid on her and she'd do this nice lope around a cross-rail hunter course. One problem with her: she wasn't 16hh+, so nobody wanted her. Perfectly good mare in the prime of her life (I was selling her when she was 9-10 years old) and I had to knock her price down drastically because nobody wanted a small horse.

I agree, QHs that are bred for height don't know where their feet are - that's because their ideal height is between 14 and 16 hh, not over 16hh. Their breed essentially doesn't know how to cope with a taller height, as they've always been 14-16hh (with the odd exception), and then some stupid breeders said "oh well... let's breed big!"
However, breeds that have been taller for quite some time (without having it bred into them in the past decade) I find move within their bodies much more than the tall-type QH.

Did I make sense?
 
#8 ·
Why is it that horses in the 15-16hh range are no longer popular? What do the 16hh+ horses offer that is better? Are they more athletic? Are they better jumpers? I have seen some pretty good jumpers in the 15-16hh range. I also believe things like cutting, reining, roping, penning are better suited to more compact horses - is that not true? Is the 16hh+ thing more for WP and halter horses? Jumpers? Dressage?

Someone who knows about this new fad, please enlighten me. All of my horses are 15hh, and I personally really like that height and anywhere up to about 15.3. After that, I feel really weird sitting up so high. :) The two 16hh+ horses that I have ridden were fairly clumsy and made me feel nervous that they were going to fall on their face...they may have needed some work to get better balance/rhythm/collection, but I still have not felt that way on shorter, inexperienced horses.
 
#9 ·
Well, the only reason I like taller horses is just personal preference.

Firstly, I'm 6'1" so I kind of look funny on short horses. I also find taller horses more comfortable because of my height.

They do have a certain presence. When a tall horse walks into the arena, you're distracted immediately by it.

I can only assume other people feel the same way, but honestly, I don't really notice much of a fad. It doesn't seem to be more prevalent now than it ever was before. I do know what you mean though delete about the hunters. Especially the Artifacts horses like Indian Artifacts and his offspring. They're very tall but they extend well for hunter because of it.
 
#10 ·
Ok its like a draft horse that thinks its a puppy dog. They don't realize how big they are and what they can do. They just throw their weight around. They don't comprehend where their feet are. Their minds are always behind their own movement. Its like they can't keep up with themselves. They completely forget what their feet are doing and they only move when and where their rider tells them to. They don't think before they move. They don't know their own limits. Does that make more sense?

Sorry but i can't even view videos on my own computer so i couldn't give you an example.
 
#11 ·
are we talking about all horses here or only qhs?

if we are talking qh's i cant really judge because ive never had a whole lot to do with the breed. but i have done with other breeds. ive always had largish horses but the biggest one is my wb who is now 17.3hh. hes tall and chunky but he certainly knows where everything is and what we is doing. he does have his moments where he is more pushy and seems less intelligent but i think all horses have those moments its just worse when a huge horse does it :)

IME i would have to say that i dont believe them to be this way but once again i dont know if we are only talking qh's here or not :)
 
#12 ·
Yes, that makes more sense, thanks. I would have to say I've seen and heard that description in a lot of big horses, not just qh's. It doesn't bother me personally, I don't have a preference either way (just a different aspect of horses), but I can see where you're coming from.

ed. lol...I forgot to even throw in my 2 cents about the groundpoles:P Yes, I do think that they would help, as you mentioned at the end of your post. If you are talking about looking for getting a shorter stride out of a horse with a long, swinging gait though...I'm not so sure about that. But getting them to pick up their feet and become more agile, yes.
 
#13 ·
Sorry this is going to be a bit long, but I wanted to add my experience and what else I have seen. My last horse was a 16.2H QH that up through his 4yo year was only shown in Hunter Under Saddle. He was very competitive, placing in the points at the big shows in Junior and Youth HUS - like at Redbud and Texas Classic. However, he seemed to forget where his legs were and would become unbalanced very easily. He was never pushy, just a big giant clutz.

Do to multiple reasons, I decided to switch him over to All-around, while changing trainers at the same time as my previous one, who dealt with the big HUS and driving horses all the time did not feel that he would ever be able to do the tight maneuvering that the classes like Eq, Horsemanship, trail, and Western riding occur. At that time it seemed to take 1/2 a football field to get this guy turned without disrupting his balance. Once I changed trainers, we really worked on his maneuverability, which was comical at times. For example, when working on turn-arounds on the haunches coming out into a lope, multiple times he would stop with his front legs still crossed and try to take off, resulting in a spectacular nose dive. Same type of thing with tight circles. However, we kept working with him and lo and behold, he became as maneuverable as the little 15H western horses and could turn inside out and keep perfect balance and spin like a reiner. These guys can learn how to control their body, it just takes more work and time to get it done.

Now to my little thing/issue on how big these QH HUS horses are becoming. Same 16.2H gelding - I had trouble showing him, even when he had control over his body, in small arenas. Not because of how he could move inside of it, but because in a small arena, when extending out fully, he would go flying by the 15.2H english horses shown there and the judges seemed to think he was too forward. Slow him down and it was obvious that he wasn't extending out to his full ability - he would just look off. (I also saw this with a friend who was in a similar position with her horse, sometimes at the same shows) Put him in a large arena those last 2 years I showed him, put the big 17H HUS horses in there that would be shown, and he was dwarfed and made to look like a little western horse out there with the English ones. This was 4years after he was one of the tallest 3yo futurity horses and junior HUS horses at the big shows. The horses seemed to grow quite a bit in such a short time period. I can't imagine trying to get them shown in a small arena - it just wouldn't happen, and personally I feel like your performance and where you chose to show should not be influenced that greatly by how big the arena is.

I hope this made some sort of sense. I love the big horses and if I have my choice, I will take a horse that is 16-16.2H anyday. I just like that style of movement.
 
#14 ·
I think that it just takes a bigger horse longer to find out where all 4 feet are - when they're young and clumsy it certainly looks like they're too big for their minds, but in my experience, they grow into themselves, and figure everything out.
Like I said, I had a 15.3hh TB mare and a 17.1hh WB gelding, and they were both athletic in their own respects; the gelding took longer to mature and figure out where his body was all the time, but once he figured it out, he certainly didn't forget where his legs were.
I definitely see a trend to prefer either ponies or taller horses, especially in the WB/english world, where it seems that "bigger is better." Good luck to anyone selling a 15.2hh WB :(
I would love to buy any height of horse as long as it knew its job, however the sellability of those 15-16hh horses is low, so I take a step back from those horses... which is sad, because I missed a great opportunity to own a gorgeous 15.2hh WB mare....
 
#15 ·
JustDressageIt said:
I think that it just takes a bigger horse longer to find out where all 4 feet are - when they're young and clumsy it certainly looks like they're too big for their minds, but in my experience, they grow into themselves, and figure everything out.
Haha, yes! That was my friend's 5 y.o. hano exactly! We went to a dressage clinic a couple of year ago and whoo boy...the clinician said to just give him a couple of years. He looked totally grown up at the time, but he was still very clutzy. He's much better now:P
 
#19 ·
AKPaintLover said:
Why is it that horses in the 15-16hh range are no longer popular? What do the 16hh+ horses offer that is better? Are they more athletic? Are they better jumpers? I have seen some pretty good jumpers in the 15-16hh range.
I don't know about other disciplines but in the hunters every fence is measured out a specific way so that there is an ideal number of steps inbetween the jumps, set on a 12 foot stride (for USEF rated shows). The judges are looking for a nice easy floaty stride down the line. Most (most!) of the smaller horses aren't as big strided and aren't able to make it down the lines very easily so people prefer the bigger strided (usually taller) horses. And in the jumpers often (often!) the taller horses can jump higher then the smaller horses, and the bigger strided horses can cut out strides that smaller horses can't so you can get a faster time. Yes yes I know Teddy O'Conner is amazing and that little speed demon pony who wins every jumper class is the fastest thing you've ever seen... but I'm speaking generally. I agree, 14.3-15.3 is a very hard size to sell.

To answer the original post... no idea. I focus on ponies. :)
 
#21 ·
My drafts (18+) all know exactly where they are and where their feet are in relation to the rest of their big selves in any given moment. I understand what you are saying about taller QHs. They just take more time to figure things out.
 
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