HORSES ARE NOT RACE CARS, BUT "EMOTIONAL ATHLETES”

[Patuxet]

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/blood ... -athletes/

This piece by Kerry Thomas is probably best appreciated by those teenage girls who give great horses twee nicknames. Whatever meager talent Thomas possesses might best be applied to creating greeting cards for PETA. Does anyone take this guy seriously?

[ct2346]

I read the article and was struck by the fact that it was short on facts and high on disjointed words. I considered that there was a possibility that this was due to proprietary concept and perhaps even data but rejected that because the article was so meandering.

That said, there is value in data...and if someone were to identify let's say 10 specific, easily identifiable behavioral traits, chart/record them at sales PRIOR to track performance, and then, ten years later compile the data...that would have value.

[vaponydoc]

I could not pull up the article on the Paulick Report but found Kerry Thomas' website. His blog post can be found here: http://www.thtbloodstock.com/apps/blog/

I think it is a very interesting concept. Anyone who has worked around horses gets to know their personalities (for lack of a better word) and can see how those influence their performance. A horse may have a lot of speed but be easily intimidated in a race and fade. A different horse may have so much will and drive that they just power through.

Looks like he has been working on finding a way to assess these traits early in a horse's life to predict their future performance.

[madelyn]

Hm. I've been riding, working with, schooling breaking and training horses for 52 years and what has always stuck with me is that so FEW of them behave under saddle the way one would expect from observing them on the ground. I do believe, however, in the power of herd dynamics and that horses should never be isolated when they are babies. It is outstandingly important for youngsters' physical and mental development to live mainly "out" and in a herd.