AQHA Neck Testing at Horse Shows?

I just read that they’re going to do neck testing. I read the article but don’t really understand what that means. What are they looking for? Why?

I read it online, did a search, but does anyone know about this? I don’t have a Quarter Horse, but now I’m curious.

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You referring to this release from the AQHA?

https://www.aqha.com/-/performance-alteration-testing-procedures

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Yes. What are they checking for? Call me naive, I guess.

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No earthly idea, sounds scary, guess someone will let us know soon.

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maybe something to do with this bass-ackwards type of thinking?

"WHY YOU SHOULD TIE YOUR HORSE UP - By Clinton Anderson

Tying a horse up for long periods of time accomplishes many important things in your training. I have a little saying, “End each training session by tying your horse up to the ‘Tree or Post of Knowledge.’” When you tie your horse up after a training session, it teaches him not only respect and patience, but it also gives him a chance to think about and absorb what you have just taught him. The very last thing you want to do after a training session is get off your horse, take him back to the barn, unsaddle him, hose him off and put him in his stall to eat. This puts his focus more on getting back to the barn and eating than on thinking about his job. If you get into the habit of tying your horse up for two to three hours after you ride him, he won’t be in such a hurry to get back to the barn. Some people will read that and think that I’m being cruel to the horse. But I have to ask, "What’s the difference between a horse standing still in a stall or a horse standing still on a Patience Pole? The difference to me is that if he’s standing tied to a pole, he could be thinking about you and what you’ve just taught him, but I guarantee that in the stall he’s not thinking about you at all. "

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what a bunch of BS. People actually believe this woo woo shit?

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Maybe because of the bizarre love affair a lot of QH ppl still have with tying horses around? Despite that everyone seems to know at least one horse it ended badly for.

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I don’t like how unnecessarily rough CA is on horses, but I think what he means there is not trying a horse “up” as in high up, but just that they don’t put a horse up, as in it’s stall, after riding, leave it tied. At least that is what he said seems to mean?

I would think that whatever is happening with some competition horses is more like using some gadget or surgery or who knows what to have the neck move a certain way, or not move a certain way? Similar to what they do to tails?
I really can’t imagine what this is all about. :thinking:

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There has been a rise in botox injections in the neck. Ostensibly to make it easier to stay long and low.

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There has been a rise in botox injections in the neck. Ostensibly to make it easier to stay long and low.

Funny, it did the opposite to my eyebrows :worried:

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We had a race colt we had started, moved cattle with him and galloped some.
A friend trainer was at a little local track with gates and took him for two weeks to start him breaking out of the gate before we took him to the track.
Somehow the colt hurt himself and could not turn his head to the side.
It took him three months before he could.
Later we found that every colt that came to that trainer he would rig him in the stall tying him back to the side and would leave them there for a while “to soak”???
Colt somehow got hung up and they found him twisted like a pretzel laying down in the stall.
Too bad we didn’t find right away, we would have been a bit loud about stupid training by stupid idiots. :see_no_evil:

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Yes, I would guess it’s either nerve blocks to certain parts of the neck or botox so that the horse loses the ability to raise or lift its neck in a natural fashion. In essence, temporarily paralyzing certain muscles.

Although the use of thermographic imaging, as a method to uncover an “alteration,” has me puzzled. Not sure what sort of nefarious procedure would be discovered through its use.

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That’s what I wondered. What is going on?? Nefarious is definitely what this implies, but I’d sure like more info.

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I received Botox in my neck for my cervical dystonia once. (Never again-I choked badly as it migrated to my swallowing muscles.). It did weaken the muscles that spasm significantly, so maybe those muscles show up cooler on thermo imagining. I imagine a vet could tell by manipulating the neck if something didn’t work properly. Who would have thought of this? And how do they get it done? Unethical veterinarians???

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What a load of :ox::poop:!
Now I’m convinced CA is a complete & potentially dangerous to horses & the Believers loon :rage:

Reminds me of the non-horsy 4Hom who told me basically the same crap when I asked (as a Newb observer of WP) why a horse was tied short in a stall.
Her answer:
“To make him think about what he did wrong”
Uh-Huh… & Rub his nose in it too :unamused:
Same Mom was forever referring to my gelding as “she”.
I admit, he had a soft eye… :expressionless:
But even after I showed her how a quick peek beneath would let her know which was which :smirk:

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No, unfortunately he speaks about leaving a horse “for two to three hours” “tied to a pole’” not in it’s stall. And very specifically stating “The very last thing you want to do after a training session is get off your horse, take him back to the barn, unsaddle him, hose him off and put him in his stall” and speaks to “the difference between a horse standing still in a stall or a horse standing still on a Patience Pole” (apparently that a horse tied up is going over what it’s just learned with great focus… Because horses are renowned for their abstract reasoning capabilities… )

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:rofl::joy::rofl:
Mine can reason :horse::thought_balloon:
Sample Equine Scientific Formulae:
MT = 4
PMC = 3

Allow me to translate:
Morning Treats are 4 each
PM Cookies are 3 each
How else can you explain their disengaging contact after the specific number has been dispensed? :exploding_head:
And the mini does further research by checking the Treat Pocket for possible extras.
Brilliant! :astonished:

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I heard that AQHA will markedly reduce drug testing at Congress next year in an effort to “not make riders ride their horses so hard that they need drugs to compete”. What a load. I was told this by a QH breeder friend who went to Congress last year. She is very unhappy about that decision.

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I read this and thought - Rise? I did not even know it was happening to start with, but now there is a rise in it.

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I’m not talking 3 hours worth, but I do think there’s value in tying a horse (not up, not around, not anything weird - just regular straight tie) for a short period after a ride. I normally tie in their stall though.

Sequence would be like - ride horse 1, tie, ride horse 2, untie horse 1/tie horse 2, do chores (bucket scrubbing, stall picking), untie horse 2, brush all sweat marks off, snacks for everyone, head home.

It’s not used as an exhausting technique. I call it horsey meditation.

I didn’t learn this from CA. He strikes me as a real asshole, tbh, and you can see in his training he really roughs up horses.

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