[QUOTE=frugalannie;6557395]
I have tried very hard not to post on this thread, but just can’t hold out any more. My comments in blue and then they continue after the quote.
Also agreed.
The proper use of training tools is as a tool, not as a permanent fixture. They may assist in reaching the desired outcome, but they are ineffective if the desired outcome doesn’t occur without them. As training progresses, the use of the tool should decrease or you’re not training, just manipulating (IMHO). Among other things, I don’t see that happening with the stacked (or significantly padded) shoes.
Further, the use of those shoes with or without chains (since we’ve agreed that soring never acceptable) distorts the horse’s balance and motion. You may say that the trotting foals shown somewhere earlier in this thread demonstrate that the exaggerated gait is normal. I suggest you look again. The backs of those foals are parallel to the ground rather than sinking at a 45 degree angle from the withers. That is natural movement if exaggerated for a number of reasons.
Before someone points out that other disciplines train the horse to “sit” (by which I mean lower the haunches below the normal straight line of the back), let’s discuss for a second. As examples let’s use a dressage horse’s piaffe and a reining horse’s slide. The horses are encouraged to sit in those movements for sure. But notice that their forefeet get closer to the hind feet to make the loading of the hind end possible. The forelegs are not being artificially manipulated to get further from the hind legs. Moreover, the piaffing or sliding horse will only do those movements briefly before going forward in a less pronounced gait: they are not kept in those extreme frames for very long even at the highest level shows.
Once a horse is in the stacked shoes, they stay on 24/7 until when? Do they come off after the class? Do they stay on weeks or months? I would argue that they do not permit any respite from a significant degree of abnormal posture until they’re off. Therefore, I wouldn’t consider them a training tool but rather a permanent fixture which distorts the horse’s unimpeded gait drastically.[/QUOTE]
Very well said.
The various action devices found on horses (any horses) are not training devices, they are anti-training devices. A training device or aid, such as the leg, is applied to get a certain result and when that result is obtained it is removed (at least to neutral). This is often summarized as “pressure-release.”
The “action device” is always “on.” There is never a release. If the horse performs correctly, it is “pressured.” If it performs incorrectly, it is “pressured.” NO training ever occurs.
It is an open question as to whether a few ounces on the leg of a 1000 pound horse has any lasting physical effect, positive or negative, over time. If those few ounces cause a change in way of going then we have to look at that change, not the few ounces, and look at the effects that flow from said change.
I don’t favor Federal action to outlaw “action devices,” but I cannot have much respect for anyone who uses them.
G.
