"All horses are not created equal."
I've heard this emphasized in the dozens of IHSA Coach's Meetings that I've sat in. Truthfully, I only thought of it in the sense of IHSA, that these are donated horses and while some are highly trained show horses, others are somebody's naughty pasture pony and that, given IHSA's "luck of the draw" nature, no rider should be penalized for the horse they draw. This quote has now stuck to me in a different sense.
There are hundreds of different breeds of horses in the world, each serving their own purpose and having their own stereotypes. Given each horse was bred for a different purpose they all have different qualities and conformation standards. With these standards in mind, different types of horses carry themselves differently. This does not make one way wrong or right, but rather one is way more right for one horse and the other way is more right for other horse types.
I grew up riding a variety of different horses. The first few horses of my early, early childhood were Morgans. My first horse was a little American Quarter Horse mare that had an extensive pleasure horse show career and was a killer little barrel horse. From there, my first shows I showed two different Morgans that carried me to my first blue ribbons. Later that year, I competed on a been-there-done-that Paint mare in my first walk-trot-canter classes and she and I navigated large classes to make call backs and place in final classes at a huge fair. Since those early days, I have competed on mainly Morgans but I have also worked and shown Quarter Horse and Paint reiners, Thoroughbreds, Arabians, Warmbloods, Mustangs, and horses straight off the racetrack. I have a huge heart for my Morgans because of their sheer beauty, talent, and versatility, however more and more I have considered making my next horse a reiner or Arabian.
Recently, an article was posted on the Horse Network Facebook page regarding Saddle Seat riders being really well balanced. As someone who has ridden a Saddle Seat horse and has long admired Saddle Seat equitation riders, I loved the article. However, I was appalled when I read the comments regarding the article, many threatening to unfollow the page for "promoting an abusive division". There was so much hate for, in my opinion, an extremely elegant division. I delved deeper into why this hate is uncalled for a recent article so I won't dive further than to say that a lot of hate for the division was backed by uneducated opinions.
While I was so upset by the hate from strangers on the thread involving Saddle Seat horses, what really broke my heart was seeing people I knew bash on a video of a Quarter Horse western mount. In the video I saw a well trained, immaculately presented, relaxed, happy, and forward horse. I saw nothing that looked abusive or unnatural. Understanding that this horse is bred to do something different than what my familiar Morgans do and that he was built differently, I was not offended or off put by anything I saw in the video. I was offended to read so many people bashing a horse for doing what it was bred to do. Once again, the hate of this horse and the Quarter Horse breed was represented by uneducated opinions.
With so much talk about how we can save our dying sport, why is it that we think it is okay to hate on things we don't understand? Why is it that we do not educate ourselves and appreciate the beauty and talent it takes to ride any horse? Do we not want the respect for our personal choice in breeds that we can't show to others' choices? Let's learn to appreciate a nice horse for what it is: a nice horse. Let's create a positive world to welcome people into, rather than chase them away with hate and negativity.
