Articles

· Published in July Issue of the Arabian Horse World as an editorial response to JoAnne Fox's June editorial.

Thank you JoAnne Fox! After reading and enjoying her editorial regarding our evolving country pleasure class, three things came to mind:

1. It is the nature of any competitive environment that in order to win and keep winning, the competitor must continue to do "more" of something.
2. If we are to recognize, enjoy, and applaud the accomplishments of the winners of our different events 10 to 15 years from now, we need to define for each division what, specifically, we need to do "more" of.
3. That this process of defining what we need to do "more" of will include recognizing what, specifically, our horses are doing today.

The evolution of our Country English Pleasure class illustrates what happens in any competitive environment. I think it's fairly safe to say that the prevalent thinking is, "if a little bit does a little bit of good, then a whole lot's gonna do a whole lot of good". The question for our breed is "what do we need to do more of"?

For example, let's discuss the open English Pleasure class. How do you win an English Pleasure class? Well... You have to be better than everybody else. Better at what? Well... You have to do more than everybody else. Do more of what? When you think about it, it's almost impossible for one to provide a complete and accurate description of an English Pleasure horse. Why? Because my perception of an English Pleasure horse is different than yours, and yours is different from your buddy's, and so on, and so on. Who is to say what is "complete", and "accurate"?

The rule book describes what gaits are to be performed, a brief description of those gaits, also what tack and attire is legal, and a sequence of certain other criteria, such as manners, performance, type, and conformation, that must be adhered to within the process of adjudication. In order to know how to win however, one needs more information. What the rule book lacks is a description of the purpose of this class.

So what is the purpose of an English Pleasure class? Besides being a way to have an excellent time, it's a way of determining which horse can move through the five designated gaits, demonstrating balance within the frame that we associate with English Pleasure. More importantly, this class is about the flexibility and balance of a horse, and the maintenance of those qualities while it changes speeds. Why else would there be five gaits? It's about how horses cover ground moving through those five gaits, while demonstrating balance, in a highly elevated and collected manner. Naturally, if the horse is to demonstrate balance, he will be light in the bridle, and he will also be cadenced, for the loss of either is a clear-cut demonstration that he is not balanced. Further, in order to move smoothly through the five gaits, his body, his mentality, his entire "being" will be organized to produce a fluid, rolling, elastic, quality of motion that enhances his ability to cover ground in a balanced manner. His elevation relative to his frame will reflect this also. This horse will not be " rocked back" to encourage maximum motion, like a Park horse. Instead, the vertebra of his neck will elevate in a near vertical position, and fold softly at the poll in a position giving enough freedom of motion to allow him to adjust his balance in accordance with his speed. This type of carriage will facilitate his transition from a normal trot to a distinctly faster strong trot. A sound, athletic Arabian horse working to these specifications, shod in a manner utilizing all of the benefits of our present-day shoeing rules, will display crisp hocks, and round, fluid front end motion, with relatively high knee action. A horse trained in this manner will be organized to produce a light, balanced, highly collected frame, and as a result, the rider gets this wonderful motion. As opposed to the rider saying "I need X amount of motion to be competitive". The English Pleasure class is a "high-performance" class, and this kind of motion is rewarded. In fact, as long as a horse is organized to cover ground in the above manner, the more motion the better. This is what defines him as the superior athlete of the class.

Can a description of "how to win an English Pleasure class" be reduced to "the horse must demonstrate to the judges his ability to achieve balance within the frame, and maintain that balance and frame while performing the prescribed gaits"? For me, that would be a good start, but it doesn't tell me exactly how I might spot a winner. What if there were five balanced, correctly moving and mannered horses competing? To help me discern the ranking of those five I believe that the performance of the ultimate winner must also capture the "essence" of the class.

What would the "essence" of the English Pleasure class be? To me the "essence" is a bold, commanding performance executed with precision and finesse. Bold and commanding, because I believe the winner should be making a statement about his ability to "command" the arena. The winner should be able to use every inch of the show arena to his advantage. To do this, his horse must be supremely balanced, and within that balance be extremely mobile, not locked or frozen in the bridle. The elements of precision and finesse are very important to me. This implies a clean, crisp presentation, in keeping with the name of the class -- English Pleasure.

Earlier, I made reference to the fact that for an open English Pleasure horse, "the more motion, the better". So, if we are thinking this way, can we have too much motion? Absolutely! A horse can be organized (trained) to specifically produce motion. When training in this manner the end result is to cause the horse to flex his joints to the maximum degree possible. I'm speaking about every joint in his body. His hocks, his stifles, his hips, the "round" in his back, his pasterns, his knees, his elbows, his shoulders, plus each vertebra in his neck flexing to allow him to rock back and elevate as high as possible. A horse trained (organized to produce a result) in this manner is called a Park horse. A Park horse class has only three gaits, the walk, the trot, and the canter. Further, there is no specific speed to the Park horse trot. It is up to the rider to decide what rate of speed is best to enable his horse to be as aggressively bold, brilliant, and expressive as possible. This specific scenario is distinctly different from that of an English Pleasure class. It is extremely difficult for a horse, which is trained specifically to produce motion to the maximum, to demonstrate two distinct speeds of trot. Normally, each horse will have his own speed that he becomes comfortable with while displaying the most motion that he can. To extend beyond this speed can cause him to suffer a loss of balance, which will make him become un-cadenced and "heavy", or "stuck" in the bridle.

The point I would like to make, with respect to the evolution of our classes, is " do we like what we see?" "Do we not like what we see?" or "do we not understand what we are seeing?" I would agree with JoAnne, in that some of our English Pleasure horses should step up to the Park horse class. After you've read the above paragraphs, I'm sure that you can agree that some of our English Pleasure horses are being trained to produce motion for motion's sake. If that's the case, then they might as well step up to the Park division because to me, they look like Park horses. I would also agree that some of our Country Pleasure horses could step up to be English Pleasure horses. The problem is not that these horses are being shown it's that they are being rewarded as winners. With respect to the English Pleasure class, if more motion, at the expense of fluidity and balance, is what seems to be what the judges are pinning, the class will obviously evolve to that. Defining what these horses are to do "more of", can solve this problem. They are to be as balanced as possible in order to facilitate speed changes and they should be penalized for not demonstrating this ability. Or, you could say that they are to be organized to produce a frame that accommodates the maintainance of balance while performing at different rates of speed.

What about the junior and amateur divisions? This type of English horse should be balanced (organized) "as if" he were to perform at different rates of speed, not "as if" he were to produce as much motion as possible. At this year's Nationals, I saw a concerted effort from the judges to reward balance, and they are to be applauded for that.

With respect to the evolution of the Country Pleasure class, I believe there's great confusion about how to win the Country Pleasure class. I think that we can all agree that the Country Pleasure class is to be shown in an English frame. What's questionable is how much motion is "permissible". I think once again, that if you define the "essence" of this class, and mandate that the winner should capture the "essence" of the country pleasure class in his performance, then even this discrepancy would disappear.

The key to the definition of the essence is already written in the rulebook. In the class specifications it is clearly written that "a quiet mouth is paramount". We already know that this class was designed to reward a relaxed horse "at ease" with the confines of collection and elevation. The word that we're looking for to help define our "essence" lies within the phrase "a quiet mouth is paramount". I believe that one of the ultimate acts of submission by a horse, is the yielding of his jaw. If this language in our rules is to be taken seriously, and not just given lip service, then the nature of this class should be one of submissiveness. I'm talking about the type of submissiveness or attitude displayed by a "big ol' furry dog" that lies at your feet, rolls on his back with his legs up stretched, and says with his body language "won't you please scratch my belly!" This is like the attitude of a happy Yellow Lab that's just "pleased to be there". That brings up the question "how do you demonstrate to the judges cheerful, submissiveness?" This can be demonstrated not only by how soft in the bridle your horse is, but also by the finesse of your presentation. To me, finesse is the softness in your horse's way of going that goes hand-in-hand with excellent, balanced carriage. It's a component within the phrase "quality of motion". Smooth transitions and subtle cues also demonstrate finesse.

Possibly the canter might be slower and more elegant, instead of being used as a way to develop impulsion for the ensuing trot. I know as a judge, if a rider cantered by me and eased his hands forward, and showed me some slack in his reins for a stride or two, I would be very impressed. The "walk off on a loose rein" should be just that, loose. I don't think I've ever heard the announcers say "very carefully and tentatively ease your reins forward and see if your horse walks". The object of this class should not be to "dominate" the ring. If this class were to develop into a display of sophisticated subtlety and elegance, the more aggressive horses, instead of being rewarded, would move up into our English pleasure classes and, would do more than their share of winning.

As for the evolution of our classes in general, if we don't like what we see, why isn't it changing? I have to believe that in some cases, it's because we don't understand what we're seeing. The trainers are responsible for preparing and showing their horses, and, for our English horses, if carriage and lightness in the bridle were qualities that the judges would recognize and reward them for, then they would train their horses to do that. In fact, I know this is true, because all we have to do is watch our present-day Western pleasure horses. Not that I totally agree with the trend, but what qualities are recognized? What qualities are rewarded? The trainers' train their horses, the judges are the ones that make them winners, or losers. Winners set examples for others to follow.

I think that it would be fair to say, and I hope that you as a reader can agree, that what we want in all of our performance classes is to see a demonstration of balance within a frame, and that the winner's performance capture the "essence" of the class. What we also want, in all divisions, is to see horses rewarded for quality of motion. The kind of quality motion that develops when horses are working in a balanced manner, in pursuit of capturing the ideal "essence" of their division. If you've liked what you have read, perhaps some modification of the language in our rules can ensure that what we will see ten years from now will be an extraordinary demonstration of what we want!

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