I know, I know.. I said I wasn't going to go back to the forums.... but there is just this draw. I can't explain it except to liken it to a train wreck, or a movie scene in a movie where you know you should look away but you can't, you just stare at the screen in sick fascination, the whole time cringing inside because you know without a doubt what is coming next.
The topics that seem to make me sit and just shake my head the most are the ones, invariably from old timers, that lament over and over how things were in the "good old days" and sit around in sackcloth and ashes bemoaning today's standards and today's ways of doing things. Now, don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for the elderly and experienced horsemen, these complainers come from all ages and backgrounds so by "old timers" I don't mean old in age, I mean old in thought process and unwilling to open their mind or thoughts to anything except what they feel is correct and "right" the whole while casting aspersions on anything they don't understand or want to recognize as an actual workable solution.
Insofar as some people want to lament the old days and even go so far as to make comments along the lines of "all the great horsemen are gone" and "the so-called trainers / riders of today don't have a clue", that to me is thinking in a rut. How blinded you must be by constantly staring at the past to not see the plethora of skilled horsemen and women right in front of you. Yes, the old masters were great. If, however, their skills died with them then THEY are to blame for not passing this information along to future generations. I challenge this concept that there are no good horsemen or trainers available today. They are everywhere!! Just as in days past there are some that stand head and shoulders above the rest, by and large the horse industry as a whole is far superior to what it was, primarily because of this vast exchange of information and ideas. The tools we have and the access to knowledge that we have now as pertaining to training horse far exceeds what was available even 20 years ago.
Open your eyes! Yes there are some new techniques that are not optimal, but there were plenty of OLD techniques that were not optimal either. There are fresh ideas in the works on how to get the best from your horse and the level of health and well being care for horses had increased 10 fold from what it was. By and large, the horse industry has benefitted from an influx of new thought processes and ways of doing things....not from living in the past.
The horses in the show ring today are every bit as good if not better than what was available 50 years ago. If you want to argue they aren't, then chew on this for awhile - IF the horses today are not vastly improved over prior generations, then why on earth were prior generations bred on? Is not the goal of any breeder to produce consistently better with each generation of foals? If the horses are denigrating into something far less than what they were, then why continue on that line of breeding and planning? The horses today are more specialized this is true, and while both sides could be argued that this is a bad or a good thing it cannot be denied that there are many that perform well in more than one discipline and still trail ride on the weekends with their owners. This specialization doesn't make them less of a good horse than their great grandaddy that showed in 4 disciplines in a day, it makes them a highly trained, specialized athlete capable of performing their very best for what they are best suited for whether it is western, working cow, english pleasure or sporthorse. Call it a focus if you must, but I'd rather have a focused western horse that is at the top of his game than a western/english/hunter/halter that does subpar in all 4 disciplines.
There are many people out there that think their breeding program is the end all - be all of breeding yet invariably when they put a picture up it's of a horse standing, running or (and this is my favorite) grazing. (Seriously.. wtf? Ok so they can graze.. big deal?) These same people do not show typically, because they don't have the skills or techniques to produce a winning, balanced, cadenced, strong and athletic show horse for today's show ring. Yet they are the first to carry on about how things were in the good old days and how unfair it is that they can't show their horses (their untrained and unconditioned horses) in today's ring and be competitive.
There is a saying that goes something along the lines of "a rut eventually becomes a hole which in turn, will become a grave". I challenge any of you "old timers" reading this that want to think that things were so much better in the "old days" to open your eyes and appreciate what the newer generations are doing with the horses now. Don't be so quick to assume that because it's the here and now that the techniques used are inherent evil. Take the good that you can use and leave the rest, but don't get stuck in that rut so long that it becomes a grave. Otherwise you really will become "old" before your time, along with bitter and full of anger and hate that will wash over everything in your life.
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