THE HORSE GAZETTE training a horse of course By Don Blazer © 2011 I think television


commercials show the world what the horse does best. “Here comes the


king, here comes the big number one”--- and here come the Budweiser Clydesdales, 32 hoofs in action, feathers floating as each shod foot strikes the ground and the rhythm of it beats in your heart.


How about


commercials for the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont stakes?


First the shot of


hoofs dancing in place under the starting gate, then the gate bangs open and a burst of color and sleek muscle explodes forward, and finally, the beauty of Thoroughbreds straining, giving their all, as they reach and extend their strides just before the finish line.


What a horse does


best is stride and glide, prance and dance and pull and jump and float and fly. The horse is grace and beauty and power and every ounce of his being is “motion.”


The horse first put


his motion to work for man as a pack animal carrying baggage. Soon the horse was pulling a travois, and then a chariot. As man improved the design of his vehicles, the horse improved too, getting bigger and stronger. (There are some who say the Chinese rode astride even before others had the horse pulling vehicles, but we’ll discuss that later.) For years the horse


was the main source of power for vehicles which ranged from fancy coaches to light gigs.


Of course, men and


women love to ride horses, and they love it best when the


Fort Worth has a budget short- fall and one of the cuts has been the Longhorns. Twice a day, every


day, a herd of Longhorns is driven down East Exchange Avenue through the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. The Longhorns and their drovers made their first cattle drive through the his- toric district almost 12 years ago on June 12, 1999, in front of 15,000 spectators. They have been the ambassadors of the city, making special ap- pearances and also present a summer Cow Camp, an educa- tional program every weekend for younger Stockyards visi- tors and their families. Longhorn


Drives carved Texas history. In the two decades following the Civil War, great herds of longhorn cattle were rounded up and driven north to Kansas. More than six million long-


950 acres of irrigated coastal, fertilized after every cutting according to soil analysis to maximize nutritional value.


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Like many cities, horses: beauty in motion


horse moves smoothly. So some horses gait….which is actually a “walk” at various speeds.


Gaited horses include


the Peruvian Paso, Tennessee Walker, American Saddlebred, Paso Fino, the Racking Horse, the Standardbred and the Missouri Fox Trotter. The Fox Trotter’s gait is also a walk, not a trot. Of all gaits, probably the most spectacular is the rack which requires very high action on the part of the horse. Over a straight course, a racking horse may cover a mile in 2 minutes, 20 seconds. Prancing is most


commonly thought of as a “parade horse.” By many refined and controlled springy movements might also be called “prancing.”


Such


action includes the passage, which is a slow prancing-like trot, or the piaffe, which is a prancing-trot in place. The classic art of


equitation (riding) is known as Haute Ecole, or “high school.” It is based on natural leaps and paces derived from tactics employed by ancient cavalry in combat.


Brought to its


highest form by the Spanish Riding School, the Lipizzaners (a breed from Central Europe) perform the Airs Above the Ground. The most difficult and highly publicized is the “capriole”. To perform the capriole, the horse must leap


into the air, then kick out with both hind feet and finally land on all four feet.


Jumping is exciting


to watch and exciting to do. Horses do it quite well even though their anatomy is not the best for vertical jumping. The greatest jump ever recorded, that I know of, was made by a Thoroughbred, Ben Bolt, who cleared 9 feet, 6 inches at the Royal Horse Show in Sydney, Australia in 1936. But maybe what


horses is really best at is running.


Horse racing is


called the Sport of Kings. For horses, running at speed is the natural defense, and horses have developed it so well, it should be called the Sport of Life.


Some say the


greatest race horse of all time was Man O’War. Others say Secretariat, or Exterminator. I think the greatest


race horse was Hi School Reunion. I bet on him and he paid $80 for a $2 bet. Yes,


thanks it to


television much of the world has seen what horses do best. Horses move best. Seeing


is


wonderful, but the greatest thrill is to pull or prance, jump or run…..to move……with your horse.


Course on the web at www. donblazer.com


Deadline for the JULY Issue Reservation Deadline: JUNE 12 Ad Copy Deadline: JUNE14


Marilyn at 210-641-9928 - editor@horsegazette.com or Laurie at 512-791-4217 - laurie@horsegazette.com


Contact The Fort Worth Herd Needs help


horns made the three-month trek north. Described as the greatest migration of livestock in the history of the world, the cattle drives had an even greater significance to Texas. The money from the sale of the cattle revitalized the Texas economy after the war. The Friends of the


Fort Worth Herd is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, di- rected by a volunteer board and committed to providing


sorships from $25 to $5,000 (providing for the care and feeding of a horse or steer for a year) are welcome. For more information and to meet the herd, or to make a donation, visit


com/the-herd/ http://www.fortworth.


critical monetary, in-kind and volunteer support to the Fort Worth Herd, now managed by the Fort Worth Convention, Visitors & Bureau. Donations and spon-


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