Basics of Weight
Balance: Horse
This
article is an extension of the July issue where I began talking about
Understanding the Basics. In August, the article went into
understanding the basics of Weight Balance.
I went into the COG (center of gravity) of the human
being. This month, I will go into the COG of the horse and next month,
put the two together.
When you select a
prospect for barrel racing, there are many things to consider. We all
want a long-lasting, sound bodied and sound minded horse that will be
consistent and compete for a long period of time remaining sound in
every way. When I ask people how they selected their barrel horses, I
get some surprising answers.
Some believe in buying
breeding that has been successful. I believe in this too, but have seen
full brothers and sisters that were nothing alike. It is my opinion
that we will see in the near future to come that just because we have
cloned an individual, it will not necessarily be anything like the
individual whose cells were used in the cloning. By the time a horse is
successful, it has gone through many experiences that would be hard to
repeat exactly.
Some have purchased
their horses on the basis of what they could afford. Some have
purchased one that was a reject at another event, etc. etc. etc. and the
list goes on and on. I met one lady this last month that has her horse
because it was given to her by someone who was moving.
One major thing that
we need to look at in a horse is how it is balanced in its
conformation. How the weight is distributed on a horse will greatly
affect his ability to perform and to stay sound while performing. There
are probably no perfect horses, but some come much closer than others.
We can identify about where his COG is by looking at his conformation,
but we also need to know that his COG will change as he gets into motion
and a lot of how he moves will depend upon how his legs are built and
how they travel in motion. This can also be affected by horse shoeing,
tack, the rider, and many other things, but for now, we are going to
only discuss the basics of weight balance.
Looking at the horse
from the side, you can think about things that add weight to each
section of his body. Visualize the horse in three sections - From head
back to withers withers to end of back and end of back to tail.
This will give you some idea of the weight balance of each horse. Lets
take the first section. Look at the head of the horse. Does it look
huge for his body? Does he have a huge jowl or huge throat latch?
Look at the neck. Is it short and thick? Does it tie in deep down into
the horses front end? If any of these things are present, this horse
will have extra weight on its front end. Experts in this subject have
proven to us that even a balanced horse has from 60 65% of their
weight on the front legs. If you select a horse that has added weight
on top of that, this brings the weight on the front legs up even
higher.
Look at the mid
section of the horse from the side. Does he have a deep heart girth?
If so, that will add more weight to the cinch area and also to the front
end of the horse. Does he have an extra long back area? Most horses
that are extremely long in the back are not as easy to ride in the turns
and can give you the sensation that your body is thrown to the outside
of the turn.
Now, look at the hip
area from side and from back. Is his hip huge, medium or small? If you
stand back and look at the horse from the side again, does his hip area
match his front shoulder area? If his hip is huge, then you would want
the horse to have a shoulder area to match. If his hip is small, it
should also match the front shoulder area. If the hip and shoulder area
are huge, then the legs and hooves under them should also be good
conformation for weight bearing. Firewater Fiesta is a good example of
this. She has been here in Purcell at Royal Vista Ranch. Our barrel
racing school had an opportunity to study her conformation in the
pasture. Her shoulder and hip are huge, but very well matched. She has
the good foot and leg under her to support her weight and would probably
still be running barrels if the ground at the rodeos was all ideal. (We
can have great weight balance and still not stay sound when running in
ground not conducive to running fast and turning!)
Here is something else
that we need to consider when training young horses. I have never been
able to find any studies done on this subject. (If you find studies on
this subject please notify me.) What I am going to say here is
strictly from my observances of both my horses and others that have come
for lessons and years of watching reining horse trainers ready their
horses for the 3 yr. old futurity. While a horse is growing, his weight
balance is changing constantly. He will grow up higher in the back end
and then the front end, or visa versa I am not sure how they grow
but this I know I have seen horses that are a good 2 higher in the
front or back end. I have had people come for help because their young
horse went from swooping the barrels to hopping around them. The first
thoughts that most people have is that the horse is sore. Many times,
it turns out to be a growth spurt.
These growth spurts
will also greatly affect the gather. I am riding two 4 year olds right
now that are going through this. One is by Rare Bar and one is by
Runnerelse. They were both gathering easily and turning great and then
began to struggle in their gather and turns. If you look at them from
the side, they are both very high in the hips right now. Since I am a
trainer who is more interested in the long lasting, happy and consistent
horse, I am backing way off on both of them. I have had Runnerelse
horses that have grown until their 7th year. Think about
this, if you have a horse going through a rough stage in gather and
turning and you start training them harder and ramming then into the
ground, then what are you going to have left at the end of their
futurities?
Horses that have gone
through a lot of futurities and came out big winners in the rodeo pen
are getting fewer and fewer. I think that one of the reasons are that
these horses are being trained by the calendar and not by the basics of
weight balance and letting the horse tell us when it is comfortable for
him to move on in the training. It reminds me of an article written
about the Olympic gymnastics. The Romanians were accused of starving
their competitors so that they did not grow and change their COG, thus
affecting their performance. The COG will change in a horse the same
way it does in a gymnast. May we select the ones built to do the job and
then have the sense to train them correctly as their weight balance
changes. We will wind up with more that are making it to the rodeo
pens.