My Horse is "Beautiful"... Yea Right!

We all have our own image or idea of what makes a horse 'pretty'. For some, it's a shiny coat, well brushed mane/tail, and hoof polish. For most of us though, 'pretty' means straight correct legs, a nicely shaped head, slick healthy coat, good weight, nice balance between the fore and hind, and (Ok, this MY ideal) a long thick tail. 

Copyright Robert Vavra, "Horses of the Sun" Collection

Sometimes its just a matter of taking the right picture at the right time to get a 'pretty' horse. 

Copyright Robert Vavra, "Horses of the Sun" Collection

With that description in mind, I don't think many of us will disagree that is a workable definition of 'pretty' in a horse. 


Then there is a whole OTHER side of the coin. I've been wanting to show these ads for a while, and what with everything else going on, just hasn't fit in yet. Oh, and I am gonna stay shallow and superficial today. None of this 'beauty is more than skin deep' stuff. These are horses, not international runway models. *grin*. I'm tryin' to make a point today about how sellers WAY overuse words like "beautiful" "nice", and even, "excellent conformation".


Every one of the ads today the writers at some point use 'beautiful', 'beauty', 'nice', etc, to describe their animal. 


I'll let you decide for yourself if those descriptions are appropriate to the individual animal, and lets have a bit of fun today. ;) Its Monday, and I'm sure we all need it.

This is the beautiful mare...    Anyone other than me just not seein' it? She looks more like a mule... (No offence to the mules of the world, of course. Mules are very pretty. Sometimes. But when your horse looks like this?.... well..... its NOT pretty!)

I have more....

   

Ad Text: Roan Gelding - $2000 (Mesa)This boy has muscle and strength. He is an all around beauty. He knows how to go slow so is great with beginners who young children. Also, he is good for advanced riders looking for a calm horse. 

Loves attention and company, but can also be an only horse. He is good with mares and other geldings also. 

E-mail me for more information or pictures. I am not firm on $2000 but I want to see what I can get from him. 

he is a 6-7 year old Quarter Horse about 15-15 1/2 hands 

So on this one we have an 'all around beauty'. Hmmmm.... 

Maybe after he's shedded out and gained about 100 pounds... but as his in these pics? I sure wouldn't call him 'an all around beauty'. Diamond in the rough, maybe. I dunno though.. that neck... that long pencil neck on these tall thin quarter horses just ain't my cup 'o tea. And that one top pic where his hind leg is all stretched out, it makes his hind end look twice as big as his front end, and thus way off balance. Long back combined with a very upright shoulder... That top line is nearly as long as his bottom line, and there is supposed to be a 2:1 ratio with the top line being half as long as the bottom. He doesn't have that. He's closer to a 1:1 ratio. He's just not well put together I don't think. 

I'm sure there are a few out there that will disagree with me on him, and thats just fine with me. :) 

But I'm still not done... 

Hard to read, I know. Here ya go: 2 year old gelding - $125 nice gelding ground work is done ready to be started under the saddle. easy to catch has no bad habits. is around 14 hands tall. asking $125 OBO call 712---7350. 

Now, this ad was sent to my inbox just yesterday along with another one that I'll put up next. I will admit that they at least didn't use the word BEAUTIFUL in this ad, but 'NICE' is still pushing it I think. Apparently these same folks are selling everything from horses to pigs, and basic health requirements like WORMING are unknown to them. I've NEVER seen a 2 year old in that condition that wasn't just chock full of worms - and these guys just don't have a flippin clue -

This is the other one... its not much better. 

BEAUTIFUL JENNY $125  (ut oh - there it is!) coming 2 year old jenny. has been running with a spotted jack. hasn't been handled. asking $125 OBO call the same number as the wormy sick gelding that they are asking the same freaking amount of money for. 

Ok, fine, it doesn't say all that, but really it should. 

Isn't she just so..... screaming out for help? Beautiful is NOT a word I'd choose here... that poor thing. And she's been with a jack... so y'all just KNOW she's preggers. There's no way she isn't even with a belly full of worms. I bet thats the jack in the background. Such a lovely farm, isn't it. 

And I really gotta ask... the guy that the jack is looking at.. what the hell is he doing? I can't figure that out....

Hang in there... I still have more to make my point. 

Sometimes a horse just LOOKS beautiful upon first glance, all seems well but then that ugly   side that you just don't see at first pops out in the strangest places. Check this out... 

Doesn't he look pretty? Nice action shot, he's well groomed and shiny, ears are up, he's got a good weight; it's a very nice picture. This cute gelding is a paso fino, and yes, I do have a history of working very closely with the breed... nearly 6 years worth. This ad was sent to me also in conjunction with another one, and I will send major kudos - her eyes are good to have caught this particular craigslist screw up; I don't think I would have caught this.

Look closely at him. He SEEMS to be rather correct, right? At least at first glance he does. 

The ad text isn't so important here, except to note that the seller says he's got an 'excellent disposition and conformation."

Ok. Maybe ..... NOT. 

See the chestnut pinto on the left side with the REALLY REALLY BAD HIND LEGS? Eyup. Same gelding. Rather scary, isn't it?

Now, having worked with rather well bred pasos, I can pretty much say that his conformation is NOT EXCELLENT! Lol.

Ok, forget breed here. Lmao. IN NO Breed would that be excellent conformation!

[Oh, and I HAVE to mention this too... The bay centered in that pic is also for sale, same people, and they ONLY want him to go to either a natural horsemanship home or trainer cause he can't handle rough treatment. (" My ignored daughters horse. Extensive ground work and ridden several times as a 3 year old. Since then my daughter has done nothing with him. Ground work currently re-established. Ready to be started under saddle again. This is a very kind horse with no vices, but he is unable to handle rought treatment. Buyer should have natural horsemanship experience or be willing to send this horse to a natural horsemanship trainer.") 

So sorry Laverne, but just cause he's had 'rough treatment' doesn't automatically mean he can ONLY be trained by a NH trainer. Shall we go back over the video of a certain leading NH lady smacking a blind in one eye horse in the head to make him back up?  Or how about 

Julie Goodnight, another very well known NH trainer, actually approving the use of a shock collar on a horse for behavior modification purposes? Do I really have to say that there are plenty of non-violent ways of training a horse without using the NH crap? ]

And one more just to compare/finish up with... and because I think this guy is just completely adorable...

This is the way to sell a horse!

Just LOOK at him! I LOVE the way he's marked. :D. He makes me think a kid with a giant square eraser just stood next to him and erased all the black helter skelter, doesn't it? He's built nice, straight legs, cute head, well balanced, doesn't look choppy like some minis do, has a nice elegant look to him.... just a very, very nice stud. He's been trained and has several national championship titles to his name. NICE! (And isn't his two color tail just awesome!?)

Oh and yep, he's a stud, but if he's got a few foals... WONDERFUL! Thats one horse that will BETTER his breed, not make it WORSE! Oh, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that they say that papers are at the sellers description - limiting essentially the buyer pool to those very serious in keeping him on his winning path; AND MAJOR kudos for the 'not for kids' comment. 

The moral of the story here folks would be using words like 'beautiful', 'nice' and other descriptive words ('excellent conformation', anyone?) is perfectly fine - when they actually describe the horse!

Tomorrow, I'll have a doozy of an ad that every time we (me and the other lady that was following it with me) turned around, it changed! 

Happy Monday!

P.S. - For those of you still interested in following the story of Einstein, his owners were interviewed by Good Morning America last week - friday-ish. If you head over to hulu.com, and search for their GMA clips, scroll down some through the massive number of segments archived you'll find it. I warn you though - I suggest you watch with your sound off. The conversation/interview was one of the most annoying, ignorant, disgusting, stupid conversations I've EVER heard a reporter give. Consider that the reporters are the main anchors for GMA - that makes it doubly bad. At one point the owners were asked about Einsteins' future as a stallion, and the male owner answered yes, their eventual goal was to get him a 'wife and have him raise a family'. I kid you not. It just got worse from there... at one point they were making very horrible jokes about him being a 'ladies man', and then the female reporter tried to joke that the foal was winking at his owner, and that he might need to take a moment off by himself. Not only did the joke fall totally flat, the insinuation was highly inappropriate, and just totally disgusting. 

The only reason I'd even watch it without the sound would be to watch and study Einstein himself walk around the stall, his legs have straightened up and he's walking just like any other normal foal. There certainly seems to be absolutely no signs of dwarfism in his legs... while he certainly is very tiny (just 15 inches & 20 lbs, I think?) his legs are straight, and he's a perfect miniature version of a normal sized foal. 

Watch for yourself, and let me know what you think!