Horse related rant.
Something I saw in the FHOTD comments the other day is still bothering me.
Who the HELL would breed a SHIRE to a TENNESSEE WALKING HORSE and then think about doing DRESSAGE with it? But they want it gaited, of course. Nevermind that gaited alone =/= dressage prospect, at least to me. See, to do dressage, you need to trot. Tennessee Walkers do not trot--or, SHOULD not. Oh yes you can train them to, but why? You can train me to play football too, but why? I'm not suited for it! Tennessee Walking horses are not suited for it! Oh sure, you can do it with one if you want, plink around and have fun, but why for the love of god breed something unsuitable on purpose? If you want a horse that trots, get one, don't teach a horse that doesn't to do so, it defeats the entire fucking purpose of the breed. To twist a Beau-ism, A Walking Horse is meant for Walking. Now that saying came about because Beau was a lazy sod who gave the middle finger to cantering, but it's an adaptable phrase. Shires aren't exactly your ideal dressage horse, either, and aside from that--they are vastly different horses than Walkers. What exactly are you trying to improve here? Where are you going with this idea--other than the slaughter house if you don't keep it forever? BLARGH. I mean I cracked jokes about crossing my two favorite breeds together so that I didn't have to chose, but I wouldn't seriously cross a Walker with an Andalusian. Actually if I really wanted to mix my favorites together, it would be a TWH/Andalusian/Morgan/Welsh Cob and wouldn't that be just awful?
Go to an auction and pick up someone else's fucking retarded crossbed horse from hell.
Just watch, though, I'll end up with some little Walker or Standadbred and...do barrels and team penning with it, or something. But at least I won't have BRED it to do those things. And it won't involve any damned trotting if the horse didn't do that to begin with! :P
Also, this? Oh god why. Not just why the OMG YELLOW, but why the registry? Idiots. I'm not a fan of crossbreeding different gaited breeds together, either. The paso gait =/= the running walk. Different gaits, different builds, so whyyyyy?
I hate people.