{"id":28711,"date":"2016-09-28T15:07:38","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T05:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=28711"},"modified":"2017-02-09T16:19:41","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T05:19:41","slug":"from-the-archives-an-eye-for-a-horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2016\/09\/from-the-archives-an-eye-for-a-horse\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Archives: An Eye for a Horse"},"content":{"rendered":"

You be the judge!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here we have three Arab bred horses, all looking to a career in dressage. We asked Malcolm Barns who has had enormous success in the dressage area with Arabian bred horses – first with Rami – then on Christopher – to give his expert opinion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t use Arabs very much in Australia, but in Europe they do like Arab blood. The British Olympic rider, Diana Mason\u2019s horse, Prince Consort is an Anglo\/ Arab and a beautiful horse – but you don\u2019t the quality here, because we look for something different in our Arabs. In Germany, the Trakehners have a lot of Arab blood in them, and the other Warmbloods have quite a lot of Arab influence. A lot of the Arab came the Ramzes who was a Polish Anglo\/Arab. They do have the movement, and the presence and they\u2019ve got that bit of snap, we just don\u2019t look for it here because the Arabs we have just don\u2019t have that quality.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve ridden some lovely Arabs. I sent a mare to Rami, and I liked the horse a lot. He was only a little horse – 14.2 – but nevertheless he had a lot of quality and scope, and he moved well. He was an unbroken nine year old when I backed him, but free in the yard he showed a lot of movement, extravagant movement. He was a lovely horse under saddle, and became a thicker, stronger horse with work. Christopher was his son, and while he too lacked size, he did have scope, he had perhaps not extravagant movement, but he had plenty of movement (sometime extravagant movement can be a pest). He had that look at me, and presence which is so necessary for all dressage horses.<\/p>\n

We have got Merrifield Zia, Tutankhamon, lovely horses… lovely horses. Merrifield Zia is perhaps a little smaller, but they do breed Anglos up to over 17 hands. The French horses have a lot of Arab, but they look for a quality Arab that can be used to upgrade the other breeds. The Spanish Arab can be very beautiful, there are some lovely ones in Spain. We tend to look for a particular sort of Arab that is not much use to the other breeders. It\u2019s a shame we are producing this horse that doesn\u2019t seem to have much of a purpose.<\/p>\n

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\"A\"I prefer this horse of the three. He looks as if he\u2019d have a bit of scope. I don\u2019t particularly like the shoulder or the front, I\u2019d\u00a0 prefer him bigger in front, but the neck is set on quite nicely. I really can\u2019t see him as a Grand Prix horse because he is not quite impressive enough. Take Tutankhamon, he really jumps out at you, he has a lovely outline, but this horse lacks a little extra. It doesn\u2019t mean he couldn\u2019t make Grand Prix in the right hands because they come in all shapes\u2026<\/p>\n

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\"B\"<\/p>\n

This horse is long in the leg and weedy in the body. He possibly could thicken up because Anglos are late maturing, but he doesn\u2019t look enough horse to me. He doesn\u2019t look enough in the hindlegs the shoulder is not bad, but it\u2019s not brilliant. He doesn\u2019t look particularly robust, I like a horse with a stronger constitution, he\u2019s too much on the leg for his age. You\u2019d need to work this horse slowly, and take time to build his body – with lunging. He\u2019s certainly not developed enough for collection, he needs to develop his physique. He\u2019s quite a nice little horse, but just not enough horse at the moment.<\/p>\n

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\"C\"<\/p>\n

He looks common in the neck and straight in the shoulder. He is only two so perhaps he\u2019ll grow a bit in front, but at the moment he\u2019s over-built behind. He doesn\u2019t have a nice set of neck, he might come up in time but I have my doubts. I\u2019d like a better shoulder if he is going to move. Really you don\u2019t know how a horse is going to come with work. They can change both ways, with correct work they can improve, and with wrong work they can deteriorate terribly. He might well come up quite nicely.<\/p>\n

Barns, Malcolm<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n