Serpentine eliminated!

caliber · Serpentine eliminated!

Fedequinas! Colombian Paso Horse Federation has eliminated the serpentine as mandatory TEST required. The voting took place on the last meeting and passed, waiting for the second meeting to finalize the RULE!

BigJ

I'm glad. The problem I have with the few competitions I've seen through Fedequinas is the lack of creativity to test the horse and rider. After all the goal is to produce the best riding horse, no? The way to demonstrate that the Paso Fino IS the best is to allow full expression of what it is. Judges should be allowed to determine the tests and combination of methods to obtain this demonstration. I'm not impressed with horses trained into a pattern. That is a form of barrel racing without the timer to determine who wins. It is also a very cheap and dirty way to eliminate horses should they bobble slightly during a performance.

I think we've put the emphasis on the wrong thing. We should be demanding our judges demonstrate a love and understanding the breed and then empower them to judge accordingly. Instead we've bound them by rules that have turned them into nothing but tokens and have made nothing but robots out of our horses.

I applaud the decision to rescind the rule. While I believe every horse in competition should have an opportunity to perform and believe we should test our horses for capability, when a superior riding animal emerges that even flawed epitomizes the breed standards, the judges should be given discretionary authority to choose the "right" one.

Tests are not here to force mistakes but to encourage the best to shine. It should be a positive not a negative.

Pasofinoguy

Oh man I know i am not well thought of here due to my views but Here i go.

Now as far as pfha shows go I think that the serpentine is very important. It really shows the training on a horse. To me a horse must be able to bend into a turn and stay bent until the rider brings the horse out of the bend. And at the same time not loose its gait and not raise its head or bob or change speed. It just shows that the horse has been trained in my opinion the RIGHT way.

To me the worst thing i see is a horse that is so stiff and stays straight with its body and neck in the turns.

There is a video of resorte 4 showing years ago. One of the things i think tha really helped him was his ablity to turn and the flexablity that he had from his training. The other horses in the ring with him were stiff and not able to freely move like resorte 4 could.

Now that said. If you go to a smaller show probley anything not in fl lol you can see small class sizes and the classes are not very long. Well why not do all the tests on the horses instead of having go around two times with a reverse somewhere in the middle.

After all arnt we testing the horse and its training

This is just what i believe in and I am sure i am alone in wanting to see a flexible horse.

Kerry W

Don't talk like that Adam...we appreciate everyone, whether we agree with their views all of the time or not. I think the point here is...YES, they do need to exhibit suppleness, but I think they used to be very creative in how they tested for that in the show ring (among other things). As it is now, we know what they're going to do in the class, so the horses are trained specifically for that task...not necessarily (although good trainers do) training for a well balanced horse. They really can be like drones in the show ring, because we know they won't ask for anything out of the ordinary of them.

The breed is very perceptive, and very versatile...I think when you throw them a curve ball, they respond very well to it. It's an attribute of the breed, that we don't always necessarily see in any given class, and besides making the classes more interesting for the viewers, it would show off that attribute of the breed.

Pasofinoguy

Your right. We know what we need to be prepaird for when going to a show. Corto, walk, largo, some canter, reverse, figure 8, transitions, halts.

I bought a qh filly last year and plan on doing cutting with her when she is grown. And i know when i go to a qh cutting show i will have to do certain things and do them the right way to win.

Or if i had a dressage horse and i went to one of there shows. I would understand what my horse would need to be able to do and do it.

Yeh It would be fun to change up what we do in the ring no adays. Id like to hear some thoughts about what other test we can do.

So we seam to agree.

I like to see a paso being put to the test

caliber

I will like to say ADAM, i agree with Kerry 100%. I don't have to agree! but I MUST always respect your opinion! and we do...........

Well! do we need a physical serpentine set on the side or on the middle of the arena? In my opinion NO we don't. Do we need a serpentine to determine the stiffness on a horse, NO WE DONT.

Anyone showing should read the rules and should be able to perform a serpentine without cones, landscape trails or what ever is the latest show trend Rolling Eyes

Any horse that is presently showing, should be trained to the fullest and I mean to the fullest regardless what test the Judge will require on that day.

BigJ

loriperez

Felix - it was not eliminated, but not made mandatory - correct? Confepaso has always required ALL horses that passed the cut to do an individual workoff which is what I really liked about the shows vs PFHA where you don't know what the judge is going to ask from each class or horse. I think they will still continue to require the work, but in order for this situation to be avoided (with the Judges and the suspenion), it is no longer mandatory.

caliber

Lori, On the first meeting they just had, they worded NOT Mandatory, so they will ELIMINATE the word MANDATORY! NOW! this will need to be presented on the second meeting coming up soon! in order to make it a RULE!

So, I will think they will still use the TEST if needed for certain horses! But you know how that goes! is all or none! jejejejeje