Country Pleasure

[minie812]

I will be picking up my mini tomorrow after several months of training in Oklahoma and wanted to know as I progress with Scotty if it is o.k. to post questions to all of you that have experience in this area (I am totally new at this driving but have waited 3 yrs for this day) trainer says he has a very nice extended trot and will be good for CP. I am as excited as a grandma watching her foals being born!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I've always preferred a more forward reaching hunter horse with a nice arch to their neck and I thought (and perhaps it was wishful thinking) that is why we have the country pleasure classes,

Yes, coming from a QH background I'm fond of the flatter knee and sweepy stride you would look for in a hunter horse or a QH pleasure driver. The horse who won one of the Western CP classes at Nationals could have passed for that easily if you took away size reference. Don't know who it was - a leggy bay horse with absolutely the flattest knee & most level topline I've seen in a miniature. He was sure a standout in the class in my mind, and what I would consider the ideal.

Jan

Being from an Arab background I'm not a fan of flat-kneed movement or a completely flat topline, especially not in miniature as with a shorter leg it just looks to me like the horse has absolutely no ability to move. What I meant is a horse who picks up their feet cleanly for a nice round flowing stride but puts more energy into going forward than going UP. Many of the current country pleasure horses are very nice that way, I just don't like how high they are checked up or that they can be beaten by a horse with higher knee action but no manners.

I like seeing a horse who can seem relaxed and sweepy like this:

But is capable of reach forward like this (ignore his headset, all I was asking him for was to beat feet through the cones):

or up under himself like this:

You can see from this off-stride picture that he actually folds his shoulder and picks up his feet quite cleanly before reaching forward for the next stride:

Sorry for not showing better examples but we can't post pictures of other people's horses and I've only got the one.

There are many kinds of "good movement" and they are all a pleasure to watch. I just wish there were room for all of them in the miniature breed shows.

Leia

 

[susanne]

Granted, I have yet to show in driving...

But I have an argument about the semantics:

Why is it that people who otherwise make a very good argument, refer to "dropping down" from Single Pleasure to Country Pleasure?

Doesn't this just further instill the idea that Single Pleasure is better, the class that all the others are striving for?

The classes should be seen as separate but equal, defined by the distinct movement of different type horses. Neither is better or worse, more or less experienced, possessing more or less oomphh -- but simply having two distinct types of movement, both admirable.

The words we choose show our underlying attitudes, and if people do not simply see Country Pleasure as training grounds for Single Pleasure or the class for SP washouts, then we should refer to "moving over" from SP to CP.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Granted, I have yet to show in driving...

But I have an argument about the semantics:

Why is it that people who otherwise make a very good argument, refer to "dropping down" from Single Pleasure to Country Pleasure?

Doesn't this just further instill the idea that Single Pleasure is better, the class that all the others are striving for?

The classes should be seen as separate but equal, defined by the distinct movement of different type horses. Neither is better or worse, more or less experienced, possessing more or less oomphh -- but simply having two distinct types of movement, both admirable.

The words we choose show our underlying attitudes, and if people do not simply see Country Pleasure as training grounds for Single Pleasure or the class for SP washouts, then we should refer to "moving over" from SP to CP.

Hear, hear!

But change that to THREE distinct types: Single, Country, Western Country.

I don't feel like my horse has "dropped down", I felt like they actually had a class for the lower moving, lower headset, more relaxed animal. A class for HIS form, not a class I had to mold him into it to fit. I was estatic when I saw the new Western class. It was like it was written with him in mind!

Lucy

 

[ClickMini]

Susanne, I really like the way you worded that.

I have always said and firmly believe that it takes a truly talented horse to win in the country pleasure ring. There is SO much competition in that division, you really have to be a STANDOUT to get noticed. There is an order of magnitude smaller class size in single pleasure, you are going to get noticed, for better or worse. VBG! But to place in a class that fills the ring, and has splits, my gosh, that is really something!

 

[Chandler@RoyalPalm]

In most recent years the driving arena has seen so much talant in all divisions!!!! Although, there still remains room for improvement, as in everything in life.

Driving is a performance class as we all know. The horse is required to have proper FORM in order to FUNCTION. With that said... NOT every horse is was bred to be a driving horse.

This is just an opinion, but I havent realized the relevance of the western country class. Im not against it but asking why are were wanting a western pleasure driving horse?? If we have horse that needs to drive with low headsets, and minimal action- can we ask ourselves where is the form and function? I know this is going to be harsh- but im visualizing a downstep from what our current majority of country horses is made of- making this a class for a halter horse that cant trot? Again, just speaking my mind- (im a SPD person at heart, yet I still cant resist a stand out CPD horse) So not understanding why we are creating a 3rd division. I completely understand there are so many types of minis, but as I meantion in the beginning performace requieres from to function, and not every horse is a driving horse- any why create classes?

Country Pleasure is a very competitive class in its own right- I personally feel right now there are more numbers of talanted horses in this division than any other- YET MANY DIFFERENT STYLES. MINIS ARE EXTREMELY DIFFERENT in TYPE and MOVEMENT- Everybody has a right to breed, drive, love, and show whatever they want. Remember the show ring is just for somebodys opinion we are paying them to give- You have to believe and do whats your happy with out of this. NO MATTER how your horses place in the class -a good horse will always be noticed outside of the ring-

With attending over 20 shows from the EAST-WEST (TX,NC,KY,OR,CA,AZ,NV), and many more this year, I have had the opportunity to observe large classes full of so many talanted horses. MANY classes were split too at these show, and observed the following...

Yes, there are horses with more action that are showing in this class than there should be- HOWEVER its not a perfect world- yet there are just as many if not more,country horses being shown in the single division, I feel right now.

This is a combination of many things coming into play on why these horses are cross entered so to speak- 1. a horse completely in the wrong division, 2. the way the horse is driven (driver)- if not in a proper frame any horse thats a single horse can be a country horse- 3. conditioning- it takes so much power for these little guys to maintain breaking level and frame in the cart- so many minis drive dumped on the forehand, and not working off the rear (in every driving division). It takes time for horse to develop into a top of its division weather it be country, single, roadster.. So its not always going to start off as a single horse.

It takes brilliance and talent to be at the top of your game and we have been lucky to see a good number from all divisions.

Coming from big horses, and with riding with top Morgan & Saddlebred breeders, has allowed me to see some extreme moving horses. Im so happy to see how the minis driving classes are improving so much and headed down some really incredible paths.

This is by no means to justify why horses are crossed enetered but a simple observation of what I have seen this past year.

Enough of my opinions- driving is a passion for me in the minis- and I have seen so much this past year- Some bad, but good is always right behind- SO DRIVE ON!

 

[Kendra]

We're pretty lucky in our area, in that we have some good sized driving classes .... I mean, not huge, multiple splits kind of classes, but 9 to 15 horses isn't uncommon, and I see show results where there are only a couple driving horses at the whole show.

A couple years ago there was a horse that was entered in Country Pleasure that had very ... exaggerated ... movement. When someone asked the owner why the horse wasn't in Single, the reply was "That's what wins at Nationals". The horse placed 6th and nothing under those judges on that day.

I'm not sure any rule changes are in order, just an adherence to the current rules. Which may also be the solution to the measuring situation.

My horse I'm driving now is, in my opinion, too elevated in his movement to show in country. This year was his first year driving and though he wasn't "finished" for single, we showed in single, as that was his class. I didn't expect him to win and he didn't, though he got valuable experience, and a few 4th places that I'm pretty proud of in some pretty stiff competition!