Did I really see this on AMHA website???

[targetsmom]

I just went to the AMHA website (www.amha.org) to look for the World Show results (not there yet) and saw a photo of a mini that appears to be hooked to a cart(??) but the mini is standing with NO BRIDLE OR HALTER ON!!! Someone is just holding its head.

Or are my eyes wrong???

 

[Sandee]

On what page? I don't see it on the main page and didn't find it clicking around either.

 

[targetsmom]

They may be working on the site now but here is where I found it:

http://www.amha.org/index.asp?KeyName=633

This is also where to get the World Show results so they probably are working on this page.

 

[Sue_C.]

I just went to the AMHA website (www.amha.org) to look for the World Show results (not there yet) and saw a photo of a mini that appears to be hooked to a cart(??) but the mini is standing with NO BRIDLE OR HALTER ON!!! Someone is just holding its head.

Or are my eyes wrong???

WOW...unfortunately you are not wrong...but by golly, THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!! what a stupid thing to do, and to put it on the site like that only encourages others to do the same. Shame on them!!! :arg! :arg!

:NoNoNo

 

[targetsmom]

If it wasn't a weekend I would call the office..I wonder if an e-mail to the office would be in order??? Any other ideas?? This page will likely get a lot of hits this weekend as people check for results.

Is there an AMHA rule forbidding this at shows like there is at ADS and PtHA?? I would hope so...

 

[ironbessflint]

Yikes!! It does seem to be an ad for a farm, so perhaps AMHA didn't even realize since I'm sure somebody paid and then just submitted pictures.

I know AMHR has a rule about removing bridles while hitched, but I can't find anything in the AMHA rule book.

 

[chandab]

Not condoning it, but it looks like someone did it for a photo op. You know pretty head with no head gear to block the view.

 

[Minimor]

Not only that but it appears from the position of the lines that the bridle is probably on the ground at the horse's feet....so perhaps if the horse were to suddenly bolt he would get his feet tangled in the bridle & fall on his face before he could really get going?

No doubt the idea was to take a pretty picture without the bridle to hide the horse's head but personally I would be more impressed if the horse were properly tacked up for the photo. If they want a pretty head shot they should take the horse out of the cart shafts first.

 

[Sue_C.]

If they want a pretty head shot they should take the horse out of the cart shafts first.

EXACTLY... All this shows to anyone who understands driving, (and knows the rules) is they are more concerned with a pretty picture, than the horse's welfare.

 

[RhineStone]

I suppose this is a "carry over" from those "new-fangled" shots of QHs saddled and just being held around the neck (if at all).

Never liked those either for the potential of disaster. It's like they have to "prove" two things: 1) Look at my horse's pretty head, and 2) Look at how well trained, mannerly he is! This just tells me that the farm using those photos is not as well-versed in driving as they would like everyone to believe. Horses that are put to a vehicle with only a header, halter, or nothing as in this case are a disaster waiting to happen, as the horse can't swing around to the side from it's handler, so if they feel the need to move, they plow over whatever is in their way. The handler can't possibly hold a horse that is full-steam ahead.

I don't care how broke the horse is. I've seen some incredibly broke driving horses have brain hiccups, too.

This needs to stop before someone gets a big brainiac idea to start taking show photos like this...like the QHs do. We're not members of any breed organization, so anyone up for writing a Rule Change Proposal for your organizations? Anyone want to use that Arab show video as "proof" that hooked horses without drivers isn't a good idea?

Myrna

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Doesn't even make a pretty picture IMO.

 

[targetsmom]

I did send AMHA an e-mail calling their attention to the dangerous practice that is shown in the photo and urging them to either edit it so the cart shafts are not visible or remove it.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I just watched, again, the video of the Arabian runaway in the harness class (actually, I watched parts of it three times as I was having trouble switching to the Mini Liberty video I actually wanted to watch. Senior moment!) I watched the whole thing even though I have watched it a number of times before. It is every bit as horrific the third or fourth time as the first. The trail of carnage is beyond belief (although I believe no-one was actually seriously hurt) I still wonder if they ever got that horse back in harness.

Tricks like this belong in the Parelli handbook, NOT in real life, where horses actually think for themselves and react to things instinctively!

Polite emails to AMHA should solve the problem hopefully.....

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I have been at photo shoots where this was done and winced there too. Each horse had maybe 10-15 minutes with the photographer so they drove it around, got a few pictures, stripped off the bridle and got some "driving horse and owner" headshots, then it was on to the next horse.

It was felt it would take too long to untack completely and put on a show halter.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother writing in about it. People who do that aren't doing it because no one has told them better but because "it's just a mini" and "only for a moment" and the only way they're going to learn is the hard way. Remember that photo of Patrick Swayze posing with his Arab stallion and the thin thread line wrapped around his hand? People do funny things in the name of "Art!"

Leia

 

[Kendra]

That picture's been in the MHW too, makes me cringe.

Not as bad as the Reserve Champion in the 7 & Under driving class I watched the other day on the webcast - Trainer who was riding with the (very!) little girl got out to help pose the Champion for the photos, then when it came time for the victory lap, instead of getting back in she took the reins from the child and ground drove the horse, running behind the cart with the little girl STILL IN THE CART!

 

[Sue_C.]

That picture's been in the MHW too, makes me cringe.

Not as bad as the Reserve Champion in the 7 & Under driving class I watched the other day on the webcast - Trainer who was riding with the (very!) little girl got out to help pose the Champion for the photos, then when it came time for the victory lap, instead of getting back in she took the reins from the child and ground drove the horse, running behind the cart with the little girl STILL IN THE CART!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

:arg!

:arg!

She should have been stripped of the title......

 

[hobbyhorse23]

If the little girl was good enough to win, she should have been good enough to do her own victory lap. Stupid trainer!

Leia

 

[Kendra]

If the little girl was good enough to win, she should have been good enough to do her own victory lap. Stupid trainer!

Leia

The little girl sat on the trainers lap for the class, and I don't think having her solo it for her victory lap would've been a good plan either.

But seriously ... gave me a flashback to when I was just as little, catching heck from my Grandad for getting on the wagon before he did. "Unless the driver is sitting down with the reins in his hands, you STAY OFF!"

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Oh no, I just meant the trainer should have gotten back in and done the victory lap as they did the class instead of stealing the little girl's thunder in such a spectacularly risky way.

Leia