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Stillpoint Farm of Wellington
Horses Aren’t Supposed to Look Like Beef CowsFILED UNDER: |
Fri
Feb 2010
05
Author: Katie
Site: www.gofreshdesign.com
No, this is not a 'shopped* photo. This is an actual horse, who is actually this beefy. Meet Kids Classic Style. "Bucky" is an 1800 pound, 16 hand American Quarter Horse. He is also HYPP N/H. This means, he carries the gene for a disease that will one day cause him to become paralyzed without notice. And oh yeah, this gene also makes him overly muscular.
I just can't understand the trend for these overly muscled, beefy halter horses in AQHA. First of all, this horse looks ridiculous. Second of all, I can't imagine he is fun to ride or useful at any equestrian discipline. He probably can't launch his huge ass over a fence, he probably can't keep up with a cow (just look like one), I don't see him being able to perform a sliding stop or spin. What is he good for?
Beyond that, weighing 1800 pounds is not normal unless you are a draft horse! He's also got these teeny tiny feet. There is a reason that draft horse's have huge feet. Regular size hooves wouldn't be able to support all that poundage for long. There is a video of Bucky where you can see him running at liberty. He's slow, he looks awkward and to my eye it seems like he has a tiny limp. And somehow this monster horse is not only showing but has some how managed to win two AQHA World Champions and is reproducing. What is wrong with these people?
Breeding a HYPP Positive Horse is Idiotic
HYPP is a simple dominant gene. Meaning a horse who carries one copy of the gene has the disease. A horse who is Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis positive Is going to one day fall down temporarily paralyzed. The paralysis could come on while he is in a stall or it could come on while carrying a rider on its back. Let's just hope the horse doesn't become paralyzed and crush a human to death. Every horse who has this disease will one day become paralyzed. It might happen at 4 years old. It might happen at 10 years old. There's no way to know when an attack will come and there is no warning. Any horse carrying this gene in heterozygous form has a 50% statistical chance of passing on this disease. Any horse carrying two copies will spread this disease to all of his offspring.
There is a genetic test that can tell you if your horse is positive for HYPP. If breeders were responsible this genetic defect would have been eradicated by now. It's quite simple. Don't breed horses that are HYPP positive, heterozygous or not. There is no moral reason for allowing this disorder to continue. With all the crossing into Appaloosas, Paints and other stock type horses, HYPP is weeding its way into other breeds as well.
Why would a breeder choose to breed a HYPP positive horse? Well, maybe it has a lot of other nice qualities and the breeder doesn't have the stomach to make the right decision. They weigh the options and decide the horse is just too nice not to breed it, despite the 50% chance of passing on HYPP. You know, if this same hypothetical breed had a horse who was perfect in every conformational way, had a sweet temperament and a really rare color but had a 50% chance on passing on blindness they probably would choose not to breed that animal. For some reason though the same logic doesn't apply to a horse that is going to probably die for paralysis induced suffocation.
The other reason is a side effect of HYPP is an overly muscled physique. This is apparently what the judges are looking for in Halter classes. Halter classes are, in my opinion, ridiculous unless that are coupled with some type of performance aspect. Horses are for riding or driving, not for leading around on a rope. Yes, horse's should have ground manners. Yes, they should have a certain conformation. Yes, they should be turned out nice. All of these are great things to judge for. But when judging starts rewarding lardasses, genetically deformed animals who couldn't do a job that is when I wonder about the usefulness of Halter classes and the intelligence of the judges.
Beyond Being Overly Muscled, This Horse Just Has Bad Conformation
This guy's back end is just too far away from his front end. It would be like trying to drive a limousine when what you need is the maneuverability of a compact car. He's massive but has teeny tiny hooves. He's going to most likely have issues with lameness. (Gee golly, I can't wait for that farrier bill!) His tail starts half way down his haunches. His hip is too big and makes him look like he's got a humped ass. Regardless of his disease, I don't think this is a horse that should be reproducing, especially when as far as I can tell he hasn't accomplished anything undersaddle.
Other animals this horse looks like...
This is a Belgian Blue bull. The Belgian Blue has a natural mutation of the gene that codes for myostatin, a protein that counteracts muscle growth. This is what causes the sculpted, heavily muscled appearance known as "double muscling". It also probably makes for fine eating. Fortunately this disorder doesn't cause paralysis. Unfortunately these cows often have to be born by cesarean section.
This is Wendy the Whippet, who is also double muscled. For more info on Wendy, click here
If I was Queen of the World
There's a very simple solution to the problem of HYPP horses. The power for implementing the solution lies with the breed registries. If I was in charge, I would make it a requirement of registering your American Quarter Horse that you prove with a simple genetic test that you horse is HYPP N/N. No horse, not even a heterozygous one, would be allowed to be registered. Then I would retroactively in act a rule that no horse is allowed to show at an AQHA show if they are HYPP positive. You bet your breeches that breeders would real quick like stop breeding their HYPP positive animals. In 5-10 years the problem would be solved. Currently you can not register with the AQHA if you horse is homozygous for HYPP, so what's up AQHA? Why can't you pull that other trigger? Worried you'll lose some registration moneys?
Sources for this Article
This rant was inspired by this blog entry and the comments left by readers over at the Fugly Horse of the Day blog. Click here for more info on HYPP. For more info about the American Quarter Horse Association, click here. To learn more about Kids Classic Style, click here.
*
'Shopped means edited in Adobe Photoshop. I when I said that this photo wasn't altered in Photoshop, that's not entirely true. The photo is very clearly edited in Photoshop - but the altering was on the background. Basically a photo of this horse was cute out and pasted on a generic field backdrop. Some other alterations may have been made, but this horse is still really that muscled and thick. Visit his page and watch the video of him to see for yourself.
Photo Credits: http://www.scheckelpaintandquarterhorses.com/
24 Comments
1
alexis
2010 11 22
I hink this horse is gorges so you should suck it.
i dont see your horse winning any big tiltles. i disagree ith hypp to butthis horse looks fine hes not half as bad as many others.
2
Katie
2010 12 01
My horse is a pleasure horse, not a show horse. Notice how I’m not breeding her. Though she is rideable and has won ribbons at local shows.
This is a BREEDING stallion who can’t perform and only shows in halter. I doubt very much this horse could jump a 4 foot fence like my mare.
Also, you shouldn’t be reproducing a trait that causes paralysis. Hope you’re never riding a HYPP horse when it has a seizure. That would be a dangerous situation to be in.
Also, I think you’re misunderstanding the point even if you do think such a beefy horse is attractive. It could never be this big without HYPP. So how can you disagree with HYPP but prefer this look?
3
Miller
2011 04 15
This is so sad. This horse should have been gelded and put out to pasture. The owners are absolute idiots to continue with his breeding and produce more useless, sick horses. He is beautiful, minus about 200+ pounds of muscle. I dont understand what is so desirable about a horse that can only do halter! And the poor thing will probably develop hoof issues and leg issues, they shouldn’t keep him as an experiment, they should stop his bloodline quickly. Horses are supposed to run and jump and be able to balance on comfortable sized hooves, not little pencil points like he has. He looks like he will suffer for the most part of his life, a sad fact. Breeders are dangerous to the breed if they don’t know what they are doing. And I LOVE what you said about not being able to show horses that are HYPP positive, because thats where everyone gets their money, and they would quickly see that start to disappear. Great information 
4
Gemma
2011 04 21
This horse can’t even canter properly if you watch the vidio why are these cruel people breeding it into these amazing animals? In the vidio you see him trying to buck but it just looks ridiculous as you can also see that this poor thing looks like it’s lame too that’s probably because of it’s tiny hooves. These people are going to destroy this breed all for just one ridiculous looking horses that you can’t even ride!
5
tdm1975
2011 04 24
Well first of all, to those of you who choose to condemn this horse for what he looks like, DON’T. I have worked first hand with this horse and several of his offspring and Im here to tell you they are not all immobile freaks as you would like to discribe them to be. Second of all lets not condemn the breeders of horses like this either. I will however agree with you that HYPP is a bad thing. If you have done much research which it doesn’t look like you have, but have somehow formed a biased oppinion, you would see HYPP has become something that is very controlable and also something that effect horses with much, much less muscle mass than this horse does….I dont know maybe even pleasure horses for instance. It seems as if the only people I have come across in my 20 years in the horse business as not only a breeder, but as an approved judge of several different breed associations, are those who have only experienced mediocrity.
6
Kikki
2011 05 12
excuse my french, but your FREAKIN’ stupid! a quarter-horse is supposed to be bulky(its all muscle)! and have small feet (its proof of a good bloodline)! GET OVER IT!!!!
7
Kikki
2011 05 12
And to Katie that said “Also, I think you’re misunderstanding the point even if you do think such a beefy horse is attractive. It could never be this big without HYPP. So how can you disagree with HYPP but prefer this look?” yes you could Have a horse that is this muscler without HYPP. and SO WHAT if the horse has health problems?!
To Miller that said “The owners are absolute idiots to continue with his breeding and produce more useless, sick horses.” the owner’s love bucky, thats why they do the things do! any one who calls this horse ugly, useless, sick, worthless, “BEEFY”, or anything of that nature IS Heartless, cold, biased, Snobby, uptight, and doe’s “NOT” truely understand the beauty of horses or horses at all!!!.... MAYBE bucky’s owners had him gain so much muscle so he wouldn’t have seizure’s or paralysis?!!
To Gemma… I’m not even gonna bother!...
By The Way I Agree with tmd1975
and alexis I agree with you to, at least this horse isn’t a skeleton with skin.
8
Katie
2011 05 14
Kikki,
Quarter horses are stock horses, so yes they are going to be bulkier than an Arabian. But they are not supposed to be so bulky that they can hardly move. This horse’s huge physique and tiny feet are no proof of good bloodlines, it’s simply proof of a gene mutation.
Are you really defending the breeding of this horse by saying “So what is the horse has health problems? No rational person I know says, hey let’s breed a horse that’s got a 50% of having seizures. I don’t understand how you can be so cavalier about it.
Having the opinion that it’s a bad idea to breed sick horses is not heartless, it’s the complete opposite.
I don’t think that a person who creates a website to showcase beautiful horses can be rightfully labeled as not understanding the beauty of horses.
Bucky’s owners didn’t do anything to make him gain weight. His genetic mutation caused that.
The seizures and paralysis are part and parcel of his disease. There’s not one without the other. There’s no extreme beefiness without the seizures.
You must have some personal connection to this horse to be able to turn a blind eye to his medical condition.
And to say at least he’s not a skeleton with skin is a ridiculous arguement. The choice isn’t between skinness and HYPP. You can have a happy and healthy medium as the ideal.
Katie
9
Molly
2011 09 05
http://www.scheckelpaintandquarterhorses.com/ - “If your 2011 foal is unregisterable due to HYPP restrictions by AQHA you will be entitled to a rebreed.”
Are you kidding me? Restrictions are in place for a reason. How about instead of playing russian roulette with living, breathing animals, you STOP BREEDING FOR THIS DISEASE.
10
Molly
2011 09 05
tdm1975, you should be revoked of your judging license and stripped of your animal ownership if you think that it is okay to breed H/N and H/H horses. Judges and breeders like you are the problem here. No, I don’t think this animal should be ripped to shreds for how he looks or moves, but he most definitely should have been gelded. Just because these horses are “asymptomatic” doesn’t mean that they will never be stricken with this painful and possibly fatal disease. You aren’t breeding this horse for muscle, you are breeding for HYPP. The muscle spasms brought on by HYPP create this muscle. There are other ways to legitimately build muscle on a horse, but that actually takes some effort on your part…
11
hermon
2011 12 21
Hold on,you really should educate yourself before you attempt to talk crap.If you and your back yard mentality needs to do something , maybe you should spend some time researching what your talking about. This stallion is out of your league.You should not worry about things that you do not understand.I have two colts by this stallion, and both have had successful halter horse careers; however, both are also very nice pleasure horses also. One of those colts are doing well as a English pleasure prospect due to his beautiful movement.
12
EquineStrength
2012 01 16
I really don’t understand why people hate halter horses so much.
Personally, I think that these very muscular horses are the most beatiful of all horses.
Kids Classic Style, Sic Cool Skip, Miss Carri Clue, Maxilink and others, for me they are the most beautiful horses that ever walked the Earth!
If there was a choice, I would rather buy a myostatin deficient horse than “normal”.
Horses don’t need to be useful or able of great performances for being loved.
13
Casey Veach
2012 01 28
Actually, this horse currently had the #1 performance halter gelding and mare in the nation. Yep, that means they have to ride. In addition, he is the #1 stallion in AQHA for show horses and has produced more than 300 world and reserve world champions. Must be a real piece of shit, I am sure much worse than this authors stallion which has produced???. Also, it tells me alot about a magazine when they allow an idiot to write an article with completely false information. Just because the horse is N/H does not mean he will die from paralysis. Actually only 10% of H/H horses actually show signs of the disease—which by the way, can be controlled with medicine. Really no different than thyroid disease, diabetes or HTN—all of these can cause death if left out of control and you can bet there are genetic markers for these as well. Finally, I think the magazine should be careful printing articles as such with “false claims” about a persons business—if I am correct, there are legal ramifications.
14
Lucy M
2012 01 28
I cannot understand why this author and others always assume that the halter horses are all going to be laim. It must be that they have a lack of experience or knowledge as many “riding” or “performance” horses are significantly injured and laim and require constant “injections, medications, therapy” just to maintain their status. This horse is healthy and happy at 16 years of age—can many of the above say the same about their horses?
15
Jesse
2012 02 04
Quarter horses are supposed to be built bulky, although I do think he is a little too big for my taste personally. This horse could have been on grass which was too high in sugar, rotating the P3, & causing pain in his feet. Or it could have simply been the farrier, he may have removed too much sole & shaped the frog on every visit, causing pathogens to get into the soft tissue resulting in under developed frogs. Which would cause soreness from lack of callous. Generally horses who are in pain land toe first at the lope, which keeps the frog from fully developing, & that is the P3’s support system, along with the bars, & heels. Without any support, that would be like walking in high heels all the time. They have no support & they kill your feet! Years of landing toe first would also put TONS of pressure on the P3, causing it to rotate. Another possibility could have been the farrier tried to make every hoof look alike, if the Bucky is slightly crooked in his back legs, that would wear his hooves differently. & if the farrier tried to correct that, it’s puts a lot of stress on the joints, resulting in a sore horse. Sore horses have short choppy strides, & that looks like the case with him. Poor guy. You cannot try to balance a hoof if it is slightly off, because that causes the leg that is slightly off to be forced straight & that hurts the horse so he tries to compensate with the other legs, but then he ends up moving differently on the other legs, causing the horse to be lame all over. The bottom point is that every breed is different, Arabs to me look like skinny tooth picks. I weigh 110 pounds, but I’d be afraid to break them with their tiny legs. & the saddlebreds have super long necks like giraffes. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. If I think my filly is the most beautiful horse, & someone else doesn’t, so what? I can guarantee for every horse owner who thinks they have a “good looking” horse, there are 40,000 more who think the same thing! Or vice versa, that you have the worst looking horse. If someone told me my filly was ugly, great, but she will always be my favorite girl. Everyone knows their own horse on a different level, & the people that don’t know them judge by looks, because that’s all they have to go on. Actually I thought that was pretty funny comparing him to those other super bulky animals!
16
Amanda
2012 02 13
I have learned so much about HYPP breeding and I am 100% against it. It is a terrible, terrible thing to continue breeding H/H or N/H Horses. Regardless of the breed, HYPP needs to come to an end and it’s VERY simple to stop but people are so greedy and don’t give a care about the Horses health. HYPP positive horses have to be under strict diets, high stress can cause attacks, etc. You can get a muscled stock breed without it being HYPP positive.
I see people posting comments like, “ITS A QUARTER HORSE, ITS SUPPOSED TO BE BULKY!” So, I guess if you are American.. it’s normal to be fat? Uh no. Don’t be so stupid.
This horse couldn’t perform NEARLY as well as a horse with less bulk FOR SURE. The more weight, muscle you haul around, the slower you are.. that is true for humans, horses, etc. You don’t see ATHLETES with muscles the size of houses.. You see them lean, fit, cut.. lightweight for speed, performance, etc.. Unfortunately for these breeders they care more about Form… which isn’t even nice to begin with.
FUNCTION>FORM PERIOD. How can you trust anyone on a horse of this mass and HYPP positive?
Also, Halter horse? Really? It’s a horse not a poodle.
17
katie
2012 03 01
I think this horse is very pretty he carries him shelf very well we shouldn’t be insulting him.
18
Katie
2012 03 02
Katie, I’m not really insulting the horse. It’s not his fault how he’s formed or even that he exists. What I’m insulting in the mindful breeding of sick horses with a genetic disorder that causes seizures.
19
Mikaila
2012 03 18
I have to agree, this horse isn’t in good shape. You can tell by it’s head something is wrong. I’ve seen some bad horses in my horse judging competitions. But, I have never seen a horse that unpreportional
20
Joseph
2012 03 30
Leave the stallion alone!!! Going out on a website and making such nasty and judgemental comments only makes you look like a fool with too much time on your hands. Having an opinion is one thing but this is just too far. And to those that say that this horse couldnt make a cutting horse or a show jumper, HE WAS NOT BRED FOR THAT!!! But i have seen some of his progeny that can in fact do those things.
21
...
2012 04 13
HYPP is carried with a gene that makes the horses larger than average muscled. They can have the gene for the muscles without carrying HYPP. He is not big because of HYPP but because he got the gene that is carried often with it. Saying that he is muscled BECAUSE he has HYPP is like saying a horse died as a foal because it was a white overo… (Overo lethal white syndrome is carried with the white gene but what kills them is the gene that causes a defect where their intestines don’t form all the way. Food goes into the horse but not out and thus they die of a ruptured intestine(they are not white because they have the intestine gene defect they just often pass together).) Just as you can have a white overo without it dying at birth you can have muscle without HYPP.
HYPP is a manageable condition and if properly cared for the horse will not suffer from attacks. Thus if a horse is fed correctly and managed they will not die nor have an attack. Also the only time that a horse in in danger of more than soft tissue damage from a HYPP attack is if the attacks happen in the horse’s neck. Most attacks happen in larger muscle groups such as shoulders or haunches. They are uncomfortable but most owners do all that they can to prevent them and when they do happen they can be given muscle relaxants to help alleviate the attack. HYPP is by far not a death sentence and there are efforts to remove the gene entirely from the gene pool.
22
Katie
2012 04 13
Dear Dot, Dot Dot,
I’m sorry but your are simply misinformed about HYPP. Yes a horse can have be heavily muscled without HYPP, but one of the side effects of HYPP is larger then normal muscling.
HYPP is not manageable. All horses with HYPP will have an attack at some point. There’s aboslutely no reason to be breeding HYPP horess.
There will never be any success remoiving HYPP from the gene pool is carriers are continually bred (like this Stallion) and allowed to be registered and shown.
23
Ashley
2012 04 18
What the hell is wrong with you? Katie… Your mare cant even stand next to that stallion I guarantee it. Yeah hes big. Yeah he may not be able to jump high fences.. but who the hell cares.. look at him. Halter horses are bred for muscles and to stand and look pretty. Not to appease you. So get over yourself and your “local show winner”. Maybe when your ready to run with the big girls you can bring your mare to AQHA..
24
Katie
2012 04 19
Dear Ashley,
I assure you, my mare is a ton more athletic then this stallion. Of course any healthy, non-crippled horse probably is too.
My mare isn’t a Quarter horse so I wouldn’t be bringing her to an AQHA show. But that’s all besides the point. If you think the stallion “Bucky” is attractive all I can say is you have a warped taste in horseflesh.
My main point isn’t even about the looks of the horse, but how his disease (HYPP) effects his health and his progeny’s health. The over-muscled look while ridiculous in appearance is a symptom of a serious medical condition.
Are you familiar with human body-builders? Some of them are so muscle they can’t even button their own shirts. This horse has that same problem. He’s so overly muscled he had trouble gaiting like a normal horse.
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