Old Knowledge
Anyone who deals with horses needs to be knowledgeable in many areas: breeding, rearing, feeding, management, riding, and so on. And many believe they can acquire this knowledge simply by reading books (or, even worse, on Facebook), or they seek advice and action from self-proclaimed gurus. Reading is educational—that much is true—but in this case, it’s only half the story. Because theoretical knowledge is one thing, but practical experience is another! And it is precisely with the latter that many fall short.Systematic and selective horse breeding is around 200 years old. Back then, the horse was still a part of daily life; everyone had a connection to horses to some degree. The old cavalrymen in the remount depots or the old state stud masters assessed, evaluated, and categorized thousands of horses according to their quality. The knowledge gathered in the process was a wealth of experience that is virtually impossible for anyone to accumulate today, because hardly anyone comes into contact with such a large number of horses in their lifetime. When it comes to gaining experience, today’s horse owners and breeders are inherently at a disadvantage compared to our ancestors. This lack of experience is difficult to compensate for with textbooks, and the old masters are becoming fewer and fewer.
So, it is always a matter of weighing options: do you follow a strictly scientific approach, empirical values, or the pseudo-experts? And although I trust science in the bottom of my heart, long-standing experience is also a valuable treasure trove of knowledge, especially in horse breeding and management. After all, you ultimately fare best with a well-balanced mix of science and a wealth of experience.
Take young horse rearing, for example: in the large state studs, especially in Eastern Europe, young horses grew up extensively on vast areas of land. They let off steam on the pastures during the day, and in the evenings, they went into spacious group housing. For their concentrate ration, they were tied up, brushed over briefly with a dandy brush, and had their legs lifted—and that was about it. That is how they lived until the serious side of life began. Experience taught that plenty of movement strengthens tendons, joints, muscles, and the cardiovascular system—and science says the exact same thing. Today, however, hobby breeders and horse owners believe they can make up for the lack of movement-intensive rearing by heavily “pampering” them. Instead of romping on the pasture with peers 24/7, people are already diligently “practicing” with the foal, the yearling, or the two-year-old to walk over poles, listen to commands, or they give them a ball as a playmate. Instead of following the experience of past centuries, people follow ground-work gurus.
Horse breeding is a rather conservative area of animal breeding; therefore, we should perhaps not follow every trend, but rather trust the experience of the past centuries. Gudrun Waiditschka
