Is there a version of soring in the Stock Horse world?

PasoBaby_CarolU · Is there a version of soring in the Stock Horse world?

I have my reasons for asking and it has to do with a horse I saw in Arizona. I know there is soring in many gaited breeds - which is illegal. But was wondering about it in non-gaited breeds. I saw a horse that was trimmed very short and shod with pads in the front. It looked to be quite sore, but I heard it won everything it entered because it stepped 'so lightly.'

Is this common?

cynthia peterson

it has been my experience that a good WP horse LOOKS like it is sore. It is the way they move.

Of course, they are also on the look out for some tranquilizer drug that can not be detected by a occasional drug test at the shows.

I do know they have them shod in aluminum shoes to keep any weight effecting the movement. Keep in mind saddlebred, etc. use a heavy shoe to make the opposite effect, a high knee action. It is desirable to have a flat knee movement in WP.

Of course, the idea would be to have a horse bred to do this with the least amount of illegal meddling. And there are some mighty nice WP horses out there to begin with. Sad any "game/sport" always deteriorates to this illegal meddling, huh?

One other thing I noticed. The owner/riders can ride a hardly moving horse easier then other horses. That brings some pretty lazy handoff riders that eventually ruin any horse. The WP get even more shuffling, scramble gaits. It gets pretty sad looking...

PasoBaby_CarolU

This horse sounded sore...so off that it caught my attention and I turned around and looked at it. She stopped the horse and it shifted its weight back and forth on the fronts, almost trembling. This is what I mentioned to other people there and it was they who told me the horse had won its classes because it was 'light.' I found it pretty shocking. The horse had what I'd consider tiny feet on a Paso Fino, and it was a good size stock horse.