You're right, I don't like it. I wish they were starting them at three. But as a trainer... I'm not sure he's had a lot of impact on the stock that's sent to him by the owners, and I'm curious about the "they used to be stronger" aspect, and whether it's true.
Lots of breeds of animals, created by people in short-sighted breeding programs, have gone through periods of increased and decreased health and fitness... Quarter Horses with the little tiny feet that were so in vogue in recent years, or HYPP. German Shepherds with bad hips. When the breeders can catch these trends early and reverse the course, it makes it a lot easier to repair to the gene pool.
Well, I've already mentioned Bill Mott (the BEST in my opinion) who is very patient with his horses. If the owner doesn't like it, give the horse to another trainer.
Christophe Clement, Ron McAnally, Neil Drysdale, H. Allen Jerkins, Woody Stephens and Charlie Wittingham (G-D bless their souls) are just a few of the trainers, off the top of my head, who would stand up to their owners for the benefit of the horse.
True enough.
The Quarter Horse industry has experienced this same short-sighted breeding programs that have focused on certain characteristics preferred by judges and, unfortunately, stopped breeding for characteristics and conformation that made the Quarter Horse what he is.
The Western Pleasure classes are mostly to blame for this. They preferred tall leggy horses with pencil necks, small heads and small hoofs and bulky muscularity in the front end and hindquarters.
As a result, a lot of these bulky specimens with the small hoofs end up with hoof problems.
And the Quarter Horse racing industry has further bred out the Quarter Horse to the point that many of the top Quarter horses on the track today have very little Quarter Horse blood in them. For example, Dash For Cash is only about 10% Quarter Horse and looks more like the Thoroughbred that he actually is.
But, in the last few years, several organizations have been started to encourage breeders to return to the basic Quarter Horse conformation. These organizations are known as Foundation Quarter Horse Associations. The different organizations vary in the amount of non Quarter Horse blood is allowed for registration but even the most lenient is 80% minimum.
In addition, a lot of show judges have seen the error of their ways and are beginning to award points for foundation Quarter Horse conformation.