Genetic Defects and Model Horses: Part One

Today, I went browsing for examples of stud ads, because I want to put together some stud ads for my plastic horses. Since one of the horses I want to make a stud ad for is a quarter horse, I started off by searching for those in a Google image search.

Well, if you know real quarter horses, you know where this is going, don't you?

I found a horse whose portrait looked stunning. He's got a lovely head, and he looks big and studdy. His full body shot wouldn't disappoint... but, I saw something worrying about the pictures. He's big, with a wide chest and haunches, and short legs. He looks like a body-builder. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought he was a stunning example of a quarter horse. Then I saw the line "this is [horse] in pasture condition", and alarm bells really rang. I suspected that what I saw was a result of a genetic defect called HYPP. Off I went to All Breed Pedigree to confirm my suspicions.

The pedigree is even scarier than I expected. My heart sank. The top side of the pedigree is packed full of Impressive.

Impressive

Why is Impressive a problem? Impressive is the originator of the condition HYPP.

Why should HYPP worry a real horse owner? HYPP is a genetic disorder that has serious health consequences for the horse. His muscles are constantly more contracted rather than relaxed, and when he has an HYPP episode, he can suffer paralysis in his muscles. It doesn't take a genius to know that the heart is a muscle, and that there are muscles responsible for breathing, and in holding the throat open so the horse can breathe. There are muscles involved in digestion too. A horse having an episode can collapse as his legs fail him, or can suffer heart failure, or can suffocate to death, or suffer a deadly colic and this can happen any time his sodium levels creep too high.

You remember how I mentioned that HYPP horses have muscles that are constantly more contracted? This gives them the appearance of being big, beefy bodybuilder looking horses. They look like the horse version of Mr Universe.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

HYPP, despite its problems, continues to be somewhat sought after in the halter world. An HYPP positive horse has big, dramatic muscling, and tends to be evenly muscled front and back. He looks impressive. That's desirable in the halter show ring, so breeders have continued to breed for HYPP, despite the health risks that go with it.

Impressive himself wasn't too drastic, which is what you'd expect in a horse that only has one HYPP mutation. That's normally written HYPP N/H.

The horse I was looking at was HYPP N/H, and was bred from two HYPP N/H horses. Scary.

When you breed two HYPP N/H horses together, 50% of the time, you will get an HYPP N/H horse. 25% of the time you will get an N/N. The other 25%, you get an H/H.



HYPP H/H horses have rarely won anything in the halter show ring. They tend to be very drastically muscled, and in my opinion, they tend to look a bit grotesque. They're also much more prone to HYPP attacks.


There's a question as to whether it's ethical to continue placing HYPP positive horses in real shows. By placing them, the AQHA is basically giving tacit approval to breed horses that are dangerous, not only to the horse, but to their handlers as well. A horse suffering and HYPP attack can kill or seriously injure anyone or anything around it, as well as itself.


How should a model horse judge look at sculptures of HYPP positive horses? Looking at the rules the AQHA has set would seem a natural place to start.

HYPP N/H is not prohibited in Quarter Horse registration. It's allowable. It's not even heavily discouraged by the breed assocation.

HYPP H/H cannot be registered with the AQHA. Period.

A judge, and a model horse shower, need to know what they're looking at. If the horse looks HYPP H/H, that horse shouldn't place in a model horse show. It's not registrable. If you are going to place it, it had better place only in color classes, or in Mixed Stock Breed/Grade/Mixed Horse classes, because that's all it can be.

What about HYPP N/H? That's legal. Well, this comes down to judge's decision, ultimately. Personally, I won't place an HYPP N/H looking horse over an HYPP N/N horse, pure and simple. If it's not ethical in the real world, it's not ethical in plastic pony land either.

I'd have included pictures of HYPP H/H horses to give you an example of what they look like, but I really don't have the energy to argue with a real horse owner about the intricacies of the laws about libelous writing.

Come back Wednesday for more on Genetic Defects and Model Horses.

Show Results

The November MHFC results are in! Here's how I did.

LRH Rum Runner

Novice OF: Other Pure Breed: 2nd place

Points this month: 9

Points this year: 46

 

LRH Heza Custom Blend

Novice OF: Paint: 5th place

Novice OF: Minimal White Pinto Pattern (Less than 50% white): 9th place
Points this month: 8

Points this year: 24

LRH Nighthawke

Novice CM/Resin/China: Young Mare: 5th place
Novice CM/Resin/China: Warmblood (open registry): 1st place
Novice CM/Resin/China: Carriage/Sport Breed Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Bay/Brown: 2nd place
Points this month: 55
Points this year: 223

LRH Xiwang

Novice CM/Resin/China: Senior Stallion: 1st place
Novice CM/Resin/China: Senior Horse Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Fantasy Breed: 1st place
Novice CM/Resin/China: Fantasy/Decorator Color: 1st place
Points this month: 60
Points this year: 470

Alternative Performance Events: Kyz Kuu

This is a traditional sport among Kazakhs and Kyrgyz (who call it kyz kuumai). The name means "girl chasing". It is referred to as a "kissing game", but is also a racing game.

A young man on horseback waits at the start line. A young woman on horseback starts galloping from a set distance behind the young man. When she passes the young man, he starts galloping. The man's goal is to catch up to the woman, and if he can reach, to steal a kiss from her, before she reaches the finish line. If he succeeds, he is the winner. If the woman reaches the finish line before he catches her, she turns around and chases him back to the starting line. If she is close enough, she may use her whip to beat the young man, and this marks a victory for the woman.

What will I need for a Kyz Kuu set-up?

• two horses
• a male rider
• a female rider
• a whip
• culturally appropriate tack

You could also set-up a variation of this as a gymkhana or mounted games contest, where the aim is to grab a flag from the other rider, rather than to steal a kiss or to hit them.

That's all of my alternative performance events for this go-around. I hope they've been of some help to you. Hopefully I'll be back with more some time soon.

October MHFC Results

MHFC October results are in! This month, some classes were triple judged! Way to go judges! I wasn't entered in any of the triple judged classes, but I'm really pleased for everyone that was.

LRH Heza Custom Blend

Novice OF: Paint 5th Place

Novice OF: Minimal White Pinto 9th Place

Total points: 8

Points for the year: 16

LRH Rum Runner

Novice OF: Other Pure Breed 3rd Place

Novice OF: Bay/Brown 2nd Place

Total points: 17

Points for the year: 37

LRH Nighthawke

Novice Custom/Resin/China Judge #1

Young Mare 9th Place

Warmblood (open registry) 1st Place

Bay/Brown 2nd Place

Novice Custom/Resin/China Judge #2

Young Mare 3rd Place

Warmblood (open registry) 1st Place

Sport/Carriage Breed Reserve Champion

Bay/Brown 2nd Place

Total points: 78

Points for the year: 168

LRH Xiwang

Novice Custom/Resin/China Judge #1

Senior Stallion 1st Place

Senior Horse Champion

Fantasy Equines 1st Place

Fantasy/Decorator Color 1st Place

Novice Custom/Resin/China Judge #2

Senior Stallion 1st Place

Fantasy Equines 1st Place

Other Breed Champion

Fantasy/Decorator Color 1st Place

Other Color Reserve Champion

Total points: 140

Points for the year: 410

Alternative Performance Events: Corrida de Sortija

Corrida de Sortija by Roberto Fiadone

This traditional gaucho sport comes from the Rio de la Plata region of South America. In a plaza, a beam is suspended on two ten-foot uprights. Hanging from the underside in the middle of the cross beam is a small ring, about the size of a wedding ring. The aim is to take the ring off the beam, at a full gallop, with a stick about the same thickness as a pencil.


What will I need for a Corrida de Sortija set-up?

• a fast horse
• a rider
• a ring in the correct scale
• a stick in the correct scale
• two uprights with a crossbeam

Anything else in that setup is gravy. Since it's a very informal sport, there's not reason it couldn't be bridle-less and bareback. Most often, it's performed during Carnival and other festival times, so if you have the time, inclination and money, you could use some very flashy and celebration-appropriate tack and clothing.

Check back next week for another alternative performance event!

Alternative Performance Events: Mounted Orienteering

Photo by Karen Wilcox

Do you want another event where you can re-use any riding tack your horse already has on? This one might be for you.


Mounted orienteering came from military orienteering, and can be an individual or a team sport. The goal is to find as many objectives as you can in the fastest time. A map of the area is provided at the starting location which shows where the objectives are. The objectives are marked by a circle.


Teams set off at intervals, and ride to the first objective station marked on their map. Once they reach the area, they begin searching for clues (detailed on the back of their map) that will lead them to the objective in that area. When they locate the clue, they can follow the bearing given on the marker at the clue's location, which if done properly will lead them to the objective, or they can search for another clue to help them triangulate where the objective is.


What will I need for a mounted orienteering set-up?

• a horse
• a doll
• saddle
• bridle
• map
• compass
• scenery (objectives or clues will work well)
  

Where can I find out more?
North American Competitive Mounted Orienteering


Driven Orienteering
Though I can't find out whether this is an existing sport as a stand-alone, there does appear to be a driving class for the sport TREC. For driven orienteering, you can replace the saddle with a harness and cart of some description.

Where can I find out more?
FITE: the international governing board for TREC


Check back next week for another alternative performance event!

Alternative Performance Events: Ski Joring

Photo from Butternut Farm

This winter sport is derived from a method of transportation, where someone would drive a reindeer, and glide along behind it on skis. This way, they could cover long distances quickly, and with a lower expenditure of energy.

The activity found its way to the rest of Europe sometime in the late 19th century. The first skijoring race in Switzerland was in 1906. That race in 1906 followed roads from one town to another, and racers started at one minute intervals, rather than racing directly against each other. Eventually, the sport was transferred to race courses, and the teams competed directly with each other.

When skijoring found its way to the United States in the mid 1950s, ranchers would attach a long rope to the horn of the saddle of a horse ridden at high speed, and race along long straights. Currently, sanctioned skijoring races in the United States take place in five states, and in these races, skiiers must negotiate jumps and other obstacles, sometimes spearing rings and going through gates.

What will I need for a skijoring set-up?

• a moving pose horse (faster is probably better)
  
• a doll
• skis
• saddle or harness
• rope (with or without handle)
• bridle with long reins

Where can I find out more?
North American Ski Joring Association
White Turf
Skijoring at patwolfefjords.com

Check back next week for another alternative performance event!

Tricky Breed Assignments: Mesteño

Some models are not well-liked in the model horse showing crowd. Some of them are models that don't have good anatomy, and have glaring errors that will get them marked down as a result. Those with decent anatomy are sometimes still badly conformed, but at least look like they're a horse. Those with good anatomy and good conformation can have color problems for the most common breeds that will be suggested.

I conga the Classic standing Mesteño. For all its niggling details, I think it's a very enigmatic model. He's a big, powerful, alert horse, able to reach well under himself in the back. Honestly, he looks like he'd have a high action in the front, too, with his front legs being the way they are. To me, he's a very attractive horse, even with his faults.

So what are his faults?

1. His neck is thick and unrefined, and extremely thick in the throatlatch. This horse, if it were real, is extremely cresty, with a thick, inflexible throatlatch. He'd have a hard time getting his head down, if he could do so at all.
2. His hooves are positively horrid, especially on the rear leg that's furthest back.
3. He's narrow across the hips, and thick across the shoulders.
4. He has a very coarse head, with that typical flat nose we see in most Breyers.

Okay, clearly, this is a horse that will struggle in shows, both photo shows and live shows. While you might be inclined to show him as a Mustang, if you show him at all, there are in fact other options. Here's a few to consider:

Mongolian Horse
The Mongolian Horse is a very old breed, supposedly unchanged since the time of Genghis Khan. It's a hardy horse, with a stocky build, short legs, and a large head, and a very long mane and tail.

Mesteño isn't a great match for the Mongolian pony, he's long in the neck, and short in the head to be a good representative of the breed, but it's worth a shot if you want to try showing something more unusual.

Australian Brumby
The Australian Brumby is a feral horse, much like the Mustang, found in Australia. They're descended from a wide variety of horse breeds introduced to Australia. Brumbies from various regions have different mixes of breed that have gone into making the modern animal.

Since there isn't really an iconic Brumby appearance, this might be a decent breed assignment for Mesteño models. Brumbies are somewhat common in some showing crowds, so you might find you'll have some hot competition if you decide to show your Mesteno as a Brumby.

Carolina Marsh Tacky
The Carolina Marsh Tacky is a breed native to South Carolina. Like the Florida Cracker and North Carolina Banker, it has colonial Spanish blood that connects it to some of the earliest equines imported to the Americas. It is only recently that a study determined that the Marsh Tacky is gaited: it performs something that is called the Swamp Fox Trot, a broken trot like the foxtrot, but with the timing and durations being more similar to the marcha batida. The marcha batida lacks the diagonal pairing found in the Swamp Fox Trot, however.

I actually show Rum Runner as a Carolina Marsh Tacky. I think he's a decent fit for the breed, if a bit coarse in the head and neck. You won't see too many people showing Carolina Marsh Tackies. The catch to this, of course, is that you tend to be in the "Other Pure Breeds" category, which can mean tough competition from all the other rare breeds.

If you're prepared to customize your Mesteño to show him, then these breeds might give you a jumping off point for what to do once you've decided to customize him. Sadly, most of the customizing you'd need to do would be a lot of work. The Mesteño horse is a drastic job, no matter how you look at him.

September Show Results

Here's my September show results. I'm pretty pleased with the results this month, it's a nice thing to come back to after a tough month.

LRH Nighthawke
 
Judge 1
Novice CM/Resin/China: Young Mare: 4th place out of 9 entrants
Novice CM/Resin/China: Warmblood (open registry): 1st place out of 1 entrant
Novice CM/Resin/China: Carriage/Sport Breed Reserve Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Bay/Brown: 2nd place out of 2 entrants
Total points: 46

Judge 2
Novice CM/Resin/China: Young Mare: 6th place out of 10 entrants
Novice CM/Resin/China: Warmblood (open registry): 1st place out of 1 entrant
Novice CM/Resin/China: Carriage/Sport Reserve Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Bay/Brown: 2nd place out of 2 entrants
Total points: 44

Grand total points: 90

LRH Xiwang
 
Judge 1
Novice CM/Resin/China: Senior Stallion: 1st place out of 1 entrant
Novice CM/Resin/China: Senior Horse Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Overall Gender Reserve Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Fantasy: 1st place out of 1 entrant
Novice CM/Resin/China: Other Breed Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Overall Breed Reserve Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Fantasy/Decorator: 1st place out of 1 entrant
Novice CM/Resin/China: Overall Reserve Grand Champion
Total points: 170

Judge 2
Novice CM/Resin/China: Senior Stallion: 1st place out of 1 entrant
Novice CM/Resin/China: Senior Horse Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Fantasy/Decorator: 1st place out of 1 entrant
Novice CM/Resin/China: Other Breed Reserve Champion
Novice CM/Resin/China: Fantasy/Decorator: 1st place out of 1 entrant
Novice CM/Resin/China: Other Color Reserve Champion
Total points: 100

Grand total points: 270


That's all for this month. Thanks for judging the shows, MHFC members!

First Show Results and New Additions

Well, the August show results are in, so here's how I did.

LRH Heza Custom Blend

Novice OF: Paint: 5th Place out of 5 entrants
Novice OF: Minimal White Pinto: 9th place out of 9 entrants
Total points: 8

LRH Rum Runner

Novice OF: Young Stallion (3-8): 9th place out of 25 entrants
Novice OF: Other Pure Breed: 1st place out of 4 entrants
Novice OF: Bay/Brown: 3rd place out of 13 entrants
Total points: 20

Novice Custom/Resin/China was unjudged in August, so I don't have any results for LRH Nighthawke or LRH Xiwang. LRH Astor likewise has no points to report.

I think I need to try and get new pictures of some of my horses, because they're atrocious and not helping me at all. I actually really like LRH Rum Runner's picture, so I'm going to set up the same shot for some of my other horses if I can. At this point, I don't have a good enough camera to take good pictures of the minis, so I'm giving up on them until I have a nicer camera. I'll keep entering shows with what I have, since LRH Heza Custom Blend was still earning points.

In other news, I picked up three more horses today, for a grand total of three dollars. These I intend to keep. As crazy as it sounds, they're the cheapo Walmart toys. I actually see some potential in one of them as a mule, even in OF. Another one, with some customization, mostly just narrowing his chest, looks like a Mongolian pony. The last one needs his legs lengthened and his nose straightened, and I think he looks a bit like a Tennessee Walker. I'll get pictures in the morning.

I actually was looking for animals, and only one animal stood out, a toy rat. I think if I cut off his molded whiskers and hair him all over with kanekelon, he'll look really convincing. I didn't pick him up because I didn't have the supplies on hand to customize him yet. I'll get one next time I'm at Walmart. I honestly see show-winning potential with the rat with about thirty hours of hairing work. Even better, he's kind of gushy, so he'll feel nice in my hands when I take him out for pictures :)

Real Horse Insights

In between pedigree assignments and taking care of my cat, I went looking for pictures of Pacers, and diagrams of horse gaits, but what I found was something even more interesting.

I haven't ridden since 2006, but I rode a lot between 1992 and 1998, then took a quick break from 1998-2005. I was a good rider when I was younger, but I've learned more about riding since I stopped riding in 1998 than I ever did while I was riding.

What I had as a young rider was a quiet, polite, stubbornness that even the most difficult of horses responded well to. I rode horses that were known buckers and bolters, I rode horses in riding lessons that needed to be taught how to jump, and I got results. Sometimes it took me a while to explain to the horse what I wanted him to do, but I always got there eventually.

What I lacked as a young rider was physical strength, and the mental maturity I needed to understand the really tricky things. I understood a lot about what the horse needed, I learned that from Holger Heck and Volker Greiner's Start to Ride. That book was bought as a birthday gift two months before I started taking my first riding lessons. I read it many times before I started, and kept returning to it even while I was receiving instruction.

What I didn't understand was what the rider needed. I confess, I skipped whatever chapters there may have been in that wonderful Start to Ride book that told the rider what they needed.

Now that I'm older, and revisiting all of my horse knowledge, I'm suddenly understanding things that were beyond my ability to understand as a child. I'm beginning to understand where I was lacking bodily, and how to strengthen those weaknesses, and to work around those that I can't strengthen, in a way that will interfere minimally with the horse. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that if I were to ride a horse tomorrow, I would ride even better than I did when I was younger.

Today, I found something that comes to me quite easily, explained in a way that has to be shared. These articles, by Leslie Desmond focus on "Feel". Feel is something that, for me, comes easily. I empathize well with animals, I always have. To me, feel is empathy, patience, consistency, and a positive attitude.

It might seem like all of this is of no use to the model horse enthusiast... but I think it might be. Performance showing is supposed to show winning moments. If your horse model is tense and showing stiffness and resistance, he's showing a reluctance to work with his human (rider, driver, handler), for some reason. This could be the difference between a win and a loss in the performance classes, I think.

To use an example, the Classic Mesteno model is standing very tensely. I don't think he's suited to many performance classes. He's tense and alert through his whole body, and wouldn't be paying attention to what a rider or handler is asking, but to something that appears to unnerve him.

The G3 Cantering Warmblood, by contrast, is still alert, but moving loosely, in a relaxed, but disciplined fashion. There's no tension in her, and she's moving along with what looks like it would be a lovely rocking horse canter (albeit a hard one to sit if you have a weak core!)

I think I'm going to try and approach my customizing with a nod toward remembering this idea of "feel".

Lots of small updates

I'm still prepping the Stablemates. I'd forgotten how long prepwork takes!

In between letting coats of primer dry, I've been trying to assemble my own Aussie saddle pattern in CL scale. I've been making the original shapes out of sheets of foam, so once I've got that finalized, I'll scan them in to show what I've got.

I've actually gotten to the point where I've made the saddle tree, and started making the seat itself. I did something a little different from a lot of model horse tackmakers, making the saddle tree out of sintra. Sintra is a closed cell PVC foam. It's quite resilient, and heat formable. It's flexible when it's thin, just flexible enough that used in tack making, it won't hurt it too much if you squish a saddle. I use sintra a lot in my costuming hobby, so I have tiny scraps sitting around a lot of the time. The cheap plastic for sale signs printed with black and orange that you find in stores are usually made out of sintra, which should give you an idea how cheap the material is.

I'm still working on the flaps, and I want to try something a little different in how my stirrups attach to make them removable and and easy to replace. I was thinking about somehow using hooks and eyes, but I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to make that work yet. I don't have any super-fine leather, I'm using what I have on hand, so it's going to look a little coarse, but it should be sufficient for photoshowing.

I've also got a quick no-pattern Portuguese/Spanish styled treeless saddle I'm making out of vinyl, leather, and foam, which is coming along nicely. I'll make a pattern for this too, since it's pretty quick and cheap to make, and would be good for a kid's tack collection.

I've also entered some of my horses into the races over at the Model Horse Fun Club.

Grand Opening of the Long Road Home Ranch

I honestly have no idea how to begin this, but I'll give it a shot.

The Long Road Home Ranch is a model horse ranch, not a real horse ranch, but nontheless, I'll try to keep people updated on the goings-on of the Long Road Home.

First and foremost, Long Road Home operates on a shoestring budget. The owner hasn't bought a new horse in almost two years, and most of the horses at the Long Road Home are body-box rescues.

This is a pretty common thing at the Model Horse Fun Club (forums here), where we photo show our previously loved models in a way that's fair to minty models and old scuffed ones alike. If you haven't already checked it out, I really recommend it. The Open Division is very competitive, with a lot of entries, and I think I'll be holding off on moving out of the Novices as long as I can, since I'm new to model horse showing. The MHFC only offers halter classes and racing, both for free, and there are no performance classes, which makes it even more wallet friendly to the shoestring budget shower.

I've tried to put in my entries for the Novice Division for August, so if I did it right, hopefully I'll be participating in my first ever photo show in just a couple of days. I don't think I'm going to win, I have a horrible camera, but it's the taking part that's important!

Here's the pictures I entered for August:

LRH Heza Custom Blend entered in Novice Division OF Breyer

LRH Rum Runner entered in Novice Division OF Breyer

LRH Nighthawke entered in Novice Division Custom-Resin-China

LRH Astor entered in Novice Division Animals

LRH Xiwang entered in Novice Division Custom-Resin-China

In addition to photo showing, the Long Road Home occasionally makes customs, ranging from the very simple repaint, to quite drastic customs using parts from many models to create just one. While I'm working on customs, I'll try to keep a record of my work, because I think it's fun to teach others what little I know.

The Long Road Home makes some tack, too, mostly simple strap goods, like halters, or blankets of all kinds. I have tried to make saddles, but that was an absolute disaster, and I'm not ready to try that again any time soon. Next on my list of things to try is making boots. They may be small and fiddly, but that's the stuff I'm turning out to be quite good at.

On occasion, I might make a diorama or two as well. I won't be sharing so many of my trade secrets here, they were hard-earned in the war-gaming hobby, and I'd like to keep a few tricks up my sleeve so I have dioramas I can sell to other hobbyists.

Well, that's it for now!