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Couldn’t help thinking as I watched Trojan War throw in the towel this afternoon how many of the Coolmore team have this ungainly high head carriage. It cannot be just down to the stallions as other trainers use the same sires and you don’t notice it anything like so often. Can it be worked on – I can’t remember ever seeing an O’Brien runner in a noseband?
It’s a Sadlers Wells thing, it’s been said, made even more complicated by Montjeu progeny, who seem retarded in comparison to a simple suspect head carraige.
I can remember loads of Ballydoyle runners of a few years ago with the same head carraige and it never stopped them. It was more of a style of running than signs of being difficult, from what I gathered.
Quite the opposite is Oasis Dream progeny, who seem to run like greyhounds – you’d swear they wanted it soft if wasn’t for being clearly better on a quick surface. It’s fascinating how they all seem to have the same track-pounding action, and yet like it quick. I wonder if they have a tendancy to suffer from soreness when raced frequenty?….anyone?
Other trainers have horses by these sires and I haven’t noticed it to such an extent. I just wonder if O’Brien does/or can do anything about it? Clearly these horses have the basic talent to win plenty of races but as a punter if it came down to a battle you wouldn’t want them on your side.
Maybe a high head carriage is a good trait/style? Perhaps it helps rather than hinders?
Perhaps Corm. And perhaps tailflashing is also a positive. A horse propelling itself forward by flashing its tail?
Silly question I know but does a horse not get so much air into it’s lungs if they carry their heads high..just something I thought I’d heard or read ages ago [memory not too good these days…]
Silly question I know but does a horse not get so much air into it’s lungs if they carry their heads high..just something I thought I’d heard or read ages ago [memory not too good these days…]
There is that element to it. Moreso however, like most human sprinters, one has to have a certain poise to maximise the energy. However, just like Michael Johnson in the running, this doesnt always hold true. The suspicion remains that high head carriage means that the animal is simply not putting it all in.
While in many ways, we can blame lots of things for this, it is generally seen more in flat rather than national hunt horses. The reason for this is that while being broken, horses are thought or conditioned to hold the bit properly and it can actually take a year or two of craft by a very good horseman to achieve this on more difficult animals. If one were to ride a good showjumper or hunter compared to a young race horse, the former would be able to read the instuctions from your mind while the latter would be like being strapped to a runaway wheel barrow. O Brian and other big trainers don’t always the leisure of time with these two years. Many are just very raw and that is why the head carriage hasn’t dropped yet.
SHL
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