Don’t Exceed the Speed Limit
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By Sandy Weaver
Did you watch Westminster? Did you love eavesdropping on the judges as they talked to the exhibitors? Did you notice a recurring theme? Most of them, including Best In Show Judge Pat Trotter, asked the handlers to gait their dogs at a reasonable speed. Did you catch that? And do you know why nearly all the judges referenced speed at some point in their conversations?
From Pat Trotter on down, the judges’ instructions included gaiting speed because many, if not most, handlers move their dogs too fast. That makes nearly every dog look worse in motion than it really is. When the dog is moved too fast, the judge either has to ask the handler to re-gait the dog more slowly or try to imagine what the dog might move like if it was moved at the correct speed. Since judges are on a tight schedule, they can’t afford the time it takes to re-gait nearly every dog, so there’s a whole lot of imagining going on in the ring.
In horsemanship and dressage, the outline and carriage of the horse is called the frame, and the goal is to keep the horse in its frame as the rider moves through the paces in the class. This creates a picture of sound, elegant power in the horse and quiet control in the rider. In the conformation ring at a dog show, isn’t that a picture you’d like to create? For most dogs, moving too fast breaks them out of their frame and they can look like a hot mess going down, back and around.
Why do handlers move so fast? Maybe it’s ring nerves, or maybe it’s trying to keep up with the dog ahead of them. Maybe they’ve seen famous handlers move fast and think they need to move fast, too. Whatever the reason, most handlers move their dogs faster than is appropriate for that dog, resulting in a picture that doesn’t represent how the dog is made. When the dog moves too fast, foot-timing can falter, crabbing can creep in and poor toplines can pop out on what is truly a better dog than the judge is seeing. Otherwise reasonable fronts can look like eggbeaters and rears can over-reach or fly up too high behind.
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Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=206473
Posted by Jane Alston-Myers
on Jul 15 2021. Filed under Current Articles, Featured.
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