# Please settle an argument.



## SpringtimeMeadow (Jul 25, 2010)

My friend thinks my horse has big ears. I think they're normal sized ears. What do you think?


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## SpringtimeMeadow (Jul 25, 2010)

Oh and no one else in my family thinks her ears are big.


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## Emmetts Dairy (Jul 25, 2010)

I thinks shes beautiful....even if her ears are big...dont tell her that!! LOL But seriously...I dont think there big though...


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## goodhors (Jul 25, 2010)

They look big enough to keep her halter and bridle on, but not so big you have to unbuckle to put them on!

Seriously, most folks think horses should have very refined, thin ears, and they don't in real life.  A horse with tiny ears looks peculiar, I have seen a number of them.  Turned out the owner had the ears "shortened" because he didn't like them.  They sure were NOT normal looking, and we didn't breed to their stallions.

Some breeds are known for larger ears, Drafts, Cleveland Bays, but they are in proportion to their much larger body sizes.  The Bays tend to pass the ears on in crossbreds, but it does make them recognizable as Bays!  We can usually spot one across a show ground, go ask, they just have the Breed LOOK.

Your friend sounds like someone who likes to critisize to make a person feel bad.  You could trim hair out of the ears, give them a more refined look, as seen at shows.  I do not think the ears are too big for her face, it is a nice looking package.


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## michickenwrangler (Jul 25, 2010)

They're fine. Mares are supposed to have slightly longer ears than geldings/stallions anyway.


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## SDGsoap&dairy (Jul 25, 2010)

Had them shortened?  Forgive me, I'm not wise in the ways of horses, but do you mean cropped?


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## SpringtimeMeadow (Jul 25, 2010)

ok thanks!


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## LauraM (Jul 25, 2010)

They look perfectly normal to me.


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## goodhors (Jul 25, 2010)

n.smithurmond said:
			
		

> Had them shortened?  Forgive me, I'm not wise in the ways of horses, but do you mean cropped?


Yes, that would be correct.  He was going for the "foxy" ears of QH description.  He was an older guy, wanted to be thought a "real cowboy".  His horses were too big to carry off the look.

On at least one horse, the horse's ears didn't match!!  One was bigger than the other!  VERY weird.  5" ears do not work on a 16+H horse.  

That was the first of cosmetic surgery I ever ran into on horses.  A real long time ago.  Since then I have seen and heard a lot more in surgery corrections, though the problem will breed true in foals, mark them as his breeding.  Some stallions are known for certain features on their foals, especially those bred to many mares.  Eternal Sun, (now a god in the QH pedigrees) put a good QH halter body, chiseled head with big jaw, on his foals.  But the mare always did the foals legs, whatever legs she had, the foal got, under that QH body.  Some were very crooked, others straight legged.  Made for some INTERESTING horses as they matured.  He bred a TON of mares back in the day.

Since then the options of fixing a horse surgically have really escalated, now they fix stuff you would NOT believe, for tons of money!


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## michickenwrangler (Jul 26, 2010)

goodhors said:
			
		

> Since then the options of fixing a horse surgically have really escalated, now they fix stuff you would NOT believe, for tons of money!


Yes I would!

In the Arabian Horse world, there was a stallion named Magnum Psyche who had cosmetic surgery on his throatlatch to make it appear neater and finer (although they claimed it was so he wouldn't colic). Trainer and owner were suspended for 10 years and are now on probation. Apparently it happens more than that, he just got caught and it was a such a big scandal since Magnum Psyche had won the National Championship Stallion Halter class.

And yet, people STILL want to breed their mares to him.


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## ducks4you (Jul 26, 2010)

I think that this thread is an insult to mule owners.


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## SpringtimeMeadow (Jul 26, 2010)

ducks4you said:
			
		

> I think that this thread is an insult to mule owners.


lol


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