MEANINGFUL TESTING
Was King Ranch performance testing meaningful? Here are a few photos of the Klebergs and ranch foreman Lauro Cavazos, Sr., who along with many other Kine–o employees tested King Ranch stallions and mares and rated them for inclusion in the Quarter Horse herd.
Bred for aptitude to the work, the horses did not take long to learn their jobs, and when they were fully mature at six years of age, the Klebergs confronted them with real-world working conditions that demanded all a good horse can give. Denhardt reports that Bob and Dick Kleberg and Cavazos were a working team and maintained a longrunning friendly rivalry to see whose horse could outperform all others.
These photos bring out an old argument between those who ride “English” and those who ride “Western,” because English riders typically do not ride with such long reins. Note, however, that the bitting is mild and the riders (particularly Cavazos, who also demonstrates the best seat) take contact when necessary but do not pull. As the photos show, when the action is fast, niceties of position may have to be dispensed with while the rider stays aboard by balance and by feeling and intuiting the next move of the cattle as well as his horse.