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Can someone tell me bout drafts?

7K views 22 replies 20 participants last post by  DarenC1 
#1 ·
Hi! I'm looking for a horse to do dressage with and I saw some riders on draft breeds that actually did pretty good. Is this true or should I look at a different breed? I heard drafts have a pretty calm personality, which is something I'm looking for. Well, Thanks for any information you can give me!
 
#2 ·
Hmm as far as i know they seem to be pretty calm. I remember one woman we show with and her one horse casted in the stall and she tried to get up twice and then she just relaxed and laid there till someone could help. I've also heard she will fall asleep and allow the ferrier to do her feet. I'd say thats pretty calm. of course there are always exceptions. But that's just my personal experience : ]
 
#3 ·
drafts are big teddy bears if trained right so if you find one thats been trained really good lease it to make sure about it first but i dont see what would be wrong with using a draft except that they arent as agile and limber since theyre so hardy and strong and muscley :)
 
#4 ·
My gelding is at least 1/2 draft and pretty big, 18 hds. He moves well but he is pretty clunky! The earth shakes when he moves :) I think it depends on the amount of draft you have in there and how high you want to go in dressage. There are people who ride full drafts in dressage but I don't know that they can tryly compete at the higher levels against lighter breeds. Not all drafts are calm and gentle but if brought up right and with good breeding, they can be amazing. My guy is a big puppy dog, handles spooky stuff very well. Full drafts are built to pull, be more on the forehand so it takes a lot of work, against their conformation to get them going uphill but I have seen some beauties out there. Still working with my guy to get him lighter in the front end!
 
#5 ·
Let me say straight off I know nothing about dressage. On another forum I frequent there are several people who do dressage with their draft horses. I don't know how they place but the videos they have posted looked nice. What stands out is that the drafts they use are not the wide, stocky, pulling type. They are tall and "hitchy" and most frequently seem to be Clydes & Shires.
 
#7 ·
I'm not all into dressage, but I think my Gypsy Vanner would probably be the perfect starting horse if I wanted to get into it. (I know Vannrs aren't technically draughts, but are more cobish, but still, she's heavier and feathery-er than your average warmblood type thing haha!)
When being ridden she holds her head under beautifully, without me even asking her to, and to say she's heavy she's fairly light on her feet. And she has quite pretty paces (ok, she's not the most beautiful horse, and I don't know a whole lot about dressage, but someone once told me she has pretty gaites)
 
#9 ·
We have many Gypsy Horse owners across the world, very into dressage now. Gypsies are also very good jumpers and love to do it.
Have a look here..
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They come in all sizes from really small 12+ hands to 15+ hands. If you want a really big one, you might look into Drum horses. They are ususally a cross between a Gypsy and Shire or Clyde.
All these big guys are quite a lot more agile than one might think.
 
#10 ·
HI umm Drafts are very quiet horses, there very like cobs so they arent the best of jumpers as far as i know but they are exeptionally calm and timid! they make great honest hunters and xcountry horses but showjumping isnt there strong piont! they are very bulky horses so in my opinion it would be very hard to get them into an outline or into transitions quickley those are vital things for dressage so in my opinion they arnt the horse for dressage! conemmara and arab horses are very good for dressage but arabs tend to be ver high strong horses i used to own one so i wouldnt recommend them for jumping but dressage definatley! goodluck
 
#11 ·
The horse to in my picture is 1/2 percheron and he would pick up the blues in hunter/jumper ring every time. Loved to jump and just floated on the flat. So in my opinion get a cross. Percherons tend to have more suspension in their gait than some other draft breeds.
 
#12 ·
Gentle giants are made, not born. That's the biggest thing to remember about them. That said, they do very well in all the disciplines. Trail, dressage, jumping. Sure there are horses that will do better in some of these areas, but they will give you everything they have!
 
#13 ·
A draft can do just as good in any performance rideing as any of the warmbloods, even in jumping. They are genraly really calm, through id watch out if you wanted to look at a belgiun, they can be runaway horses. Percherons move very well of the hind end and can collect really nice. The only thing that would be a pain (and very sad) is that you would have to shave the beautiful feathering off of the feet.

If you want a great dressage horse but dont want it to waigh in at 2500lbs, look in to a sport horse. Alot of ferisian/throbreds and the like have all the beauty of a draft and the manuverabilaty of a warmblood.
 
#14 ·
First off I love drafts and draft crosses. My barn breeds the best tb/perch crosses that are the perfect hunter horses. They also do well in dressage too. My mare is "hot" for a draft and not all are this big calm teddy bear.
That's a picture of my mare shes 3/4 Perch 1/4 QH. Best horse I've ever owned. *Please look past my EQ I'm just getting back into jumping and I'm still weak*
 
#17 ·
Most of the best jumping bloodlines here in New Zealand have a Clydie base. It is hard to go past a CLyde/TB cross for jumping, they make great sport horses. I agree that draft x's make for better dressage prospects than a full draft but it depends on what the rider wants to achieve. My mare is 3/4 draft and moves beautifully and I think that if I wanted to get into dressage she could be a serious competiter.

Just a note you shouldn't have to clip the feather off a Percheron, they are one of the few draft breeds that do not have feather. My girl has no feather as she is half Suffolk Punch which is another featherless breed. So if you have a Perch with feathered feet then there must be something else in the mix.
 
#18 ·
IMO, I would probably look for a draft cross if I was competing. I have a clydesdale. She isn't under saddle yet, but I can tell you she has an amazing temperment. Very curious and unafraid (which is great, but you often has to work on sensitizing them). All the drafts I'm in pasture with at my facility are big teddy bears (another clyde, a percheron, and the most affectionate, the shire). It's important to have a lot of confidence with these beasts, though... Something I'm still working on. They, like any other horse, have their bad days. Dealing with their attitude is a lot different than a smaller horse if you lack confidence. I have the hardest time worming my girl. I'm 6'1" tall, but she's still a heck of a lot taller than me when she decides to throw her head! Lol. Can't wait till she goes in for pro training. It's always good to have someone around that can help... Someone that has experience with drafts.
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#19 ·
I agree that a draft cross would be better. Almost all pure drafts are built "downhill", which means basically that most of their weight is in front, great for pulling, not so good for dressage and jumping, where the horse has to engage and thrust from the hind end. The only draft I've seen that might be successful is a Percheron...they are not very downhill. Draft blood can make great qualities in a horse, though, such as large bone, good feet and a sound mind. Keep in mind that all horses are different, though, and while crossbreeds can be great horses, some seem to inherit just the bad qualities of each breed!
 
#20 ·
I agree that a draft cross would be better. Almost all pure drafts are built "downhill", which means basically that most of their weight is in front, great for pulling, not so good for dressage and jumping, where the horse has to engage and thrust from the hind end.
Not the case in my experience, my pure shire is definitely built uphill...there's a reason that shire and clydesdale crosses are becoming popular for dressage, because they have such good paces and many are built uphill.
 
#21 ·
I'm not a very knowledgeable draft person, but I can tell you about my Percheron mare that I got in June...

1.) She is extremely intelligent. She exploits my lack of experience whenever it suits her, so I'm very lucky that she's not an agressive/dangerous horse. However, she's also a very quick learner and knows exactly what she's doing wrong when she misbehaves, which are two things I love about her.

2.) She tries so hard to do the right thing. Usually when she gets something wrong, it's because she doesn't understand what is being asked of her.

3.) She needs a very clear leader. When I got her, she was confident and not spooky at all. However, a situation made her lose her trust in me, and for a few weeks she was spooky, difficult to handle, and disrespectful of me because she no longer saw me in charge. After a few major battle rides, she began to respect me again. That was back in August, and I think that her trust is only starting to build again now.

4.) Finding tack has been a nightmare. This might only be because I'm in Canada so most of the stuff had to be shipped from the US, but it was really inconvenient either way.
 
#23 ·
As has been said, a draft cross is probably better, but full drafts do make better jump/dressage horses than you might think!

I rode a Clydesdale X Thoroughbred called Billy once, who was considered by my riding instructor to be her ultimate jumping horse.

Having said that, she entered him in a local dressage comp, and he came second. Not bad for his first time!
 
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