do draft crosses show qualities that might make them good dressage horses?

And going around on a forum posting constantly about how a certain breed is the best for everything and so speshul and they are perfect and everyone should ride them because they are the world's greatest horses is what? Not snobby? Really?

I have said time and time again that for a pleasure mount I have and will always prefer a nice QH. But god forbid anyone suggest that the horse which is superior at a certain sport is one which is bred for it. No one ever called a cutter snobby for riding a QH, or an endurance rider snobby for only buying arabians, etc.

Some of us don't strive to get a 62% in the dressage ring. Most countries have a minimum standard of 67% in the special to qualify for international championships. I don't understand how striving towards a minimum standard is at all "snobby", please, explain that to me.

What does that have to do with the price of rice in china?

There was no need to say that


The problem is I guess they live in NZ, so what does that have to do with competing in Europe? I guess I must be missing something...


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Anebel - you tottally miss the point of this thread - it is a thread titled
do draft crosses show qualities that might make them good dressage horses?

Yes of course certain breeds perform better at certain disciplines - we are totally aware of that.

Your distain for the horse is arrogant, so he only got in the 60's for marks! He is not competing in Europe so who cares! He is a fine example of a Draft cross horse competing successfully not only in Dressage but showjumping too. Or are you going to spout that only a warmblood bred for showjumping can jump.

This versatile horse has proven beyond doubt that a Draft cross - with the right training can be successful at dressage.

Your precious warmblood is only afterall a coldblooded horse crossed with a hotblooded horse! Eg Clydesdale x TB

All the warmbloods originated in this form so your precious warmblood is actually a draft cross. It's just that it was a 50 50 cross a century or so ago.

As I've said before Where do you think the warmblood got its knee action from? Certainly not the TB or Arab that was used to refine them but from the Heavy horses and Hackneys.

To be honest I really don't understand why you are on a Heavy Horse forum in the first place. You obviously don't like them.

To be honest I don't like the modern warmblood - there is too much Thoroughbred in their breeding now, making them less easy to train, temperemental and explosive.

Anebel, I see entirely what you mean in terms of his scores - at the level he's competing at, not only is he one of very few of his type but he isn't performing all that well compared to the Warmbloods at the same level. Ultimately however well he does, he's fighting against his build and his breeding to get to wherever he gets to, which will always be a disadvantage that the Warmbloods don't have. My friend was heartbroken on reaching Medium level with her TB and realising that, no matter how hard her mare tried, she just physically couldn't make the jump to Advanced Medium because she was fighting against her own build, and she wasn't a draft cross!

And yes, most people will never reach PSG/GP, which is a very valid point. But how far *does* the OP want to go? Competing up to Elementary should be possible for most breeds allowing for decent conformation, willingness to work etc. But Medium? Advanced Medium? These are perfectly possible aims for a rider without worrying about the expense/pure luck of getting to the higher levels, but require a horse with talent - not achievable by every horse by far. Finding a draft cross or tbh a QH, TB, Welsh Cob, anything really that isn't bred for dressage that has the potential to reach those middling levels is going to take an eye that a rider who hasn't yet reached those levels (and in the OP's case perhaps hasn't even that much experience with the breeds) might not yet have. So if the rider is happy in the lowest levels, and REALLY doesn't want to see how far they can really go, then it doesn;t matter either way - the type of horse you choose shouldn;t have anything to do with dressage ability, as it's not really the deciding factor. However, if getting to movements like half-pass, pirouettes and flying changes is something that the rider wants, then why limit yourself when you could have a dressage bred horse?

Without all the bickering, ultimately it just depends how far in dressage you want to go. A good draft cross with conformation for dressage, a good attitude and no physical problems and good solid training could do well in the low levels if that is as far as is required. Getting to those middling to high levels, it may be possible, but it depends on your priorities - and be prepared for it to be too much for the horse.

Not having an eye to buy the right draft or draft cross to do dressage is a good point but then, they likely wouldn't have the eye to pick a good warmblood or any other breed. I would definitely encourage anyone with limited knowledge (regardless of discipline) to find a good trainer, take a few lessons and find out if that is truly what you want to do. Then hire that trainer to help you find a horse that will match your needs as well as abilities. Chances are, if you are going to advance to the higher levels, you would be doing a horse change at some point anyway as MOST people do not go from beginner lessons to Grand Prix on the same horse.

I wouldn't suggest buying any horse with a discipline in mind before one has taken some lessons in that discipline. What looks great on the outside might not be what you really want to spend your time doing. You MIGHT find that it is even better then what you thought and decide to invest more into the hobby/sport.

What ever the case, I wish the OP well in his/her search for that right horse.

Actually, warmbloods have only been bred for dressage in the last couple of generations. They were either coach or carriage horses before that. The fine riding horses were not warmbloods, back in the day.

I love winding up my friend who thinks Clydies are the pits that there is a possibility that her warmblood showjumper might have Clydie in it.

Drives her wild!

Warmbloods were originally bred as army remounts - they wanted a tough, sensible no-nonsense horse capable of working hard on minimal feed.

Just for fun...

I have a Trakehner that you can see that draft in. At least I think so. She was a dressage horse at one time. I wish I knew more about that side of her. Oh well, I love her to death already.

There is no need for snobbery. We all have our favorites but as you can see in the next video... anyone can do dressage.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=W9wh3kyMKJU