Draft X Pony, with Arab? or TB?

Hey everyone,

Hope someone can help me....

I'm the owner of a 15hh, 10 year old mare, who is registered as an ISH. We were told she was "by accident", but informed that her sire was a grandson of the TB "Muroto". How true this is, we're not too sure....

Her dam was a "cob", reckoned to be Irish Draft X Connemara/ Welsh pony. That part is obvious enough.

However, I'm beginning to think she's more Arab cross than TB cross, for the following reasons:

- Tendency to "high blow" through her nostrils- not a wind problem
- Slight nose dish
- Slight sway back
- Wide eyes
- Highly strung

I know some of these are in TB aswell, but I'll try put in a pic of too to show her at her most "Arabey".... See what ye guys think.... !!



Also, I can't describe her colour!! She's down on her passport as "grey", but she's really "blue and white", just a lot less prominent in the winter. Her white is flea bitten, and the blue is roan!! Is there such a thing as "blue roan skewbald"?! I'll try put in pics of that too!!

She's just grey. Grey tobiano is my guess. Not really seeing any Arab in her.

I have a TB and an Anglo Arabian so I'm pretty good at picking subtle Arab traits, and your gorgeous girl doesn't have any of them, to my eyes. My Anglo is as wide as he is tall but still has a jibbah, slightly tippy ears, and a high-ish set tail. Plus some seriously Araby hindquarters (and not the good Araby - the bad Araby that looks all awkward and is prone to arthritis)... other than that pretty much all of him is TB traits. I've been asked if he has draft in him but he doesn't, he's just really chunky.

The TB on the other hand is very fine built, does the same nose thing you're describing in your girl, has HUGE eyes and a very pretty head... but no jibbah, only a very tiny dish and only if viewed from a 3/4 view, has a normally-set tail, and a LOVELY hind end.

Both are registered though I haven't got papers for either (can, however, get them from the respective registries, if I need them).

I don't know, I see much more of the flat TB face then any Arabian. "Wind blowers" happen in all breeds, that's a personaility thing.
Colour wise, she just looks like a dapple grey with lighter and darker spots.
She is cute though.

Hey there @blueeyedpony,

Thanks for the reply, and the compliment.

I think she's a Heinz 57 really.........

Also, I just ahd to Google "jibbah" ! :)

Thanks for responding!!

As for the colour, the only pic I can get of her "blueness" is very blurry..... It wouldnt make a difference :)

No problem, she is lovely. I like the crosses. We have a heinz 57 here too, a not-quite-2yo buckskin filly that's looking like maturing around 14.2-14.3. Bestest pony but sadly not big enough for my purposes so I gave her to Mum who likes the short ones!

I only know the arab terms because my gelding is half, and it helps to be able to discuss him with arab people using the right terms!

What do you do with him, out of interest?

Speaking of Heinz, this mare has a 6 month old daughter, by a grey/ white RID stallion. She's currently bay, marked as bay, but has grey/ silver socks. Also, Toto (the mare) had a bay sire.... Poor foals going to be multicoloured.

I also have a bay TBX mare with black legs, covered by a piebald gypsy stallion, and just foaled a brown filly with white socks.

Ah, genetics!!

Also, I forgot to mention that at walk she looks cobby, at canter/ gallop she's kind flat and strung out, but at trot she looks REALLY gaited!!

Also, she jumps flat. Always has, even over spreads. Kinda goes a bit "Milton" !!

Aswell as that, she's very "low" while lunging, but when ridden (although it could be over excitedness) she has a very high, yet flexed head carriage. She was never trained this way....

Monty? He's been an eventer his whole life and dabbled in other disciplines, so he's done a bit of everything. I mainly showjump.

I don't think your foal will go grey. All foals with dark legs are born with pale or silvery legs. Grey foals are often born with very adult coat colouring meaning bays and blacks will have the black legs at birth then grey out. Note this is more of a guide than a rule, but it has worked for me so far. By age 6 months, most grey foals will have grey goggles around their eyes, and some have even started to actually grey out. But again, more of a guide than anything else. I have seen foals stay jet black until 18mo and then start greying.

Gypsy piebald is nearly always tobiano. Socks can be a very minimal expression of tobiano. Any white on any horse that is not the result of scarring is theoretically caused by a pinto pattern - tobiano, frame, splash or sabino - and a couple of little socks when one parent is tobiano may well be an extremely minimal expression of the same in the foal. Or it might be a minimal expression of something else.

BOTH my horses are sabino, and the heinz filly I gave to mum is sabino/splash.

My lad likes to jump a bit flat too, but by god can he JUMP. He's done 4' competitively with a past owner.

Thats just my guess, as per colour. Greys will mess you up everytime, though. My guy in my avatar did some real funky colour changes, and still is.
If her base colour was black, thag might account for the odd shades as she greys out. My guy was bay, so went thr rose grey version.