[TheRoughrider21]

There's a horse in my barn who has taken every one of his riders to State 4-h fair and placed in top 10. He does English and Western but he has this HUGE stride that is perfect for a posting trot. I am think of leasing him and I was wondering what you guys thing about that. He is a Quarter Horse and very well behaved but I don't think he has ever done dressage but I think he would be perfect. Can ya'll give me your opions? I don't plan on doing higher than maybe level one with him. Thanks!

Hopefully, I'll find some pictures of him and post them on here.

 

[TheRoughrider21]

here are some pictures...I took these off of the stable's I board at website so I hope they won't mind. I know they won't, I'm friends/related to one of the owners. Please ignore the faces...I had to protect their identitys lol. And yes, that tail is realer than real. It's so beautiful. =)

 

[Kayty]

Of course he can do some dressage Especially if you're just going to be leasing hime, you have nothing to lose.
He won't ever look as up hill as the purpose bred dressage horses, but certainly for lower levels he will be fine

 

[Carleen]

Absolutely, he would probably do well for lower levels. I rode a QH for a while and the only thing I found was that it was very hard to get an uphill canter out of him, but with lots of practise you definitely could.

 

[roro]

When you are riding this horse, make sure venomous black splotches don't attack your face.

Anyways, like other people have said, he should do well for the lower levels. I would guess that the hardest thing for him will be to start moving more uphill and moving more forward.

 

[My Beau]

I have a QH that I usually event, but this year we're just doing dressage.

The other posters are right; we struggle with an uphill canter and forwardness. But by far the biggest issue is getting a nice, swinging free walk.

But these are all things the are fixed with schooling. I'm sure he'd be great for training level, maybe first level with practice

 

[Kayty]

Yeah the walk is tricky, I had a QH x appy a couple of years ago and was doing elementary on her before she had a big brain melt down and came to the conclusion that life was far too hard when she had to sit on her bum
it's the short front legs that make that nice swinging walk tricky, but you can always fake it a little bit

 

[QHDragon]

I agree on the walk. I rode a QH to first level before I sold him and we struggled with the walk a lot. A lot of QHs are also built more downhill much can be a struggle to get a nice big uphill trot.

All that being said, you should go for it. Any breed of horse can do dressage, they may not make it to grand prix, but there is nothing wrong with doing the low levels.

 

[FlyinSoLow]

Plus, now you can do it on the Quarter Horse level!
(If you want, and if they have shows in your area.. you also have to see how they keep points and stuff.)

AQHA - DRESSAGE COMPETITION RECOGNIZED

 

[Hoofprints in the Sand]

Of course you can!! Sandie and I do well with dressage (eventing)

Here are some pics, although we're just learning to drive from her hind end and get some collection and I don't really have too many of those pics yet (just the last one, the first day we started learning!).

I think QH's make CUTE dressage ponies! What everyone else has mentioned about being built downhill is true and something you have to deal with, but QH's just have such GREAT personalities and are generally really willing to work and are SMART and I think that's what makes them so easy to work with!

And I don't know about some others, but my mare has a MEAN free walk because of her natural head carriage! She'll take her head all the way to the ground, on the buckle, and still propel herself through with her hind end! We always get high scores there! ;-)

 

[Hoofprints in the Sand]

Found one...starting to bring her head down for the free walk..she puts it all the way to the dirt lol...

 

[FlyinSoLow]

I love your horse, you two look very nice together! A great example for sure!

Plus, at the dressage shows I have been to, the Quarter Horses are so calm and quite compared to the spirited, and sometimes flightly, warmbloods.

I'd take a Quarter Horse (App, Paint, or even a Thoroughbred) over an expensive warmblood ANY DAY.... I never met a WB that I woud like to have, but I'm sure I just met the crazy ones I'm sure there are plenty of nice ones out there too!

They just arent for me!

 

[ShebaGurl]

My mare usually gets 7's and 8's on her free walk too, I love my paint! Here's a old pic from two years ago even though its a back shot you can see her nose is really close to the ground. This was just a schooling show so we were allowed to get away with dirty horses and polo shirts and it was 35-40 degrees so no giving the horses a bath.

 

[TheRoughrider21]

Wow thank you all for the responses. The pictures are great! I haven't been out to see the big guy since Monday cause I have strep throat and have been too tired to make it out of the house. I have not recieved a call back yet about leasing him but I'm going to call tonight...knowing my trainer he probably forgot. =) And if I do lease him, I will definatly take photos of us doing dressage and post them here.

 

[IslandWave]

Plus, at the dressage shows I have been to, the Quarter Horses are so calm and quite compared to the spirited, and sometimes flightly, warmbloods.

I'd take a Quarter Horse (App, Paint, or even a Thoroughbred) over an expensive warmblood ANY DAY.... I never met a WB that I woud like to have, but I'm sure I just met the crazy ones I'm sure there are plenty of nice ones out there too!

Haha, I agree. I will always remember watching one girl at a show get on her warmblood imported from Germany and the moment she got on, the horse reared and started moving. Whereas my horse acted like she'd lived at that barn her whole life.

Anyways, if you need more encouragement, OP, my horse is just a grade QH mare and we're about to debut in 2nd level in a few weeks! It may be harder for her than for a horse bred for dressage, but she is still capable of it.

 

[TheRoughrider21]

I talked to my trainer and he said that he doesn't think his owners want him to do dressage. I am so sad but hopefully they change their minds. =(

 

[Hoofprints in the Sand]

I talked to my trainer and he said that he doesn't think his owners want him to do dressage. I am so sad but hopefully they change their minds. =(

Awww :-( Did they say why? What is he doing now? Dressage is great cross training for almost all disciplines (with the exception of a select few). It just teaches your horse to be more balanced and carry themselves, and to be attentive to very subtle aids.

 

[ridergirl23]

I love your horse, you two look very nice together! A great example for sure!

Plus, at the dressage shows I have been to, the Quarter Horses are so calm and quite compared to the spirited, and sometimes flightly, warmbloods.

I'd take a Quarter Horse (App, Paint, or even a Thoroughbred) over an expensive warmblood ANY DAY.... I never met a WB that I woud like to have, but I'm sure I just met the crazy ones I'm sure there are plenty of nice ones out there too!

They just arent for me!

hehehe i have a TB/Warmblood, and everyone thinks shess a QH, haha even tho she has a hanoverians body. I think expensive warmbloods are only dangorous (and plain stupid) because they pretty much live in stalls, then arenas all their life and are so pampered.

why dont they want him doing dressage???? :-( i think every horse improves from dressage, it would only make him more balanced and together so that he could do even better at other disciplnes!! well i hope they change their minds! keep us posted!

 

[Kayty]

Haha yep most wb's are just big boof heads. Hence "dumb bloods" As ridergirl said, the ones that crack it tend to be the ones that are stuck in stables/small yards, pumped with heavy feeds and only brought out to be ridden. Plus there are a lot that are being bred at the moment that have quite a strong tb influence that tend to be a little hotter. But as a whole, wb's are a pretty laid back mob

 

[JadedEyes]

I got the best of both worlds. I have an appendix. He has the brain and barrel of a Quarter horse, but the long skinny legs of a Througherbred. He is built a little bit downhill, but he's still young. He might catch up.

At least you will know that he is a willing worker like so many Quarter horses are.

I say go for it! Nothing to lose.