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[paxamicus AT earthlink.net]

Well, I don't know as I agree with you. I've seen Connemaras hauling  
loaded carts of peat out of marshy bogs. They pull like nobody's  
business, for their size.

Re the grade v papered thing, again, I disagree. Yes, certain breeds  
are better for some things than others. You want to jump, I have a  
Hanoverian who asks me, "How high?"  Sure, it's what he was born to  
do. But , he also came with a price tag.
For a nice, calm, quiet, gentle workaday beast, I don't see anything  
wrong with telling him to avoid the papered "Porsche" and go right to  
the Taurus. Why spend $$ for something with papers he's never going to  
need?

It isn't really a mystery package provided you have someone  
knowledgeable to help you.

I wouldn't buy a modern day QH if I could help it. I've paid for far  
too many sets of bar shoes and isoxsuprine to keep the little darlings  
sound enough to trot their kids around. It's inhumane and not worth it  
and I always tried to shed them as fast as I got them in the barn.  
Between wobblers and the feet and everything else, modern day QH's   
have been tinkered with like the poor German Shepherd dog, their  
original purpose completely bred out to provide something "pretty", as  
have most American breeds, have you taken a look at what they do to  
Saddlebreds recently?



Celia






On Apr 17, 2008, at 3:18 AM, Lynda wrote:

> I was thinking more along the lines of being used as light draft.   
> They do
> light buggies just fine but they don't have the build to do heavy  
> pulling.
> Now, if you want a horse (they really aren't ponies for folks who  
> don't know
> them but rather small horses) that can jump twice its height or can  
> travel
> all day long, then get a Connemara.  If you want an animal that will  
> babysit
> your kids, they're the horse for you.
>
> Breed of horse will give a general jumping off point.  Buying a  
> grade horse
> gives you a mystery package.
>
> When we ran gymkhana horses I went looking for a Quarter horse with a
> background in reining and/or cutting.  I could take that horse, if  
> it was
> not cowboy'd and clean house in barrels and poles.  They had been  
> bred for
> and already knew how to roll off your leg and turn on and off the  
> speed at a
> flick of the wrist.  I also picked up a horse that was burned out from
> playing polo.  A grade horse could be trained to do the job but to  
> have that
> extra something that meant state and national championships took  
> that little
> extra something that I got from a horse with the right breeding.
>
> Same with racing.  Sure, you can find a grade horse with a lot of  
> speed but
> not enough.  Plus I can go look at mom, dad, the grands and great- 
> grands
> plus siblings and see how sound/unsound the line is.
>
> My only exceptions were mustangs.  For those, again, though I only  
> shopped
> for animals out of certain herds.  Of course, I was looking for  
> animals to
> do certain things (gymkhana, Tevis Cup, Ride and Tie, jumpers, etc.).
>
> Unless someone is an expert, take one with you before you buy any  
> horse.
> Buying horses is one of the riskiest businesses out there.
>
> Lynda
> ----- Original Message -----