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
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