American Quarter Horses

[charmaine]

I am thinking about buying one of these horses as have been told they have very laid back temperaments. Why are they so expensive though? An average price for a riding horse seems to be at least £5,000. I am thinking of looking at a mare which is very well bred, 10 years old and 14.2hh but apparently rides bigger. She is £5,000 due to the current financial climate and would be apparently worth £7,000 in a better market. Seems a lot but they all seem to be very expensive even the foals.

 

[chickeninabun]

I share an 18yo Quarter Horse Mare. She is so laid back she is virtually horizontal! Absolutely as safe as houses. I would throughly recommend one.

The person to speak to on here about them is Tia. She is a fountain of knowledge on all things QH!

No idea why they are so expensive, unless it's to do with them being so laid back and therefore pretty bombproof.

 

[Tia]

Quarter Horses are amazing animals. They are the fastest horse in the world over quarter mile however they are calm and quiet and very often absolutely simple horses to ride. They are generally good at most things, but not totally amazing at anything. They are sensible, pleasant to look at, comfortable to ride, rarely bother about things that lots of other horses bother about. They may be small but they don't feel small to ride; they're a very fulfilling ride.

The QHs available in the UK do seem slightly different from the lots of different types we have over here.

When I had my yard in England I had 3 QHs on it and they were nice but they were all show-bred QHs which are absolutely nothing like my cattle-stock working QHs. My guys are far more grounded than the show bred ones. Bloodlines in QHs are everything! Make sure you know the differences between them and then you will pretty much be assured of one true to type. You have to know what body type you are after and what type of mindset you want. Again the bloodlines generally run true to type so all you have to do is find the bloodline that suits you.

A lot of QHs have been imported to the UK - it's a long way and it's darned expensive to ship from the States, hence imported AQHAs are more expensive than a WB who has just been shipped across the Channel.

£5K sounds cheap to me. This will likely not be an imported one for that price, and if it is then beware because the seller is making no money on this. If it is a British bred QH then that would be more in line with the price, albeit still a little cheap. If you have the pedigree, I would be happy to give you extra help if you wish.

 

[Tia]

Hey CIB, I am so happy to hear that you are having a great time with your new girl

. Good move in getting her.

 

[cazza]

Tia, just wanted to ask you but the UK QHA will not recognise my friends QH that was imported with all of its papers from NZ she is out of a AQH stallion which was shipped to NZ out of a pure QH mare. Does the UK QHA not recognise quarter horses imported from other countries other than the US?

 

[Oldred]

I owned two some years ago and bred a part bred. I love the breed and they do have wonderful temperaments. They are very smart and easily trained - the border collie of the horse world. However, they do move very quickly (hence their name, they were raced over a quarter of a mile and they have been bred to turn quickly cutting cows etc). This can catch some people out so be sure to find one that has been well trained and not explosive in any way.

On the pricing, I think what happened was there were cheaper British bred ones available then expensive ones from the US started to be imported. Everyone here then obviously upped their prices. I would also enquire when the horse had been started as they often start them at two and some of the Western events can be rather punishing (IMO) on the legs, e.g. reining.

I suppose you could look at the breeding potential of a mare when the youngstock is valuable but often if you want to ride the horse you are faced with thinking of breeding an old mare or having a break in riding.

Have a really good look round first, I would say, and haggle like mad!

 

[Tia]

Cazza, I have no idea why the UK QHA would not recognise this horse?? Seems very strange as a lot of AQHA are sold to NZ and Aus, where presumably they remain pure and must be registered somewhere? I wonder if your friend could have dual registration? If she were to register the horse with AQHA in Tamarillo then I can't see any reason why the UK should have any issues with this. I wonder if there is some reason that the UK boycotts AQHAs bred in other countries? But that doesn't really make sense either because AQHAs from Canada are accepted.

I think her best bet is to either get in touch with the UK branch AND the American HQ; actually if she emails AQHA in Tamarillo, they are usually very quick to get back to your questions. UK QHA will have been given it's rules by the US so contacting AQHA USA direct is probably best.

 

[ajb123]

I have one on loan and alas do not know his breeding! They are fabulous little horses. Mine is quite big for a QH being 15.2 but he rides very much bigger. 9 times out of 10 he is definitely "Gem by name and Gem by nature" BUT when he does throw his toys out of the pram beware! Prior to coming to me he had hunted (alot!!) and if hounds are around he goes absolutely potty! I have hunted him a few times but boy is he ever strong! Also if hounds are in our vicinity and I dont take him he stresses for about the next week - he hunts around his box, wont eat and constantly stares into the distance "willing" hounds to appear! Mind you most keen hunting horses are probably the same!

That being said he is the kindest, sweetest tempered little horse you could ever wish to own. They are tough and big hearted - a real delight to have!

 

[cazza]

Thanks Tia, She was told she had to register with the AQHA which would cost about £200 and then once registered with them she could register with the UK QHA, yet more money, which seems crazy since the horse is a registered NZ QH and it's out of a registered US QH that was imported to NZ. I am sure they are doing this just to make money which seems crazy, I don't understand why the UK won't let her register directly with them.

Many thanks for your help Tia, what's your weather doing over there, is bloody cold here today. Brrrr

 

[cazza]

Charmaine, they are lovely horses, like all breeds you get the odd one which is a pain but the majority of them are really lovely animals. We cross breed ours with TB's so they have more stamina for playing polo and polocrosse, but believe it or not all the crosses we have bred have all had the laid back nature of the QH not the stressy TB. So I don't think you could go far wrong with a nice QH. Good luck with your search and if you get one please post piccies so we can swoon.

 

[ironhorse]

Hi Charmaine - beware, once you've had a Quarter Horse you won't want anything else!
Your mare may be cheap because she's not from particularly fashionable lines, also 10 is considered quite old except perhaps for a show schoolmaster.
You need to ask if she was imported or UK bred, when she was backed (they can show a bit of wear and tear particularly the joints if they've been competed hard as youngsters) and how much she has done. She might have had a break to have a foal or two in which case you'll have a horse with low mileage that can go on a lot longer.
Is she a 'finished' western horse? By this I mean is she fully trained to compete in reining, pleasure or trail? These tend to fetch bigger prices. If she was started western and then ridden mostly English she'll be a great riding horse, but would take a lot of training to reach any standard in western (if that's what you want of course!)
Tia's point about doing all sorts of things but nothing particularly well stung a bit, but she's got a point. Our mare does English and Western (very good at trail, so gives the lie theres!) but she's a pretty average dressage horse - a bit croup high.
Our previoius mare would happily jump a course at 2ft and odd fences at up to 2'9'' but nothing bigger.
One other point is handling - while quarter horses are generally anyone's ride, sensible, intelligent and bold, they need firm, consistent handling. Avoid feeding titbits and insist that they are polite when being led, rugged up and handled in the stable.
Hope I haven't put you off at all - if you want a lovely comfortable ride that will make you the envy of your friends for its aptitude at doing gates and laid back nature, get a quarter horse!

 

[RoyalPolo]

I had an older QH gelding that we got for nothing! He was a bit of a nut job he reared alot etc and wasn't overly safe and know of some quite similar but i also know of some lovely ones to! but personally there not the breed for me and the ones i have met seem anything but laid back.

 

[Jazzelle29]

I just bought a 3yr old unstarted QH gelding from an advert on www.thewesternshop.com.

The prices are getting more reasonable (credit crunch)! and I feel I got a reasonable deal on my guy at £2500. He was imported from the US in utero.

Many of the yearlings on there are very reasonably priced, but a fully trained western horse will be pricey- reflecting the level of training they have had. Only the same as SJ/XC horses I suppose.

I also have appaloosas and woud love a paint. All these US breeds seem sane, sensible and businesslike, although the western training helps this too!

 

[Tia]

Cazza; that sounds outrageous! Blooming rip off if you ask me. AQHA have become a bit penny-pinching lately though so it really doesn't surprise me totally.

You know that your AQHAxTBs can go on the AQHA register too?? They are known as Appendix QHs

. Lots of Appendix horses over here; a bit more refined and more leggy than traditional QHs.

And as for the weather; well winter is most definitely on it's way now. Today has been quite chilly and tonight the temperature is going down to -8, so the start to winter has arrived!

And no, I'm not looking forward to it

.

 

[Enfys]

[ QUOTE ]


And as for the weather; well winter is most definitely on it's way now. Today has been quite chilly and tonight the temperature is going down to -8, so the start to winter has arrived!

And no, I'm not looking forward to it

.

[/ QUOTE ]

-8C tonight. *Rushes off to check Farmzone* They told me -2C for tonight this morning, with snow showers on Thursday, possibly all of 1cm of snow

You get it much colder than I do though and we don't get nearly as much of the white stuff as you.

Nope, snow is postponed until Saturday now

 

[Tia]

Lol!! They've changed it since this morning. It's only going to be -3 now apparently. Thursday and Friday we are up in the high single figures again and no snow on our 7 day forecast .... yet! We don't usually get a lot of snow here; last year for one week we did though!

But no, rarely do we get more than a foot deep. We are very sheltered where we are and if you go out of the hills the weather is very different ... and MUCH colder; so I just hibernate

.

 

[TarrSteps]

Oh, mark my words, it will snow this week. I know that because I'll be there, driving an rental car.

Plus, it's the Royal and it always snows when the line horses ship out so plan for Saturday evening. It's tradition.

On the QH registration front, the AQHA is a monopoly. Every "official" QH in the world is registered through the AQHA - hence the insane amounts of money they have to spend on prizes, point paybacks and record keeping. Have you seen the AQHA magazine!?!? It makes Vogue look like a postal flyer.

Of course there are other QH registries - there are at least two foundation ones and I assume there are various national ones - but if they're not part of the AQHA then the horses registered with them are not eligible for any of the AQHA programs and obviously their offspring can't get into the AQHA. It sounds like in the NZ case the mare (the "native" one) is not properly registered with the AQHA and presumably the UK organisation is under their umbrella so won't take the horse because of that fact. It's not all about DNA, it's about the paper trail with them. The AQHA doesn't operate as a studbook, they're a much more comprehensive registration/show/membership organisation - I found it fascinating, relative to many of the other registries I've been familiar with. Controlling but fascinating.

Funny the conversation about the "all around horse". That's a real hot button with them and there's a big split in the organisation because of it. (Although no one will be breaking ranks - too much $$$ involved!) Are they breeding for one horse that can do a lot of events or a breed of horses containing individuals that excel in a lot of events. Show horses going for "All Around" titles usually specialise in one area then do one event outside of their "core competency" (HUS horses often drive or maybe do Western Riding) but it's often pretty token.

The Appendix thing makes me laugh, too. Breed an AQHA to a TB, register Appendix, show the horse until it has 10 points, and voila, it's a "whole" QH. Then breed it back to a TB and start the process over.

There are some HUS horses that are at least 3/4 TB.

As to the breed type . . . it's such a huge breed, it's impossible to judge. A HUS horse is very different from a reining bred horse, which is different than a "foundation" ranch-type horse. As Tia says, the bloodlines are consistent but the breed is really not. I've known two that went to the Olympics as eventers and at least three that did GP showjumping. I rode for a barn that produced a Congress Superhorse and I have to say many of theirs were definitely not on the quiet end of the spectrum!

 

[Shiraz]

QR- if the NZ mare was reg with AQHA in NZ then she also needs to be registered with AQHA USA (dual registered) so that she can be regstered with AQHA UK.

I can't remember the exact rules but if the NZ QH's parents aren't dual registered, or at least reg with AQHA USA, then I think it's very expensive.

It was a few years ago since I looked into it but wanted a QH from Oz. She was registered with AQHA Aus but not dual reg at AQHA USA so she would not have been recognised, as such, in the UK.

If you post on www.thewesternshop.com I'm sure one of the official bods on there could point you in the right direction.

Re QHs I became addicted when I worked on a cattle station in Oz and got the change to compete in rodeos and cattle classes. They are just amazing! My QH mare is VERY opinionated and extremely intelligent! She had her last owner wrapped round her finger and got carrots in return for not biting her! They are definitely the collie of the horse world. Enjoy!!

PS have you looked at Pat Evan's website? No idea of her prices but she's got some, IMO, nice mares/stallion and horses for sale. She's really helpful and friendly.

Good luck with your QH shopping