An endurance horse?

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Kirstd33

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Once Coblet is moved off the stabled livery yard and onto his 24/7 retirement grazing in the next month or so, I'll be definately a little better off financially, a little less burdened timewise due to him living out and hopefully a lot less stressed once the deed is done. I just hope he settles and has a lovely summer and our decision to prioritise quality over quantity of life pays off?
Anyhow I'll be a position to be tentatively looking for my next ridden horse and the past 9 months sharing my friends 2 geldings and hacking for miles predominantly off road, bridle paths etc has re-ignited an idea that I may like to dip my toe into some low level non-competitive endurance. So what breeds, types, qualities makes a horse better suited to endurance? Obvs at the sharper end of the sport its dominated by arabs, but I'd just like something that is going to enjoy 20-30km pleasure rides at a fairy sedate pace.
 
You absolutely can’t go wrong with a nice native for low level endurance. Good brain, good stamina and they like being out seeing the world. Something like a New Forest, a Welsh C or D, a Connie depending on your height and preferences.

Ideally you want a nice comfortable ride, nothing too extravagant or jolting, and a nice bold outlook on life - the horse that goes ‘oh, I wonder what’s round the corner?’ Instead of the horse that goes ‘oh my god, there might be a monster round the corner.’

And don’t overlook an Arab, they can be lots of fun and a nice workmanlike one will do a bit of everything.
 
Thanks SF thats great advice, personally I wouldn't discount an arab but an elderly stateswoman on coblets yard, told me i wasn't an experienced enough owner for one, with coblet being our first owned pony after years of loaning/sharing?? The 2 geldings I've been riding for the past 9 months are an 16.1 ID and a 15.2 TB the TB being my favourite as he's short coupled and his movements are "flatter" if thats makes sense? Coblet was 14.2 and a very bouncy ride!
 
Arabs can be lovely and sensible, but if I were looking for low level endurance I might be inclined to go for an Arab X native. Most improved native breeds (Welsh etc) will have some Arab blood in there somewhere anyway and they make excellent all-rounders.
I have a Welsh X QH- we didn't do any endurance, but did a lot of long hacks, including hacking 6-7 miles to a meet, half a day's hunting and hacking back. He coped beautifully with that (obviously we did a lot of fittening work beforehand!) and the QH side meant he had a bit more speed than a purebred welshie.
 
 
Goldie's mum said:
How about a native x arab or native x TB ?
My go-to for outings to try new stuff! A trusted best pall who'll enjoy giving it their best shot but not scare me! :)
This sort of thing..

Edited. wish I hadn't looked. Want him now. :rolleyes:
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Me too! he looks absolutely perfect as I'm only 5ft 3 and 55kg. Edinburgh though so a bit far away!
 
Any horse at all who's sound, forward and bold (although preferably with some self preservation!)
Other than that, a personality and movement you enjoy and find comfortable for long periods. That's about the only real crtieria.

I favour native arab crosses, but have competed to quite a high level on purebred natives and a spanish horse, and ridden alongside all sorts!

A lighter build is useful for keeping cool, is the other consideration. I have a welsh D who was absolutely cracking up to 120km but he's such a chunk we just couldnt compete at all in summer. Always did his best work in march or october rainstorms 🤣
 
Burnttoast said:
You can do endurance at a low level on any sound horse tbh, so buy a horse you like and that suits you. I crewed endurance for several years and we did the golden horseshoe twice with a horse of unknown breeding but almost certainly 95% TB. The last time I went to spectate at the GH the only gold award was won by a connie.
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This totally, for low level endurance soundness and able to hack is all that is required for you to get them fit. When I have been at endurance events there is a huge range of shapes and sizes. It's very accessible to all.
 
I'm looking at my first venture into long distance rides this year and have our first 20k in May.
I have a ottb and he's absolutely breezed all the training so far and really enjoying it!
His stride just eats up distances and every time I think I've taken a step up and pushed his fitness, his HR is right back at 30bpm in 20 mins.
I don't think I've even scratched the surface of his capabilities and we're both having fun 😊
 
Any sound, fit horse can do low level endurance.

I do lots of endurance and we see everything from heavy cobs, tb's, Arabs, Icelandic's and everything in-between!

I would never look past a Arab x welsh. Tend to hardy and are great for the one horse owner who wants to do a bit of everything.

Having said that Standardbreds also do very well and are usually undervalued and can be very cheap.
 
I'm hoping to get my fell out at some point when work isn't so insane. There's a lady competing a highland to quite distance she's on FB Rabbit something. My friend has her massive Friesian x ID out at 50 miles last year.
 
I used to exercise 2 haflingers who were used for endurance. Neither were novice rides (unexpectedly naughty!) but they'd hack for hours.

I know a lady who does serious kilometres on an Irish cob. She did a 60km last year. I don't think I'd walk for weeks after that.
 
Before PSSM1 really hit, I took my gypsy cob to a 27 Km ride. As for arabs, the most lovely horse I ever sat on was an arab stallion. He was beautifully behaved and very comfortable!
 
Would you consider an Appaloosa or an Appaloosa cross?

My retired lad is part Appaloosa part New Forest and when he was proper fit in the summer months we'd hack easily for hours on end, over various terrain and he was the sort who would actually refuse to come home as he wanted to stay out longer most of the time 🤣. We'd easily come back from a 3 hour ride still completely bouncing and ready for another go around - even one of the yard children took him out for a long ride and came back with the words "He's a machine - I'm shattered but he's still pulling my arms out going up the hills!" 😅 He was always fit and healthy - it was sadly his poor start to life before I got him which did him over a goodun and meant that he had to be retired - if he had his way, he'd be out bouncing round all the lanes terrorising the neighbours with his bronc into canter and squealing like a piglet still......

He was always really good for others to ride as well - he'd step it up for an experienced rider and really see what you were made of, but also he'd tone it right down and be a complete donkey for someone who wanted a nice easy ride.

I'm slightly biased in my suggestion of Appaloosa's as I adore the breed - but they are well known for their versatility etc.

Also don't discount a good coblet - my friends coblet is the only pony to this day to out run my retired lad (and he used to out run TB's going up a hill on a regular basis!)
 
My first haflinger was an endurance pony before I got her. She was a brilliant hack, bold, clever and forward. She was German bred so didn’t have the negative traits you hear a lot here have. (My Italian haffie doesn’t either, she’s so sweet) I love the breed. My TB could cover some ground too.
 
Kirstd33 said:
Thanks SF thats great advice, personally I wouldn't discount an arab but an elderly stateswoman on coblets yard, told me i wasn't an experienced enough owner for one, with coblet being our first owned pony after years of loaning/sharing?? The 2 geldings I've been riding for the past 9 months are an 16.1 ID and a 15.2 TB the TB being my favourite as he's short coupled and his movements are "flatter" if thats makes sense? Coblet was 14.2 and a very bouncy ride!
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Gosh I’ve known some lovely very novice safe Arabs who’d try get to the moon for whoever was riding them.

Re the everything can do it, yes but it might be worth considering how much work to get them there, my welshie always needed a lot more fittening work than mums Arab/tb, and heart rates tend to be higher - the difference between rara cob and her warmblood highlight both of these issues 😅
 
05jackd said:
I would never look past a Arab x welsh. Tend to hardy and are great for the one horse owner who wants to do a bit of everything.
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This is my favorite cross and I think Flame was one, but IME they're a bit nuts! High energy, sensitive and full of their own random ideas. If the OP's questioning whether they're experienced enough for an arab, I'd say be careful of an arab x welsh, although for both sorts, courage and kindness are more important than ability.
 
I never understood why trotters weren't more used in endurance. My Old Lady is a French Trotter, a breed known for their good temperaments, and she has, at rising 28, ground eating paces (walk, trot and canter when she wants to). She doesn't bat an eye at anything we've encountered so far and I suspect in her youth would have been able to travel quite a distance with a bit of building up. I also find her relatively comfortable to ride, though I wouldn't try sitting to her trot.
 
I used to do endurance with my square trotter x cob. He would easliy eat up the ground, we did Upto 64km, he could easily of done a lot bigger distances.

Could trot all day at a decent speed. I used to clip him all year round as he did get quite hairy. Very under rated the trotters as I found they thrive on work.
 
Flame_ said:
This is my favorite cross and I think Flame was one, but IME they're a bit nuts! High energy, sensitive and full of their own random ideas. If the OP's questioning whether they're experienced enough for an arab, I'd say be careful of an arab x welsh, although for both sorts, courage and kindness are more important than ability.
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I cut my teeth so to speak on an Arab x Welsh and concur. He did make a good endurance horse, but bloody hell, he was hard to control. One of those joggers where you get back thinking you did more work than they did. 😆
 
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