'Best' native

asommerville

asommerville

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Asking for a friend who is looking for a new hirse, looking towards native types and wants to do showing and workers. He's quite tall. What would people suggest? For some reason he's quite fixated on highlands 🙀
 
I'd go for a Sec D. I've never met one who can't jump and they're plenty big enough for tall riders as they tend to take up the leg well. I am biased as a Welshie lover, but if you find a good one, you won't get a better horse.
 
Highlands are fab ponies and the larger, chunkier ones do take up the leg very well. There are quite a few for sale at the moment, have a look on the HPG facebook pages for an idea of type. I love mine :)
 
I've had Sec Ds and now moved onto a New Forest and would never go back! Have known a couple and they've all been brilliant ponies, can do anything and have a good brain too (I don't miss the Welsh silliness, have to say). However, I don't think they come up too big? Mine is 14.2 and he only just takes up my leg (I'm 5'4 but long legged).

I'd love a Highland though, he could be onto something good there! Would ditto a Sec D for someone bigger/taller though, as they do seem to come up bigger than NFs (or in my experience anyway).
 
How tall and heavy is he?

If he is very tall and heavy then the only real option would be for a Welsh Section D as they don't have an upper height limit so you can get massive ones including ones about 16h!

Highlands are good weight carriers but if he wants to jump the large worker classes may not be as suitable esp if they are carrying more weight as they are not known for being as agile jumpers as the Welsh D's.
 
Highlands can't jump?! Eh! Has anyone told that to the ones that jump at HOYS in the M&M workers?!?!

Pft and twoddle! Highlands jump just as well as any others, maybe not the biggest of heights but more than capable of doing workers!

They hunt, jump, dressage, show, do endurance, be pets - in fact you would be hard put by to find something a highland can't do!
 
asommerville said:
Can they do workers? Is there specific workers for natives?
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There are specific M&M workers classes, but at smaller shows where that's not an option they could do normal workers too. Although you then have the issue of whether to trim and plait for those and sacrifice the pure showing or keep them natural and lose some marks in the workers. (I'd go for the latter)
 
I had a highland and he was awesome, but no good at workers, because he was of the opinion 'why go over it, when you can go through it?'
He respected xc jumps but anything else would be flattened. Including electric fence, hedgerows etc. He was a little tank. :p He didn't lack ability, he was just canny! So I would want to see evidence of it jumping before viewing... You can't really go wrong with a welsh D, though some are quite hot. My favourites are newfies but they are probably too small.
 
annagain said:
There are specific M&M workers classes, but at smaller shows where that's not an option they could do normal workers too. Although you then have the issue of whether to trim and plait for those and sacrifice the pure showing or keep them natural and lose some marks in the workers. (I'd go for the latter)
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At local level they can be shown as natives, I have never lost any marks by doing so and my natives have frequently beaten the plaited ponies, it is mainly judged on performance and conformation, turnout should be correct and smart but is not marked separately so there are no marks to be lost.

A good Highland would easily carry a 5ft 10in male rider and be great fun, dryrot on here has a nice young one for sale it may be worth sending him a pm although it may be a bit small, there are a few smart ponies on the HPS website

http://www.highlandponysociety.com/shop/ponies-for-sale.html
 
I am not saying they can't jump just that some of the lighter built natives tend to have more natural jumping ability. There are some highlands who do the large workers but not many compared to the D's connies and foresters.

It would be harder to find an established Highland who is out there jumping the open WH classes which are around 100cm (3.2ft) as there just are not that many of them compared to the D's, Connie's and Welsh so he may have to wait a while to the right one comes on the open market.

EKW said:
Highlands can't jump?! Eh! Has anyone told that to the ones that jump at HOYS in the M&M workers?!?!

Pft and twoddle! Highlands jump just as well as any others, maybe not the biggest of heights but more than capable of doing workers!

They hunt, jump, dressage, show, do endurance, be pets - in fact you would be hard put by to find something a highland can't do!
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Unfortunately they are normally age ranges for the normal workers for ponies so doing the plaited classes may not be an option if the male friend is an adult.

annagain said:
There are specific M&M workers classes, but at smaller shows where that's not an option they could do normal workers too. Although you then have the issue of whether to trim and plait for those and sacrifice the pure showing or keep them natural and lose some marks in the workers. (I'd go for the latter)
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I am somewhat biased but- newforest! All the nf s I've met were fun hardworking and pretty athletic. I went on hols to newforest with my pony (half newforest) and rode with a man who works with the ponies and would not have anything else! You can get some taller I knew one who was 14.3 and they are strong and easily carry men in the newforest galloping around rounding up ponies. I think they have a smart look about them too look very tidy when turned out nice :)
 
SO1 said:
Unfortunately they are normally age ranges for the normal workers for ponies so doing the plaited classes may not be an option if the male friend is an adult.
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I think going in with plaiteds refers to local unaffiliated shows. In our area they just run workers as 65cm, 75cm, 85cm etc and anyone can enter native, plaited, traditional etc.

At affiliated level M&Ms have their own worker classes and adults can compete in those.

I adore highlands and think there are some very talented ones out there - you will want to look for a sporty type and i woudl want proof of its ability to jump both height and width if you are wanting it for HOYS workers. A big sec D would also be an option so i think it would be worth having a go on them both.

FWIW I am tall (5'8") and i have a 13.2hh fell (not the chunkiest fell either) - he takes up the leg but i will openly admit balance has been an issue and i am very top heavy on him. If i looked for another i would probably look for something bigger like a highland so whilst everyone will shout that a chunky pony will take up the leg if the rider is very tall he will need abs of steel, a good core and excellent balance to give the pony the best chance of success. :)
 
Walrus said:
I think going in with plaiteds refers to local unaffiliated shows. In our area they just run workers as 65cm, 75cm, 85cm etc and anyone can enter native, plaited, traditional etc.

At affiliated level M&Ms have their own worker classes and adults can compete in those.
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Yes this is what I was trying to say!
 
I have a forester they tend to be excellent willing jumpers but if you want to do the M&M a 14.3 would be over height and so not suitable so max height would be 14.2.

Yes the ponies can take the weight and height of larger adults and in the flat classes I think it matters less, but jumping does put more strain on the legs so I would not want the max weight and height a pony can take on a pony that is going to be doing a lot of jumping, additionally if your legs are very long then they could get in the way when jumping if they are below the pony's stomach. You also need to consider saddles, a pony may be able to take the weight but it might be difficult to find a suitable saddle that would suit both you and the pony if your legs are very long or you need a large seat you may need to get something specially made.

huskydamage said:
I am somewhat biased but- newforest! All the nf s I've met were fun hardworking and pretty athletic. I went on hols to newforest with my pony (half newforest) and rode with a man who works with the ponies and would not have anything else! You can get some taller I knew one who was 14.3 and they are strong and easily carry men in the newforest galloping around rounding up ponies. I think they have a smart look about them too look very tidy when turned out nice :)
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welsh D :D mine is 15.1ish an an actual cob, and has all the ability to do M+M workers at the top level. The biggest native jump height is quite big (to me!) but it's no bother to him. I think I'd have to be a better rider than I am to get a highland round 1m/1.05 :o Where my D can manage up to 1.15 (maybe bigger) on a duff stride ;)
 
As much as I love my Welsh D, I wouldn't get another. People always told me that Welshies are quirky/stubborn/opinionated etc etc but I just thought 'aren't all horses?' and continued buying him. Yes, he is fantastic at all disciplines, he jumps whatever you put in front of him, does a lovely dressage test, places well in the show ring, BUT he is a quirky little s*** and sometimes getting him to simply go past a rubbish bag out hacking is the biggest challenge ever. He is a real poppet 99.9% of the time, but when he's in a funny mood, he's 100 times worse than any Shetland, Warmblood, TB, Mare that I have ever known!

If I were to buy again, I would look at a connie or a new forest. I love the Highlands but I think they are just a bit too heavy for my liking (personal preference). My friend has a super connie who does eveything that my Welsh does, just with far less attitude!
 
Just for comparrison am 5"8 and long legged and rode my friends 13.1hh highland and he took my leg up just as much as my 16hh Gelderlander.

This is by no means my area but is he specifically looking for a pony? What about a Cleveland Bay?
 
Specifically looking for an M&m I'm sure, have another friend looking for a hunter type horse though 😀 apparently now is a good time of year to horse hunt!
 
Like I said not really my area but my friends Mother breeds cleavland bays and I love them... in fact if she hadn't have lost this years colt I would have had him!!!
 
asommerville said:
Specifically looking for an M&m I'm sure, have another friend looking for a hunter type horse though 😀 apparently now is a good time of year to horse hunt!
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I've noticed some very nice looking horses for sale the last week or so, no doubt folk off to uni that have kept them for the season. Nice to see some decent blooming adverts for a change!
 
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