Buying a warmblood to event?

madhector

madhector

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What are your thoughts? I have always had TBs and never thought I'd go for a warmblood but one has really caught my eye (not the cheatnut one from yesterday btw)



It is a KWPN, 6yr old, not done alot but very smart and looks like it moves beautifully, jumped BNs so far.



Not a ready made horse though and obviously will need work, but what do you think in theroy of eventing a warmblood/showjumper type?

Thanks
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Warmbloods tend to be a little lighter, than they used to be, the only thing I have ever heard is whether they can make the times as they go up the grades, but I guess that depends on the individual horse - though I might be talking utter rubbish!
 
I do think that they often don't have that natural bravery and boldness that thoroughbreds have - obviously a generalization, but I do think there is some truth to it.

I have also found that, of the warmbloods i have ridden, none of them seem to be as quick-thinking or as able to get themselves out of trouble as TBs/Irish types. I guess they haven't generally been bred with XC in mind.

There are plenty of WBs competing to a high level in eventing, so obviously many do manage it... but they are not for me!
 
I think WBs are much more opinionated when jumping is concerned and not as brave. They do look lovely and there are a few at a high lvel so can do it! Dpepends on the actual WB
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obv depends on the type,as theres so many WB breeds around now,BUT from my experience WB's are not good event horses.Not bold/brave enough xc,tho will sj any water tray/filler.Im sure theres lots of cracking WB eveting,but in general,i dont know of any! They also tend to be ars*y&unwilling ??(from my experience only)fab dressage&sj!! good luck
 
Snoopy is KWPN, now 6. Ask Tigers_eye, shes seen him gallop!!
He's as bold as brass, the quickest thinking horse Ive ever owned and moves very well!!!
 
modern WB's are quite popular in the eventing world now (short format), i think alot of top riders have partbred wbs or purebred!! Im not being 'yay warmbloods can do anything' as im a mostly TB gal, but i would deffo give one a go!!
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Yes most of the top up and coming event horses are warmbloods now ( sadly !) nearly all of Fox Pitts horses are WB and all of Pip Funnells young horses are WBs bred by herself at the Billy Stud.
 
Sarnie is KWPN - enough said
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Seriously though they are not always as bold and certainly with some it can be more difficult to get them as fit as a TB. Don't forget though KWPN is Dutch mix really and there may be TB etc in the breeding so look at what is in the line.
 
i think that is a bit of an over statement there!! many of the funnell eventers are at least part TB and several of their mares have TB or trakheners in them.
trakheners though officially classed as warmblood, are anything but. they are entirely decsended from the prussian calvary horse which was almost entirely blood, very fast and agile. other warmblood breeds e.g. holsteiners and hannoverians were originally carriage horses bred for their showy front leg movement (hence the knee action and toe flick now) until someone thought they might make a good riding horse.
if you remove trakheners from the list of competing eventers the list of warm bloods is not so impressive. obviously there are some, but often the lighter type. because of their heritage many of them have very goog fronts and weak/straight hind legs and are not natural gallopers. yes they have been more successful over short format but if you look at a list of recent champions over 4* tracks (the olympics is not a four star before people start mentioning marius) TB's and TB x's still outweigh the rest. Selle francais are pretty much pure 'blood' and i would argue they are as successful as any breed who event these days.
 
My 17hh WB is pretty clumsy and I would be very nervous of taking him over anything too solid!! I definately think it depends on the horse!
 
hey im new to the forum
but have a KWPN that i event, she is very sharp and very brave sometimes slightly to brave but like sarah jane said she is a mix and has german TB on her dams side
 
I evented a Belgian Warmblood and he was 100% cross country machine - although a little slow.

Funnily enough the dressage was poor but mostly stemmed from a fussy mouth - hence my post when you asked about the chestnut!
 
Depends on the horse - they often don't have that natural gallop that a TB has. My friend bought a KWPN with a view to doing Young Riders and she's finding it quite hard to make the times at Novice and above. The other thing about them is they are prone to joint problems - my friend's mare has had windgalls all season and was never run on hard ground so a couple of question marks about long term soundness which you really want in a horse that you want to take up the levels.
 
someone just PM' me to ask what KWPN is. well tigerseye is probably more familiar with the details but it is a horse registered with dutch stud book. Interestingly if you go to their web site there arent pictures of event horses but showjumpers, dressage horses and driving teams, the areaa i think its fir to say that the dutch shine at. i believe many of those horses were originally descended from gelderlanders who ended up being calvary mounts in WWI but were also carriage horses (which are completely different from draught animals).
which may be why their record as event horses is somewhat better than other warmblood breeds if indeed it is. lets face it though, warmbloods have only been seriously evented since time across country (and the chase) became less of an issue and a good dressage more of one, which is barely five years (doesnt it seem longer since long format went) so i think it is also fair to say that as long term prospects the jury ought really to still be out. many of the horses performing creditably at le lion in the last few years havent had an opportunity to be tested yet at the highest level for a long period.
obviously it does depend on the horse, there will always be some great big hulks that cover the ground like greyhounds as easily as there will be whippet like TB's who fall over their own feet if pushed past trot but i think that like dogs, horse breed have been selectively bred for many years and very few of those are bred specifcally to event. unlike showjumpers, dressage and carriage horses, and i think in the end things generally revert to type, not only horses!
good question though madhector!
 
Our Floyd is KWPN, he is very brave and very fast. He evented to Intermediate - he would have easliy gone Advanced with someone different on him - he schooled around advanced XC tracks quite happily. The dressage got him. I had a Swedish WB and he looked like a dressage horse and he went Novice after 2 PN runs - his fourth go XC, and he was very brave XC, you just knew he would jump it, but he would never go higher than Novice as he was too slow.

But we have had other WBs who were wusses, probably about 50/50.

Don't forget that Cavalier Royale is a Holsteiner in real life and not a ISH, so all those Cavalier horses really are warmbloods, but just because they were born in Ireland are ISH instead.

It depends on the horse. Try it and see, you'll work it out.
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I have an 8YO warmblood and he's brave, fast (he could easily go too fast on intro/ PN [oh sorry BE100!]) and theres nothing a TB can do that he cant.
 
Diesel Dog I was just about to mention Cavalier. So many people think their 'Irish' horse is not a poxy warmblood, and then you have to point out its half Holstein.

Warmbloods are bred for sport. The use of Thoroughbred blood has been added carefully, not just any old TB but ones that make superb riding horses and can improve the base stock. so there are now a number of warmbloods out there with a good dose of TB blood, that have mountains of scope, plenty of movement and great trainability - perfect for eventing. Of course I agree that Trakehner are the ultimate warmblood eventers
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One of my broodmares is an ex advanced eventer, by the Holstein stallion Landino. She was seriously brave and scopey cross country.
 
What a lot of people always forget as well is that the WB has been around in the majority of our eventers for a long time.....Cavalier Royale himself is a pure and graded Holsteiner, being by the great Cor de la Bryere and out of a Ladykiller lines/Cottage Son/Aldato mare - can't get more WB than that, what with Cor de la Bryere being one of the greatest WB sires ever, with stock too numerous to name, Cottage Son being the dam sire of Ramiro Z, among others and well Ladykiller and Aldato speak for themselves.

As someone has already said many of the top eventers are riding more and more WB's, including the likes of the Funnel's who are breeding WB/ISH crosses.

Just as an example WFP's current up and coming string consists of mostly WB's and WBx's and they are all doing very well, such as:
Bay Tokay (Lux/Medoc)
Bee Animas (Vechta - bred by the Billy stud)
Idalgo (well he's SF but still foreign)
Lionheart (Lancer II - imported from Germany last year and won 32 points in first season - including 2nd place at PAVO champs)
Neuf de Coeurs (again as SF)
Orleans II (Narcoss II - just started eventing)
Oslo (Lando (Ladykiller/Ramiro Z lines) - winner of Le Lion 6 yr olds)
Walk the Line (Graf Landau - Hanoverian)

In addition, the DHI WB's are all also doing very very well in the eventing scene. Most notable are JP Sheffield's 2 rides, DHI Hindle (Elmshorn) - winner of Houghton 1* this year and DHI Veni Vidi Vici (Lancet - can't get more WB than and Olympic Dressage horse!), as well as DHI Timroy, evented by Jeneatte Brakewell and DHI Topper, ridden by Heidi Woodhead, who won Knaptoft 2* this year.

So if it is the right WB then there is no reason why you couldn't have a very classy eventer on your hands.
 
I have quite a few KWPN horses through my yard and some are cracking event types with decent brains and others are not. The modern warmbloods can have an awful lot of blood in them now. I think it purely depends on the horse, their ability and brain, irrespective of whether they are wramblood or not.
 
There are some very nice warmboods out there. They are generally more talented at dressage and have a great jump.
However the WB i rode was shi* scared of everything, but alot are talented and sane.
 
Well I have a KWPN that I got to do dressage (sire is Metall G.sire Ferro and they produce both jumping and dressage offspring) but she tends to think differently! She has both warmblood but also TB in her breeding. She can gallop for England! I have persevered for nearly 2 years to get her to do dressage and she has never jumped up until a couple of weeks ago when my partner hijacked her and took her down the school for a jump. In half an hour she was jumping 1.10m and clearing them by miles, ears pricked and totally bold to a fence. She has absolutely no vices so now even though I am gutted I think we will keep doing a few bits over the winter and sell her to someone who can really do her justice early next year. I am not a jumper and my partner, who once upon a time ran a jumping yard, are more interested in dressage so I will not keep pressing her into dressage if that's not her thing.
Defiantely another one to say that not only TB can have the stamina or abilty to jump and in my case keep on jumping for the next few hours without breaking into a sweat!
Good luck and defiantely go see it if you like the look of it.
 
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In addition, the DHI WB's are all also doing very very well in the eventing scene. Most notable are JP Sheffield's 2 rides, DHI Hindle (Elmshorn) - winner of Houghton 1* this year and DHI Veni Vidi Vici (Lancet - can't get more WB than and Olympic Dressage horse!), as well as DHI Timroy, evented by Jeneatte Brakewell and DHI Topper, ridden by Heidi Woodhead, who won Knaptoft 2* this year.

So if it is the right WB then there is no reason why you couldn't have a very classy eventer on your hands.

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How dare you miss out the best of all DHI Vitesse. A total dude who would have won Le lion if he got to go and has an amazing record! lol
 
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