Buying a warmblood to event?

Oops - sorry Comet - thought I would stop there as had listed so many that I thought all readers may have fallen asleep....when I start typing I sometimes forget to stop!! OK - here goes
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- also Dhi Vitesse (Negro) winner of the PAVO 6 yr old champs - happy now???
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Cavalier Royale is getting loads of mentions here, which of course he should, wonderful horse!, as an example of a WB eventing sire but he himself carried a LOT of TB blood from the most famous TB sires. There was an article in H&H which studied his pedigree very well but I don't know if it is on line.
 
Ink is a warmblood, and Jorden aim is to Event him next year, he is only 7 and ticks all the boxes of a event horse, good at dressage, never stops at Sj, and is a XC machine,
I would recommend a Warmblood to event yes,
 
It's a bit of how long is a piece of string question, I think! I love riding WB's once programmed, but I don't think I would buy another to event. When it goes swimmingly, you have a fab time XC, because of the jump. I'm still a bit jury out on the commitment, and if I had a criticism, they would down tools when tired far quicker than a hotter blooded horse. I also find they can be quite dour to ride sometimes.
It will depend to a huge degree on the individual. I'm now quite swayed to the French event horses, they have a load of AA blood in them, but are nothing like the AA type I had in my head before I came out here.
I wouldn't put you off one, it depends on the individual, but if you like the TB feel, they are different.
 
In response to what Frim says about Cavalier being high % TB then I have to say that whilst of course I do agree, you also have to view this with the view, that if you think of him as basically being TB X then so is EVERY major WB out there as I think that the likes of Ladykiller (and thus ALL of his sons/daughters), Sacramento Song, Abernant (seeing as he is sire of Abgar who appears in too many WB pedigree to counts), and many many more TB stallions will appear in their pedigrees. Another stallion with a huge TB link is the great stallion Zeus...who is a SF stallion BUT was essentially an Anglo Arab if you look at the pedigree.

So that then begs the question....what is a WB?

Two young stallions worth mention with this TB link in view would be Mighty Magic and Amiro Z.
Mighty Magic is essential 3/4 TB being by Mytens and out of a Heraldik mare. YET he is considered a WB, being graded and approved by Holstein, Oldenburg, Rheinland, Zangersheide, Westphalia and many other studbooks.
The same can be said of Amiro Z who is by the Argentinian TB Amigo Toss and containing the TB Cottage Son on the dam side. Yet this guy is again considered WB being graded and approved Zangersheide, etc.

SO...once again this begs the question....what do we TRULY classify a WB? I think you would be very hard pushed to find any WB that had NO TB blood in its parentage at all.
 
You really need to gallop beside a TB before buying . We would never event Rafi [ well maybe intro ] as he would have to go full speed to get the time and that soon ruins their legs.
This is really important if you want to go novice and above.
 
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SO...once again this begs the question....what do we TRULY classify a WB? I think you would be very hard pushed to find any WB that had NO TB blood in its parentage at all.

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But that is the definition of a WB, TB or Arab (hot blood)crossed with a draught horse (cold blood) = Warm Blood. I think it would be impossible to find a WB without some hot blood in it as it then wouldn't be a WB
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I am really a TB person but I currently have 2 WB's to event. The first is a Catherston horse that we bought from Jenny Loriston-Clarke as a just back 4 year old. He is now 14 yrs & has 64 points!

In January this year I bought a 6 year old KWPN. He was imported from Holland last Nov to SJ but the person who bought him promptly fell off (another horse alledgedly!!) & broke her neck so there was nobody to ride this lad & I got him reletively cheaply. He is AWESOME. Bold, athletic, fast but with that fab WB rhythm for his dressage. So far everyone who has seen him as been hugely impressed. He did 2 Intros in Aug/Sept & came 2nd in both then was 7th in his first PN.

He is fairly fine & gallops like a TB. Although he is KWPN his breeding has a lot of French blood in it & apparently his Grandmother is very close to being a Selle Francais. Time will tell if he will make the Grade & he need to learn to respect Show-jumps but if he doesnt it wont be due to his 'type'.

Photo with OH on at his first Intro:

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I bought this photo so ok to post I think.

p.s I have a lesson with Ruth Edge next week so we will see what she thinks!
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I event and I have only had one continental warmblood (though he is British bred). He is fantastically athletic, very quick thinking, very quick with his legs (up round his ears!), wonderfully bold, game, willing, sane, careful, great gallop, superb jumping technique, excellent paces, very tough. Can't use enough superlatives.

He wins everything, including eventing. Fast XC, wastes no time over his fences. Made Novice BE feel small and straightforward - even though he was still very green at the time. Has had the fastest time in every single jump off he has contested - rarely touches a pole and never gets hotted up.

He goes back to Ladykiller on both sides. His sire is Chairman (Cor de la Bryere x Lord) and his dam is an extremely well bred Hanoverian by Dynamo (sire of Demonstrator and Dollar Girl). So he combines SF, Holstein and Hanoverian, with a mix of other stuff thrown in. Bred by Carolyn Richardson of the Torpenhow Stud.

Having had Irish sport horses and TBs, this horse has well and truly converted me to continental warmbloods. I would never look for a horse on the basis of its breeding, however. If I like the look of it, then I will look at how it's bred, just for further clues as to its potential capabilities. Having said that, I saw a 4yo half brother of mine advertised recently for a good price. It had a similar look about it and I would have snapped it up if I had time for another horse.
 
I have evented for years and was always a TB lover, till I had the most amazing WB (pics below). He was the boldest, scopiest, most athletic horse I've ever ridden xc, and good at dr and sj to boot! Couldn't hold one side of him but loved him to death. He was clear xc in 3 2* CCIs inclding finishing 5th in one (should have been 2nd but for numpty jockey over-riding the SJ so badly as not used to lying 2nd overnight!!), double clear in his first Advanced and was without any doubt a 4* horse - ask anyone who saw him at Kreuth on his last run where, btw, he was 30 seconds under the time with the fastest xc of the day so no problems with speed either
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. The only problem was soundness - I did really struggle to keep him sound and ultimately failed
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However, I do not blame the breed for this, I was just unlucky.

Since then, I've had 2 more WB and both are great - pingy pony is 3/4 KWPN 1/4 Selle Francais. The only chicken horse I've had over the last few years has been a half TB ISH!

Herbie pics... (He's such a dude
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)

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And this is the other WB as a 6yo at Aldon...

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Hope these pics work, if not I'll try again!
 
tabledancer, dont think i dont know you were dying to put a picture or two of herbie on here!
and i think that it is ffair to say theat from all the comments a bit of blood is best!
as far as tarrsteps statistic goes if you take out the all the horses that completed the games that werent at least part bred you would probably not have ten left in. AS i keep saying which seems to be going over peoples heads selle francais are hot bloods genitically, the same can be said of trakheners and also anglo,s. your 'pure bred' holsteiners, hanoverians, kwpn and the like only evolved into competition horses because of injections of blood and it is that tinkering which has made pure the Irish Draught a rare animal these days, because they made such an excellent cross.
as i also said before, we havent been fdoing short format long enough to really know if the adtional 'warm' blood in eventers will be a good thing. we all know thet can showjump and do dressage but galloping, long term, over varying terraine? well that remains to be seen. Currently in my experience the continental bred warm blood has alot of soundness issues at the highest level and i do not think you can count the olypics as that because it is not a four star and therefore is much more likely to get a freak result.
by the way love the horse in the picture above, emmah.
 
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tabledancer, dont think i dont know you were dying to put a picture or two of herbie on here!


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I've only just learned to post pictures so you are right, HHO has had to survive too long without Herbie
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(RIP
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) And you know perfectly well that he might have taken your arm (leg, head - whatever was nearest
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) off whenever he got the chance but he was a pretty amazing operator...

Look, I am certainly not averse to a bit of blood but I still rate WBs (who, after all, might have quite a lot of blood in their breeding) for eventing and I think the opinion on this thread has been fairly well-balanced between the two views rather than coming down on one side or the other. Also, I think it is relevant that a WB who has good Dr and SJ will make going through the grades easier/more fulfilling in terms of placings along the way, which is important for someone like Madhector and indeed most of us - we may or may not get to 4* (those of us who aspire to) but good placings over the years we are trying to climb the ladder certainly make the process less disheartening!
 
He was gorgeous wasn't he? I feel lucky to have had him, even though he broke my heart several times over...

He was KWPN by Grafiet, who was by Ramiro Z, out of Ceronique (can't remember the damsire but not one I'd heard of). The trouble was he did clear every fence by a foot, including drops etc so I think he put tremendous strain on his front legs. He strained a SF tendon after his first 2* and had nearly 2 years off. Came back, came 2nd at Burgie 1*, clear round Brockenhurst Advanced (not tiny) and clear at Necarne 2* but strained a check ligament so withdrew after xc, another year off. Came back, did Kreuth, struggled to get him through the trot-up but managed and finished 5th of 60, the scans were fine when we got back and he had shock wave that winter and vets were really positive so was planning a 3* campaign for him (always a mistake that planning
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) when he went lame again in Feb. Still nothing on the scans but by April he was lame in the field and was miserable. We put him down in May. I couldn't afford an MRI scan when there was no real possibility of a positive outcome - the only thing I wasn't prepared to do was put him back on box rest as he had had 3 lengthy periods of that already in his life and he absolutely loathed it - I wasn't prepared to put him through it again. And he was lame in walk in the field so another year off in the field wasn't really an option although I would happily have tried it. The vets thought he had probably strained his deep flexor tendon in the foot, but we never confirmed it. When he went (May 2007) it felt like the end of the world and I'm sure I'll never have another one like him but life goes on. Thanks anyway for admiring him - makes you a friend for life
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And Lu loves him really, she just knew him rather better than she might wish to
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As usual an interesting discussion on the WB's.
As others have said the breeding line and type should be taken into account, especially as some books have quite a range in them.
My mare is a Swedish Warmblood but the Stallion was SF and the Dam was Irish TB (with the Derby winner Santa Claus in the line). So I think that she has quite a lot of blood.

Lucretia - although SF have a lot of blood I still thought that there was a reasonably wide range with some less suitable for eventing.
 
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you cant beat a nice British (or Irish, nearly British!) TB!!!

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I love TBs so completely biased.

This made me smile though - I have an Irish TB (reg Wetherbys Ireland) and he is like a cob. Complete with hairy legs and rather laid back attitude to life!
 
That is heartbreaking
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It sounds like he was on his way to being a star! Isnt that just the way with the more flamboyant/talented horses, they put so much extra strain on themselves that they become their own worst enemy
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I had a Ramiro horse as well once,(by Olympic Ramiro) he sounds a very similar temperment to yours,very bold/moves/jumps however he was so strong and hot that I sold him on. Anyway six months later he was PTS as he went lame and was found to have arthritis in the feet or something. But he was also the owners horse of a lifetime, she adored him:(
 
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You really need to gallop beside a TB before buying . We would never event Rafi [ well maybe intro ] as he would have to go full speed to get the time and that soon ruins their legs.
This is really important if you want to go novice and above.

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I'll come gallop next to you Elli on mine!
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Agree re TableDancers horse, he make it look effortless! what a shame he didnt stay sound
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Back to OP, I think a warmblood can make a good eventer so long as you get the mix right frankie is 1/2 TB 1/2 Native pony and he easily makes the time Novice and he is only 15.2 but he loves the job and is very forward thinking and bold XC.

Definatly worth looking at a warmblood, just bare in mind what you need them to be capable of when you try them out. good luck
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I have a Warmblood by Denver, he too goes back to Ladykiller. He has an enormous jump and amazing paces. He is bold xc and has show jumped double clears at foxhunter. He also has endless stamina and can really shift so he would def make a good event horse ( if I wan't such a wimp!)
 
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