Coloured horses eventing - Are they weaker??

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Shrek-Eventing-SW

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I have recently fallen in love with a coloured horse advertised, but my mum is very set in her ways and only really like bays and blacks. She says that coloured horses are weaker and not many get to high level eventing. Is there anything that would stop a coloured horse competing at a high level. A friend said to me that they are bred for their colour, not their strength.
Any help or advise appreciated
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Thank you
 
What does she mean by weaker??
I don't understand what she means - I persoanlly love coloured horses and you see quite a few at the top ie Badminton, Burghley etc.
I used to ride a 15.3 coloured mare and she was fab
One of my fav event horses on here is a coloured!
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Can we see a link to the advert ?
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I didnt really know what she was on about tbh, personally I think she is just against me buying a coloured
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Well, it's my money, so i will buy what I like with it
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Watch out, you'll see my around Badminton on a coloured horse in a few years
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i wouldn't say they are weak but there are certainly less coloured horses the further you go up the BE ladder.

i presume this will change gradually as more and more people are breeding coloured horses for sport as opposed to just breeding them because they are pretty!
 
My friend has had coloured horses for years, one competed years ago as an International Driving horse, that was over 20 years ago and another was aimed at the Los Angeles (?) olympics until he was sold abroad.
I think they are being bred more as sports horses now than they were for a long time.
 
When you take into account the number of coloured horses bred compared to the number of bay/chestnut then the % of then competing at a high level is quite high especially taking into account a lot of them were originally bred for colour rather than performance. I love coloured horses!
 
I love coloureds. Tia's colour was what first attracted me to her advert. I do think there are less coloureds further up the levels in eventing. I'm wondering if it is because there arent many coloured TBs as they were what eventers used to have but now warmbloods and irish horses are getting more popular I think we'll see more and more coloureds.
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Coloured horse in my sig did novice BE eventing and jumped up to newcomers BSJA, prob gone further with a better rider!!. He was very clever and had a fab jump. He is retired now but i now have a tb x coloured gelding to take his place, coloureds are fab!!!
 
Ok, I can sort of see your mums point. Many people have a horse which breeds coloureds and will breed from it, despite it having rubbish confo/temp just because its so "pretty" or "unique". Hence why there may seem to be a rash of badly put together or weak coloureds.

However morons breed crap bays as well, so as long as you are sensible and pick the horse for how it performs rather than its colour, I can't see why it would be a problem.
 
My father would never let me have a coloured (when he had any say in the matter!) as he said they were gypsy horses :P

We've got a 17.1 tri coloured by Stanhopes Diddicoy out of a TB mare - he's the most fun, intelligent, brat of a horse - SO much personality he's exhausting!

Very very fast, very scopy - doesn't do dressage but would otherwise have evented - is a great hunter tho - he's like riding a giant 14.2 - you can take him anywhere, stands at the meet, on point - goes out by himself, goes with others... perfect hunter really!
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is it the same sort of thing as greys in racing?
minority, so people think they are not as good?
i dont agree with this though, colour is just a colour after all!
 
There is something in it. Coloreds actually tend to be pretty hard IMO.
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But ITA with Christmasbee's point that many have been bred with the sole intention of creating a colored over creating a horse with strong conformation.

IME, generally speaking, grey's have more sensitive skin than bays and are pre-disposed to melanomas. They are also more likely to develop cancer than other colours. Also IME, chestnuts tend to have more sensitive skin than bays and often weaker feet.
 
Go and try it, see what you think of it and take it from there. I love my coloured, he doesn't event because the dressage is our unmovable mountain but he does hunt and teamchase very well.
 
Dont be silly
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you need coloureds eventing
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one thing is though some judges tend to give high marks even though they do nice dressage tests. One event boss had her coloured in that did a really nice test and another really nice coloured went in 3 before her and did a even better test however they both got bad marks. We pup it down to the judge not liking coloureds
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Ohhh Patrius Filius - lovely little horse!
Also check these out-
Bits and Pieces (prob long retired)
Stanhopes diddicoy (I had a v. nice mare by him)
Basil Masterpiece (got nice blue and white by him at the moment)
Cavalier jump for joy
" " two for joy
Uptons deli circus
Glenhill Gold
Freespirit
Goshka Ringo
Drumcoss spurs and Crossdrum spurs have also been sucessfull.

There are hundreds out there! I recently had in for sale a very nice young warmblood coloured event horse by Parade D X Ed king hill, he was a machine XC!

As you can tell I have a real thing for my coloured sports horses!
 
I can kind of see what your mum means - we have a gorgeous coloured warmblood mare on our yard, and her owner is hesitant to take her hunting or do anything too exciting with her because her real value is as a show horse, so she can't risk getting any scars. But she's definitely a strong, athletic girlie - she's only six, and she can do some pretty impressive gymnastics when she's having a tantrum!
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I think a lot of older people just don't like coloured horses anyway, because they've only been "fashionable" for the last few years and before that they were pikey ponies...
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In the end, a nice horse is never a bad colour. If you'd like it in bay, then check it out, if you wouldn't, don't bother.
 
Mines coloured and will event (he's 5). The colour came from the mare that is the dam of one of Zara Phillips top horses- Ardfield Magic Star- who is not coloured, but obviously has the colour in his breeding- just that it shows in mine and his sire! So I don't think the colour makes a blind bit of difference!
 
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