Finding a PSG schoolmaster

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Booboos

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Freddy has a home for life with me but I don't enjoy riding him as much as I did Rusky, and with Rusky retired I feel there is room for another competition horse. I bought both Freddy and Rusky at around 5-6 after they had spent 2-3 years with a professional rider and pretty much spent 10 years trying to bring myself to their level so our progression has been glacial (enjoyable nonetheless). This time round I was wondering if I could get away with a PSG schoolmaster.

Do you think the following kind of horse even exists?

Gelding,

small (14.2 to 16.1hh),

relatively sensible temperament: I could cope with small spooks, spins, bucks and tiny rears but not a full blown terrorist. The horse would have to be reasonably sane to handle so I could keep him at home with my other horses.

light of the leg with a steady contact: I don't want a horse that shuffles its feet through some kind of approximation of the movements, I want to get a bit of a feel of how to ride with the engagement required at this level...but I don't want to overhorse myself with an animal with too much talent for me to control. Paces are not important, I am more interested in a correctly trained horse.

I would prefer a horse that is sensitive and needs reassurance to one that is nappy and needs telling off.

Age is not important, but obviously very young is not a possibility and if older it has to be well enough to compete. I don't want to win every test I enter but equally I don't want a horse that falls to pieces every time it sees white boards.

This is not an advert, I am not looking and won't be looking until spring 2014 at the earliest, spring 2015 more likely. I would have a decent budget and could look in the UK, Holland, Germany or France.
 
you'll find it for certain, there are plenty of horses that bottom out at PSG and would make a very smart schoolmaster.
if the budget is decent you will have plenty to chose from.

but you are going to need a trainer to sit on the horse and keep it tuned up to PSG, light off the leg etc or the horse will simply *come down* to your current level. Seen it happen time and time again.

thats no slur by the way but if you dont know how an 8 canter piri or an 8 line of changes feels, the horse will soon start to do the minimum it can get away with as they are all lazy gits by nature.
 
You will defiantly find such a horse I think the most limiting things you have in your list of requirements is the size.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle
I completely take your point, I could ruin a horse in no time!

Do you think one lesson per week plus the odd week or two off to the trainer's yard for some re-schooling would be sufficient? I have seen a lot of young riders and amateur riders keep PSG to GP horses with well known professionals and benefit from daily help, but this is not an option for me. For one thing there is no one like that near here (nearest option is 1 hour and 15 minutes drive away so I wouldn't really get to ride the horse that much myself) and for another I really like having the horses at home.

On the plus side my trainer seems to be very good. She recently won a National title at PSG with the horse she has brought on and sold another PSG/Inter I horse she had brought on to one of Carl Hester's students (Carl and Charlotte both rode the horse and complimented her on the way it had been brought on), so I think I have been very lucky to find her.

Goldenstar
I am short and small with a crappy seat so I don't even use the length of leg I actually have so I think I have to go for something smaller. A pony would not be a problem for me so perhaps there is something out there that has been outgrown by a leggy child?!!!
 
ha ha no i didnt mean that , more that to get max benefit you need to keep the horse tuned to its original level.

i think the best way to do it with your trainer being so far away would be to budget an extra 20mins at the end of each lesson for your trainer to really *get after* the horse and run him through his moves.

then if needed he could go to hers once a year for some intensive work but if she sat on him every week he might not need it.

i ride a few norty ******* for people and generally find that as long as i sit on them once a week that keeps them in check for 5-7 days and then they start to try it on again. obv slightly diff situation but i think a weekely check up/tune up would work fine.
 
I was not suggesting you should change your requirements just that it will limit the numbers you have to chose from.
On the keeping the horse up to its level you are intelligent and as long as you make a training/ working plan that factors this in and you chose a horse with the right temperament I thinking keeping the horse at home is very doable ( and part of the the reason you have them anyway.)
I will look forward to the story of the horse hunt I love other people's horse hunts but I hate my own .
 
I'm being really lazy and not reading the post properly, (been away training and shattered. :D ) but Zara Barton is selling both of her 2 PSG horses, she's on FB if you were looking for something now. :D
 
Oldencraig have experienced horses, but they do tend to be fairly big. It may be worth speaking to them though as they may know of something about to come to the market.
 
Plenty around that have topped out at PSG and they do exist in smaller models. Prices probably better in the UK than Europe at the moment but you are still looking at 20K plus for a younger model, if you are prepared to go a little older under £20K is entirely possible. Leasing one is often a possibility.
I have one at 15.2hh but not at all contemplating selling her, she's bred me a lovely foal and is back in work and going well at 18 years young, happily schoolmastering one friend, hacking out with another and doing odd competitions with me.
Princesssparkle is quite right though, she dumbs herself down to the rider. Hacking friend is nervous and T turns into a gentle plod with her, other friend is more experienced but found her hard work at first until she got used to the other buttons, although she will help the rider out if they are vaguely right. My old lady is not as helpful, no malice but will only give exactly what is asked for, fab for teaching people to keep a quiet seat though as wrigglers get treated to a lesson in flying changes. :D

Smaller ones are more likely to be in private hands, you do sometimes get FEI ponies who have gone over height but are trained to higher levels.
 
Lgd said:
Plenty around that have topped out at PSG and they do exist in smaller models. Prices probably better in the UK than Europe at the moment but you are still looking at 20K plus for a younger model, if you are prepared to go a little older under £20K is entirely possible. Leasing one is often a possibility.
I have one at 15.2hh but not at all contemplating selling her, she's bred me a lovely foal and is back in work and going well at 18 years young, happily schoolmastering one friend, hacking out with another and doing odd competitions with me.
Princesssparkle is quite right though, she dumbs herself down to the rider. Hacking friend is nervous and T turns into a gentle plod with her, other friend is more experienced but found her hard work at first until she got used to the other buttons, although she will help the rider out if they are vaguely right. My old lady is not as helpful, no malice but will only give exactly what is asked for, fab for teaching people to keep a quiet seat though as wrigglers get treated to a lesson in flying changes. :D

Smaller ones are more likely to be in private hands, you do sometimes get FEI ponies who have gone over height but are trained to higher levels.
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that made me laugh LGD, about the wriggling, one of my friends rode CS and couldnt keep him in right canter, constantly changing left because her seat isnt level and her right leg wobbles!
 
I was looking for exactly this, although perhaps slightly bigger height-wise (although I then bought a four-year-old cause she was pretty *facepalm*) and found a number of possibilities in France, including a YR horse that was kept at home in a field and ridden by a nine-year-old girl cause the son had moved on. Most of them in my budget were 14 years plus though and while the one mentioned above was 10k euros (with potential for negotiation), most of them were above that. There did seem to be a lot more available in the UK though, probably just an indication of the popularity of dressage more than anything. The Find your Horse site is your friend!
 
You could look at taller as long as they are narrower.my boy is 18hh but is not wide so doesnt feel huge or take up your leg.
 
PS: I can totally ruin a horse in no time - trust me! But I am hoping that with the right temperament and weekly support it might be do-able.

Goldenstar: I appreciate that the size will be an issue but I am willing to wait 1-2 years to find the right horse. Will keep you all updated!

GlamourDol: Thank you will look into it but I think I have to be sensible and wait till spring.

AdorableAlice: Thanks will look into that as well.

Lgd: that price sounds reasonable and I could stretch a bit more, but I don't want to overhorse myself with something too talented for me. I'd rather pay for temperament than for talent if that makes sense. A pony would be lovely some of them are incredible. I take your point about the aids, I imagine there is a long period of adjustment where the rider has to learn how to ask for things properly.

JGC: I wasn't awware of that site, thank you! My trainer has a lot of contacts in France, but she tends to go to Holland and Germany for herself and her pupils. She's off for a week with a student and will keep her eyes open although I have said to her that she should not get too excited! I must be sensible and wait (translates as: buy something unseen before the weekend!).

Hereshoping: awwww he looks gorgeous, and I LOVE Medoc offspring but I have never even handled a stallion so perhaps that sensible hat should be on now!

charlie76: yes I have the same feeling. A light weight taller horse feels easier to hold together than a medium weight shorter one. At 18hh though my leg would not clear the saddle flap! :)
 
Re the size thing - look at who has ridden the horse previously as well. My boy is 17.1hh, so you'd think more suitable for a tall rider, but his first owner, who trained him from scratch to Inter1, is about 6 inches shorter than me, so all the buttons are installed higher up!! Took me ages to work out why we were confusing each other - I thought I'd forgotten how to ride, and he thought I was an idiot!
 
Auslander that is so funny! I think I'd need a ladder to make it up a 17.1hh especially after the c-section!

boxcarhorse I am not particular about the breed, a PRE would be a possibility but it would have to be correctly schooled like any other breed.
 
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