Follow on from the TB post. What about WB'. Are they thick?

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hairymolly

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Was wondering what they general consensus is on warmbloods. I have a WB and in some ways she is very thick but very smart in others. She is no where near as savy as my old mare a welshD cross ID although she was so clever it was scary.

Thought please.
 
Mine (well she's a Selle F) is definately not thick. She's been here before. Old owner - friend of family said she thought she was he father reincarnated due to some things she does and how talkative she is. I paid for her with my inheritance from my grandad (know knew the friends father). So its a bit wierd really - my grandad paid for me to buy his friend - No that is tttooooo wierd
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. I'll shut up now I'm waffling
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. Lol
 
My mates WB is a MA-HOOOOO-SIVE 17hh plonker/wuss!! If she takes his rugs off and puts them against the wall in his stable whilst changing rugs.... he snorts and spooks at them lol! *rolls eyes* I was the other side of the yard opposite his stable, I put a saddle cloth on my yearling for the first time to introduce him to rugs.... Rox didn't bat an eye lid... my mates WB was snorting and eyes were on stalks. I wasn't anywhere near him!!!!...
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xx
 
Captain is incredibly intelligent, this is not always a good thing! He can be very inventive about the mischief he gets into! But he learns quickly and has a really good memory. However his boredom threshold is so low an ant could not limbo under it! His intelligence also makes him stressy and picky about people.

Fany is a cold blood and whilst not particularly intelligent, learns at a reasonable rate (when she wants to) and is the most loving, good tempered mare I know.
 
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Captain is incredibly intelligent, this is not always a good thing! He can be very inventive about the mischief he gets into! But he learns quickly and has a really good memory. However his boredom threshold is so low an ant could not limbo under it! His intelligence also makes him stressy and picky about people.

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Sounds very like my horse. For example she hates being on her own in the field and if left in said situation she will rather calmly climb/jump over the fence and make her own way to the stable, she has also done this when she was cold one day. Also if left in stable too long in the morning when her friends are out she will shout at everone to alert them of the error and if no one has the sense to put her out she will climb door and make her own way to the field. She is not spooky at all but can be very stressy and can do a good pretend spook to get her out of doing something she dosent fancy doing.
 
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LMAO.... had to read that three times.... now I get it lol xx
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Lol - just read it through again and I cannot spell, or use the correct words! Jeeesss. God help us - I'm supposed to be a school teacher - lol
 
Mine acts thick (like a duhhhhhh horse) but picks things up (especially bad habits haha
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) very quickly
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! What i love about mine though is how quickly he gets over things, hes spooked... its forgotten... we carry on hack like nothing has happened!!
 
From my experience, I've found WB to be very intelligent...but not particularly sharp. They're quick to learn and enjoy learning but are often very linear...and so when something changes, it can boil their brains very quickly.
A classic example of this was a friends WB...if you worked him in for dressage and then tried to jump him at the end of a session, it'd be a disaster, he'd spook and buck and generally be a moron as if you were asking him to jump over a crocodile. If you worked him in to jump, he'd be fine...

I think this is where the 'stupid' reputation comes from, they are creatures of routine and structure...when it changes, they often over-react. Where a hot-blooded horse (such as a TB) would tend to react then and there - e.g. spook - then get over it...a WB would often be upset long after the event.

Not true for all, obviously!!
 
My WB is very intelligent, she thinks she knows better than anybody else!! Spooks when she wants to avoid work or scare me. Can be quite nervy but with the right rider will do anything. She has a long memory and I am sure she holds grudges, as she is very picky when it comes to people and horses she likes and dislikes. She can be a handful but tends not to put too much effort in, she does her temper tantrum which is not very awful and then gives up...
 
onyx (6 year old 17hh westpahlien) is the stupiest thing ive ever come across!!! has not grasped the concept of having 4 legs just yet, but makes him the sweetest horse ever and super to hack as he is so accepting, and makes him a super sjer as he does not think about the jumps he just does it!!! and think knocking a pole is a feight worse than death so never does it!!!
topaz (5 year old 16.2hh holstein) is highly intelligent, opens doors throws buckets at you over doors etc!!
i think it just depends on ther indivdual horse really!!!
 
My first "horse" was an anglo arab (homebred) she was my best buddy as well as my horse...intelligent well,she always thought the grass was greener on the other side,and knew that she didn't want to be caught to be ridden!!
I had my first experiance of warmbloods when I was 17yrs old,by accident really I ended up taking him a Belgium warmblood 16.3hh on loan..He was a very smart horse..I was hooked from then onwards and would never look at anything else...
It was always my aim to breed a pure warmblood and this year I achieved it, his mum is KWPN and his Sire is Westphalian both mum and dad (who we own) were bred abroad and are pink papered,so even though he was born here (in UK) he is still in my eyes pure warmblood...He is the smartest foal I have bred,at 7months he is more like a 2yro! he makes his own entertainment when he is in his field,picks up anything he can find and plays with it! we are hoping to keep him entire as he is rather special,but he already knows what he is..so time will tell if he is suited to the life of a stallion.
Anyway this is him at 3 months old:

 
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From my experience, I've found WB to be very intelligent...but not particularly sharp. They're quick to learn and enjoy learning but are often very linear...and so when something changes, it can boil their brains very quickly.
A classic example of this was a friends WB...if you worked him in for dressage and then tried to jump him at the end of a session, it'd be a disaster, he'd spook and buck and generally be a moron as if you were asking him to jump over a crocodile. If you worked him in to jump, he'd be fine...

I think this is where the 'stupid' reputation comes from, they are creatures of routine and structure...when it changes, they often over-react. Where a hot-blooded horse (such as a TB) would tend to react then and there - e.g. spook - then get over it...a WB would often be upset long after the event.

Not true for all, obviously!!

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Boy did this ring some bells with mine, or what! Creatures of routine and structure - too true!! Take him for a hack after the daffodils have come up on a verge, when they weren't there last week - explosion. Put an extra pole in a fence (BELOW, the line of the top one, so no change in the effort in any way) - won't go near it! A friend has German bloodline WB's that seem a lot slower in the brain than my KWPN. He is far too intelligent for his own good, and sometimes it makes him seem very, very stupid.

Warmbloods as a whole though? You really can't generalise, because there are so many breeds mixed up in them. The newest "eventing" breeding are much more TB blood than the old style solid WBs. There are thick ones and quick ones these days.
 
I think they are laid back which people sometimes mistake for being thick, but I really think they are very clever. Take for instance yesterday in the menage. One of the dressage markers had twisted around at an angle and in the one direction to my horse it looked really spooky. Despite plenty of tries trotting past it without him shying he continued to treat it as if it was a monster about to leap out at him. I got so exasperated in the end I walked him over to it and with the heavy end of my schooling whip leant down and attempted to hit the top of it in order to push it over onto the menage surface. However my schooling whip just wasn't heavy enough. My horse, seeing that the 'monster' was harmless put his head down and with his muzzle pushed it over so it lay on the surface and didn't shy at it again the whole time we were in there riding past it. Coincidence? Or did he see what I was trying to do and thought he'd help out by pushing it over with his nose? I think they are more intelligent than we believe.

Another example of being clever: my horse on seeing the remaining horses leave the menage after a schooling session will decide to 'see something' in the fenceline, and shy in the hope that I will get off him scared and he can go back to his stable. This used to work at one point, but I am more confident and know his tricks now and make him work through his naughtiness! LOL.
 
Tend to agree... especially with the comment their behaviour makes them appear stupid.
Mines Dutch by Indoctro, anyone any experience of them??
Anyway, supposed to be bred to jump, but terrified of jumping,
(atleast thats what he tells me),spooks and snakes up to the jump, would stop altogether, fi he had a chance, then jumps the jump, as quickly as possible, as its gonna jump on and bite him ont he AXX,
and then takes off (if I let him, and I hold on for my life ), away from it as quickly as possible..
But he doesnt like dressage either, and will poke his head all over the place, resist contact, until i dont give him, then he says "Ok, I will do this"
what does he like? Well eating, and standing in the field!!,
Anything like hard work, hes not interested!!!!
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Is he stupid, no, I think hes probably just too clever, and does his best to get out of working!!
 
Have to agree, we can't decide whether my sisters KWPN is exceptionally intelligent or very stupid. He learnt to be suspicious of apples, after I hollowed one out and put wormer into it- wouldn't let me administer with syringe! Still wont eat an apple without smelling it first and it was over a year ago that I filled it with wormer. He knows exactly how to evade working correctly and tests riders constantly.

He can undo stable doors , quick release knots etc. Although he has the attention span of a gnat, and refuses to grow up, he is 8 years going on three. He blows bubbles in his water, bangs his buckets against his door to alert my parents that I am late with his morning feed.

He also digs his bed if I arrive late. He ascends the muck heap if out on the yard, gets stuck in small spaces, charges through the electric fence to get to fresh grass. He is a trouble maker, and will destroy anything not nailed down.
 
Had to laugh at this.....
Mines obviously not the only plank of wood
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But worse is Ive had him 6 yeras, and hes 13, going on 3!!!!
He has the attention span of a fly, doesnt like going through gates, he tries to run through them, terrified of all dogs, (apart from mine), although hes 17.3!!!!!!!!, come on, he could squash them with one hoof!! Is the biggest worrier on earth, and looks to me to comfort him, like a little baby!!
In saying that, still managed to take him to all rding club activities without any probs, once he knew I meant business, and these days he has the "King of the Jungle" attittude to everything in the yard, Thinks hes Top DOG !!!even he cant believe how he really, really Can do the job asked of him!
I will never work him out.......(exasperated, sigh!!!!)
 
Always thought of them as dumb bloods to be honest - I've always preferred TB's as thought they were more straightforward! Used to enjoy winding my friend up (who has a lovely talented WB) by referring to them as dumb bloods. But I have recently acquired a Lithuanian warmblood (unintentionally).

Was sceptical at first but did like him. He's not spooky - unlike my other horses (TB) and is very easy to school on the flat and jumping - picks things up very quickly, without fuss. At home you can think he's slightly lazy but at a competition steps it up a gear without the tension problems of my old boy. Have never won at dressage before (lucky to be placed, due to TB silliness!)

He is definetely a modern sports horse type - not a big heavy old fashioned WB type - there is a lot of TB in his breeding (out of a trakehner) and sire has a lot of TB in him, and does look more like a substantial TB or maybe an ISH. Definetely not stupid,very clever, chilled out and nothing seems to phase him.

I have a (very, very well bred) TB who is far thicker - always getting himself into trouble by being dim (usually injuring himself). Other TB (nicely bred) is too clever for his own good. I've realised you can't generalise - it is totally down to the individual character, nt breed.
 
in general, warmbloods are a little slower thinking than tb types imo.

not trakenhers though but they are really the only warmbloods i like!
 
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