Haflinger for dressage?

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Lowen Ki

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Hi all,

Am in the early stages of considering taking on a haffy - good uphill movement and nicely put together, positive attitude - at this point I should mention that my passion is for dressage! :rolleyes:

So... my question is... can they be successful at dressage? I know how fickle some dressage judges can be and how much they like a big warmblood - does a seeing a haffy in the arena send shivers down their spine, or light up their day?!

Interested in your thoughts :D
 
well, I've seen pics of one that Anja Beran has taught to do the piaffe on!!!!

Funnily enough, I've been doing some work with one myself - then can have some really nice paces.

However, being brutal, it depends how far you want to go in the dressage world. I'd just love to come into a high level dressage comp on something like a haffy and knock the socks off all the big warmbloods but probably that's not desparately realistic and at the end of the day dressage judges won't really expect to see haffies. So, if you want a dressage haffie as a good hobby then why not! - but if you if you have Grand Prix aspriations then sadly I suspect a haffie won't cut it.
 
I do BD on a Fjord - only low level (prelim/Novice) to date but we've been to the Regionals at prelim, qualified for Areas at Novice and have a mighty 12 points in about four outings. Think the judges were a bit thrown at Regionals but in all honesty apart from then we've never been out of the top six and have beaten many a warmblood. Are we going to go to Grand Prix? Unlikely! Are we going to have loads of fun & get as far as we can - Hell, yeah!
 
Back in the 1980's I was treated to a week at a huge Haffy stud in Austria by a German penfriend's family. The emphasis was on dressage, (though we also did jumping, vaulting, driving and hacking as "experiences"!) and the owner's top stallion was impressive in his collections and laterals, though perhaps less so in his extensions. (By the way I'm no dressage buff...) Quite a sight to see 10 haffys all schooling beautifully together! I still say "Ruhiger, Ruhiger" to myself when schooling now...
 
Fjords/Haflingers/Cobs are definately taking over dressage in Holland!

I used to ride Advanced dressage with my Fjord (who is now sold), and we used to kick some warmblood ass in the dressage arena!
My best friend rides a Haflinger stallion and can do some pretty good dressage moves! But if you want a "dressage Haffy", you'll have to go for the more modern types. They are built more like warmbloods and have more uphill paces, but still the elegance of the original Haflingers.

A video of my friend and her riding the Haflinger stallion: Click
 
there is a lovely little haffie who competes in leicestershire - just prelim & novice - but does very well indeed in very large classes [ well - it beats my sorry ass every time:D]
 
My dresage instructor thinks my haffy has fantastic movement so I'm hoping to progress with her! Look on youtube there are a few doing some lovely stuff.
 
brushingboots said:
http://www.youtube.com/user/haflingers10#p/u - remember seeing her a while back! Haffies can most definitely do dressage!
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I love your video!

Lowen Ki: absolutely! why not? I hate to think that dressage is for warmblood only, if i were a judge I would love to see somebody standing out of the crowd and doing some pleasing movement with a horse that is not necessarily bred for it. To me, that shows good riding, but that's just my opinion
 
Just out of interest (I am not adding to my horse family - oh who am I kidding, when the right one pops along I'm breaking my savings open!!!)

Where do you find a modern stamp of haffie?
 
Hi all! am new to this forum. Just read ur post with interest!! I own a 14.1hh haffy gelding who was a rescued pony. With time, schooling and hard work we now compete affiliated and unaffiliated dressage up to and including elementary level. He is always placed in the top three at affiliated level and I dont ever feel looked down upon. However I do find higher level unaffiliated you find more snooty people who look down on you.

It doesnt bother me as I know my pony will always do a calm, relaxed test and listen to me 100% in the arena. I took him to Hickstead south east semis dressage masters last july and where lots of the more warmblood types, although they were gorgeous, were very tense in the area, therefore spoiling their tests.

Obviously u'll never see a Haffy up with the likes of Carl Hester, you can still compete and be taken seriously up to a fairly high level. Charlie has never let me down, and altho he may not be as flashy as the big warmbloods, he has fab paces, regularly receiving 9's for this on his sheet, and doesnt ever heat up at a competition.

Any horse is capable of a winning and being successful in dressage with the correct training and schooling. Its harder to achieve a decent medium trot and canter than it would be on a warmblood, but u can achieve it! I also compete regularly against a traditional coloured cob who also is well placed at higher levels. Good luck and Enjoy!! :o
 
Dont forget they go on forever too....

My friends 30(ish) year old haffy schools to grand prix twice a week! He puts everyone in their places! He's fit as a fiddle and flexible as a 10 year old - still goes loopy when he does little jumps, you would never know he was as old as he is if he wasn't going grey!
 
Lowen Ki said:
So... my question is... can they be successful at dressage? I know how fickle some dressage judges can be and how much they like a big warmblood - does a seeing a haffy in the arena send shivers down their spine, or light up their day?!
:D[/tQUOTE]
I think you are more likely to get this sort of discrimination at unaff than BD.
OH has been competing a 14.1hh welsh D at BD for a few years now and been successful. Now has over 300 points so judges must like what they see.
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