How do you know?

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only_me

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How do you know if a horse has the potential/ability to go 3star/4star? (or even 2*?)

people have been saying things to me about aims, and some have stood out. i will post more about subject
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so how do you know? like a gut instinct you just know?
 
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How do you know if a horse has the potential/ability to go 3star/4star? (or even 2*?)

people have been saying things to me about aims, and some have stood out. i will post more about subject
tongue.gif
wink.gif


so how do you know? like a gut instinct you just know?

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I dont think you know if the horse is going to go 2* until you're on a 1* course, 3* until your on a 2* course and 4* until you're 1/2 way round a 4* track!!

Plenty of horses have the scope for advanced but dont have the guts, the intelligence, the self-preservation or quick-mindedness needed.

A good horse doesnt need to be outstanding at 4, 5 or 6, it just needs to pull the goods out of the bag when really needed
 
You dont know until you try!

My little bay horse ( jumping the drop and the corner in my sig) he was being sold from an event yard, by an olympic eventer, who thought he was rubbish!! he refused to even be seen riding him at an event..LOL !! Anyway, I bought him, and before we knew it we had overtaken this event riders young horses, and he was doing far better.

He was a different horse XC. At home , he was a donkey. But xc- he was a machine. When we did our first cci* it was a HUGE track ( at sansaw, in the mud) and we had qualified via Novice two day route rather than the doing an intermediate route. Everyone was saying the old ' oh you should have done a few intermediates before you came and did a one star, your completly mad! ) anyway, this one star track was like a big intermediate, and we had only done Novice. The horse skipped round that track like it was nothing, in the ankle deep mud and rose from 67th place after dressage to being 20th after the XC ( and beat many horses who had already done loads of intermediates) He made it feel so easy.
In the same manner, he popped round Highclere Intermediate which they used to say was like a small advanced ( I stupidly fell off at the second last fence)
The way he made it feel so easy, and just skipped round, and NEVER hesitated, sorted himself out for all the distances, all by himself, was straight as a die to every fence,and it never felt difficult- all that- it made me think that he would have done a 2 star easily, and maybe he would have gone to do 3 star. Who knows.Unfortunately he was never quite the same again after a trip to Spain. ( he travelled out in someone elses box, without me, and arrived in spain a different animal )

You just dont know until you do it. My horse was SUCH a donkey at home- a complete old dobbin- no one would have looked at him twice- he demonstrated no scope or athleticsm whatsoever-but out doing eventing he turned into an different animal.
 
Gamebird, i've heard that too. Have seen quite a few horses go round Badders and Burghley once clear, and then not relish it the next time... less so nowadays though.
I think Boss is right though, you never know until you try. There are plenty of top horses that were sold as youngsters by top riders who, it seems, didn't see the huge potential.
It helps if they LOVE xc from the start. e.g. I don't think a horse that was ditchy as a baby could ever get to 4*, but i'm happy to be proven wrong!
 
i agree with most of the above as you cant really know if it will be brave or scopey or clever til you get there though obviously everyone tries to get a good mover with a bit of jump for the potential! i asked brook staples exactly this question after he came back from sydney on master monarch and been 4th at badminton and he said what everyone above has said. it was just a 'nice' novice to start, then a 'nice' intermidiate etc etc.
 
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It helps if they LOVE xc from the start. e.g. I don't think a horse that was ditchy as a baby could ever get to 4*, but i'm happy to be proven wrong!

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Moon and I will give it a good go!!
She was the most rubbish xc horse her first few times xc schooling, she just did not get it at all.
 
I thought I had bought 4yo that would make a RC horse to sell on. Never believed it would do PN, then didn't believe it would do Nov, then same for CIC*, Int etc, (*mental note to actually complete a CCI* before I go much further*
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I thought my mares limitation was intro...then had a crack at PN and she was good, then thought I'd give a novice a go and again she was great so decided to have a crack at CCI* and she flew round clear inside the time xc and made it feel so easy...I'm now thinking about intermediates/CIC** for next season and genuinely never thought she'd go past intro when I first started!!!!!

You never know til you try them - some rise to the challenge, others don't.
 
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I have heard from people who ought to know that you don't know if you have a proper 4* horse until its second 4*.

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I think the same thing happens in all the disciplines. I've heard more than one top jumper or dressage rider say similar - that the first time, when the horse doesn't know what's coming, it might make it through but the REAL test is the second time . . .

There are just too many factors to see the future for sure. Lots of horses look like they "might" and there are all sorts of stories of horses that just cruised along, doing an okay job at each level but just kept making the jump up. Ginny Leng said that about Priceless - he always jumped everything with the minimum effort and only went as fast as he needed to so everyone kept saying at each level that he'd reached his limit. Since his limit turned out to be Olympic/WC level I guess that worked out okay.
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I agree, i just don't think you know until you put them in that situation. My advanced horse was completely useless as a 4yo ( and thats being polite
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) He couldn't even jump a cross pole he just used to go straight through any jump!

Now he is the most amazing horse and I'd give anything to have one half as talented as him in the yard. The bizarre thing if I bought a youngster which turned out like him as a 4yo he wouldn't last very long in the yard at all!!!
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