How would a German Dressage Comp horse have been kept?

[Gingerwitch]

Our latest addition is from Germany - he only came over a short while ago - what would his life have been like ? We have had one ex competition horse before and after about a month he really settled into the relaxed set up we have, but he liked his stable when the weather was a bit off - any tips - any advice - anything i should consider ?

Posted in CR too

 

[unbalanced]

I think frodobeutlin in CR kept hers in Germany for a while.

 

[Gingerwitch]

Thanks i will post in CR

 

[Hen]

No idea whether mine correlate to yours, but they had very little grass turnout - sometimes for several months at a time; they were on a barn with stabling and small individual leg-stretch paddocks attached via a rear door to each stable. Taught to retreat to the rear of the stable when the stable door is opened. Even now you can wonder off with the stable door wide open and neither will step off the rubber matting. Ridden daily. So their 'social' was through bars/over fence in their leg-stretch paddocks, grain/hay fed.
My gelding settles into most situations and loves his turnout and is very sociable; unfortunately my mare has total ryegrass intolerance so is limited to occasional turnout with grazin muzzle, one hour only at a time. But she's a lovely sociable mare, otherwise.

 

[Mongoose11]

Never mind the routines.... Where the heck are the pictures woman!

 

[Lauren90]

A lady came to view a horse to share at our yard the other day fron Germany. She commented how unusual she found it when she first saw all re horses turned out in te fields- even more so when I told her it was every day.

She mentioned that many horses simply only know their life as the walk from the stable door to the ménage and have very little grass turnout but rather stretch paddocks as mentioned above.

Seeme slighly cruel to me the way she was describing it, almost like a conveyer belt.

 

[Spring Feather]

Most are stabled almost exclusively. Occasional stables will have small turnout paddocks and the horse may get an hour every few days outside. Most are taken down to the riding hall and worked for a good hour to two hours daily. The stables are usually huge long buildings with many many horses stabled in them. Their interaction with other horses is through the grills and when being ridden.

 

[TandD]

i considered buying a horse from holland/germany so asked about it care/ridden work

1. never been hacked
2. always ridden indoors
3. very limited turnout
4. never been outside the company of others

we decided against it...and bought a mare who had only got turned out on sundays, never been hacked and was worked in some way every day :/

interesting about the rubber matting thing...my mare wouldnt dare leave her stable...i can open the door and just leave her....
i know a russian horse who, when in russia, was never turned out. so when it came to england and was shoved in a field.....well after running through bard wire fences, twice, it now lives in

 

[Nickijem]

My Trakehner gelding was born and trained in Germany til he was 12 years old. I bought him after he had been in England for about 6weeks. He is extremely well mannered and very well schooled. I don't know whether he was stabled all the time but he soon adapted to being turned out 24/7 in the summer!
I don't know if he was ever hacked out but he is one of the safest hacks I know and is completely lorry/tractor/motorbike proof!
Am interested to know of other people's experiences with their German horses.

 

[QueenOfCadence]

We imported a mare from France a while back. Not quite Germany but she competed on the German circuit, so semi the same thing . She got turned out but only during the morning, she was in at lunch time and got ridden in the afternoon and slept in. She was out in the field with one other horse as far as I know. She had the most gorgeous tail as her owner went to the greatest lengths to keep it beaautiful. She adapted well here, though it took her a while to get use to the temps. Her name was Blue Movie De Muze (sire was Blue Horse Cavan)

A photo of her:

One of my close friends imported a lovely GP gelding from Germany last year, he was turned out when the weather permitted but wasn't turned out with other horses. He adapted fine here though it also took him a while to get use to the heat. He's out the whole day now without any problems and she's competing in in Pre St George.

 

[Daytona]

Most likely never been in a horse lorry they all use trailers. Not sure why though.

 

[Gingerwitch]

He loads like a super star on to a box.... good on the walker.... very sweet.... very kind.... very well behaved.... bit nervy in the open.... currently on the walker once a day and turn out in a tiny paddock for an hour a couple of times during the day along with being worked..... its so hard to judge at the moment as nothing is enjoying this weather... and it so diffucult to 2nd guess things at the moment as i am not mobile so have to rely on 2nd hand opinons

 

[Chamfrom]

Ooo look forward to the pictures - from our experience of living there with our hrses - competition horses and many others are just not allowed to have a personality so takes a while for that to come along - and they are often not used to turn out at all - so watch those windy days and wear a hat - I have had many narrow escape turning out or fetching in

 

[Chamfrom]

Auld is right about the trailer and horse boxes - Lorrys are so expensive over there its preventative - a friend of ours is a professional 'S' class (top level) show jumper and he only has a trailer - and many of them have tarpaulin roofs! you would shudder to see what they are transported in - but saying that - they are used to going in and not saying no!

 

[Chottsy]

We have lots at work. Majority from Germany. It ranges from horse to horse. We had an ex GO gelding who didn't know what to do in the field at first, just stood and did nothing for hours. Others who within 2 seconds in the field were grazing and the same as other English horses. They all came from the same yard in Germany. Most get bored after about an hour though. Xxx

 

[Chottsy]

*GP horse. Autocorrect is silly! What is a go horse?? Haha