I'm sorry, what?

JennyConnor said:
Thank you! We have made breeds for certain purposes. While there is always going to be exceptions to this, it's generally the norm to pick a breed best suited for what you want to do.
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Ditto this too.

Although slightly off topic, it demonstrates that it is wise to pick a horse that is probably better suited to the lifestyle/expectations you want it to have.

I had a ISH (very TB like though) as a student through college & university, until he was sadly PTS after an accident. Fast forward approx. two years & I was back in the buyers market (having loaned in the interim) only this time I work 38-40 hours a week, don't get university holidays & generally didn't have the same excess of time to pander to another wimpy TB's every needs.

So I bought a native pony - I knew I needed something that could cope if I got the weather forecast wrong & it poured down with rain instead of being bright & sunny and I was unable to just 'pop back' to change rugs or bring in, that my family could help out with (as Mum is a teacher, she often turns out & mucks out for me in her holidays - but couldn't be expected to cope with taking off stable wraps, putting on turn out boots or mud fever lotions or potions or lead a 16hh fire-snorting, dancing sideways horse because it's a windy day and in another county I'm sure a paper bag rustled somewhere), that could cope if work deadlines meant I couldn't ride for a week - but could ride every day the week after.

I'm not saying ALL TB's are wimpy, need lots of rugging & inappropriate for non-horsey family members to handle & there are probably tonnes on people on here with TBs living out, unrugged that their granny & two year old child learnt to ride on. But generally speaking, I had better chances of finding something suitably low maintenance that wasn't a TB.

I still love TB's - but native ponies were designed to be hardier & generally speaking lower maintence. Just as I love cobs & think they can make ' top' amauters horses, they generally speaking don't tend to make GP dressage horses or 4* event horses. It's not 'cobist' - just the norm.
 
I can't see the horse on the link but it boils down to individual standards. Ok it sounds unlikely to get to the Olympics but may do extremely well at amateur level. Just sounds like a slightly poorly written ad. I'd say my horse is an excellent jumper but Michael Whitaker might not agree!
 
I'd actually like to see someone try to produce a cob to top level, whatever discipline. There's already Ketchup, the cob in the book Cobs Can! Doing top level dressage. Although don't know if she's competing? But I don't know many people that actually TRY with a cob. It's just accepted that a cob will get you so far and then you need a "real" horse.
So, a cob is not a breed, it's a mongrel, which means it can have just as much talent as say a ID x TB (in theory).
I know plenty of smaller cobs which jump incredible heights, spend all day hunting with their mental child riders, just think if a little 13h cob can clear 1m courses (just one I used to look after) then what is a 15h or 16h cob capable of?
AND how about that pony that was on the american eventing team, Theodore O'connor, I bet most people would have looked at him and said he couldn't get to the top... so yeah, I forget my point anyway
 
but ridefast, top jumping ponies of 13h jump 1.20 or so. So a cob jumping a metre is still way behind it's sportier pony counterpart...
 
suestowford said:
I must have got him mixed up with another horse then. That's the trouble with getting older, remembering things gets very hard.
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I think you mean Charisma and it was Mark Todd who called him a fat hairy pony.:eek3: His stable name was Podge I believe.
What a horse he was.
 
Jesstickle said:
but ridefast, top jumping ponies of 13h jump 1.20 or so. So a cob jumping a metre is still way behind it's sportier pony counterpart...
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I know I'd just like to see someone take a horse sized cob as far as it can go, it just seems people take cobs so far and then that's enough! Would be interesting... after all they did Shire racing not long ago didn't they? :D
 
no apparent BD record for Ketchup/the book writer.

Dressage is probably their best aim, rather than 1m 50 SJ (having seen the 148cm jump that at premier shows).

ridefast I imagine people stop because the horse likely meets it's physical limit/limit of what it is happy with and it is unfair to try and make them go further.
 
Very similar to my boy in build and size. Dammit, does that mean we've got to stop aiming for Badminton?
More seriously, they can make fantastic all-rounders and, even though I'm old and creaky, would like to think we could both achieve our own "top" level but that certainly isn't anyone else's "top".
 
ridefast said:
I'd actually like to see someone try to produce a cob to top level, whatever discipline. There's already Ketchup, the cob in the book Cobs Can! Doing top level dressage. Although don't know if she's competing? But I don't know many people that actually TRY with a cob. It's just accepted that a cob will get you so far and then you need a "real" horse.
So, a cob is not a breed, it's a mongrel, which means it can have just as much talent as say a ID x TB (in theory).
I know plenty of smaller cobs which jump incredible heights, spend all day hunting with their mental child riders, just think if a little 13h cob can clear 1m courses (just one I used to look after) then what is a 15h or 16h cob capable of?
AND how about that pony that was on the american eventing team, Theodore O'connor, I bet most people would have looked at him and said he couldn't get to the top... so yeah, I forget my point anyway
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Theodore O'connor is a full TB and I'd never say a small horse or large pony couldn't make it to the top - Just look at Stroller! (Conny x TB)
 
Suestowford, i think that you are on the right track re Priceless. Ginny bought him as she already had Night Cap, also by by Ben Faerie. She brought him home only for her trainer (Dot ?) to declare that he would make a good RC type and no more, and she should take him straight back! Also the British eventing chef d'equipe (Malcolm Wallace? Ex army chap) declared that he would make a cracking troop horse pulling the guns if only he was hogged!

Not quite a cob, but definitely a bit on the 'common' side. Didn't seem to hold him back, though!
 
My second horse was a clydie x with an arab a very peculiar x but boy could he jump he would easily have made it round Burghley he jumped 6ft for fun his dressage was a bit suspect but was often the only horse to jump round the big x country classes when everything else was eliminated. He often won purely on the jumping side as dressage at the time was a bit of a necessary evil. He was 16hh and all muscle and was the easiest horse to ride I have ever known
Must dig out an ancient photo of him as I have been asked a few times what he looked like
 
YasandCrystal said:
John Whittaker's 'Ryan's Son' was a heavy boy for showjumping. He was a top horse for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPcY54HZw0Y
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For everyone referencing horses from many years ago, in today's competition arenas (in whatever discipline) they wouldn't stand a chance - things have moved on, standards are very much higher and the type of horse bred then is not a patch on the purpose-bred super athlete being produced today.
 
Cortez said:
For everyone referencing horses from many years ago, in today's competition arenas (in whatever discipline) they wouldn't stand a chance - things have moved on, standards are very much higher and the type of horse bred then is not a patch on the purpose-bred super athlete being produced today.
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And he was halfs tb anyway so not even a cob :p

Fails on both counts as an argument really!
 
I agree, top to me would be CCI****/Grand Prix! Even most wb/sport horse types I wouldn't describe as 'top' competition horses! :p

I have to say though I'm normally not a cob fan at all, but I like the look of that one!
 
I didn't think your cob was ugly at all!

But agree with the other comments. No reason why a cob can't be a good all rounder but by inserting "top" this suggests 4* eventer etc!
 
soulfull said:
As said depends what you mean by top

The freestyle pri st George was won by a welsh cob owned and ridden by one of my instructors :)
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It's previously been established on the epic cob thread that welshies don't count ;). Plenty of the lighter type jumping top pony tracks anyways ;).
 
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