Irish Draught competition horse?

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blackhut

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I am looking to purchase a new horse as my old mare has decided jumping is not for her any more:( I have thought about a youngster to bring on and like the temprament and build of the Irish Draught. ( I am 6'2" and 13 stone, Male) so need a weight carrier. I would like to produce an all rounder capable of hopefully eventing at the lower level up tp BE 90 and similar height in SJ. Would the ID be a suitable horse for such a Job, any one allready out there doing it on and ID, thoughts please.
 
Yes, myID girl is out there and being successful in the eventing world at BE 90 sand BSJA (not with me, currently in loan). She is a lighter type but all the same Full ID and lives to jump.

What she looses in speed she makes up for in the fact that she is a 100pc organized and careful jumper and nearly always brings home a rosette. Her dressage is always up there as well, although she does hate it!!

The person who has her is a brilliant rider but sticks with this horse because she completely trusts her jumping, etc which means that she really enjoys herself, rather than having that awful fear feeling which you get with something less 'solid'!!

If you PM I will send some photos!
 
I have a pure irish draught mare, old fashioned heavyweight type and old owner did dressage with her and she was apparently very good at it. She excells at jumping too and really enjoys it. Deffinetly great choice breed for an allrounder :)
 
Yes, definitely, a true ID would be perfect, but the ID breeding has been infiltrated by quite a lot of warmblood so sometimes it's difficult to find a true old-fashioned ID with the sort of bone you'll need... some "pure ID"s are surprisingly light in bone nowadays imho.
ID's attitude is usually excellent ime, they are smart but in a helpful way, usually!
Good luck with your quest.
 
I worked for someone who breeds IDs, and was quite high up in the ID society in Ireland, and so have ridden quite of few ID's now!
A more modern type would suit for competition use, and nevermind 90cm tracks, some ID's are Grade A showjumpers. Despite their 'heft' they are very atheletic much more so than other draft breeds. They also seem to mostly be natural jumpers and gallopers. Deffo reccommend!
 
certainly! My lad is IDx (but looks like a full ID) and he events up to be100, and will jump anything out hunting. He's brave and dependable and he's the most easy horse to have around.

You could do a lot worse than an ID!
 
Yes!! If you are looking for a cracking horse JanetGeorge on here breeds them and what she doesn't know about the breed isn't worth knowing. My ID came over from Ireland however if I was looking for another I would definitely go to her.
 
I love my ISH he is good looking with presence, and willing, a good & honest type, with lots of personality.

Given that ISH is a relatively small breed, listed as a rare breed I understand, Irish Draught & Irish Draught X have been represented at the highest competition levels consistently for many years.
 
Yes they would be perfect for the job!- I love irish horses, and their temperaments- I have 2 I.D part breds and have owned them since 3 and 4 yr olds- one is an I.S.H also has t.b and Clydesdale in his breeding and is so kind natured, yet extremely sharp! he has brothers that are internatonal SJ'ers and eventers but he doesn't like jumping, he likes dressage!

We do not know my other boys exact breeding, but he was bought over from Ireland as a 4 yr old and he has done everything from Cross country to B.N showjumping, combined training, he's had a go at showing as he looks like a proper MW hunter! and dressage- again his real talent is for dressage as he moves lovely and is working at med level- loads of people over the years says that he has the King Of Diamonds character as must have a lot of that in his breeding, and my physio thinks he has some warmblood in the mix too- so who knows really! he's a real character!

I don't think you can go far wrong with an irish draught! i love them! good luck!
 
Cant beat the old fashioned type IDs for power and temperament. Love them. Worked with them at stud and our stallion was so gentle, we would just hop on him bareback without a second thought.
 
I have one of janets full ID babies and hope to do some decent dressage on him, he clears a ground pole like it's on the top of the wings, and has lovely paces and a great attitude.

I think you can't go far wrong with a good ID!

My othe horse is a WBxTBxID and he is useless, has a genetic muscle disorder and has been unrideable for the best part of three years, even though he looks every inch a competition horse!
 
well I can definitely recommend the Irish Draught. My pure bred seems quite willing to turn his hoof to anything and is a quick learner and has a sane and sensible outlook on life. perhaps not the speediest though, ha ha. In my experience they are not the quickest to mature and therefore need to be looked at as a long term project.

if you go onto the IDHS web site, there is a "for sale" section and many knowledgeable people breeding and producing pure and part breds. Janet will definitely give you some pointers and if she can't help you, will probably know someone who can.

Its true that the old fashioned draught is less fashionable now (no ploughing or cart pulling required, LOL) but I think the more athletic types are as a result of some TB blood being introduced quite a number of years back in a select few stallions (K of D ???) and mares. Its true, Ireland now stand a lot of Warmbloods masquerading as "Irish" Horses, but to be registered in this country with the IDHS the horse must be a pure bred (RID) or RID x TB (Irish Draught Sport Horse). No foreign blood allowed !

Pure breds (RID's) are a rare breed but not classed as endangered, yet ! I think the term ISH covers a multitude of things - almost anything bred in Ireland it seems and I'm pretty sure its not a 'breed', more of a description of an sporty horse bred in Ireland or with some Irish blood in it.

Good luck in your search. IMO, nothing beats an Irish horse :)
 
the old fashioned ones are more compact and actually make fantastic jumpers. I know ours was Irish bred and obviously a registered ID stallion, and his sire was full brother to KD. Their mum was half tb.

The Registered ones are more expensive but worth it in my opinion.
 
Thanks for all your information, I have now purchased one of Janet Georges RID's 5 year old gelding 16.2, will keep you all informed as to the progress we make. The one comment my friend made after seeing his photo was loveley looking horse in any other colour (he is very light dapple grey) any advice on keeping them clean????????
 
blackhut said:
Thanks for all your information, I have now purchased one of Janet Georges RID's 5 year old gelding 16.2, will keep you all informed as to the progress we make. The one comment my friend made after seeing his photo was loveley looking horse in any other colour (he is very light dapple grey) any advice on keeping them clean????????
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Congrats on your new purchase Blackhut!- your new boy sounds lovely- looking forward to some pics!- dapple greys are gorgeous by the way- my little coloured chap i have is always getting grubby and i still haven't fathomed out how to stop him getting stained, but he's happy anyway!
 
Defo! I have a 4yr old ID gelding who is standing at 17.2hh atm and still growing! :eek: He is very old world ID and has a huge amount of bone on him. When i first got him he went so slow he was practically going backwards! lol. But after only 3 months of training he is now very forward going and showing great potential over jumps. He is still not the speediest boy in the world but his extremely large strides make up for it. :D Hoping to compete him next year and eventually do some eventing. :)
 
We have 2 RIDs - one 17.2, one 18hh - they're such dudes - hunt, jump & such nice people :)

They're both grey - one is ultra clean and never has a mark on him - the other is ultra dirty and never stays clean!

They get dirty marks washed off whenever they get them - quick warm water sponge over ever morning - so they never get the dirt grimed into their coats and staining. Most shampoos are adequate for every day dirt - I use a combination of Wahl Dirty Beastie, Tea Tree and Diamond White :)
 
Archina said:
Defo! I have a 4yr old ID gelding who is standing at 17.2hh atm and still growing! :eek: He is very old world ID and has a huge amount of bone on him. When i first got him he went so slow he was practically going backwards! lol. But after only 3 months of training he is now very forward going and showing great potential over jumps. He is still not the speediest boy in the world but his extremely large strides make up for it. :D Hoping to compete him next year and eventually do some eventing. :)
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Thanks Archina

Exactly what I want to do, a good allrounder, hunt, jump, BS,BE and if I must Dressage, (my wife can do the flat work she loves it) have you found yours took well to training?
 
A quick update for you all, the new boy passed the vet with flying colours and is now at home after a 5 hr journey from Janets to East Yorkshire. Indigo Thornton is his name he has been with us 10 days now and has settled in very well (loves our neighbours TB), not so certain about out very dominant Cob mare! let him settle in for 3 days before I rode him, got on and you would think he had done it all his life, just got on with the job in hand, schooled him for 20 mins then decided he was so chilled he could go for a hack, again he just took it all in his stride. Did the same the next night, then last Sturday decided to hack him on one of our longer off road routes, totally incident free! His first lesson was monday of this week, loaded fine, got a bit hot and bothered in the trailer but once at my trainers he soon settled, then last night up to one of our more low key evening jumping competitions, again sweated up in the trailer but after 10 minutes of walking around in hand chilled right down tacked him up and took him in the warm up arena (grass) walk trot and canter on both reins in a nice soft contact, I cant beleive this boy is not yet 5 hope it continues!
 
ISH - type rather than a breed. Typically people assume its a straight ID x TB but with the influx of warmbloods into Ireland, that it no longer the case. The Irish seem to have done a complete reversal and gone back to breeding ID x TB again as the warmblood crosses didnt (in most cases) seem as good as the "traditionial" crosses. A full green passport means that 3 generations of breeding are known and registered and with my most recent ISH, he come having been DNA tested as well.

Pure ID - originally known for having to be a true all rounder, pull a plough and still be able to hunt and look smart enough to do so. A well bred ID should certainly be able to do all you want to do easily and while yes, your horse might struggle a bit with the speed, keeping "it" fit will help and also, you can make up time with an good jumper that can get away from its fences as well.

Just one small word of warning.. if you do buy a young ID, then they don't really come into their own till they are 6 or 7 and you can expect quite a bit of expansion when they muscle up!
 
Just got to add, my traditional RID stallion, when graded with SHB, wowed them with his jumping and technique (Graham Fletcher loved him). He got higher scores for his confo than the HIS stallion we had too!
Our young lad who has graded this year, when practising for his jumping lane, popped a 3' 9" oxer with ease and enthusiasm. Also don't think that you have to go for KoD or Clover Hill lines, neither of mine have them in their pedigree and can jump!
 
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