Irish Draughts..yay or nay?

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QueenDee_

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Been toying with the idea of putting my Trakenher mare in foal and was wondering about people's opinions on Irish Draughts? I'd be looking for a nice all rounder, hunting, jumping, a bit of dressage etc and would of course like a nice temperament as my mare is a lovely sweet horse who is a nice all rounder. But I was wondering if I might end up with something too heavy as shes about a medium build I would say.

That said I think I've already fell in love with 'Avanti Amorous Archie' during stallion window shopping earlier :o

Pictures welcome of your Irish Draughts/Irish Draught crosses ;)
 
Archie is super, and he does exactly what it says on his website pages. Having met him in the flesh a couple of times, he is a lovely big horse, light on his feet and moves really well. His temperament is just outstanding. Have a read through his testimonial pages.

He stamps his stock each and every time, the pictures on his facebook and stud pages will show you the type of stock he gets from non ID mares.

I have no knowledge of Trakenher's but if she is a big weight carrying mare you would get a substantial foal crossing her with an ID.

Speak to Mrs Jennings she will give you the best guidance possible and won't push you towards Archie or any Draught if she thinks it is not the way to go for your needs.

Janet George is another ID breeder with endless knowledge.

I am thrilled to bits with my Archie filly out of a cob mare. Got what I wanted, substantial weight carrier, kind, gentle temperament and very quick to learn.

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For what you are wanting in a foal I'd say that an ID stallion would be a great choice! I owned an Irish Sports Horse; Diamond Abstract who was 1/2 ID, 1/4 TB and 1/4 KWPN and he was amazing! I'm not going to lie, he had an AWFUL temperament but he really was a wonder horse. I bought him as a showjumper from Belguim and, after doing a bit of showjumping, I began his dressage training and we went on to win three local championship dressage titles together! He has now been sold on to an eventing home and he is now proving to have a very succcessful eventing career, on top of his previous dressage and showjumping career. So in short, yes I would reccomend an ID stallion as they produce stunning horses (usually with very good temperaments!!) who are capeable of excelling in anything!
Here is a picture of me and my boy out showing at Prestiege:
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Definately yay! I have one and he's everything you've described you want. Will do pretty much anything you tell him :) I also love my Irish twit :D
 
I love irish horses! This is a pic of me on my mums 3/4 ID gelding showing a few years ago. He is so laid back, we've dressed him up in all sorts of fancy dress costumes, had total beginners on him of all sizes, yet he now also has an extra gear for xc and occasional beach galloping :) Love him to bits, even if he can be a little clumsy and 'irish' sometimes :p

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Another vote for yay. I have an ISH but love ID. Luckily my boy has inherited the ID temperament. Very willing, honest and brave. Love Irish horses :)
 
Thanks for the replys! I've added Archie's stud on FB and had a flick through all their pictures, looks a lovely boy with a kind eye and moves nicely to:D

I love you're grays horsemadelsie & LollyDolly i'm a sucker for a pretty dapple though with my mare being black there is no chance of one of those coming out:o
 
Elena said:
I love you're grays horsemadelsie & LollyDolly i'm a sucker for a pretty dapple though with my mare being black there is no chance of one of those coming out:o
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Don't be silly. If you breed her to a grey stallion with two copies of the grey gene, the foal will have a 100% chance of being a grey. If you breed to a grey stallion with one grey gene, the foal will have a 50% chance of going grey.

I feel though, that rather than thinking about the colour, you need to think about what you want to breed. Also you really need to look at your mare. What are her areas of strength and what are her weak areas? Just being a trakehner, is not a good enough reason to breed. Is she sound, with good confo and temperament? Is she athletic?

If she is great in all areas and worth breeding from, then you still need to select the correct stallion that will improve her weaker things (eg, maybe she's long in the back - so you shouldn't put her to a stallion that is also long backed).
 
Faracat said:
Don't be silly. If you breed her to a grey stallion with two copies of the grey gene, the foal will have a 100% chance of being a grey. If you breed to a grey stallion with one grey gene, the foal will have a 50% chance of going grey.

I feel though, that rather than thinking about the colour, you need to think about what you want to breed. Also you really need to look at your mare. What are her areas of strength and what are her weak areas? Just being a trakehner, is not a good enough reason to breed. Is she sound, with good confo and temperament? Is she athletic?

If she is great in all areas and worth breeding from, then you still need to select the correct stallion that will improve her weaker things (eg, maybe she's long in the back - so you shouldn't put her to a stallion that is also long backed).
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I meant getting a grey out of my mare if I put her to Archie:p

But yes I know what you mean and if I were to become more certain about having a foal from her i'd look at the conformation in more detail but at the moment i'm just window shopping really, but shes a nice all round mare with a lovely temperament and nicely built so I wouldn't have too many problems in 'cancelling out her faults' as it were, had more of a problem with that and my other mare, we eventually managed to find a suitable stallion but he still inherited his mothers 'feist':o
 
yay! but wouldnt you have to speak to your vet because of the width of your mares pelvis (foal getting stuck)? just a thought, i dont know how heavy a trakenher is, all i know is thats its a a sport horse xx
 
The base colours are chestnut or black, with black being dominant over chestnut. So a horse with one chestnut and one black gene will look black. Every other colour is caused by other genes altering the base colour. EG bay is caused by the agouti gene lightening a black horse's body colour (hense why a bay horse has black points). Agouti has no effect on chestnut.

Grey is dominant and you only need one copy for a foal to 'grey out' and it works on both black and chestnut based colours. :)
 
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