Irish sports horse

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I'm looking to possibly buy an Irish sports horse for my 13yr old. She is fairly confident and quite tall. Do u need to stable them during the winter or can they live out all year round ? My current 2 horses live out all year so I need the same in a new horse.
Thanks for ur thoughts x
 
I really don't think there are many horses that truly can't live out with appropriate rugging and food. And you can't really define it by breed and say "all Irish sports horses can live out". However I doubt you will have any problems if you feed and rug correctly
 
Depends. ISHs come in so many shapes and sizes. For example, my chap is registered ISH and is mostly Connemara with a touch of cob. He could quite happily cope with living out 24/7 all year round. He doesn't for several reasons. I prefer to keep my horses stabled. He's grey with white legs and gets horrendous mud fever. I have to closely monitor his weight.

Some ISH are thoroughbred types, some are hardier. If you need one to live out go for the hardier type and you should be fine.
 
My new horse is an Irish Sport, but quite breedy. Until Tuesday he was living out, no rugs and no shelter. He was fine. He had a "proper" field, as in loads of grass, little mud other than a smidge at the gateway, and tall hedges. He was also well fed, and not groomed so his coat was greasy.

I agree that most horses can live out with shelter and rugs though.

Young TBs also live out :-)
 
We have a well-known show producer around here who imports lots of irish youngsters, they all winter out without rugs, just hedges and occasional trees for shelter, plenty of haylage, and they all do just fine.
 
Irish Sport Horses can vary massively. Could be mainly tb with a bit of Irish Draught or in the case of my girl 3/4 Irish Draught and 1/4 cob. Believe me, she is hardy, she will live out, and she will get fat despite my best efforts! Neither her or her mum (1/2 ID 1/2 cob) have ever got mud fever living out 24/7. Never wore rugs unless clipped. Definitely did not need hard feed. So if you want a hardy ISH, I would suggest plenty of ID, with connemara or cob thrown in. Here is my girl at 18 months.
YpARYeam.jpg
 
My ISH absolutely thrived on being out 24/7, he is a good doer and 'more thoroughbred' than other ISH's I have seen. A lady on my new yard has an ISH and although heavier than my chap she struggles to keep the weight on him and that's stabled overnight. Depends on the horse I guess. With decent rugs/shelter/field management and forage I imagine most horses (I know there are exceptions) would be happier living out
 
My ISH is a finer animal, she's ISHxHann and a bit of a daisy! but she managed 2 months out on holiday no rugs and no added food, just the grass in the field and she was loving it, didn't really want to come in but i was bored of having no horse, i have no doubt that she'd be quite happy living out all the time appropriately rugged when clipped and fed up! Id rather she lived out as she's a complete minger in the stable!

Red-1 said:
My new horse is an Irish Sport, but quite breedy. Until Tuesday he was living out, no rugs and no shelter. He was fine. He had a "proper" field, as in loads of grass, little mud other than a smidge at the gateway, and tall hedges. He was also well fed, and not groomed so his coat was greasy.

I agree that most horses can live out with shelter and rugs though.

Young TBs also live out :-)
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Red you keep dropping this 'new horse' bomb - are you going to introduce him/ her?!
 
Any horse can live out if managed correctly - in terms of feed and rugging.

Anything with Connemara or ID in it will no doubt be that bit hardier too. My mare is ID x Connemara and is as hardy as they come :)
 
Michen said:
I really
don't think there are many horses that truly can't live out with appropriate rugging and food. And you can'er t really define it by breed and say "all Irish sports horses can live out". However I doubt you will have any problems if you feed and rug correctly
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I wish mine could he is pathetic. Even properly rugged and fed he still lost weight when out 24/7. He needed even more food and stabling. But he was ontop of a mountain so now that he is lower and nearer sea level he might survive. Otherwise though I agree they should all be fine. Wish my horse wasn't such a wuss...

You should be fine with an irish sport horse though try an irish draught too maybe or a part connie. Just look for something suitable for her the rest should be fine.
 
Have you seen one you like or are you just looking as I am sure the current owner would be able to tell you if the horse is happy living in or out.
 
i've a sports horse who looks like it should be hardy but is a disaster over winter. He struggles once mud comes and just drops weight and gets depressed. I struggled for two winters with him and then this year stabled him and he's 100% happy.
 
You aren't really asking the right question. ISH, like KWPN is a generic breeding term. You could have a cob with a white passport, called an ISH, you could have a TB X ID, or WB X....so there is no right answer. If you get an ISH with a green passport, then you will have 3 generations graded and in the top stud book. People assume that the ISH is always a straight ID X TB but this is not always the case. A TB stallion will tend to throw something that resembles a strong TB. An ID stallion tends to throw stock that looks more like a pure ID. I have had green passported ISH who would not cope with living out, I have had similar breeding who coped just fine. i have had a variety of well bred sports horses from Ireland..and not horse resembled the other in any way!
 
paddi22 said:
i've a sports horse who looks like it should be hardy but is a disaster over winter. He struggles once mud comes and just drops weight and gets depressed. I struggled for two winters with him and then this year stabled him and he's 100% happy.
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Same ^^^ two winters out - first was fine.... Second a complete disaster - gave up and brought in - 100% happy.
 
LeannePip said:
My ISH is a finer animal, she's ISHxHann and a bit of a daisy! but she managed 2 months out on holiday no rugs and no added food, just the grass in the field and she was loving it, didn't really want to come in but i was bored of having no horse, i have no doubt that she'd be quite happy living out all the time appropriately rugged when clipped and fed up! Id rather she lived out as she's a complete minger in the stable!



Red you keep dropping this 'new horse' bomb - are you going to introduce him/ her?!
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I am not sure he is ready for a proper introduction just yet, he still has fur that waves in the breeze like a cornfield. I think he will be special though, but at the moment he is lacking muscle!
 
Red-1 said:
I am not sure he is ready for a proper introduction just yet, he still has fur that waves in the breeze like a cornfield. I think he will be special though, but at the moment he is lacking muscle!
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But then we can see the progress and improvement you make with him. I want to see how hairy he is now bet it's cute.
 
You need to find out what sort of ISH it is. I've got three here at the moment - one is Shire (poss Clydesdale) x TB, one is ID x TB (looks TB) and one is WB X Cob. My previous horse was a green passported ISH - but his recorded breeding was all KWPN.

All the above live(d) out 24/7 perfectly happily, even when clipped out. Ad lib forage and decent hard feed are more important than breeding when it comes to living as nature intended
 
It depends on the individual horse not the breed; my friends Irish cob is far less hardy than my Welsh sports horse (Section D x TB) - he is always noticeably colder than her. We rug to body temperature so check them everyday; if she's in a zero fill he's usually in a 40g or 70g. My mare is much finer and much older than the cob - our experience has blown away any preconceptions we had about breed, build or age.
 
It all depends on the individual horse, we have two who are very VERY different. They're both a mixture of TB and ID with no WB/Connie/anything else.

Jazz is mostly TB and is the finer built of the two, but he's a hardy little soul. He grows a winter coat like a polar bear. He gets a handful of hard feed twice a day, really just for his hoof supplement and SarcEx to go in, and ad lib hay. The weather doesn't bother him at all, I think he'd lived out 24/7 until I bought him as a 6 year old!

Harley is half ID and built like the end of a house. He drops condition incredibly easily. His winter coat is very thin and he needs to be kept warm to keep weight on. He eats at least 4/5 times as much hard feed as Jazz, as well as ad lib hay. He would NOT want to live out all year round, he's very unhappy out in bad weather.

Going on ours, you can't even tell by looking at them which ones are going to be cheap and/or easy to keep; Harley looks much sturdier but is a big wimp, Jazz is quite fine but has the constitution of a native pony!
 
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