Is your horse multi - functional?

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buckybee

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I was just wondering - we expect our horses to do a bit of everything - to compete at a not very high standard but affiliated - hunt all season and maybe the odd WH etc. They seem to enjoy the variety though.

Do you concentrate one discapline, or do you do lots of stuff and how do you think this effects your horses atitude towards his work? Also, what breed/type is your horse??
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Mine is a 6yo ISH and i do a bit of everything with him. Over the winter i did just BSJA and he got very stale and started misbehaving. Friends horse did the same. Learnt a lesson from that! Therefore think it is very important to give horses variety, especially when they are young!
 
I do absolutely everything with Castle!
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I mainly hunt with him, but also do a bit of dressage, showjumping, hunter trialling, and hoping to start polo on him at some stage!
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Have also planned to do equitation and WHP classes with him
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Do a bit of everything on mine, Hannovarian x ISH, she is 9 this year. She was bred to jump, but I am now doing some dressage, have been doing the Winter Trec Series, hack, fun rides, hunting, hunter trial next week, and just the odd small SJ class now. Keeps us both entertained
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I do just about everything.
Dressage, Event, Jump, Trec (New one), Endurance.
Jack of all trades, master of none!!
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Mines a Welsh Cob. 14yrs old. Owned for 12yrs

We did BSJA for a year until the jumps got too big! Just started our 3rd year BE. Also do Unaff Dressage, Hunter Trials. Hunt in the winter sometimes. Loads of hacking.

Done BHS Hunter Trials, Trailblazers SJ, all Riding Club teams, the odd bit of showing. Used to lead youngsters out hacking - ponies with/without riders, still ride and lead Shettie. Go on 6hr exploratory hacks with friends sometimes, and she comes on my holidays.

Have had and still having brilliant fun with her and can honestly say she loves it all. Variety is the spice of life!!!
 
Haha, he can't be any worse than spadge the fadge - he jumps like a hunter when he's showjumping and a show jumper when he's hunting!
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Just my luck!

U still pissed by the way??
 
Mine keeps us at a level of poverty we are now used to.
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We have also learnt new skills, building (a stable) fencing, sewing (rugs shredded on barbed wire which is why we took replacing the fencing). As for the horse she likes to test our workmanship to the limit
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Haha, he can't be any worse than spadge the fadge - he jumps like a hunter when he's showjumping and a show jumper when he's hunting!
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Just my luck!

U still pissed by the way??

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lol yes I am be a little bit- I was going to go to the pub but I couldnt hack it, and I have this stupid course essay to write. uuugh. Think dad was less than impressed when Kimey shouted "whey its little miss Boothy"
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Bo is a showjumper.....and when he's not sj'ing, he hacks out or schools in preparation for sj'ing
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He did do one x-country last year...but didn't like the water (or more the going into it
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) so we haven't done another one.

In a previous life he used to be a dressage horse though
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Yes i know!! i was feeling a little "EEAKKK!!" at that point!! Poor daddy Crossland! did he say anything?? My dad liked him, he was much nicer than I had imagined!
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lol no, he just let it ride, much like when he turned up to the opening meet nd I had "RB" clipped onto his bum instead of "RCB" ooops.
Rambo your horse sounds lovely, you dont post enough pictures of him up!
 
Mine do indoor carriage driving in the winter as singles, and a bit of dressage and horse driving trials as a pair in the summer, they never jump, but occasionaly hack.
 
Pidge is 10yo ISH and we did SJ, ridden hunter and dressage last year comp wise. This year I want to do SJ, ridden and working hunter, dressage and HT's.
We also hack, school, jump, loose school, lunge oh and have also done some XC fences - as if anyone could have missed that fact
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All of ours are multifunctional. Mel has shown successfuly as a show hunter pony and working hunter, including nat champs etc, we did PC dressage teams, he's yard escort out hacking, teaches beginners, does side saddle and takes my mum, who's just had a knee replacement, hunting at least once a week, usually twice, all through the season. He adjusts himself to suit the rider! I don't think we'll find another like him
 
Louis is 15 yr old Hienz 57. I compete predominantly dressage but we used to do SJing. Now I still jump once a wk and do occasional comps as he's a talented jumper. He's fab at XC and we do HT's, XC training and sponsored rides. We've also done some unaffiliated eventing. Louis' a really versatile little horse and can turn his hoof to most things, I mainly compete dressage as it's my preference but he'd also make a super eventer. He's also a pleasure to hack alone and in company.

Louis needs and enjoys the variety. Although he is a super dressage horse he absolutely loves jumping, hacking and XC and needs the change. If I focus of schooling too much and don't give him variety he starts getting bored and creating new evasions! His little face always lights up when he sees jumps in the arena
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I like to have horses which are nice RC/PC type horses, ones which will do anything. Although I my first love is eventing it does mean that I have to showjump and dressage as well. A few years back I even took my 15.2hh 5 year old to a pony club games practise. I want to have happy horses hate to see them go stale so variety is the spice of life.
 
Mine is fairly multi-functional. She did indoor SJ all winter, will be doing a bit of eventing this summer. I also would like to hunt next year (couldn't this year cos I hurt my back) and we'll be doing the outdoor SJ season as well. We do some Working Hunter classes at local shows, fun rides, cross country clinics etc etc, riding club team SJ, whatever takes my fancy really.

I think unless you are specialising in a certain disapline as a career move or you hate jumping or something like that, most horses need to be able to do a bit of everything for practical reasons. I enjoy competitions but there simply aren't that many 'ODEs' or 'prelim dressage' or 'Working Hunter classes' near enough for it to be worth me organising transport. So in order to be able to get out and about lots, we do a variety of things. Personally I bought my horse to have fun with and whilst it would be wonderful to get placed at a pre-novice event, in reality I'm just as happy going to the Stockland Lovel fun day and playing on the XC course for an hour or two.
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My boy needs variety. Heres what we did the last 10 days

Saturday SJ training with David Gatherer
Sunday XC training with David Gatherer
Monday Day off
Tuesday Flatwork schooling
Wednesday Hacking
Thursday Hacking
Friday Flatwork training
Saturday BD competition
Sunday Day off
Monday Hacking

I find he's best if I do a couple of days jumping before we go to BD as it really perks up his paces.
 
Sienna is the ultimate versatile horse, which is why I like irish horses.
She has shown at HOYS
PN evented
PC rallies & general stewards horse
BD dressage
won money BSJA
all rc teams
very hard to eat hunter trialling as she is a whiz with gates
the best hunter in the world
impeccable manners at all times and would hack down the M4 with granny on board
hard to beat in any class at local shows which she competes in periodically with a selection of young people who get to ride & compete her as a reward for helping out

The only job she hasn't yet been successful at is being a mum, and hopefully that will change soon
 
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Rambo your horse sounds lovely, you dont post enough pictures of him up!

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Awww...thanks
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I have to admit we don't take that many photo's of either of them anymore
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Gave up video'ing his SJ'ing as OH says she prefers to watch rather than film, and most of the BSJA venues we compete at don't have photographers, or have photographers without websites
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Hopefully Towerlands next week might give us some though
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Sienna is ace

Dolly is a showjumper and thats it. You would have to be pretty desperate to want to do dressage on her. Hacking is also fun as she is on an absolute mission. But she is worth putting up with.
 
mine will have a go at anything... not very good at most things, Never been round a course of show jumps, so we had better practise that before we go to a small local ode...

will do dressage, in a fashion, often gets bored and runs of with u in the arena.

XC/HT, gallops round at 100mph, jumps over what he wants and runs out at the rest.

Hunting, only been once, and that was in woodland, so cantering down tracks in single file, therefore he was well behaved. What he would be like out in open fields, god knows!
 
mines a really good allrounder,she's a Welsh D.We've done dressage,xc,sj and le trec! all at low level though.Now she seems fine after her injury i'm hoping to hunt her next season.Then hopefully do higher level everything! She loves to please and enjoys most things.
My last pony i did everything on,hunt,PC all events,bit of endurance with the help of a exp endurance friend.She was a welshxarab.
 
Mine and OH's are both totally versatile (which ad was that from?)
Since I've had him, my little horse has done SJ (up to BN level), dressage, XC, hunter trials, le Trec, endurance, we hack lots, and he will give any horse a lead these days. He didn't like water but is fine with it now! He not only does all these things but does them well, having been placed in most disciplines now (apart from le Trec but we only did that once!) The only thing we don't really do is showing but that is because I don't really enjoy the classes he would be eligible for - because he is a pure bred arab, we are a bit limited!!
OH's Irish mare will also turn a hoof to most things, not suer endurance would be her thing but unlike my noy she will probably do quite well showing as she gives a lovely ride and will be doing some WH classes. She's supposedly an ace hunter too!
We couldn't really afford to have horses that didn't do everything we want in one package, as we certainly couldn't afford any more horses!! And love going to all sorts of different competitions!!
 
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