Potential xc or event horse?

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Nickyhorse89

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Hello everyone

I've been looking around for a while now and I've come across a lovely 15.3 cob x appy. He's been described as forward going, been out at shows and currently only hacks out because that's all his current owner likes to do.

My question is would be make a good xc or even an event horse? He'll be my first horse but I have years of experience under the saddle and loaned in the past. She's sent me a video of him popping a small jump. Looks comfortable but it is only a small jump.*

Does anyone out there have a similar breed or a cob who they event? Do they make good eventers? Is it difficult to make time when xc'ing? He's a bit of a journey away so just want to make sure I'm not wasting her or my time going to view if he is not right for me.

Thanks
 
Some cobs are really sporty. My friend has one she has evented, he can manage up to 1m and he's had plenty of wins.

It really depends what your aim is. If you want to be very competitive in BE then probably a cob isn't your first choice. If you want a really fun horse who could be fairly competitive if he's a sporty model, then get the cob.

My cob is 14.2 and she is easily doing 1m SJ tracks in lessons. She's held back by my inexperience (and because I'm a wimp!) but she does have ability in spades. She's very fast xc and bold and I enjoy it that's the most important part to me. I know a bigger flashier horse might be easier to achieve things with, but I'm happy to be doing it with a cob.
 
I have a gypsy cob x mare who I event at Novice/1* level. She should really move up to intermediate now but I don't want loose my 'amateur' status for when my youngster is out eventing so I am keeping her down at Novice (plus I do think she would struggle with the time at intermediate). She copes really well with the time and so long as I prepare her properly fitness wise she doesn't struggle at all (she was one of only two all day to make the time at Treborough novice back in July). I wouldn't swap her for anything to event on.
The only down side is that you do sometimes struggle with the judging in dressage. Some love my mare and judge her for what she personally is capable of and so we get great scores in the 20's whereas others hate her and judge her compared to the flashy warmblood/TB that were the horse before and score her mid 40's even when the tests are very similar in how she performed. She competed at the Gatcombe festival this year and one judge had her in the top 10 after dressage and the another had her nearly last out of 90 even though she her best ever test which was very neat and fault free.
 
Define eventer?

Do you mean a horse that can go out and do a BE 90/100 (or possibly Novice at a push) - in which case I would call that more of an allrounder that happens to event at low level, or do you mean a horse to do Novice + on?

If the former then I'd say the horse you describe could potentially do the job - there are a lot of if's/but's/maybe's that none of us here can answer for you - but in general there are plenty of chunkier cross breds out there doing good jobs for many riders.

If you have greater aspirations, then I'd say look for a different horse. Whilst people will be able to cite examples of horses competing up the levels with a high proportion of cob breeding I'm not sure anyone would actually set out to look for that type for that specific job. The higher up the levels you go then the harder it is for the less sporty types to gain sufficient fitness to do the job easily and minimise injury risk.
 
My first question would be how old is he, as he will require plenty of work for all 3 phases if he has only hacked for several years and it may be some time before you will really know what he can do.
I agree you need to define event horse as almost any horse can do 80/ 90/ 100 if you put in some work and as it is your first horse I am guessing you will be looking at starting at those levels and possibly moving up slowly in which case as long as he is not too set in his ways he could be a decent first fun horse if he ticks all the boxes when you try him.
 
He's 7. Apparently he's done le trec as well. I haven't done any xc competing just some combined training so I'll take some time to train up as well :)
 
I would like to up to novice possibility intermediate if I'm good enough. It just depends what I or the horse feels comfortable with.
Probably wouldn't want to stay in the low levels. He is part appy so maybe he'll go the distance (fingers crossed).
 
Nickyhorse89 said:
I would like to up to novice possibility intermediate if I'm good enough. It just depends what I or the horse feels comfortable with.
Probably wouldn't want to stay in the low levels. He is part appy so maybe he'll go the distance (fingers crossed).
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If you have never even ridden xc before then I can say with 99.9% confidence that Novice/Intermediate eventing will be way beyond what you should be thinking about short term. It's a different ball game, and unless you have serious luck and/or a very deep pocket you won't be buying a horse that can both teach you the basics safely and take you up the levels.

My advise to you would be to look for a horse that is currently competing at BE90/100 with clear rounds xc and acceptable penalties sj & dressage. The horse should be ridden by an amateur, and be shown to be safe and generous. At this stage it doesn't matter if they are not winning. I'd say you want a horse no younger than 8, and don't discount those that are in their teens (providing sound). Advise people you are a novice rider wanting to start eventing at Riding club/80cm level and need a horse that will teach you. You should expect to budget £5000-7000 for a well proven younger horse, or £3000-4000 for an older type
 
ihatework makes very sensible suggestions, if you are really ambitious and want to move on investing in a good proven horse will be worthwhile, trying to bring on something totally untried that has not even got the basics established will be hard work, not implying you are not prepared to put the work in but if it just doesn't have the talent at the end of the day the hard work will be unrewarding.

Appys are not renowned for being eventers so I would not rely on that side of his breeding to make up any shortfall from the cob, look for a purpose bred horse or a proven one so you are at least starting out with the right material trying to fit a square peg in a round hole rarely works unless you are lucky enough to find one that breaks the mould but it normally takes an experienced trainer to bring out the best in this type.
 
Nickyhorse89 said:
I would like to up to novice possibility intermediate if I'm good enough. It just depends what I or the horse feels comfortable with.
Probably wouldn't want to stay in the low levels. He is part appy so maybe he'll go the distance (fingers crossed).
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Just to check, do you mean BE Novice/Intermediate? Those are 1.10/1.15m XC courses and the dressage tests look up to about BD Elementary level to me. That is a lot to be aiming for on a first horse where neither of you have any XC experience! (Obviously you might have had masses of other training experience that you've not listed so forgive me if you have, I'm just talking about an average)
If you are talking about Unaffiliated eventing at Novice/intermediate level that would usually be 2'6" - 3' range (the descriptions vary wildly around the country) and I truly believe any horse with the right training can be competitive in this. I event my purebred Clydesdale upto 80cm with no problems at all. He is rarely the fastest across country but he is such a reliable boy that we have never (so far) had jumping faults so we have been fairly successful.
 
I've just had a read of a few of your other posts and wondered if you've budgeted for this level of competing?
£500-600 pcm on part livery is definitely a reasonable amount of money but by the time you have sorted transport, memberships, lessons and entry fees. I don't know the ins and outs of BE costs but it is huge! Even unaff eventing is not cheap entry fees will be £50-75, hire of transport could be £100 a day plus fuel, and a lesson in every discipline will add up, plus hire of XC facilities (even if you have them on your yard you would probably want to try other places too).
 
It's something that I need to look into I know :)

abbijay said:
I've just had a read of a few of your other posts and wondered if you've budgeted for this level of competing?
£500-600 pcm on part livery is definitely a reasonable amount of money but by the time you have sorted transport, memberships, lessons and entry fees. I don't know the ins and outs of BE costs but it is huge! Even unaff eventing is not cheap entry fees will be £50-75, hire of transport could be £100 a day plus fuel, and a lesson in every discipline will add up, plus hire of XC facilities (even if you have them on your yard you would probably want to try other places too).
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if the horse hasn't evented before, it is most certainly not an automatic given they will do the job either. I have had horses that were bred for the job but hated fixed fences, I have had horses that were superb XC but when push came to shove, horribly unreliable in the SJ phase. My best time out eventing was buying a horse who had experience and we knew could go on. I have bought one this time round with form at 100. Affiliated eventing is horribly expensive so not an area to play around in! there is a lot of good UA events (and normally, they run BE events, and then make money by running UA afterwards) and that is a cheaper option. I love my eventing although my pocket does not..!
 
I know, if I can find a diy assisted livery instead of part I will have some more spend. I'm planning on starting with UA to get mine and the horse's confidence up. I'm going to keep on looking around, hopefully I can find some things within my price range.

Luci07 said:
if the horse hasn't evented before, it is most certainly not an automatic given they will do the job either. I have had horses that were bred for the job but hated fixed fences, I have had horses that were superb XC but when push came to shove, horribly unreliable in the SJ phase. My best time out eventing was buying a horse who had experience and we knew could go on. I have bought one this time round with form at 100. Affiliated eventing is horribly expensive so not an area to play around in! there is a lot of good UA events (and normally, they run BE events, and then make money by running UA afterwards) and that is a cheaper option. I love my eventing although my pocket does not..!
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I'd get the horse that suits you first, and the one you like riding, rather than planning on buying an "eventer". Forums like this that people talk about how they've been out eventing etc, make it look easy. It's often not I'm afraid :(
 
Finding something that is going to be a schoolmaster to teach you xc technique but is also able to go up the levels will not be an easy task... A good top eventer nearly always has at least some attitude! Also please be aware how difficult eventing can be at the higher levels, even on an experienced horse, an inexperienced rider will struggle. As its your first horse and you're new to eventing i would definitely go for a grassroots horse (BE80-BE100) then go from there, you dont want to be buying a big fancy eventer and just giving yourself a scare when it turns into a tank around a BE90 track! Also have a good look at costs... Eventing is not cheap!! At novice level you will be paying about £80 entry for each event, plus fuel and travel and training and membership...
 
BE is a fortune. I budgeted £200 for each event by the time you've done entries, start fees, diesel, food etc

then there is lessons on top, I pay £40 & had 1 before each event.

I am in the process of buying a flat & luckily have nothing to BE this year because I would have no money !!

I would honestly look at getting yourself something around 8 or 9 that has done some low level stuff, even pony club or riding club that is nice, straightforward & honest. Nothing flashy or overly talented & build up your confidence having fun for a few years, you won't loose money on something like that & it will give you a good taster & lots of fun :)
 
Thanks. I'm looking at horse up to 10 and eventing is a long term goal for me. It'll be completely new to it so the first few years will be a whole learning process. Most of the horses I've looked at all have been out and about (not necessarily BE). It's just the odd ones like the cob x that caught my attention and got me questioning if it's possible. :)


kassieg said:
BE is a fortune. I budgeted £200 for each event by the time you've done entries, start fees, diesel, food etc

then there is lessons on top, I pay £40 & had 1 before each event.

I am in the process of buying a flat & luckily have nothing to BE this year because I would have no money !!

I would honestly look at getting yourself something around 8 or 9 that has done some low level stuff, even pony club or riding club that is nice, straightforward & honest. Nothing flashy or overly talented & build up your confidence having fun for a few years, you won't loose money on something like that & it will give you a good taster & lots of fun :)
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Nickyhorse89 said:
Thanks. I'm looking at horse up to 10 and eventing is a long term goal for me. It'll be completely new to it so the first few years will be a whole learning process.
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If you haven't evented before then going Intermediate seems very reasonable, but I'd wait until I'd been reasonably successful at BE80/90 level before I started basing my horse buying plans on that. Worse case scenario you buy a nice quality horse and get it up to BE 90 and find it cant go any further. It will be a very valuable horse and you can then sell it and have the funds for a schoolmaster or youngster who can take you to the next level :)
 
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