'strange' breed combination?

[Pippity]

If we're talking weird breeding, my old share horse was by a PRE and out of a Friesian/TB cross. He had fabulous movement, really trainable attitude, and he'd absolutely try his heart out for you. But, as you'd expect with that combination, he was very sharp, very reactive, and not a lot of fun to hack unless you were a lot braver than me!

 

[pansymouse]

I have a D x TB and she is an amazing pony. Will be 30 at the start of the year and she looks like a 12 yo and is still in full work. (Very fast and forward going). It’s actually a common cross. I also have an Exmoor x TB and a Dartmoor x TB.

My D x TB is 27 and still a great looker and very forward going. She's my second D x TB and exactly the breeding I'll look for in my next horse. She's a TB mare D stallion cross and much more refined than my previous one who was D mare, TB stallion.

Them weirdest cross I've seen is a gypsy cob x arab - he looked like a cob and moved like an arab

 

[pansymouse]

I've got a Comtois x TB mare, she's proving to be great cross. Stands at 15/15.1 with working hunter type build. Bought as a happy hacker but is proving to be capable of so much more.
Now she's got the hang of circles she's showing some smart flat work, enjoys jumping but sensible hack and a good doer. Has the broadest chest I've seen on a horse so plenty of heart/lung space but surprisingly not wide to ride, saddle MW-W which is narrower than my ID. And most importantly has a fab personality, loves people, easy to handle etc - think equine Labrador

That sounds like a lovely cross - bet she's a real looker too.

 

[Auslander]

i rode a couple of stunning little horses when I was younger - they were a driving pair of Norwegian Fjord x Hanoverians. They looked like small warmbloods, but were dark dun, with silver manes and tails, primitive marked legs, and dorsal stripes. I really really wanted one of them to event, but they were very successful driving horses, so I got short shrift when I suggested a career change!

 

[Cortez]

I've had some lovely ID X Arab horses, didn't look like either an Arab or an Irish Draught, they were just really nice tempered, chunky, classy little guys. The Trés Sangres is an interesting cross (TB X Arab X PRE), if you like a very high-powered, workaholic ride!

 

[Lacuna]

Used to share a Shetland x Cob. Basically looked like an nearly 13hh Shetland and could shift like the clappers when she wanted.

 

[Ceifer]

Not particularly weird cross but having had a WBxTB that although was beautifully put together, was a complete and utter fruit loop that I put down to the wb dopey sharp nature with the speed of a tb it put me off the combination for life.
We had a beautiful TB x shire that was a breeding ‘accident’ but turned out to be one of the best horses I’ve ridden.

 

[Mrs B]

I had a TB x Welsh D known as Bumble ... much too talented for me, so he went to spend his career at Holme Farm Equestrian centre - had a hell of a pop in him as anyone jumping on the circuits up there who knew him around 10 years ago would tell you!

 

[tristar]

I've had some lovely ID X Arab horses, didn't look like either an Arab or an Irish Draught, they were just really nice tempered, chunky, classy little guys. The Trés Sangres is an interesting cross (TB X Arab X PRE), if you like a very high-powered, workaholic ride!

got a few of them, currently am lieing on sofa in recovery, specially from the one that is 16.2hh and mainly powerful tb

 

[PurBee]

Not the best picture posted but Mine are welsh D X arab...the black mare is mother to the grey. She’s 50%/50 Welsh DXArab, and she mated with a pure grey egyptian arab stallion and produced the grey dapple monster!

So they’re both fairly easy keepers, have some stoutness to their frame, rather than lean arab looking, their temperament is very attentive and aware, yet sensible, while also having very chilled-out moods. I really like the combo of hot and cool! Lol

 

[teddypops]

My D x TB is 27 and still a great looker and very forward going. She's my second D x TB and exactly the breeding I'll look for in my next horse. She's a TB mare D stallion cross and much more refined than my previous one who was D mare, TB stallion.

Them weirdest cross I've seen is a gypsy cob x arab - he looked like a cob and moved like an arab

That’s funny because I saw a highland Arab cross and although it was very cute, it looked like a highland and moved like an Arab!

 

[atropa]

I definitely don't think a Welsh TB is a weird cross, I havent had any experience of them myself but I imagine they are excellent athletic horses.

I have see some lovely top end competitive x shires. I think if you put a proper shire in front of event people / dressage people they would die. But the x's can seem to come up with wonderful work attitudes (which goes a long way when competing) if the x gets the physical attributes in

There is a Shire x TB on my yard who events, I would never have thought there was any Shire in her.

the highland x TBs i rode were not as much fun may have been fluke but they had highland stubborn-ness on TB speed legs, hehe

Not a fluke, can confirm that my Highland x TB can be a nightmare, all the stubbornness of a Highland with a huge amount of TB stamina and speed :|

I met a guy in Dumfriesshire who was breeding 'Arabo-Friesians." Yup -- Friesians crossed with Arabs, although most of his weren't straight F1 crosses. He was trying to create more of a type, rather than a random cross, by breeding F1 and F2 Arab-Friesians to other quality F1s and also back to purebred Friesians. They were nice horses. Well put together, lovely movers, seemed friendly. Really pretty. I would have one. He was knowledgeable and thoughtful about his breeding program and knew what he was doing.

Unlike in the US, where it's a fad to cross Friesians with literally anything. Friesian-QH, Friesian-Appaloosa, Friesian-paint, Friesian-Belgian... you name it, someone's done it. A lot of them look weird.

Interesting, I actually thought Arabo-Friesians were a very common US cross but hadn't heard of any being bred in the UK, will need to look him up since he is reasonably local.

 

[Jeni the dragon]

We saw a team of Arab x Freisans at WEG, they were absolutely stunning! There were a group of us all planning on smuggling them onto the bus home!
And actually found a picture of them!

 

[Mildlander]

That sounds like a lovely cross - bet she's a real looker too.

She is - well I think so. I'll find a photo and post it - if I can work out how!

 

[ester]

I met a guy in Dumfriesshire who was breeding 'Arabo-Friesians." Yup -- Friesians crossed with Arabs, although most of his weren't straight F1 crosses. He was trying to create more of a type, rather than a random cross, by breeding F1 and F2 Arab-Friesians to other quality F1s and also back to purebred Friesians. They were nice horses. Well put together, lovely movers, seemed friendly. Really pretty. I would have one. He was knowledgeable and thoughtful about his breeding program and knew what he was doing.
.

There's quite a few doing elite driving trials, generally called turbo friesians.

 

[ApolloStorm]

I own a welsh D, who’s grown like a weed to 16hh, as I clip his leg fluff off, I am constantly being asked if he is a D x TB. I love the shock on people’s faces when I tell him not only is he a pure D he’s also got excellent breeding! Either way if he was a mare I’d have no hesitation about doing a cross with a TB or possibly some kind of WB. He is flashy and scopey he just lacks the real speed needed to do anything over BE100.
I’ve also owned a shire x ( possibly cob). Who had the most lovely temperament. Although I never really found the limit of her ability she wasn’t classically athletic, she found dressage hard, but on the hunt field she was totally at home. I ended up selling her to a fantastic home. But nothing I regret more than selling her.

 

[Courbette]

I used to ride a PRE x Highland. My favorite horse breed and my favorite pony breed combined.

 

[DabDab]

Yup, native x tb is super common and usually turns out really useful horses. Although tbh I think tb crossed anything is a winner ?.
I have a Knabstrupper x tb who is a class class act (I am very biased). She's a quirky critter in some ways but is sharp, sensitive, brave and a real workaholic. Would have another like her in a second, she's the perfect type for riding club type competition and general leisure riding, very similar to the tb-native crosses.

I also have a PRE x Hannovarian who is a big beautiful lump of a horse. Not the most useful temperament for modern horse ownership if I'm honest, but would probably have made an excellent cavalry horse back in the day. Also his conformation and way of going doesn't much suit modern horse sports. Would probably make a good driving horse too.

 

[blitznbobs]

I used to ride a Welsh d cross hannovarian .... a- ma- zing trot, looked fab but hated jumping and canter was little and struggled with lateral work. His trot work was Grand Prix his canter work was basically a good novice test ... pity really.

 

[Spanny]

The Trés Sangres is an interesting cross (TB X Arab X PRE), if you like a very high-powered, workaholic ride!

I used to ride one of these when I was younger. He was an old boy by then but is still one of my favourite horses ever. He didn't understand galloping at all - his party piece when loose in the field was the biggest trot you've ever seen. When we encountered something scary out hacking (cows or ponies pulling carts were particular triggers for him) he'd grow a hand, snort like a dragon and passage on the spot. Usually while I was trying not to fall off due to laughing at him...

 

[EventingMum]

I have owned an arab x and have another as a livery. Both came from the same stud and although I'd never have thought of this cross both are/were super. Ours was my son's 148cm jumping pony and could turn her hoof to anything. The livery is probably 15.3hh and although he hasn't done a lot of competing is a very capable horse. Both had/have super temperaments, level headed but with extra gears when needed.

 

[Gloi]

My Welsh D x Icelandic who is gaited and an absolute sweetheart

 

[Melody Grey]

I recently got told by someone online that my welsh sec D cross TB was a very strange mix, and he looked out of proportion, because of said weird breeding. I thought that was a common breed combination, since, as proved by said successful event and dressage horse, make resilient handy horses? any one else got a welsh sec D X Tb? or another 'strange' breed combination that actually makes a good competition horse? amongst the ish and warmbloods?

Mine is Welsh C x some kind of sports horse (TB a strong possibility). I’ve known lots of WelshxTB though so wouldn’t consider yours an uncommon Cross.

 

[Rokele55]

My father hunted hounds from a suffolk punch x TB. She was awesome, jumped like a stag and crossed the ground (particularly the plough) at great speed. Deeply ugly though....

 

[Ceifer]

Used to share a Shetland x Cob. Basically looked like an nearly 13hh Shetland and could shift like the clappers when she wanted.

Shetland brain with a larger body sounds like something that may plot to take over the world ?

 

[gemisastar]

Have in the past had a Welsh (probably c rather than d) x tb and she was a fabulous pony, about 14.3hh. Current horse is ID x cob (dam) x PBA sire (registered as 33% Arab) , has finished up about 15hh and is like a lightweight TURBO cob - I'm not sure what her breeder was intending but she is super! Leg in each corner but default mode is forward. Have seen others by the same breeder by the same sire and they all look the same.

 

[planete]

I have had a highland x arab who was much the same build as a welsh D. He became a very good all-rounder. My Lipi x arab is a weird mixture, looked made of spare parts until he was seven, was the most argumentative and opinionated so-and-so to break, ultra sensitive and sharp but genuinely kind even if not inclined to tolerate fools gladly. I spent many hours wondering if he was cleverer than I at one point! He certainly taught me a lot.

 

[Caol Ila]

The Arabo-Friesian breeder I met was very into his competitive driving. He competed his stallion and some of the mares, and there were photos of him driving four-in-hand. He was also running a program teaching people with disabilities how to drive (not the Arabo-Friesans...he had a stable-full of less hot things for that job), which was why I was talking to him, and had designed wheelchair-friendly carts. I'm not going to lie... I was secretly more interested in the Arabo-Friesians than the story I was meant to be doing. They were so stunning.

Arabs and TBs cross well with lots of horses, hence them being the classic breeds for refining or increasing genetic diversity of other breeds.

A fellow boarder at my barn in CO had a Friesian-PRE. Beautiful mare, but bonkers. All of the hotness of both breeds, and very little of the trainability. You could not have paid me to get on that. The owner bought her as a two-year old to bring on, and I don't think she was too keen, either.

i rode a couple of stunning little horses when I was younger - they were a driving pair of Norwegian Fjord x Hanoverians. They looked like small warmbloods, but were dark dun, with silver manes and tails, primitive marked legs, and dorsal stripes. I really really wanted one of them to event, but they were very successful driving horses, so I got short shrift when I suggested a career change!

This surpises me. I knew some people who were serious about their Fjords, and they told me that the Fjord studbook takes a dim view of outcrossing. If you breed a registered Fjord to something that isn't a Fjord (and someone finds out), your horse will be kicked out of the studbook, and none of its progeny can ever be registered again. One friend who had a cute little Fjord mare considered breeding her, but she wasn't that keen on another purebred Fjord -- wanted something a bit bigger and leggier -- and she didn't want her mare booted out of the studbook. So she bought a Connie-X instead.

You don't see many Fjord-crosses.

 

[Auslander]

This surpises me. I knew some people who were serious about their Fjords, and they told me that the Fjord studbook takes a dim view of outcrossing. If you breed a registered Fjord to something that isn't a Fjord (and someone finds out), your horse will be kicked out of the studbook, and none of its progeny can ever be registered again. One friend who had a cute little Fjord mare considered breeding her, but she wasn't that keen on another purebred Fjord -- wanted something a bit bigger and leggier -- and she didn't want her mare booted out of the studbook. So she bought a Connie-X instead.

You don't see many Fjord-crosses.

You don't! Guess I was lucky, as this pair were lovely!

 

[ycbm]

I have a harness raced Standardbred crossed with a backyard unregistered Appaloosa and everyone including me thinks he's the best horse I've ever owned (and I've had 4 with GP breeding!)

I guess Standardbred is pretty close to a TB cross?
.