Voltaire Stallion

[onemoretime]

Has anyone on here had or got a horse by Voltaire. Just wondered what they were like temperament/character.

 

[ycbm]

Mine was a Voltaire grandson. Very nice boy, forward and sensible when I backed him. But would not jump, was cold backed and in retrospect I suspect kissing spines, though he had 3 other grandparents of course. His father, a son of Voltaire, died young, I'm not sure what of.
.

 

[onemoretime]

Mine was a Voltaire grandson. Very nice boy, forward and sensible when I backed him. But would not jump, was cold backed and in retrospect I suspect kissing spines, though he had 3 other grandparents of course. His father, a son of Voltaire, died young, I'm not sure what of.
.

Thanks for replying YCBM.

 

[Barton Bounty]

I had a Voltaire son many years ago! Super temperament, absolutely adorable

 

[dixie]

I had a Voltaire grandson too.
He was a really lovely horse and one of the best honest Jumping horses I’ve owned.

sadly he didn’t live into teenage years due to arthritis and severe ringbone.

I’m pretty sure the coloured in my Avatar has Voltaire in him somewhere as well. He’s also a really lovely horse - bit spooky but lovely paces. He’s still going strong at 13.

 

[ihatework]

Voltaire was 1979, so there will be very few/no direct offspring around to buy. Prolific sports sire, found widely across sj/event pedigrees but will be diluted down the pedigree.

He is the great grand sire on the bottom line of my top class 4yo

 

[Ceifer]

I had two Voltaire grandsons. First one had a beautiful personality, trained Adv medium dressage. Little spooky but a genuine horse. Had hock issues in his teens.

Second I purchased as closely related to my first. Couldn’t be more different. Nappy and sharp. Also diagnosed as a wobbler so could have been a major factor in his personality.

Personally I wouldn’t go for those lines again. Many people have experienced health issues and the horses didn’t last beyond early teens for ridden careers. But maybe just coincidence.

 

[feesh]

I'm currently working with a Voltaire grandson. Only groundwork so far, but I'm finding him clever, playful, and athletic. He likes it when expectations are clear, and is pleased when he knows what he's supposed to do. He's delightful to work with when he's focused and engaged, but he can also get quite impatient, and throws temper tantrums when he's asked to do something he doesn't want to. But he's also 14, and has only had about 6 months of with under saddle in his youth. The rest of his life he's been left pretty much alone: he & the other horses on the farm are turned out into the paddocks directly from their stalls, so they pretty much don't even get handled except for occasional vet & farrier visit. It's hard to tell how much of this is personality, and how much is just being shocked and offended that he's suddenly expected to do something other than hang out with friends, eat, and bully the donkey.

He's also got a slightly dodgy hip of some sort (vet to take a closer look next month) - hence the groundwork only so far. He's perfectly happy & comfortable in the field, but I'm not sure if he'll be sound under saddle or in heavier work.

His mom is also on the farm (Voltaire daughter). She has a reputation for being a typical cranky bossy chestnut mare, who will run you over as soon as blink. She's also apparently broke to ride, but won't "let" anyone stay on, and is supposedly quite dirty in getting people off her back. Personally, while I've found that she's definitely boss of the herd, she's been perfectly polite with me on the ground. I'm not sure how much of her reputation is well-deserved, and how much is because she hasn't had anyone competent and patient to work with her. (And tbh if her son gets his opinionated personality from her, then neither timidity nor bullying would get very far with her.)

 

[onemoretime]

I had two Voltaire grandsons. First one had a beautiful personality, trained Adv medium dressage. Little spooky but a genuine horse. Had hock issues in his teens.

Second I purchased as closely related to my first. Couldn’t be more different. Nappy and sharp. Also diagnosed as a wobbler so could have been a major factor in his personality.

Personally I wouldn’t go for those lines again. Many people have experienced health issues and the horses didn’t last beyond early teens for ridden careers. But maybe just coincidence.

That's interesting.. Back into 2020 just at the start of Covid I was brousing Horse Quest and saw a lovely young chestnut mare 5 years old about 15.2 for sale and the advert said she was by Voltaire. If he was born in 1979 it cant be the same stallion surely. She sounded lovely but was right up in Cheshire with a well known event rider. Must be a different Voltaire I would think.

 

[feesh]

Apparently you can still get frozen semen, & his youngest offspring are currently listed as 2022, so it probably was the same Voltaire!

 

[onemoretime]

Apparently you can still get frozen semen, & his youngest offspring are currently listed as 2022, so it probably was the same Voltaire!

Ah right many thanks for that. She certainly looked and sounded a lovely little mare.

 

[dominobrown]

Voltaire was a very prolific show jumping stallion that produced many many licensed sons, including Concorde which produced on awful lot of stock too. They will be so so many relatives as both voltaire and Concorde where stallions that produced a lot of licenced stallions if you catch my drift.

 

[Billiechip]

I have a rising 4 year old Voltaire grandson. He is MASSIVE but like a giant Labrador. Super sweet, really loves people, gets on well with all horses. Was soooo easy to lightly back at the end of last year. He's back out now and has constantly been bum high since November so he won't be back in for a while and I plan to just hack this year. I'm aware that some of the Voltaire lines have some issues and my bubba is much bigger than I would have liked/planned so I'll be taking things really slow with him. I've had him since he was weaned and he is adorable!

 

[TheChestnutThing]

I had a Voltaire grandson/Concorde grandson (literally bred in the purple). The worst horse I ever owned. Backwards, lazy, a complete and utter dick on the ground (however safe as anything to ride). Sold him to a hacking home. There was nothing wrong with him as I had him vetted to check.