Who is breeding the nice normal alrounders?

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eahotson

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Had this discussion the other day with a lady who, as it happens,breeds very nice warmbloods.She agreed with me that it was a bit of a lottery looking for that sort.Even the natives and ponies are now being bred for the show ring and as sports ponies.By nice alrounder (I have one by the way, he is Welsh) I mean something with enough about it to do well at a good riding club/pony club standard.Safe enough to hack and carry Mum Dad and Granny if the necessity demands it.Incidently roughly how much would you expect to pay for that sort.?No I am not selling!!!! And I do know that it depends a bit on size and age.
 
i know a lovely stud who breed real down to earth quality alrounders who are safe and have the best temperaments.

Trefeinon Stud in Wales has bred successful eventers at 3***/4**** level (including Minuteman 6th at Blenheim last weekend).

they are lovely performance animals but the main thing that stands out is the temperament that EVERY horse i have met from there has had- all safe enough to put your granny on for a hack.

i shall be back there in a shot when i want another one- they sell from foals to 4yros with prices from £800- upwards; EXTREMELY reasonable for the quality you get
 
for a good all rounder you can pay anything from 2000 upto 10000, it does al depend on age size breed and abaility. i had a welsh sec d did everything you could ask was perfect and i sold him for 5500. he was right age and height

hope that helps x
 
Interesting to read about the Welsh stud as a lot of people go Welsh!!! Ah complete nutters but I own a lovely one and have ridden others.I just wondered if the reason for not breeding or perhaps marketing the general alrounder is that people won't pay the money.Anything that says sports horse/warmblood etc. comands a higher premium! I paid, recently £4800 for mine.Did a bit of everything at unaffiliated level. Proving to be as safe as houses (fingers crossed, I am superstitious).He is 10 years and 14.2. People thought I was mad paying that much but to me at least, he is proving worth his weight in gold.Everyone at my yard says WHERE did you find him.?If I was a breeder though, might breed warmbloods!
 
that is a very reasonable price for that age and height, goood safe 14.2 are in demands. i own a german warmblood and if i could would deff breed them, i wouldnt call them totally safe well mine isnt aged 7 still spooks at stupids things
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I have a true all rounder, I do rc/local show dressage, showing, hunter trials, sponsored rides, hunting, trec, apart from polo and vaulting we have nearly tried it all :-) he is a 15.1 welsh d. He is worth his weight in gold, and i payed probably 1 - 1.5k less for him than i would have for an equivalent 'proper horse' On sunday i put my 12 year old son on him and he plodded around like a donkey. He isnt always easy, he has a complicated mind, but he is safe to ride and happy to do most things (unless it involves poles on the ground!).
 
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Interesting to read about the Welsh stud as a lot of people go Welsh!!! Ah complete nutters but I own a lovely one and have ridden others.

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trefeinon don't breed Welsh ponies- they are just based in Wales.

they breed Irish x TB.
 
I have bred a lovely Conny x ISH/SWB this year. He's a lovely looking boy and should easily do everything asked to at least PC/RC level and is quality enough to show. I bred him purely to sell and therefore carefully chose a stallion to compliment my mare and to produce an animal that people would want to compete and have fun with. It's certainly worked for me this time but then the breeding game is a lottery and you can only ever hope to get what you planned for.
 
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i know a lovely stud who breed real down to earth quality alrounders who are safe and have the best temperaments.

Trefeinon Stud in Wales has bred successful eventers at 3***/4**** level (including Minuteman 6th at Blenheim last weekend).

they are lovely performance animals but the main thing that stands out is the temperament that EVERY horse i have met from there has had- all safe enough to put your granny on for a hack.


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Very interesting to read this as I have just bought a filly by their stallion, Old Leighlin, and while she has been virtually untouched, she seems to have a lovely temperament and is willing to learn. In my book, you can't ask for more and I would have been pleased if I had bred her myself!

Everything I have bred over the years have all gone on to make great all rounders with fabulous temperaments; some have gone on to further showing, eventing or hunting too and done them all well even at affiliated and county level. One was bought by our local MP which is regularly ridden by he and all of his family and has often done 30 full day day seasons with never a problem. Now the children have outgrown him; he has now gone to their neighbours (professional eventers) for their son to PC and hunt and I can see him becoming a larger version of the trusty PC pony doing the rounds of local families!
I put it down to using sane, sound and sensible mares, putting them to the same type of stallion and then handling the foals well right from the beginning. A horse is then what you make it, particularly if you start out with good conformation, temperament and proper handling, then most should be able to do any job and carry all of the family happily too. Although I didn't breed them, I'm hoping the same for the two orphan foals I reared last year; sadly, it's nearly time for them to move on now but they've had the right upbringing to start from and certainly have the right temperaments too.
I feel to a certain extent, warmblood breeders want more for and from their animals and want them higher profiled than just as general all rounders (so they can command higher prices?) so temperament is sometimes lacking for the sake of looks, soundness and ability which makes them unsuitable for many average riders. I know that's a generalisation and not every warmblood breeder is like that, there are many good ones about, but as a rule, many warmbloods are too 'bright' for the average rider to manage and more importantly, enjoy to ride and look after; you only have to see the troubled posts on here and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
I'm sure you'll get lots of answers to the original question!
 
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Very interesting to read this as I have just bought a filly by their stallion, Old Leighlin, and while she has been virtually untouched, she seems to have a lovely temperament and is willing to learn. In my book, you can't ask for more and I would have been pleased if I had bred her myself!


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Oldleighlin is fab- when i was 15 and bought a 3yro by him i rang them for some more info on him and they invited me to come down and see him.

they let me ride him in a huge open field and jump him as well which says huge amounts about his temperament as they had no idea about my riding ability- but they knew he would look after me regardless and they were right as he gave me a fabulous ride!
 
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I'm not sure if you can purely breed allrounders.... This the old nature versus nurture dilemma.
I would say, yes, you need to start at a sane base, but you need to PRODUCE your safe as houses allrounder.
 
I am certainly trying to breed good all rounders, based on a half cross of Highland ponies for strength and temperament - with Arab for scope and size....

...but I'm not breeding to sell, I am breeding for myself initially and will see where my youngsters take me, and if I can produce a filly for the next generation
 
Lots of the NF studs are breeding lovely all rounders including some part breeds so you might get TBxNF.

I have a Lovelyhill Pony and so far we have done Dressage, showing, hacking out, WHP, and attend SJ and flat rallies at the local RC in the same group as the horses.

There are loads of them about you just need to know where to look but they are not always cheap as being able to turn their hoof to almost anything they are in demand.

With regard to larger all rounders there are now some overheight connies being imported from Ireland that are also very nice too.

I think it is not just about nature versus nuture as temperment can also be inherited as well as jumping ability etc.
 
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I'm not sure if you can purely breed allrounders.... This the old nature versus nurture dilemma.
I would say, yes, you need to start at a sane base, but you need to PRODUCE your safe as houses allrounder.

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I agree with you but it does depend a great deal on what stock are used as the base to start with. If you start with a natural fire eating monster which is not a good base for an average rider/owner, unless you are very careful which stallion/mare you use, it will usually produce a similar fire eater in character no matter how well it is produced as regard to manners.
 
I think it depends what you mean by allrounder. I think people talk about allrounders when what they are actually talking about is sharpness.

You can train most horses to do most things, but then I think its down to how much andrenalin you want pumped through your system when you participate in those things. I agree with MFH_09 - thats down to character which does seem to almost always carry through breeding lines.
 
Completely agree.

Many horses could be fantastic allrounders if only they had been produced as such.

Buying from people who do a bit of everything with their horses rather than ones who support a particular discipline are the ones to go for.

Most breeders will choose a particular market to sell to depending on what they are breeding.

There isn't an allrounder market until that horse has been backed and ridden away doing a bit of everything in the process.

Well, that's what I think anyway!
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Nurture has a lot to do with it too!

When I bought my horse 2 years ago he was extremely nervous, jumpy and spooky of anything that made a rapid movement towards him (including rugs etc) and would freak out every time you shortened your reins or moved in the saddle.

He still has his odd moments but most of the time he is very laid back and will follow you round like a dog, you can lead him on the yard just by putting your hand under his chin.

He hacks, hunts, does fun rides, and we have dabbled in a bit of showing (quite successfully
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) this summer. Over the winter I am hoping to do some unaffiliated dressage and showjumping and maybe some hunter trials. I think this constitutes a good all rounder - he's also easy to do and is the safest horse I have ever ridden on the roads, nothing bothers him. He's a well bred sec D with a lot of big names in his pedigree. Forward going, yes, but definitely not a nutter.

I think he has had a bad experience at some point in the past, because once he trusts you he is the most loving genuine horse going. So I think nurture and sympathetic handling has a lot to do with it too.
 
My friend aims to breed sane sensible all round family ponies - and has been very good at it too!! If I put my sec C in foal again (never did get round to selling her!!) It will be to a nice stallion with aim to breed a useful PC type.....Don't even get me started on breeding for the show ring grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! Welshies with 4 white legs and no friggin' brain and nowhere to put a saddle - what in god's name is that gonna be useful for??? it's just another "thing on a string"........................
 
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QR
I'm not sure if you can purely breed allrounders.... This the old nature versus nurture dilemma.
I would say, yes, you need to start at a sane base, but you need to PRODUCE your safe as houses allrounder.

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There's more than a bit of truth in that. I DO breed Safe and Sane all-rounders - but they are also carefully brought up to ensure they stay that way!! And carefully backed/hacked before sale - I use my 3 year olds who've been backed 3 months as the 'sensible companion' for 3 year olds hacking for the first time!!

They are primarily Irish Draught - by an RID with a SUPERB temperament, out of a variety of mares - TB, TBx, ConnemaraxTB -most of whom have been hunters.
 
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