Why are there so many coloured colt cobs for sale at the moment

exracehorse

exracehorse

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 December 2011
Messages
2,105
Visit site
I'm on preloved and the local Facebook horse sites and over the past month, there have been so many babies for sale. Was it a bumper year for breeding. I find it so frustrating to see little ones being sold for as little as 50 pounds. Why keep breeding them. Obviously, no profit. So sad
 
Or people are just irresponsible and let colts with suspect conformation run with mares with suspect conformation in the hope of getting something coloured that will sell for more than a solid coloured foal
 
as long as there are people willing to rescue (sorry...BUY) these ponies willingly without passports things wont change - they just feed the breeding cycle sadly
 
Also bcause colts are worthless, fillies are kept as they can bred from and are more likely to be stolen for breeding as well.
 
I'm in the market to buy at the moment and one can't but be aware that there are many many of these sad and sorry little horses flooding the market at the moment :(

Unfortunately the reality is that they're the product of ill-breeding and/or produced purely to bring a bit of quick cash to their unscrupulous owners. They have usually been dragged around the markets, not handled decently, and usually their conformation is frankly awful and they'd never make a good comfy ride - and would be equally unsuited to being driven as usually the people who drive have an eye for quality and go for something like Welsh Cobs or what-have-you i.e. an established breed or type.

Here in Devon, the true "Dartmoor" pony, many years ago now, was compromised because coloured mares & stallions were allowed to run on the moor. This meant that what you now see on Dartmoor, in the main, is a sad runty little animal (coloured) with little or no true Dartmoor blood in it, which no-one wants and which are undoubtedly going to end up with the meat man. In fact, one could argue that TBH the only thing there is to do is a humane PTS simply because they're destined to be unwanted and therefore will end up neglected.

I've just started another thread entitled "where are all the good horses", because if you try to get something good, you're basically out of luck.
 
I found an american equivalent of this. She does some sort of shetland/show pony type things. Long story short, shes got about 20 and a few years ago had a colt she admitted was awful. had been booked for gelding but then someone decided to buy him entire, and she let him go. Now they sent him back and she "just stuck him in the with the mares cause it kept him calm"

Now has a new brood of foals due, to this animal she admitted herself was awful, and is facing divorce cause husband is sick of her breeding so many horses with no need to!
 
There are fields ram packed with coloured horses round here. Tiny scraps of ragwort infested land fly grazed by mares and their babies. The horse rescue centres are full of them too. The law on breeding really needs to be tightened up, and on fly grazing too.
 
Why - because they think they can sell them and make some money. There has been an explosion in coloured ponies, heaven knows why. They have become "fashionable" rather than "common." An elderly neighbour refused point bland to even consider riding a coloured pony, he thought they were all awful. And I had sympathy.

I feel that 90% of those randomly bred coloured ponies need a bullet. Sorry, they aren't really useful for anything.

Our local gypsys did own a particularly good coloured stallion, but some of the mares they used were just awful.
They look so "sweet" and people seem to like the coloured ponies - I can't say I do, much. There is the occasional one that has decent conformation and action that can turn out OK but in a field they do tend to catch the eye and stand out from the crowd.
 
I've seen some particularly striking piebalds with excellent conformation, but they were, admittedly, far and few between. Coloureds are very in vogue at the moment, much like palominos were in the 90s (or, at least, they were in my neck of the woods). I don't agree that 90% of them deserve a bullet just because they're not to everyone's taste, but I do agree the market is over saturated with coloureds these days, and I do think breeding in general should be regulated better.
 
Last edited:
There are so many because like someone else said, there is profit in it if you do not pay grazing, stud fees or anything else. The sort of people who breed them, let colts run on the local waste ground with the mares and dont care what they breed. There are two such youngsters within walking distance of this house.
 
exracehorse said:
I'm on preloved and the local Facebook horse sites and over the past month, there have been so many babies for sale. Was it a bumper year for breeding. I find it so frustrating to see little ones being sold for as little as 50 pounds. Why keep breeding them. Obviously, no profit. So sad
Click to expand...

For the same reason that it is invariably coloured colts that are found dead in laybys and canals.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
I'm in the market to buy at the moment and one can't but be aware that there are many many of these sad and sorry little horses flooding the market at the moment :(

Unfortunately the reality is that they're the product of ill-breeding and/or produced purely to bring a bit of quick cash to their unscrupulous owners. They have usually been dragged around the markets, not handled decently, and usually their conformation is frankly awful and they'd never make a good comfy ride - and would be equally unsuited to being driven as usually the people who drive have an eye for quality and go for something like Welsh Cobs or what-have-you i.e. an established breed or type.

Here in Devon, the true "Dartmoor" pony, many years ago now, was compromised because coloured mares & stallions were allowed to run on the moor. This meant that what you now see on Dartmoor, in the main, is a sad runty little animal (coloured) with little or no true Dartmoor blood in it, which no-one wants and which are undoubtedly going to end up with the meat man. In fact, one could argue that TBH the only thing there is to do is a humane PTS simply because they're destined to be unwanted and therefore will end up neglected.

I've just started another thread entitled "where are all the good horses", because if you try to get something good, you're basically out of luck.
Click to expand...


Are these what they now call Dartmoor Hill ponies? A friend of mine has two of these from a rescue. They were 'rescued' because they were going to go for zoo meat otherwise (and that's where they should have gone if you ask me). They're tiny so only suitable for small children as riding animals but they were just about wild when they arrived so it would be a long time and a lot of work to turn them into suitable children's mounts (not that that matters to my friend as she only wants pets, but there's not that many of that type of home available). They wouldn't make ideal companions because their grazing needs to be so restricted. They were also full of worms when they arrived and getting these worm burden down is a constant battle (they are regularly worm counted). One is coloured and pigeon toed. They're sweet but I wouldn't give them paddock room.
 
Orangehorse said:
Why - because they think they can sell them and make some money. There has been an explosion in coloured ponies, heaven knows why. They have become "fashionable" rather than "common." An elderly neighbour refused point bland to even consider riding a coloured pony, he thought they were all awful. And I had sympathy.

I feel that 90% of those randomly bred coloured ponies need a bullet. Sorry, they aren't really useful for anything.

Our local gypsys did own a particularly good coloured stallion, but some of the mares they used were just awful.
They look so "sweet" and people seem to like the coloured ponies - I can't say I do, much. There is the occasional one that has decent conformation and action that can turn out OK but in a field they do tend to catch the eye and stand out from the crowd.
Click to expand...

:D:D Reminds me of the time my aunt (who rode in the 70's and 80's) was flicking through one of my H&H's and asked why there were so many coloured horses in it. I said it's the in thing now and she said "Hmph, a coloured horse was what you had if you couldn't really afford a horse!" And another older friend was embarrassed to show me a pic of her first pony because it was a coloured!

I don't like coloured horses, don't like the look of them, don't like lots of pink skin and I really disapprove of breeding for colour because it's the least important thing about a horse.

How can they now stand out from the crowd when every other horse is coloured?? A friend was saying only the other day that she'd struggled to pick out another friend in some pics of a xc group lesson posted on Facebook because every horse in the group bar one was coloured!
 
marmalade76 said:
:D:D Reminds me of the time my aunt (who rode in the 70's and 80's) was flicking through one of my H&H's and asked why there were so many coloured horses in it. I said it's the in thing now and she said "Hmph, a coloured horse was what you had if you couldn't really afford a horse!" And another older friend was embarrassed to show me a pic of her first pony because it was a coloured!
Click to expand...

I worked on a yard in the 90s where a woman who owned a coloured used to be looked down upon by the other liveries. The funny thing was, it wasn't even a particularly "well to do" yard, yet the snobbery towards her was unbelievable.

I think people assume that a coloured horse is a p***y bred animal with poor conformation and a belly full of worms when actually many of them these days, and I'm sure the coloured horse owners on HHO would agree, are not.

marmalade76 said:
I don't like coloured horses, don't like the look of them, don't like lots of pink skin and I really disapprove of breeding for colour because it's the least important thing about a horse.
Click to expand...

I agree.

marmalade76 said:
How can they now stand out from the crowd when every other horse is coloured?? A friend was saying only the other day that she'd struggled to pick out another friend in some pics of a xc group lesson posted on Facebook because every horse in the group bar one was coloured!
Click to expand...

Well, I suppose the same argument could be made over a field of bays, or chestnuts et al. I think we've actually reached a peak in the popularity of coloured horses and no doubt another colouring will become de rigueur. Dun seems to be quite popular in my neck of the woods or, at least, I'm seeing more duns in my area than I did ten years ago or so.

I'd be interested to read posts from coloured owners about what they make of this thread.
 
I have a coloured. Two. But not cobs. A saddlebred and a coloured warmblood by sempers spirit. They are just not my thing. Nothing against a cob. There is an advert of my local Colchester Essex Facebook page for a 6 month old Colt cob. Seller is from Harold wood and seems to be selling a string of them at the moment. That's the one going for 50 pounds Ono. All about 150 pounds. 😒
 
The reason there are so many is because they are the by product of breeding for filly foals. In order to be of any real value a Colt has to be gelded and broken to ride and or drive...which of course takes time, money and skill..so they are offloaded cheap before winter. It's sad and I'm not sure what can really be done about it. Fortunately there are now some good cob dealers and breeders that geld and train.

I bought my first coloured cob in the 1980s at a time when it was very frowned on. I have always found this opinion laughable ( still do!) .... he was a wonderful horse and would have been no matter what his colour was.
 
WelshD said:
as long as there are people willing to rescue (sorry...BUY) these ponies willingly without passports things wont change - they just feed the breeding cycle sadly
Click to expand...

I'm one of those people, although I've never claimed to have rescued mine and correct people who say I have (he's the coloured in my sig). I've never been, and still am not, a fan of coloured cobs. Love my boy though ;)

I'm happy enough if mine turns out never to be useful for a lot, and I know his conformation isn't up to much, but his personality is exactly what I wanted and as I just wanted a "pet" that was the most important thing for me.

However the colts that were "left over" after I bought mine, have been dispersed to various fields full of mares and the cycle has started all over again.... so next year there will be even more and so on
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top