Posts Tagged ‘warmblood’

What is the range of price for a warm blood horse? I am looking into going into dressage, so I’m trying to find out how much money I will need to save up to get a horse. The warmblood I want specifically is a Trakehner, but I suppose I will get a different kind if I need to. Thank you for your help.

I am interested in insuring my horse and was wondering if there was a specific company I should use and about how much it would cost. I live in So Cal, so I would need a company that covers that area. My horse is 16, a Warmblood gelding, and I use him for pleasure and am starting to learn dressage on him. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Is their a difference in training an Arabian for Dressage as opposed to training a Warmblood or even a Quarterhorse?

We found that out! My daughter is the most fortunate girl when it comes to her dressage trainer. Until a couple of years ago, she had mainly trained children and adults for dressage on Warmbloods and Quarterhorses but since we had this cute little Arab which was so willing to please and totally green, she took him on.

Here are some main differences in training hot blooded horses for dressage, versus Warmbloods and even Quarterhorses:

1. Keep your Arabian horse working at least a little 5 -7 days a week. Don’t let him sit and get overly eager to go. They are hard to bring down and concentrate once they are excited.
2. While you can drill a Warmblood over and over again on the same exercise, an Arab needs variety. After you practice something 4 or 5 times, you really need to do something else for a while – preferably before his brain short cuts and he decides he’s done.
3. When you do an exercise the same way repetitively, have him do the exact opposite for a while – otherwise he will let you know what is right and what is wrong. For example, do a ‘leg yield’ away from the rails instead of toward the rails. It breaks his thinking pattern and leaves you in the driver’s seat.
4. Ride the horse you’re on – be calm, don’t override. You are supposed to be the calming agent. If you have an electric seat, take a very deep breath and lower your energy output by lot.
5. Arabs’ heads like to come up, circle, maybe even hit your helmet while doing it. Don’t try to pull his head down. It only makes it worse. On the other hand, don’t give too much either, try to follow with your hands and send him forward and hopefully he’ll learn that that’s not a way to evade the bit and come off the aids.
6. Many Arabians learn to curl and go behind the bit. Again, that is nothing but an attempt to evade your aids (hands) – like above, send him forward while following his mouth with your hands.
7. And last but not least, love him, support him and try to turn all that energy into positive tension. Let him be brilliant and let him show off how cute he is while constantly suggesting to him what you want. You really cannot make them do anything.

Author: Monique Myers
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Dressage is an equestrian sport and art that involves a series of movements to create a balanced and ride-able horse. The first writings of dressage date back to Xenophon around 400 BC. Dressage today has evolved into a highly competitive sport with expensive, well bred horses competing for titles worldwide. When most people consider a suitable dressage mount, a warmblood or warmblood cross is the first choice. However, off track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs) make willing, suitable dressage partners. We will look at some of the considerations necessary in retraining an OTTB for dressage sport.

Every year, the racing industry has tens of thousands of off track Thoroughbreds looking for new homes when their racing careers were not lucrative. With the broad availability of off track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs), their inexpensive purchase price, and their proven athleticism, these off track Thoroughbreds can be retrained for second careers in many sports, including dressage. Retraining these Thoroughbreds takes time, patience, and understanding.

Career Thoroughbreds have lived a relatively narrow existence on the racetrack. Their days are very repetitive and they do not have opportunity to spend much time just “being a horse”. When you first start working with an OTTB, it is important to give them several months of let-down time so they can reacquire some of their natural activities, such as grazing with pasture mates. Many Thoroughbreds have various drugs or hormones in their system, and it is important for their body to flush these out before serious training can begin.

As with any green horse, building a solid foundation from the basics is critical. We do most of the initial work from the longe. This allows the trainer to develop herd dominance over the horse and allows the horse to begin learning his new balance without the weight of a rider. Thoroughbreds are bred to run, and generally this is their first inclination when faced with conflict or stress. For this reason, it is best to begin your longe work in an enclosed area such as a round pen. An enclosure will help prevent injury for the trainer or the horse.

Thoroughbreds on the track only have to possess a few physical skills: break from the gate fast, run fast and straight, come to a slow stop eventually. In contrast, the sport of dressage requires much more in the way of longitudinal and lateral flexibility, concentration, and obedience. Most Thoroughbreds on the track spend little time trotting, and this gait will need development in your dressage partner. The Thoroughbred’s naturally balanced canter is an asset, and the trot is the easiest gait to improve.

Initial work under saddle should consist of the same activities any green horse would need. Because Thoroughbreds tend to be very sensitive, and at times, high strung, it is important to keep work sessions low key and without tension. Thoroughbreds learn rapidly and retain lessons well, but they stop thinking clearly when stressed. They begin looking for a flight path. It is important to switch off exercises when this tension builds. Be sure your aids are not conflicting, as their sensitivity will pick up on a rider’s inconsistencies. Each horse learns differently, and it is important to discover how your individual horse learns best. One OTTB we retrained could not figure out how to trot. We began trotting him out with another horse, and he readily picked it up. Thoroughbreds on the track often work with another horse, and this method proved useful for this horse. We have worked with others that did not like the distraction of another horse close to them. It is important to help the horse transition the work on the longe to work under saddle. Kicking a horse in the ribs is not the universal horse code for “go”. It is a learned response. Because OTTBs are not ever ridden with leg aids, they must learn how to react to the leg and seat. They do, however, have a sensitivity to weight aids, as that is the main aid a jockey uses to communicate with them.

We have found that you may spend as much as a year or two in getting your horse to comfortably adapt to his new life. The first year, groundwork, general handling, and basic under saddle work are the focus of training. In the second year, outings to schooling horseshows are an excellent way to judge how your horse will handle a show scenario. Some horses develop much faster than this guideline. That is a bonus! As the trainer, it is important to train at the horse’s rate of learning to avoid stress that might trigger his flight tendency. Thoroughbreds are resilient horses, and have useful competitive careers well into their teens. Many are not in their prime until their early teens. It is not generally a problem if you have one that is slow to bloom due to their long, useful life.

Off Track Thoroughbreds make suitable dressage mounts for adult amatures and even some youth. However, it is very important to have a trainer that you work with regularly that understands Thoroughbreds. Their intelligence and sensitivity create a partner that is willing, but intolerant of rough handling. You must be firm but fair.

Lateral work comes easily for most OTTBs with which we have worked. Longitudinal (“roundness”) and lateral (“bending”) suppleness does not. The schooling figures of dressage are very beneficial to the athletic development and suppleness of these OTTBs. With the development of longitudinal flexibility in the horse, it is important to start flexibility within the gaits early on. A dressage horse must have three or four balances within each gait: working, collected, medium, extended. Asking for these transitions within gaits early on helps develop flexibility. You do not have to master every requirement at Training Level before you begin schooling First Level. Instead, you should employ the dressage exercises that will improve the horse.

Training an off track Thoroughbred for dressage is not much different than training other breeds for dressage. The first year or two is the biggest difference because it is necessary to recondition the horse to a life off the track. With care and concern for the horse, and a sympathetic trainer that understands Thoroughbreds, you can achieve many goals with an OTTB in dressage competition.

Author: Shannon McGlon
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The three general categories of horses are warmblood, coldblood and hot blood. Each of the hundreds of different horse breeds fits into one of these categories.

Cold Blood. In Europe, horses were originally bred for farm work and as working horses. Their main function was to pull things (e.g. plow, cart, barges, forest logs). They were bred for strength and endurance, able to pull heavy objects and to work many hours each day. This resulted in breeds with big muscles, on heavy frames, with large joints. Such horses also needed to be calm an obedient; the last thing you wanted was a horse running off with a cart or farm equipment. Their coats, manes and tail hair were thick and long to protect them from the European winters. Such horses are not fast, but are very solid working horses. Sample breeds are the Shire and the Clydesdale.

Hot Blood. In the middle-east and some of the other warmer climates, horses were bred for riding and racing. Such horses are built for speed and distance, rather than power and endurance, so had much lighter bodies and in particular more delicate legs. Their coats, manes and tails have relatively short hair in response to the warm climate. Also, their blood vessels are nearer the skin surface in order to dissipate heat better. Their temperament is spirited and competitive, traits that help them win races. The Arabian and the Thoroughbred and among the best known hot bloods.

The warm blood breeds (also known as warmbloods) are between the hot and cold bloods both physically and in terms of their nature. In fact, many of the warmblood breeds are the result of mating hot bloods and cold bloods to develop a new breed with the positive characteristics of both. Their build is athletic, providing both speed and endurance, but without the power of a cold breed or the pure speed of a hot blood. They have a calm nature and are generally intelligent, making they easily trainable for sports such as show jumping and dressage. Although bred for a variety of duties in the past (such as war horses and carriage horses), today they are mainly used for sport and pleasure riding. The Friesian and Hanoverian are examples of warm breeds.

These three terms (cold, hot, warm) of course refer to their climate of origin and their temperament, not to the temperature of their blood. All horses have approximately the same body and blood temperatures (about 38C or 100.5F) and as mammals they are all ‘warm blooded’ from a biological classification perspective.

Over the past hundred years we’ve seen machines replace much of the functions of horses, with farm and other equipment taking over the function of cold bloods, while modern transport has taken over the traditional employment of warmbloods. Fortunately, sports and pleasure riding have grown to partly fill this gap, with different types of activities suited to each category. In addition, even for pleasure riding, the preferred horse type depends on what you want to do. For pure speed it is the hot blood, for complex sports such as show jumping it is the warmblood, while the cold blood’s calm and reliable nature make it a favorite with many children and less confident adults.