I found a NSH that I am considering for endurance/ CTR.
She is a “retired” country english pleasure show horse. Well-trained, beyond what I am used to, and very sweet.
How do saddlebreds do for end/ or CTR. The only negative thing I can find about her, she has a rather long back. SHe has never had any soreness issues, even with years of training and showing Country Eng. and Eng. Pleasure.
Please share any stories about NSH in end/ ctr.
Some of the most wonderful horses I have owned and/or been around where 1/2 Arabian 1/2 saddlebred and many were LONG before the NSH registry came about.
My super fabulous endurance gelding is 3/4 Arab, 1/4 saddlebred (dad was NSH) though most everyone thinks he is pure Arab.
There are quite a few examples of Arab/Saddlebred crosses doing well in distance riding. For example, Firedance Farms in OK breeds and sells endurance horses/prospects and you can see that they’ve campaigned several NSHs.
as of December 2007 the highest milage horse in NATRC was an American Saddlebred named Winged Tempo. He has over 20,000 logged competitive miles in NATRC. I do not know if he did other things too. He won the President’s Cup (the highest yearly award) 6 times over his career as well as numerous other awards time after time. So, yes, Saddlebreds can do well in distance.
I also currently know of several other National Show Horses that do very well in NATRC CTR.
I rescued a very cute gelding a few years back, and he’s a NSH, although he’s so old, I have a feeling he was around long before any registry was in existence. After finding out a little history on him, turns out he did CTR in his younger days somewhere near Atlanta and was quite the little competitor. I even had a teenage riding student take him on a 25 mile LD ride about 8 months after we rescued him, and he was awesome!! At an undetermined age (somewhere in his 20’s), this little guy scored all A’s and was ready and willing to ride some more if we’d let him! I don’t let anyone ride him much now, as he’s pushing 30, but when he does get to go out, his eyes light up and he wants to lead the crowd down the trail no matter where it takes him.
So, yes, a NSH will make a GREAT distance riding horse!!!
It’s up to what the individual horse is like physically and mentally. Some horses can be too hot headed to calm down, relax, drink and eat when the rider stops them. The horse’s mental state has soooooo much to do with whether they do well or not, regardless of breed. Another thing you can check before making a decision is the horses current resting heart rate. If this horse has a high resting heart rate (it can improve some with conditioning) it can be harder and take longer to get the horses pulse down to parameters at the vet checks and end of the ride. It can be frustrating. My horse has a higher RHR than most Arabs, he’s probably got a smaller heart as he is very pony like in his build.When I compete with a friend and we come into a VC he can take considerably longer to pulse down than the other horse. So the friends out time will be earlier than mine and they have to wait on us. He had a RHR of 48 as a 4 yr old. It’s now 38. But my 1/2 Russian Arab mare had a RHR of 28 as a 4 yr old and her’s lowered as she got fitter.
So you can check this horse’s RHR if you want to get an idea of what the horse is like. I’d guess that being older it may not change a whole lot at this point in his life.
chicamuxen
I’ve got one …
… and he’s a hot tamale. He also looks purebred Arabian except when he’s all upheaded and carrying on.
I’m not sure he’d be for everyone, as Chicamuxen says (it is so much easier to type your real name, B, LOL) he’s had his challenges with regard to calming down. On trail he’s pretty decent, easily rateable, but he can take some time to settle down at the vet checks.
Luckily he’s a voracious eater, so he’s spent quality time piaffeing his little legs off with his head in a slushie bucket. He’s almost a nervous eater.
They’re all so different as individuals, of course, but my experience is that he notices everything, has a super-earnest desire to please, and is a forward thinking, bold little horse.
He’s got three seasons in, a few LDs, some slow to mid-pack 50s and some ECTRA CTR, and fingers crossed, we’ll try a slow and easy 100 with him sometime this season.
Thumbs up from me based on my one-rat study.
–Patti
I am not at all educated about CTR or endurance and I seldom read this particular forum, but the letters “NSH” caught my eye and I wanted to contribute my sole experience with this cross.
I had a 24 yr old NSH given to me a year and a half ago to use as a lesson horse. He is about 14.3, a paint with one blue eye, and I thought he was pretty much on his last legs when I got him after he’d spent many long summers in hard use as a camp horse.
Fast forward a year and a half, I have to say he is one of the best, most useful horses I have ever had. He LOVES to go, covers the ground, never says no, and has bounced back from a state of semi-neglect to being fit and glossy and very low maintenance at the now age of 25. Great feet, the perfect mental balance of energy and intelligence, and tough as nails. The kids love him, and so do I. He would seem to me to be the ideal type for CTR and endurance, especially in the joy of partnership aspect. Good luck if you decide to get one for yourself!
As with anything, it depends on the individual horse. Speaking from my experience, which is purely with ASB show horses; mos of the show horses we’ve had do wonderfully ‘out and about’ (we’ve never done any ‘real’ trail riding, but we do ride them around the farmer’s fields); calm, relaxed, happily go along with no problems. Only a few don’t do well. One of which is my (of all things) western horse 
When we’re out in the fields he has the “I got places to go, things to see” attitude, and doesn’t want to walk. He’ll happily trot or gallop the whole time, but the other horses can’t keep up (he’s a fast little bugger and doesn’t get tired LOL)…
But here’s some picture of ASBs out on the trail
http://www.saddlebredsarefun.com/saddlebredstrail.htm
The ASHA (the Saddlebred association) actually has a prize program called “Saddlebred Select” which awards horses on a points basis for competition in Dressage, Eventing, Combined Driving, and Endurance/CTR events…
My only experience is with one my friend was given out in MT. He’s a failed dressage horse turned mountain horse.
PLUSES: He has limitless energy and GO. Brave. Strong. Big horse. Despite being a hard keeper, he easily carries a heavy roping saddle, saddlebags, bear gun, and a retired bullrider who rides the hair off him at every turn. He’s one TOUGH horse.
MINUSES: He’s one of the most foul tempered, asocial, grumpy, irritable, pissy beast I’ve ever known. We got into a bit of a situation on a set of very steep switchbacks with a lame pack mare we were letting trail us at her own pace. She got to thinking about taking an (ill advised) shortcut. In asking this horse to whoa - for just a few moments- and doing so first kindly, then more firmly, then really firmly- all I got was more and more backtalk and bull****. I really thought he’d choose to fall off the mountain rather than comply. I hopped off, jerked my bridle off, and left him to figure it out on his own…crawled up to the mare, led her down, and really hoped he’d fall in the river never to be seen again 
Now that didn’t happen so he’s in his own lot now at home, where he routinely blows through the hot wire (he learned it can’t shock him through his blanket) or body slamming panels trying to get out and fight with the other horses.
He’s a helluva mountain horse, he really is- if you don’t get so mad you pull a gun and shoot him.
I have a NSH that I did eventing with. Never did any competitive trail or endurance, but no doubt that he would have LOOOOOOOVED it! That horse was brave, bold, sensible, and never seemed to get tired. Ever. He also never put a foot wrong, never touched a jump, and was just so clever and catty. After retiring him from eventing, I trail rode him alone most of the time, because he got pissy if we were out with other horses - he HAD to be in front. Period. The ride was miserable (going sideways, constant circling, detours off the trail to settle him) unless he got to be in front. When we were alone we encountered all sorts of scary things, like a herd of elk that was sleeping in brush and popped up from nowhere, ATV’s, dogs, you name it, and he never batted an eye, just trotted right on by.
Here’s one from his eventing days that I think illustrates his personality well:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1208021503060954161oPcetU
That’s my husband’s horse Katarine is referring to! :uhoh: And what she says is true, that horse is tough but if he didn’t have so much energy and stamina in the mountains we wouldn’t keep him because he is extremely difficult to deal with at home. My husband really likes a big horse with a ton of go and this one has it, he’ll go all day long and never slow down and he’s great about it but is basically a walking machine, I don’t think there is a lot of thought in him. He is just now getting to where he doesn’t slip and fall and trip all the time, at first his head was in the clouds and he didn’t pay any attention to his feet. He has nearly killed himself in his picket rope several times because the other horses got a step too far away and he panics, he paws all night, doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink. He loses a TON of weight in the mountains and we feed the tar out of him during the week to keep the weight on but he worries it right off. He’s aggressive in the pasture and at home and is too dangerous to put out with the rest of our horses so he’s in his own pasture which he is destroying by rushing the panels. He paces back and forth most of the time here so it’s not like he’s any happier at home. But the weird thing about him is he’s great for my husband, I think he trusts him and they have an understanding. He’s great with people who know nothing about horses or children. But if you know anything about riding he meets you head-on and fights you and fights until his brains all leak out of his head. It’s odd. And it’s the reason he was given to us for free two years ago. His owner was trying to train him on the trails and ride him dressage and in both situations he had complete and total meltdowns, shaking and spinning and charging around out of control. He’s done pretty good being able to just walk for miles and miles. A typical pack trip for us is about 30-40 miles and that suits him just fine.
Heaven only knows where his temperment comes from, it’s unique. I attribute it more to his past training (or lack there-of) and possible late “brain surgery” than I do to his breed. We would look into another one, but with extreme caution.
On the practical side, If I were looking at another one I would make sure it’s a surefooted horse. Ours had to learn and he was downright dangerous at first. He would have stepped right off the switchback that Kat was talking about, he would have fallen down the near-vertical slope with nothing more in his brain than “WHERE ARE THE OTHER HORSES!!!” :eek:
So I would make sure it’s a smart horse too. 
I would make sure it wasn’t a finicky high-strung horse. This one is lucky that he found his way to my husband who loves his speed and endurance, you really can’t believe how fast he is, it’s bizarre. And he never slows down. And he’s big, strong, smooth to ride. No trot, no lope, no brains really…just high speed walking. If endurance is the name of the game, he’s got it.
Did distance with 3 NSHs and loved them. All were show horses before being perverted into distance horses.
The mare was Half-Arabian National Champion Jumper, one gelding was Half-Arabian National T10 Working Hunter, other gelding was Regional competitor in English Pleasure and Costume. They all competed in other showring classes as well.
I’d take another NSH down the trail any day!
I can’t seak fot it from the endurance/competitive trail ride POV but do have a lot of experiences with bot breeds and this cross. Both breeds have historically been saddle and calvary horses, in times of peace saddle horses of high regard for their parts of the world, bred to cover mile after mile at a decent clip without tiring, and at times of war bred to do the same plus willing go into anything, especially a Saddlebred. Both of these breeds, as well as the Morgan, were used as sires for the Army’s remount program when that existed. If you like to sack horses out and to have a horse who will act like a robot no matter what this may not be the horse for you. Forward is how these horses are programmed, go forward, they wll go forward into cannon volley and a blaze of muskets or a charge of enemy warriors with sabers drawn if that is what you ask them to do, but they will not stand their and let you shoot them. The modern show horse of these breeds definatly still has that mind set, and that is what makes them brilliant show horses, they are valiant animals.
You’re right Renae, they may not stand there and let you shoot them. They may flop over on their side -in the mud -and hide the bear gun in its scabbard:eek:
:lol::lol: LOL! They just might do that… maybe that’s part of their military self-defense instincts?
See, NOW we need pictures! LOL what a goofy horse
Well, she is mine. I will be getting her next week and can’t wait to get her on the trails.
She is a little hot, but appears hotter than she is. She looks nervous, but never reacts. Her eyes are huge and she’s a little snorty, but she is trained out the wazoo.
She looks likes Ryme’s horse Sully from the pics! I will try to post one when she’s home.
A video would be priceless. Now. Not so much THEN.
IrishKharma, please do post pictures! I can picture exactly what you mean by your description. I’m sure she’ll be great, don’t pay any attention to my silly slightly insane horse!
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