So excited for you and can’t wait to read about your adventures with your new boy!
Drop nosebands work well on my horses, also due to anatomy - neither of them are strong pullers or run through halt halts. As has been said, the particular combo of mouth, lips, eye placement, etc., can make a drop more comfortable for some horses, and I don’t fasten them tightly.
I did try a Micklem on one of them, very briefly, just to check out the concept, but it was not a success - my horse wears a cob but that size didn’t really fit him properly (I could tell that he’d swim in the horse size), my sweet, cooperative gelding didn’t care for it, and I was unimpressed with the leather quality.
1 Like
I may take you up on that offer! Your youngster reminds me of mine.
3 Likes
Interesting thread. I am quite late to the party here but saw a few common misconceptions that maybe could be answered. We started in the DHH journey about 6+ years ago when my daughter was moving thru the dressage ranks. Yes initially the cost of these horses given the talent hooked me. We were offered a “cheap” prospect for her…a dressage bred chestnut mare who should have been in a rodeo rough stock string for 5 figures. Out of reach not to mention the potential hospital bills. I had been on a “horse adventure” with a friend and saw some interesting stallions and a few that made me go hmmmm. I started attending stallion shows/sales…turns out here in IN we are in DHH central. I looked at lines and we found one we really liked and should have bought but we choked at the last. We found the breeder and our journey began there. I did not know any Amish up to that point. In short besides some of the most delightful folks I have met we have found many of our own misconceptions about the Amish broken, among those was the care and type of horses. Yes there are Amish who are not good horsemen…just as with non Amish. But not all are cruel as some think…not even many truth be told. The idea that they have cheap horses is just flat wrong. I know Amish folks who have paid over $200K for DHH imported stallions…quite a few actually. Some of the best DHH reside here in the USA…most in IN, OH and PA by numbers. Yes lots of crosses but also lots of full bred imported mares as well. Some are kept in barns that would rival many non Amish in fanciness. We seem to have fallen into more. For us to support my daughters dressage journey we buy, start and resell DHH. It is not to support our home. We have had quite a few thru the barn, been to some fabulous breeders and have the advantage of being privey to a longer term breeder and handler who knows many of the DHH folks (Amish) involved (huge advantage). The numbers of imports are astounding…I suspect the Amish have imported more than non Amish in the last 5-7 years. Most do not advertise (though some are starting). There are a number of sales and no most are NOT kill sales…yes New Holland has breed specific non kill sales with horses going for 10K and up at times. No I will say though we have purchased at sales that it is not something I would advise a newbie to do…hard to pick well unless you know the consignor and blood quite well and are cool enough to stick to a budget. In our barn currently we have 5 DHH…1 was a sale horse and that sounds about right as we prefer going to breeders. We also somehow now own 1/2 of one of the best known stallions in the USA. Which half I have no idea…I will take the front but he is so cool I will take any part. I have spent many hours worked using Rimondo, KWPN, Horsetelex which are great for research and then gone and seen what different blood gives in addition to handling quite a few. Not all are super hot, some are wicked smart…like tool using smart. And as Verdades (1/2 DHH on the dam side) can attest no these are NOT low level prospects for cheap. We are seeing more and more really thoughtful dressage folks bringing along some really lovely youngsters who are looking like some nice FEI prospects. So food for thought Tarpan Ymas…yes DHH…Liberty shown GP here in the Midwest years ago…DHH on the bottom…there are many many if one starts to dig…many haughtily called KWPN (they are) I think most have no clue about their lines. The DHH brings some extravagant motion into the mix. Many like our stallion (shameless plug here we own the imported stallion Wouter NandoxNamora) are heavy older gelderlander stuff further back with horses like Negro and “mainstream” dressage lines. Our boy sports very little outcross to hackney…about the same OLD as he has hackney. Why him…well really really nice canters is my reply and the brains are eerie. They love people but they are scary smart in those lines…a double edged sword…not for someone who likes a dull horse and wants to spend 20 minutes a day working. The sense of humor is fun…they play frisbee…really they are clowns. In any case I am not sure why some have such a knee jerk negative…we see it a bit even in folks who have never personally handled one…There are all kinds of crosses out there at this point and more are making it to the mainstream. I suspect we will see more and more in the next few years.
4 Likes
I second this for sure. In the 4.5 years that I’ve owned my 1/2 DHH mare, I have seen her do all of the following:
-She loves the cold weather (30 degrees F is optimum to her) and has figured out how to open the top of her Dutch door. You can go close it if you think it’s letting in a draft, but she will open it again in 5 minutes or less…
-At every lesson, as soon as I’m picking up the reins and starting to get to work, she has to poop. That may not seem that impressive until you see it happen with my trainer not in her seat and working through camera/Facetime. Never happens if I’m not in a lesson, even if my trainer is in the ring teaching someone else.
-She has favorite music and music she despises. Do NOT, under and circumstances, play the song “I’m So Fancy” by Iggy Azalea in her presence, unless you want to spark a tantrum. I wish I was making that one up. (For the record, her favorite song to date, aside from her freestyle music, is “Killing Me Softly” as covered by The Fugees)
Interestingly enough to what you’ve said [USER][/USER]s, as far as I know my mare came from the Amish around the Indiana/Michigan border (not sure from whom or exactly where). I had no idea Indiana was such a DHH hub, but I’m intrigued by your comment!
Mine is from Michigan and very smart, half DHH–Dondersteen. Luckily he is timid by nature or he would be letting himself out. He figured out how to grab the hotwire handle to unhook it from fence, piles his poop carefully when in his stall, and is very clear about communicating with me. In the wrong hands he would be a disaster though as his biggest quirk is strangers…and everybody who is not me is a stranger.
1 Like
