Question to throw out to the populace. Anyway have and ride Andalusions for dressage? And I know that each horse is an individual but in general are they Amateur friendly?
I have two in training. One is a purebred gelding (stallion until about a year ago) and the other is an Azteca mare (1/2 Andy 1/2 QH). They have beautiful temperaments and are loyal to a fault once you win their hearts. They are, as a general rule, extremely sensitive. Some might say hot, but that tends to be a subjective term. I would say that they are amateur friendly, although, again, they can be hot. Personally, Iām not a big fan of how they move. Paddling is quite common and the males can get very cresty necks, which can result in being crestfallen. Yes, that term comes from a horseās neck flopping over.
I think they are very well suited for dressage. Smart as a whip, they are easy to train and thrive with praise.
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They are extremely well balanced and collection and lateral work comes naturally to them.
They have nice gaits but not the warmblood huge trot everyone wants for dressage. Gaits vary a lot between lines, whether itās more knee action or longer trot. The trot can be improved a lot by going through the correct sequence to collected/medium and then extended trot.
Ammie friendly? Yes. Beginner friendly? Not so much. They donāt tolerate fools well, they can get neurotic and anxious. They do want to please, they want praise, and if you create a situation where they arenāt able to please you, they get very worried.
There are some nice crosses, Andy x TB or Andy x WB can give you a very baroque horse with significantly bigger gaits.
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I think, if you do a search, this topic has been covered more than once. Several of us on here have PREās or Lusitanos and we love our horses to death. My love affair started with an AndyxArab that I found in a junkyard/horse dealer situation at 2+yo. My trainer and I trained him to FEI and he achieved my Bronze and Silver Medal scores and went on to achieve the same for several other riders. Then he stepped down and taught students the basics of dressage.
After him, Iāve had one Lusitano and two PREās. The Lusitanos seem to be hotter, much hotter - and I rode several in Spain when looking. But, overall, the Iberians are smart, easy to train, easy to sit the trot, can collect and stay sound, IMHO. They are sensitive and thatās not for everyone. If over-ridden, they can become way too reactive, making them very hard to ride.
But they tend not to be spooky, although my current guy can have his moments!
Obviously, I am terribly biased, but I think they are near perfectā¦
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Like most breeds, it depends! Iāve ridden PREās that literally anyone could ride, and PREās that were clearly pro rides. In my experience, they tend to be horses that want to please people. On the whole, theyāre very sensitive and trainable. Some are downright hot, and some deal really poorly with the sometimes conflicting aids of an average amateur.
Training wise, theyāre no easier to produce correct work on than warmbloods - the challenges are just different. Most donāt naturally swing through their backs - theyāre leg movers - so you have to change that.
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yes. And I think in many ways the ātried and trueā training methods do not always work - for example, in my VERY limited experience, I do nto think you can push most Iberians āforward into balanceā. I think they find balance better going at a slower tempo. (And yes of course I know that āforwardā is different than āspeedā, but I hope you get my meaningā¦)
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I have an Andy cross. The pros- easy going, great on or off property, he is actually a good all around horse. He is sensitive to correction - he does not like it when you get āmadā at him. I would say he is completely ammie friendly. He is beginner safe but he would not be happy with frequent beginner riders. They confuse him and it could make him anxious after awhile. When he gets confused he either stops or runs through all the possible options he thinks you may want. The number one comment judges and trainers say about him is he is a willing partner.
Cons- he has a busy brain and needs stimulation. He needs more of a leader as a rider. He tends to suck back.
He turned out to be exactly what we were looking for and more and we are lucky to have him.
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