Oh good lord. The crazy continues.
Now there’s been some drama between someone and ESC and honestly I was very put off by the ESC rep’s reply to the accusation.
Essentially the ESC rep said “if you are upset that we aren’t following Safe Sport and banning those people at our shows, you’d better not be going to Wal-Mart or in the public”.
Very poor taste, and made it very clear that the problem they had with USEF was that they were banning child molesters from shows.
I’ve liked the few ASBs I’ve met, though I think they might’ve all been part-bred? Honestly if I could find a well built beefy one that doesn’t gait, I’d pick it up. (Yeah I realize it sounds as if I don’t want a ASB with that list but hear me out). They’re just the sweetest, most personable horses and I never felt like they were ever going to actually explode. Sure they’d get snorty, but it lacked the “I’m refusing to go forward and I might just go up” quality that a similarly animated TB or QH might have.
I hate to see American breeds suffer from crappy people like this. The Morgan seems to have done a bit better, perhaps because they’ve always been marketed as versatile?
Lots of them are beefy and don’t gait.
That’s one of mine. He frequently masquerades as Morgan. Definitely non-gaited although I wish he had some ability there.
I also have this extremely lanky boy, also non-gaited, but when he fills out he is going to be gorgeous. He is just huge (17+h) so I’m waiting for him to finally mature.
The Morgan has done a much better job of keeping that versatility in their marketing - it’s part of their “breed lore”.
It is hard to explain how these horses are different than they appear. My first chonk (above) is the horse I can pull out after he has been sitting for months and though he will feel a little tense just because he doesn’t know what to expect, he behaves perfectly. My other one hadn’t been ridden in about a year and the only thing he did was stopped.
@Alterration Thank you. That was very informative. It is certainly the saddle seat flash, giraffe neck and set tail that I think of when I consider the breed but as a horse first developed as an all rounder there must be good ones out there for other disciplines. Maybe people should start saying “Get an ASH” whenever a new COTH thread starts with “Where can I find an affordable/good/safe horse…”. As I say, it is always sad to see a breed so endangered.
We try. And there are more people with ASBs here than I’ve seen in the past. I’ve been on COTH since '06 and back then there were like two ASB people (maybe there were more in the closet, I don’t know). Now I see far more who have used them for other things.
They do have a neckset that lends them to giraffeness. Because of the way the neck/shoulder/withers connection tie in is, they are incredibly uphill. Even one with a lower natural neckset like the boy in my top picture has, has the ability to “up periscope”. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be ridden in a lower more open frame. Again, they’ll never be a peanut roller, but most modern warmbloods aren’t built like that either.
I don’t know, it’s a frustrating space to be in. To see the breed suffering and then see the infighting inside of it.
Another gal said on the very public thread that if we wanted our horses to be sporthorses we should pick another breed. Tremendously offensive to those of us who use our horses in different tack, and a sign of the shortsightedness that has hurt the breed.
If anyone wants to see my ASB after a year of formal event training jump and do a small course DM me.
I try to keep my privacy a little under wraps and his trainer is riding I don’t want it to be public.
The only pictures I have of the one above jumping are from when he was originally sold as a late 3 year old. These photos are NOT of me, so please do not critique the ride or the rider. You can see how much he has filled out since then - they don’t seem to fill out until about age 8-9 in my experience. He had already been shown as an ASB Hunter Country Pleasure horse prior to this retraining. Is it a great example of his effort? No, but he’s a baby here and just kind of going over a small log.
He’s a fun guy, and we’ve done everything together. I bought him as a 5 year old and he’s 12 now. The key with him is keeping him entertained - he LOVES to feel like he has a job. So we do a lot of obstacles, I’ve dragged logs, he drives etc. His main flaw is how hard he tries to please which means sometimes he gets it wrong and then he gets a little upset. Kind of a gifted-student complex. I work hard to be the rider he deserves but I don’t always get it right either. He’s tolerant of me and just shows his annoyance with some melodramatic head tosses. I deserve it 
I like his jump. I personally love the show horses, that’s what I grew up with and that’s what I want to get back to. I’ve been away from the breed for about 40 years, and those years, due to where I lived, I got into the Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods, hunters, jumpers and dressage.
I’m old enough that I’ve learned all horses have their pluses and minuses. When I was a kid we were down on Appaloosas, I don’t know why. Now I see the beauty in every breed. There’s a lot to learn.
As far as Saddlebreds vs Morgans, I think most people don’t think they can keep a Saddle Seat horse at home, the training, long-lining, jogging (driving), tail sets, farrier, etc. But you can. I worked for a trainer who never jogged or long-lined, just rode, every horse. I was taught that the jogging and long lining gave them a break, something else to do; when you are in the saddle, you are expecting maximum effort and ‘show horse’.
Anyway, most pictures I see of Saddlebreds jumping, they are hanging their legs, it doesn’t show anyone that they could do well in that discipline. I believe it’s a training problem, that’s my opinion.
Something that irks me, I very rarely see the riders posting on the correct diagonals. When I was young, it was the 3-gaited horses stepping down who were the equitation horses, so if they hadn’t been ridden on both diagonals, you couldn’t really ride both diagonals. I know if the horse is the class winner, the pass out of the ring is ridden on the incorrect diagonal to get a good picture, but I watch classes where the rider is only riding one diagonal no matter which way they’re going, even trainers. I hope to get out to some shows this year and I will bring this up when I can.
Anyway, this has nothing to do with the topic, but it’s nice to talk Saddlebred sometimes. 
Thank you! I just meant he’s not making a great effort here because the jump is small. It’s a cute but obviously green attempt.
I do think saddlebreds are often shown jumping poorly and in part that’s because of training, and in part they are so dang athletic they can get to the other side (mostly) however they go lol
I’m going to post some photos of a friend of mine (mea culpa, without her permission though these have been widely posted on ASB pages so I don’t think she’ll mind) with several of her lovely and athletic ASBs.
I have several friends who foxhunt and event with them. I have a friend who has one who not only ropes and barrel races, but does Academy shows - all the same horse! He also helped with the NC hurricane aftermath by carrying supplies to the survivors.
Here are some more fun ASBs doing non-saddleseat things:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1B3wPCJ4AX/?mibextid=WC7FNe
https://www.facebook.com/share/15pH9EQ2uU/?mibextid=WC7FNe
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19MH1m6if7/?mibextid=lOuIew
Hi!
I’m a lurker but man do we need help!
You are correct the issue is the “want to leave USEF” group. Mad about drug testing and mad about safesport. As a former teacher, I struggle to understand it. As a current professional in the industry, it scares me to death.
I’ve made a few videos about the situation I think have helped but I can’t compete with their ability to throw money at this vote.
Suggests welcome!
Christy
Thanks for all the pics. Prince of Success is gorgeous, he would be, coming from Bit’s breeding program. And now I’m following him.
The second pic, I would like to see those knees up a bit more, just a tad above vertical would be fine. Then I see he’s at Grey Ridge Farm, I didn’t know they did anything but regular Saddle Seat, which would include the Saddlebred hunters and Western. Do you know if they have a hunter instructor on staff? I didn’t see anything on their FB page.
I’ve rejoined so I can vote (finally got my two accounts merged so yay!!!).
Voting no seems to be the least I can do, but I am not sure I have enough ASB friends to help any. I’ve chimed in on the current threads as I see them in the Facebook groups, including the recent one by the ESC member that honestly appalled me.
I now realize that my negative experiences have likely been with people who were in the ESC group and not the current board. So I got over my big bad self Most of the experiences that were bad were of the ilk that if I had a sport horse I wasn’t really a true ASB owner.
Your videos and Sarah’s have been really helpful. Thanks for being bold. I’m behind the current board and I hope to stick with USEF - I see that as crucial to the breed’s future.
Do you mean the bay horse that appears to be in the hunter ring? Sorry, I posted so many pictures now I’m not sure which you mean
Nope, not mine. I nabbed that one from one off the ASHBA posts I just tried to find reasonable examples.
I think he is at Elite Sporthorse in Texas. He was started by Grey Ridge.
Thank you! Are you in the VERSA group? They have some amazing people doing amazing things in the sport horse disciplines.
We have two saddlebreds we’ve done some dressage with and it’s such a nice change for the horse and the riders.
We have so much to do to make our breed and industry more public friendly. It’s WAY past time.
Whew,
As I’ve been thinking about that picture, he’s OK, not what I would want if I were showing in the hunter ring.
Most pictures I’ve seen of Saddlebreds jumping they actually have their knees pointing down and their forearms also going down.
Anyway, your horse’s pictures are what, in my opnion, would get people to consider Saddlebreds for disciplines other than the ASB show ring.
Yes!!! I need to rejoin Versa as well. I had a weird few years so I haven’t been competing nor training (just kind of riding when I can) but I think I’ll be mostly back to normal this year. I’d like to try again to get him to a show to do Ranch horse but we shall see.
I don’t know how many at present are suitable for the open hunter ring. They to tend to naturally jump a little flatter but again that could be training. Mine I don’t think would make the lines as compared to some of the behemoths competing now (he’s only 16.1h) but I think he’d slay in the jumper ring. I just am not a jumper, the hunter ring/western dressage is more my speed at this stage of the game. I think he’d like to event too but I am WAY too weenie for that now, though I loved it when I was younger!
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