Working hunter is not the same as American hunters.
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I think so. For example, there are prominent lines imported to the US which makes the gene pool much smaller as far as availability. The bloodlines tend to trend as well so many will import WBs from certain prominent sires. Most serious riders are not importing lower level pasture puff types and are often bringing in lines that are talented but known for being more sensitive or difficult. I don’t think the US WB pool is a very good representation of the WB population as a whole.
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This needs to be nominated for the trainwreck thread of the month. OP comes in with fantasy, gets real advice, and flounces. Why ask for advice if you don’t really want advice?
Now I’m going to go daydream about my fantasy herd that I will never breed.
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Cobs are a type and not a breed (though efforts are currently being made to establish various stud books). It is becoming extremely hard to find good ones, which should have a leg at each corner, plenty of bone (9 inches or so), a stocky build, with comparatively short legs, 15.1 hh or less but still with some refinement and quality. Temperament is also a very important part of their type because they should be a comfortable ride, with excellent manners, a horse to take the Vicar or one’s Grandfather out hunting. The short stature was to make them easier to mount. The thick mane is trimmed off because they just look silly with plaits the size of tennis balls on top of their habitually chunky neck. The current market for sport horses means that the magic mix that produces a classic Cob isn’t happening very much now. Once seen, they become very recognizable. The British showing world introduced “maxi Cobs” a couple of decades ago because there are a lot of taller horses that can pass for a cob if the weight is piled on and the mane is taken off - but these are not the true Cob. My tech skills are limited right now but Google the Cob “Our Cashel Blue”, ridden by Alister Hood, as a good example of a lightweight. The horse hunted during the winter and showed in the summer.
The Welsh Cob, Section D of the Studbook, is most definitely a breed.
In the UK an AQH is an expensive beast, with a few extra thousand on the price tag because they are so exotic. Very few people ride Western.
Levi jeans and Carhartt are expensive, top range brands in Europe. Again, relative availability, but combined with effective marketing.
“Working Hunter” as a UK show class did actually develop from the American hunter model as a way to have fun in the summer but, given the different culture, the horses are expected to demonstrate that they really could have a day out hunting: function takes precedence over form. “Show hunters” is a beauty parade, though the horses are ridden by a “ride judge” for ride and manners as well as being assessed for their type and conformation by another judge. The two then confer to pick the winner.
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As others have said, working hunter in Britain is not the same as American hunters. I’m not an expert by any means, we need a British person to weigh in, but my understanding is that it’s a more rustic thing for the jump phase, modeled on actual hunting in the field. The jumping portion is judged on style and having a clear round. I didn’t post it to show that cobs could win US hunter classes, just that it’s not true that their conformation would prevent them from jumping. Maybe not in the Olympics, but that’s not for cob people anyway.
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I’m well aware of that, thanks. When I said these horses wouldn’t be competitive in the show ring, I was talking about in the U.S.
No one has said that.
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Yes. And another source of NA WB is breeding Big Name imported frozen semen to OTTB mares. It’s possible that many NA WB have more TB blood close up than in Europe, and that can mean they trend hotter.
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Not really.
At any rate, maybe you have a better explanation as to why you’ve never seen a cob type in any H/J barn.
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Sorry. I wasn’t talking about Europe, but moreso about Germany. And I’m in a bubble of english riders and only know a lot of WB and GRP breeders, so my view is subjective and limited to my bubble. Of course we do crossbreeds in Europe. But I tend to say, not so much in Germany. At least if you stay in the “english world” 
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What do you mean by “have managed their culling”? I know next to no one who will do anything else apart from euthanazing their horse when it’s time. It’s quite common to have the “not suitable for slaughter” passage filled in the passport of our horses. Otherwise you would have to keep strict records about EVERY medicine your horse evers gets. From the 120 horses in my barn I know not one that hasn’t has the “not suitable for slaughter” passage in its passport. From my point of view and my experience the horses, which actually go to the slaughterhouse are few and generally not the average riding horses. I personally don’t know any horse without this passage.
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Absolutely true. I think the US WB pool is very different to the WB population. At least this is what I get by reading all the comments here. Seems like the ones in the US tend to be hotter, fancier and have more gaits than the average WB aorund here
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I’m not sure, if this is a good idea, but I’ll post a link to a video of my mare 
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3LkN4HNjUx/
That’s us. I don’t think she would be difficult for any ammy to ride. I would say she’s kinda easy. And I know a lot of WBs easier than her.
Happend to find this clip from my local riding school. All horses (apart from the tobiano and the haflinger) in this clips are WBs. That shows how different they are: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3bMZ_4NvfH/ (And all of them are schooling horses).
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That’s quite a range of horses. For a lot if us older adult ammys, the slightly fat chestnut would be a good choice. If I was still jumping, it’d be one I could enjoy, except it might be too wide. Many of us need a horse who can “take a joke” which is to say remain pleasant even when the rider does stupid things that make no sense to the horse.
One big difference with your videos is that the horses are going a bit fast for the US hunter ring, where huge, quiet, not too speedy horses do best.
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I see why you love your mare so much, she looks like a blast to ride.
The second video looks like the variety of horses the US would have with both WBs and various breeds showing lower to intermediate levels. Different breeding, of course, but a similar variety of “types.”
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They were doing an eventing lesson, that’s why they go a bit faster. The trainer (olympic participant in the 90s) likes to have the riders go a good “eventing galopp”
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I took a brief break from this thread after my earlier comments caused the OP to throw a hissy fit because I wanted to have a logical discussion about her breeding “dreams.” I’m catching up again and wow, there has been a lot of great input from various folks!
Regarding the comments upthread about people laughing if an adult showed up with a 15h horse at a show - I saw an article on Eurodressage about the recent Wellington CDIO and Astrid had this comment beneath the photo of a horse and rider:
I don’t know how tall this horse is but the fact that Astrid thought it interesting to see it in a Developing GP class makes me think that it is in fact much smaller than the other competitors. And no, I don’t think she was “laughing” at it - I certainly wouldn’t have laughed at it but would have smiled as it would have been wonderful to see!
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I realised one fact 
Late, but I realised it. Another reason, why using for example QH crosses for anyhting not western associated is so weird to me, is because we have a very filtered base of QHs here. I was shocked the first time a saw a picture of a “hunter” QH (a big one, kinda looking like a WB). We only have Reiners, Cutters, some few pleasure lined horses. So only those specific types of QHs for specific purposes. So using a QH (cross) for something different seems off. But I get, that the variety of QHs is much bigger than those which represent the breed over here I’m a slow learner, forgive me
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And just for fun. Another video from my local riding school. (We do have the tradition to jump into the new year. Is this a thing elsewhere?)
Not all of them are WBs, but maybe you can spot the ones not being WBs?
https://www.instagram.com/p/C1rYdMetAmj/
In addition this gives a quite good insight in which breed we have in our general barn and in which numbers/relations
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