I have made the decision to purchase a yearling to develop into a nice, all-around amateur horse (lower level hunters and maybe a bit of dressage). I have seen a number of nice young horses, all in my budget, and am having a hard time deciding! For those of you who have purchased babies, how did you make your decision when so much of it seems like a roll of the dice?
My top 2 contenders both have good sport horse bloodlines and seem to have easy, ammy-friendly temperaments. The easier of the two is a bit less fancy, but given my lack of upper level ambitions, Iām wondering if I should be selecting easy over fancy.
Any thoughts?
Easy over fancy every time, if the easy horse will still get you to your desired goals.
Would you ever want to resell? Are both horses the same gender?
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First off, congratulations! Thereās nothing like developing your own from a baby. Iāve done it twice for personal horses and countless times for clients.
Personally, if thereās a ātieā between two horses in the movement and jumping style, I go for temperament. Frankly, I often choose temperament over other qualities but thatās because Iām shopping for a jumper. 
Itās hard to tell much at this age, but have any of them gone through the jump chute? I donāt condone jumping them a lot as babies, but even if you can see it canter over a pole on the ground or a small cross rail a couple of times, that can tell you something. It can also tell you nothing, as I learned last week. 
If you are a confident amateur and have good young horse training support, then maybe the fancier but āless easyā horse is the way to go, if you really want to be competitive. What do you mean when you say less easy? Having handled hundreds of weanlings through 6yo, I can tell you that they are so moldable at this age, that even if it doesnāt seem easy now, you have years to change that before you climb on! On the note of trainer, it is so important to have a trainer that works with babies. Thereās a real disconnect in this country of people that handle/start young horses under saddle and people that bring them up the levels. The horses do so much better in a consistent program from baby handling through first horse show. If you can find one of these trainers, and they are good (are their horses happy, relaxed, and successful?), youāre in luck!
What part of the country are you located in? Thereās an amazing show series aptly called the Young Horse Show Series that is just for yearlings through 5yo. Itās a great thing to spectate if you can, to get a sense for whatās good and whatās not (plus a lot of the horses are for sale!). Full disclaimer, I do run the west coast series, but I do so because I really believe itās an excellent show for horses, owners, breeders, and buyers! The east coast finals is in Tryon in a few weeks if thatās convenient to you.
Feel free to PM me if you would like to chat more!
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To answer the first question: I do a lot of research on the pedigree and parents of the young horses I buy and evaluate conformation, movement, etc. but a lot of my ultimate decision with the babies comes down to āgut feeling.ā
To the second question: easy over fancy is often a good way to go, but Iām curious what makes one easier than the other in this situation (e.g. less pushy? leads better? friendlier?), especially since you say both seem to have easy, ammy friendly temperaments. Are the two in similar programs with similar degrees of handling? What is your experience with young horses and will you have help from someone experienced? One of my toughest yearlings ended up one the the sweetest and easiest horses by the time she was 2, it just took a little more work in the beginning and she was incredibly easy to start. I had another one that was always an āeasyā baby and very friendly but was definitely much trickier under saddle and not really amateur friendly to ride. Also, given the very different approaches there can be to handling the babies it can be hard to judge them based on how they are to handle at that age, depending on what the behaviors are that you are seeing.
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The āeasierā horse from my perspective was just a bit friendlier/interested in people than the other one. However both of them have been handled regularly, the less fancy one has probably a bit more handling as he has been shown on the line quite a bit this summer.
I am in Canada and there are good programs for young sport horse development. And I am fortunate to live near several trainers who are experienced with babies and starting young horses, so I definitely feel like I have access to the resources that will mold the baby into a nice hose. So perhaps thatās why itās such a difficult decision!
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The intention wouldnāt be to sell, but I am not naive and realize that life/circumstances can change, so resale is definitely something I have in the back of my mind.
And both horses are geldings.
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Can you elaborate on what kind of research you do? I am a perpetual window shopper and would like to develop more of a mature process for evaluating pedigrees than just looking for names I know from personal experience w/their progeny!
Then if all else is equal (PPE, movement, conformation, temperament), go with your gut! This sounds a little woo woo, but I chose the ones that I feel like I have a little bit of a connection with. Meaning, the ones that want to come over and say hi, hang out, etc. For me the partnership is paramount, so if one leaves its friends or its food to hang out with me, thatās the one.
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Agreed!
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Like @endlessclimb said, easy over fancy. I look and see if the parents and grandparents have offspring showing and in what classes, how are they being ridden. I pay attention to damās sire, I know the āX Factorā has been disproven but I still lean that way. I want to know if the dam (or ET mare) is friendly or pushy, because moms teach babies.
My bank account is babies only. So I wind up doing a lot of digging on parents and grandparents, and use social media and look for candids and read comments under pictures a lot, almost like a human background check 
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Having bought my now 23-y-o as a weanling, I donāt honestly believe you can accurately assess the horseās future temperament/spirit of cooperation from a short (or even longer) interaction with a baby. Itās just too malleable at that point.
Rosie changed over the years from an aloof, uncooperative, basically unlikable baby horse who came from an involved, reputable show breeder to a great friend and partner.
I think that the best chance of predicting adult temperament is knowing the mareās temperamentā studies have shown that foals tend to learn much of their behavior and attitude from the mare that raises them (whether genetically related or not).
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I picked one whose dam I saw jumping around and I thought āif the foal is no better than her Iāll be happy.ā I also was careful about conformation and correctness and went for a stallion with a track record of good sound riding offspring. Iām very happy with the foal I bought. Heās a yearling now. And so far heās been a superstar.
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He is lovely!
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I look at performance records and videos of sire, dam, siblings, half siblings, siblings to the parents, etc. In the videos, as well as things like jump and rideability, Iām looking to see whether the horses take after the sire or the dam and whether there is consistency in type. Thatās where watching half siblings out of the same mare can be especially helpful, when available. I try and get a sense of which crosses were most successful. It isnāt always useful just to know a stallion sired a 1.60m horse, I want to know if that 1.60m horse resembles him or its dam, and things like that. I also like to see which ones are doing the young horse classes and which ones need more time, which ones are showing with amateurs and which ones with pros, which are consistent performers, etc. I also like to look at the auction horses and read vet reports and x-ray reports. I try and talk to other breeders that have used particularly stallions or have similarly bred mares, for instance, and sometimes I talk to the riders or former riders as well.
My focus is jumpers, which probably makes a lot of this easier with so much footage and information available from Europe and I find CMH to be an invaluable resource, although YouTube and social media also provide good video- just a little harder to find sometimes. The hunters might be harder because names and pedigrees can be harder to track down and Iām not sure if it is as easy to find videos but thatās sort of where I start with my research.
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Agree! We are on the east coast but have taken horses to the YHS qualifiers the past 3 years and they are wonderful! Great experiences for young horses and wonderful feedback. We are hosting one at my barn next year too!
Honestly I look for good conformation with a great brain. If you have the ability to watch/look at older full siblings, even better. Super fancy is great, but not if it comes with a less Ammy friendly brain. The first young horse I bought recently was a freak of a mover and gorgeous over a fence, but a little nutty. He wasnāt going to get to be the size I needed so I moved him on anyway. Bought another weanling because Iād seen the full brother grow up and knew his connections. They said he was one of the easiest horses theyāve ever started with a great brain, and so far itās been true! He goes to young horse school next June and I canāt wait, the time has flown by!
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I look at bloodlines, specifically the dams, and what she has produced (full and half siblings to the one Iām considering), and go from there. I havenāt picked one out as a yearling, but have bought many 2 year olds. Iām not crazy about how they trot like a lot of other people, the canter is most important to me. I look at how they naturally carry themselves, do they want to pick up both leads, etc. Same with free jumping, I donāt look for one that jumps super high and with their knees to their eyes - I look for one that is slow off the ground, and in the air, keeps a nice natural balance, āhuntingā the next jump, and on. Itās worked out very well for me, considering Iāve bought them all sight unseen, and theyāve all been exactly what I thought they were going to be.
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Well you canāt just share a picture with no info! That chrome is wow, what breed at least?
(typo)
He is a selle francais. Balou du Rouet x Tiptoe de Bettegney (Dandy Du Marais II). He definitely got the chrome from dad. Mom is a bay with a couple basic white socks. Sheās been bred to various different stallions and no significant amount of chrome on any other than Louie. There are lots of Balous with lots of chrome. For sure itās coming from that side of the breeding.
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There are so many variables. I am also on Team Temperament, but also will say my easiest foal grew up to be the toughest one to bring along and sheās still very quirky and requires specific management to keep her happy.
The first young one I every bought, I purchased at 1-week old off photos/video, based on the sire. He showed on the line a bit, and was very lightly started undersaddle at 3yo when some NQR-ness presented. It turned out he had severe wobblers, and I had to euth before his 4th birthday.
I look back to the āresearchā I did back then and laugh at my naivete. The breeder wasnāt reputable, the foal was lovely, but wasnāt likely to develop (if he hadnāt had to be PTS) into what I was actually hoping for, and while the āfoal priceā was manageable for young-adult me, by the time he was undersaddle, I had enough board/care/training money into him I could have bought a nice going young horse that was what I was looking for.
So, I guess what Iām saying is, buying/breeding a foal (breeding is what Iāve done over the last few years, and is just as much of a crapshoot) has a lot of rewards, and can be an amazing adventure, but it can also be full of heartbreak and frustration. Researching bloodlines for performance, temperaments and soundness of parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc helps. Itās also critical to find a fantastic young horse trainer who understands babies and how to deliberately develop them, as well as to be patient and not develop them too fast. We know so much more now about how WBs mature. I donāt even sit on mine until theyāre 4yo.
But, when going the baby route, donāt put all your eggs, hopes, and dreams into that basket. Babies are just as homicidal and suicidal as the adult versions. Or, despite good bloodlines, the foal may not achieve the height you expect (ask me how I know), or it might hate jumping but you wanted it to be your next AO hunter, etc.
Iām not trying to talk you out of it, because it really is an amazing experience to really bring one along from scratch, but just make sure youāre going in with eyes wide open.
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IMO, the issue with young uns is you really cant evaluate how they will accept training and react to unusual situations until you start asking harder questions and putting them in unusual situations.
Very wise horseman said in his book he did not feel competent evaluating young stock because, in his long experience, he could not tell how they would not accept the serious training to be successful over fences. IIRC, he disliked looking at anything under two and three was much better.
The book might have been called Evaluating Hunters and Jumpers or something along those lines. His name was Rodney Jenkins. Its a wonderful book if you can get ahold of a copy.
IMO too many cite famous sires, who can have 100+ foals a year when the mare has one and that foal learns by watching everything that mare does and imitating it. Be mindful of the damside if you are looking for attitude and trainability in very young stock. Bitchy mare=bitchy baby.
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