Conformation critique on prospect:)

[CanteringCarrot]

He doesn’t look quite like a draft cross to me, and a TB can definitely be thick/as thick as the picture makes him look. My gelding that was by Cee’s Tizzy was quite thick and had a lot of substance. Many people also did not think he was a TB/pure TB. So a horse of this build being a TB, doesn’t really surprise me. I’ve also seen a fair amount of variation in the breed, especially once they fill out and/or get into a non racing career.

As a side note, I’ve seen a few draft (usually Percheron) x TB’s that were quite nice.

[Scribbler]

Yes TB x percheron can be nice but you want to see how they move. I think a chunky TB is promising. He was posted without a breed named.

[Turntable]

My cousins have a dairy farm where I was sent during some summers. Cows jump very well over solid things like walls and metal fences or gates. Ditches and wire they typically don’t jump, I think it’s a vision thing.

Watching a nicely bred cow trot to a fence and jump it you sometimes think “hmm, that cow moves and jumps better than the horse I paid so much for”

[CanteringCarrot]

@Scribbler

Yes TB x percheron can be nice but you want to see how they move. I think a chunky TB is promising. He was posted without a breed named.

Yes, that’s sort of a given. I personally want to see how any horse moves.

He was indeed posted without a breed named, but that was later disclosed.

[cheektwocheek]

Are you looking towards showing in the small horse division at the Pony Cup?

He’s local to me. Since he’s on the smaller side, I can totally see why you are interested. There is an up and coming niche for his size.

[LilyandBaron]

Pony Cup would be a blast! My friend often volunteers, and I read for her once when she competed. It’d be lovely to do the smaller horse competition.

[Ace1]

I love him. Though I am fairly tall at 5’8”, I like the option of being able to mount from the ground if need be. I have been blessed with Rockette-like flexibility, but I would want a horse no taller than 15.3 and wide as a couch. My last horse was virtually impossible to fall off of as no matter which way I went, there was always more horse (that and he had a heart of a lion - we would at least attempt jumps even if we couldn’t clear them).

I can’t speak to the making-it-to-PSG, but he looks like a ton of fun. Bonus if he’s wide as a couch!

[CanteringCarrot]

I don’t want something soo wide due to my hips, but I do like a horse with substance. I also prefer mounts in the 15-15.3hh range. A “medium” size horse is ideal. I’m also 5’4, so I don’t look so ridiculous on large ponies either.

More and more I’m starting to like this horse (not saying for PSG, just in general), and it would be interesting if the OP ends up buying him. I’m always drawn to the compact models, which does have its drawbacks, but seems to just be my preference.

[chestnutmarebeware]

He looks like an overgrown pony, and I would buy him for that reason alone!

[MsM]

The OP asked about potential for at least 60s up to at least PSG.
First thought is that it is increasingly difficult to get 60s as you get to the higher levels, especially if you dont have a super mover to get some easier points. So that is a pretty high bar.
Then there is budget. For those of us in this discipline on a limited budget, compromises have to be made. We cant afford the fancy, big gait young WBs.
You could maybe rule out some horses from a still picture due to obvious defects. But you cant really make much of a judgement beyond basic balance for potential. I have found videos much, much more telling. Many times I have seen a an ad for a nice horse and clicked on the video to find it was a “meh” mover. Other times what looked like a cute horse looked absolutely stunning in motion. (Normal motion not tail-flagging sproinging around chased by a whip!)

For me after soundness, it is mind and motion.

[LilyandBaron]

This is me - I want to succeed in dressage, but I do NOT want a giant. I’m 5’5" but thick thighs, so some horses are too narrow for me. My current three are all chonky 15-15.3, including my TX bred TB that I joke got confused in TX and thinks she’s a QH:) Ideal would be chonky and athletic, with a GREAT brain. And I call dibs if he’s all those things, lol.

[eightpondfarm]

The next mustang i’m training has all the things. I brought him in from pasture yesterday…he’s got a ways to go, but is in a halter now. He is a chonk. I might be changing his name to Plinth. Big varnish appy…calm and moves like a dream. i’m kinda excited about his potential…

[Shagyas_Rock]

I am a little late to the party here but would like to offer my humble 5 cents.
I like him.
He has a big kind eye with a sweet expression. His neck isn’t really that much shorter than a lot of dressage horses. But it’s a heavier neck which might make it look a bit shorter than it actually is.
The bone structure of the neck is fine - he has a lovely crest and his throatlatch is open - he isn’t hammer headed or ewe necked for example.
He has a short back, yes - and there are advantages and disadvantages to this. One advantage is that shorter backed horses tend to be very sound. My short-backed Shagays have never had back issues for example. I like his rectangular frame… He has a lovely and deep hindquarter which suggests carrying power. If he has a willing attitude and a nice canter he should go as far as any rider would wish.

[candyappy]

@Scribbler

If he’s a TB he cannot possibly be as thick as this picture makes him look.

He looks like many of the TB’s my BO bought off the track and we retrained in the mid 80’s. They didn’t make the cut for racing but they did fine in whatever discipline they went on to do.

I like the horse and he may not have the refinement of most of the TB’s we see today but maybe he will actually hold up when he is ridden?

[J-Lu]

Really? Thanks! I can’t imagine a dairy farm cow jumping. Or any cow choosing to jump. Their bodies and heads are so heavy and that can’t be good on their limbs.

We’ve had cows at the barn for weeks at a time, and I drive by cow pastures to get to the barn. Cows at the barn push through things. They pushed through the gate once, turning the latch, rather than jumping it. The fencing in the place they live is 3-board fence and at one spot is only 3 foot high at most because it sunk over time. We’ve never lost a cow! There are times when the road is filled with cows and usually wire is down somewhere.

[jvanrens]

@J-Lu

Haha! I do disagree. I will ask my cow peeps if their cows jump 3’3". The video didn’t show the bull jumping. They don’t.

We had one that could jump well over 3’3" from a standstill. Sorry no video, well before the days of cellphones, but did it easy. Wasn’t a bull though, so maybe I imagined it?

[MsM]

There was a course in college for animal science students involving beef cattle. One part was to train a heifer to lead and show it in a class. The cattle had been haltered and tied to a post for a while but were otherwise unhandled. To start, the student would go to the paddocks and find their randomly assigned animal and the staff would help run it into a chute so you could halter it.

My friend who was about 4’10" goes to the paddocks and finds her animal is a huge Charolais (a big breed). I watch as she walks into the paddock to start herding it towards the chute. The heifer decides to take an alternate route and jumps into the next paddock. And then the next. And one more! That cow could really jump!
Fortunately, they gave her an alternative animal.

[J-Lu]

Wow! I did that SAME THING as a freshman and worked with a heifer and showed it. Fortunately, she didn’t jump into the next pasture when I worked with her.

[Libby2563]

@MsM

First thought is that it is increasingly difficult to get 60s as you get to the higher levels, especially if you dont have a super mover to get some easier points. So that is a pretty high bar.

Interesting, I actually think it’s the opposite. At the lower levels you’re really just doing WTC and there’s not as much to show off in the way of movements and correct training. There gaits count for a lot. As you go up the levels your training counts for more and gaits for less, except in the “brilliance” movements like extensions.

I showed a long-backed 6 mover to GP and his sweet spot was PSG/I1, where we could score high 60s/low 70s. He had super changes and lateral work to show off at those levels. The collection required for I2/GP was just a little bit out of his comfort zone so although we got 60s there it wasn’t assured or easy, and I never felt like we got a truly good piaffe in the show ring.

[Rackonteur]

LOLOL as you know that is not a cow!