For the draft cross fitness, totally depends on the cross and the horse. A heavy horse, sure. My current guy, a Perch cross, has a bottomless pit of energy. He is naturally fit and forward - no conditioning needed for Training and first field fox hunting (assuming he’s in regular work), which is as far as he’s gotten.
In the LL eventing market in my area (northern IL) there’s a lot of overlap with the LL dressage crew, likely because of the idea of finishing on a dressage score.
The nice drafts & draftxs** go fast but the ones that aren’t terribly cute do not move fast. Appendixes actually go really well in both markets. Nice OTTBs have a bit of a market split - the really fancy athletic ones go fast (at the right price) to the ambitious jr/yr amateurs or people looking for a training+ prospect, but there’s enough really nice, really quiet OTTBs that many of them do end up with LL amateurs. The key with the TBs here is price. Many people list really high and horses are slow to move because we have so many on the market it seems we can find something comparable at a lower price point. The nice drafts and well schooled QHxs have less market competition in my area and tend to sell more consistently.
** I feel compelled to share that many of the draftxs here are somewhat unfortunate in terms of confirmation and athleticism. Some people in my area who breed them are rather less than mindful with their crosses so the horses aren’t what one would consider nice. I don’t know if this is a phenomena other areas run into though.
If all your trying to do is maintain value don’t look for breed, look for a good deal on a less than 10 year old horse, probably a gelding that’s sound and sane. That’s it, its all you have to do (that and not make him worse than when you bought him.) I think it is a big mistake to seek out specific breeds because you are limiting yourself and not looking at many, many sale horses that might fit your needs.
Last week I bought an Appaloosa, a totally unexpected choice for me. Never in a million years would I have gone in search of one. He has lovely gaits, experience in unrecognized low level events, seems bold and happy to jump. The owner had some injury/life change issues and he hadn’t been ridden in almost a year and she was anxious to sell. BUT he wasn’t going to show to a seller very well so long out of work. So I looked at pictures and video, vet checked him, sent a friend in the area to ride him to make sure he wasn’t crazy and shipped him home. He was underpriced for what he will obviously be able to do once he gets reconditioned. I could sell him next month for more than I bought him for easy. Not because of breed or desirability but because he was a good deal.
@Edre I think a lot of draft crosses are less than thoughtfully bred. When they turn out well they can be athletic and even fancy, but when they don’t it can look like a horse designed by committee. Like when they get the draft body on TB legs, or the draft head on the TB neck. :eek:
Even if the breeder is putting two nice horses together, the conformation that would make a draft good at pulling a load might hinder it as a sport horse. I had one old guy at a sale tell me that they like cow hocks on a Percheron. I kind of thought he was pulling my leg, but I saw an awful lot of them built that way when I started paying attention.
I think the nice ones we used to get in Iowa were more a product of the volume we had to pick from. There were PMU horses coming down from Canada, and there are a to of Amish around breeding draft horses and crosses. They are so uncommon around here that the only way I could think to find a nice one is to go to an auction, and I might have to go back Midwest to find a big enough one of those! But the few I’ve seen for sale around here are priced sky high, so the potential for return might make the effort worth it.
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@subk My idea of getting most of my investment back is having the sale price also cover board and other expenses of owning the horse. I’m just trying to be realistic in that I don’t expect I can ride something for a year and get ALL of the costs back, but that’s what I’ll be hoping for!
Having a friend in the area that can go check a horse out for you is super convenient! I’ve thought about seeing if I could get a pro local to whatever I’m looking at go ride it and take video, but I’ve never heard of someone doing that without any prior relationship. Those divorce/fire sales are a great, if sad, way to get a good deal. I’m glad your appy worked out! I had a little appy ‘hony’ that I used as a school horse in my 20’s and he had the most HILARIOUS personality. He would sass the more advanced kids and would knock over anything he could reach. I used to threaten him with a second career as a pretty rug. But I could put a timid 50yo re-rider on him to jump their first crossrail and he would pack them around like the queen of Sheba. He was a good ambassador for spots!
