Whenever anyone suggests any breed or type may have limitations in dressage, the hackles sure go up and people get VERY defensive, and the insults fly. They only don’t win because of fads, judging is subjective and rides on fashion, etc etc.
Dressage is unusual in this sense that there are so many enthusiasts that will argue that any horse can excel at any level. I think it’s wishful thinking to even suggest that all individuals of ANY breed can excell at all levels of any sport competition.
However, alot of denial goes into these arguments about how suitable draft horses are to any dressage endeavor. Fact is, even long before warmbloods came here and Thb’s were the breed of choice for dressage in America, there were still very few draft horses excelling at the top levels. Even when the American cavalry provided purpose bred horses to their dressage team, they were lightly built saddle horses.
There is a reason there are draft horses and they are different from saddle horses. Draft horses were developed for pulling at low speeds. Their heavy bodies and legs are designed for pulling. Their hindquarters, back, shoulder and neck are conformed to be optimal for pulling. Their gaits were not developed to be those of sport horse type. Recently, with more emphasis on draft shows a ‘hitchy’ trot is preferred, but it is still different from the trot of a saddle horse.
At the same time, drafts and draft crosses HAVE proven that it is very possible for individuals of these types to do ‘well’ in dressage. Since most riders never ride at the upper levels, and since many compete little or not at all, ‘well’ is usually defined as being a pleasant, obedient companion and family horse. There are DEFINITELY individuals who have even done better at higher levels. SOME, a very few, have even done ‘well’ at showing at the FEI levels.
Warmbloods are not a mix of ‘draft’ and ‘thb’ or arab blood. Draft horses - heavy clydesdale, Percheron, Belgian, Ardennes, etc, were never used to develop them. There were, however, stronger built horses used in developing them - coaching and lighter types of horses.
“Warmblood” is not the term for any mixed breed horse. Before warmbloods were imported to America, these horses were called ‘Draft crosses’, ‘Thoroughbred crosses’ or ‘Saddlebred crosses’, not ‘warmbloods’. They only got that name when warmbloods started to be sold here and threatened the marketing of cross bred horses. There are a number of European warmblood registries, and some American warmblood registries, not all are created equal, either. One American registry president informed me enthusiastically that they were licensing very poor quality mares because ‘We have to build up the size of our registry’. The warmblood registry concept is based on examining, testing, licensing and rewarding animals that are successful in four sport horse events governed by the FEI - jumping, dressage, driving and to a lesser extent, eventing.
We make the mistake of thinking of there always having been ONLY two types of horses - very heavy and very light saddle horses. This is just not true. There were many intermediate types of agricultural and military animals all with different characteristics and types and different degrees of massiveness. There were also the ride and drive types such as several breeds in Holland that helped to refine warmbloods and figured strongly in their development. Even the Trakehner was developed with the help of a local type, the Schweiken, and refined and further developed.
These were used to develop warmbloods, and Thb and Arab blood has been put into warmblood pedigrees ever since warmbloods began. The warmblood is actually just a development and a refinement of a type that had already existed long before the modern warmblood registries began. Bennet suggested a prehistoric ‘proto warmblood’, and not too many other researchers support her in that. In fact I haven’t found anyone else who backs the idea that her research on primitive equine skulls proves that.
There has never been a draft or heavier carriage breed horse that went to the world championships or the Olympics, to any major European competition. They are not represented in world class competition in noticeable numbers and have never been represented, regardless of which breed was popular at the time.
It is true that ‘the average warmblood’ does ALSO not go to the Olympics or World Championships. But also, the ‘average quarter horse’ does not go to the World Championships in reining, or cutting. This does not prove that the sport horse type is unsuitable for dressage any more than it proves that quarter horse types are unsuitable for cutting or reining.
There is a general refusal in these debates to define ‘what sort of dressage’ a horse is ‘suitable’ for. Almost any horse can give an owner a lot of fun at the occasional local shows. But I agree with others who express doubt that putting a heavy horse into what may be years of very rigorous sport horse training is wise.
I agree that not EVERY heavy horse goes lame when put into dressage work, especially when it’s done very casually and slowly with the goal of reaching a lower level.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to that taking a heavy horse up the sport level ranks is without problems. I will not agree that NONE go lame when an owner tries to take them up the levels. Sorry, but a rather too high percentage of them DO go lame and have to be retired.
In some cases, I think they stay ok because their owners simply did NOT put them in a rigorous demanding program and because they bring the horses along slowly and are very very cautious. The Shire I showed with was showing at 2nd level at the age of 9, not at PSG, and the trainer told me he would refuse to work with the horse at the point when he felt it would be ‘too much for him’.
It is (well, was, it will probably evaporate as a possiblity with qualification) very possible to work a horse quite lightly, teach him ‘the tricks’ and show him lightly locally up thru the levels - and easily win many awards at the ‘all breed’ level where there is little world class competition…without demanding much of him.
