A Fresian/QH cross that is for sale came across my Facebook page yesterday. Lovely horse, ready to move up the levels. Price at 3 yo? 22k. Yes you can spend that easily breeding but sometimes 22k is easier to absorb financially over time from vet bills, the breeding, board bills etc, rather than all at once.
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Iām familiar with 2 Friesian QH crosses, and neither were high dollar horses. They look like dressage horses standing still but honestly they donāt have the scope of a WB or the cattiness of an Iberian. They are nicely put together but Iāve also seen s Freisian cross that was freakishly narrow.
They have high necks but arenāt naturally lifting in front so it is easy to ride them functionally inverted and on the forehand without noticing.
Honestly I donāt love Freisians as riding horses.
Now a TB Iberian cross is a lovely horse, and if you want a horse for playing around in āclassical dressage,ā the Iberians are almost custom designed for that kind of program with its focus on collection and lateral work.
I would look for a heavier set Lusitano stud rather than the lighter modern Andies that are being bred to look more Arab in build. I think you will get a much more functional horse than with a Friesian stud. It may not look as flashy in the paddock but it will move much better in terms of agility and collection.
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Sure, I can see someone asking more money for a FresianXā¦but my suggestion was for the OP to look for a made crossebred lower level dressage horseā¦meaning it cold be a TBXQH or TBXDraft etcā¦surely there are 3yr olds out there that are not 22k.
And I would think that, for 22k for a 3yr old Freisian/QH, it had better be SPECTACULAR. I know of a reg Hanoverian 4 yr old, black- 17hh gelding with clean x-rays and very ammy- friendly ride, for the same price.
Anyhow, whatever the OP decides to do Iām sure it will all turn out great in the end.
Hi again all! Love all the input Ć°ÅøĖÅ Thank you. To answer some questions:
-Iām hoping to find recommendations for specific Friesian studs that have been proven to cross well with TBs. Does anyone know of any?
-My mare does already have good hair, especially for a TB, so I donāt care about that much. That would be a fun extra.
-She is lovely and looks like a WB. Wish I could add a photo. I just do not want to lengthen the foalās back, as hers is perfect. Her neck is good but could be a touch longer. So no problems where sheās concerned. If she had problems I would not breed. I prefer the adopt, donāt shop mentality, and Iām still thinking this through.
-I will do a TONNE of research before choosing a stud.
-I cannot afford an Iberian outright at the moment, but one day will buy my dream Lusitano too. I do NOT want an Iberian TB cross.
-I would not like a purebred Friesian as they are too heavy.
āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹-I like Friesians as they are Baroque!
-This would be a personal horse for classical dressage, not competition.
-Check out the Friesian Sporthorse Lexington to see why I think this cross would be nice! Ć°ÅøĖŽ
-I too have seen fugly horses of every cross. Iād consider a WB stud, but honestly Iām not too excited about that idea.
Hope that explanation helps Ć°ÅøĖÅ
āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹
To answer another question, Friesian TBs can be registered as Friesian Sporthorses.
I however do not give a hoot about resale value Ć°ÅøĖÅ
Freisians are baroque but they are baroque harness horses.
Iberians are baroque and they are baroque saddle horses.
Everything you want to do in the saddle will be easier if you start with a saddle horse and not a harness or draft horse.
As far as functional conformation for various tasks, I highly recommend Deb Bennettās book on functional conformation for a better explanation than I can give here. Also you may find the archives of the no longer active Hooves Blog helpful.
You need to consider skeletal proportions and what they contribute to achieving a task.
IME the Iberian TB cross is very Iberian in type and has way more natural ability as a saddle horse than the Freisians Iāve seen. Neither the TB nor the Freisian is going to contribute much ability to sit or collect.
But I realize that hair trumps the day, and black horses are most popular for dressage (was a recent thread on this) so if you want a big black horse with feathers, that is your choice.
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My comment was directly relating to TB crosses. I also think the Arabian, Morgan and other more phenotypically similar breeds make for a better option.
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Hi Scribbler, Fear not! I do not just want that. I do think that the older style, baroque Friesians, not the modern wasp waisted sport types, and more reminiscent of their cavalry horse past. They were not all or always harness horses, and some still reflect that. I agree however, that most donāt. Hence my research to find one with a decent back. Ć°ÅøĖÅ I guess I could consider an Iberian TB cross, but leaves me feeling flat. Iāve never seen one I liked. At all. Perhaps you could prove me wrong and post a link to one that could change my mind? Iberians are my favourite BY FAR. I have extensive experience with them. Ć°ÅøāÅ
For every 1 nice tb/fr cross ive seen there are 5 butt ass ugly hide behind the barn ones. No way i would gamble like this
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I think the other thing is adding length in the neck. The thoroughbred/freisian crosses I am seeing do not have much length.
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I like your mare a lot! :yes: If youāre really set on a good using Friesian cross, talk to Iron Spring Farm. At least their stallions are out there competing. Or were. They have 
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Offhand no I donāt have any links, the horses I know are private horses with no internet presence, and if I do have snapshots, I donāt have permission to post them all over the internet.
My guess is if you love Iberians, a tb/ Freisians wonāt do it for you. Do you have any experience with Friesians?
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Lovely mare, nice type. I agree with JB. Talk to ISF if you are dead-set on Friesianā¦ They would be the authority, I think.
I think the Friesian is one of those breeds that suffers from its fan-base and there is a stigma still about the breed; thereās two types of Friesians ā the Friesians bred by those that Luff Fluff and just want a pretty horse to look at, and then those that are serious sport-horse breeders (ISF, and MOR, for instance). Unfortunately I think the former out-populates the latter, so it can be really hard to find a true quality Friesian for dressage/riding and a lot of the FriesianXs we see are not from quality Friesians, IMHOā¦ but those Friesians that are quality, are extremely nice, and people donāt give this breed enough credit for its people-pleasing personality. It really is like no other breed, when you sit on a Friesian. I am a TB rider by preference, and I just love the Friesianās people-pleasing mentality. Morgans come close, but can be much hotter.
Nowā¦ if you wanted bone and think hairy is a plus, I might steer you in the direction of Gatsby. He is an Oldenburg, butā¦ really, really nice crossing on TBs. I have seen several of his TB xs now and have liked every oneā¦ quite a turn-around too, because when I first saw him I was not that impressed ā but he is an excellent amateur-horse maker, and is proven to add bone, lengthen, make a big horse, and has several very nice TBx on the ground.
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Sheās very well put together, a nice TB specimen for sure. If you must breed to a Freisian, I agree with others that have suggested ISF. I think your mare would cross best with a WB or ISH in my opinion.
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FWIW, you may not care about resale value now but life has a habit of changing and not always in directions we donāt anticipate.
While your intentions may be that this is a forever horse, always, IMO, consider resale to give your future horse a soft landing if needed 
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The thing that Iberians have that no other breed can match is agility and cattiness. They even outrank QH in this regard. They can collect, pirouette, do lateral moves, etc very very easily. The raw scope of their trots vary by individual but they can be taught to do a proper extended trot over time and move quite nicely. Itās interesting sometimes looking at them in the paddock, its hard to tell where all that powerful agility comes from because they donāt have huge back ends like QH. And some Lusitanos even look front heavy with big necks. I think you really need to see an Iberian in action to know what youāve got.
Freisians donāt have much agility. If they are finding a slot in dressage these days, it is because of size and a big harness horse trot. People are also looking to Hackneys and Dutch Carriage Horses and draft crosses to get that big trot.
Thatās because current dressage judging puts an emphasis on natural big gaits from training level on up. People will choose a horse with a natural huge trot rather than agility or a great canter because of the score sheets.
But OP, if you are doing āclassical dressageā? This is of course a very broad term and I donāt know who.you are training with. But my own coach is in a French training program and i have watched over the years and seen that Iberians excel in that work, and Freisians donāt.
Iāve also seen a fair number of Freisians as the Dutch community here breeds them. I saw a driving exhibition once that had half a dozen vehicles in the arena at once: one horse, two horse, four in hand. Very impressive, but also the trot style varied a lot between horses. Some of them had dressage quality trots and others were more knees up harness horse.
Lovely harness horses.
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Very informative thread. I have seen a lot more Friesien crosses available just in the past year. Some very good points in this thread to keep in mind as I look around.
She has a lovely tail, canāt tell much about the mane. Are you familiar with how much work leg hair can be? Feathers are a pita. Would you be ok if she just got long hair hanging off the back of her fetlock?
-This would be a personal horse for classical dressage, not competition.
A Friesian isnāt what Iād chose for classical dressage. Their sit power is not very good. Some are better by conformation, all need to be really worked correctly to get it right.
Iād consider a WB stud, but honestly Iām not too excited about that idea.
May I ask why?
You should care a great deal about resale value. The āfoal for lifeā is a great concept, and is no better or worse than someone breeding for resale. But life happens. An acquaintenace is getting a divorce and needs to sell 4 of her āliferā horses. Fortunately they are lovely horses with amazing pedigrees, and finding quality homes shouldnāt be a problem Another recently lost her husband, and is having to sell the farm, and many people in that situation would have to downsize or sell all. Jobs get lost. Critical injuries happen.
:yes: :yes: Inspectors have said several times how much of a good cross he is on, specifically, TB mares.
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You could look into the Friesian Connection. Located in Michigan. They have several stallions that are available fresh (one competes at I1) and some via frozen that are competing at Grand Prix. Good luck to you.
The majority of fresian crosses I have seen have been 100% fugly and non functional. I would really reconsider this cross. Plus fresians are a bit batty and TBs can be a bit batty (kind of arab-saddlebred crossesā¦ WHY). There are 100 better crosses IMO.
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