Are there lines known for being hardy, tough-types, easy-keepers?
In Hanoverians and Oldenburgs.
I have serious pony-toughness envy, in a horse format.
I have a Hano mare by Escapade that gets fat on air. Shes the mare in my profile picture. She also has Merano on her dams side…
Heres her pedigree for you to peruse.
My G-line Hanoverian mare is extremely hardy. She is a super easy keeper and has nice strong feet that do not require shoes even when being ridden and they are not even the least bit sensitive to rocky terrain. She’s never been lame in her life and grows a very thick winter coat.
ETA: She has Gotthard through both her sire and dam.
My G-line mare would have been had she not had nutritional related neurological problems. I know that sounds weird, but she had great feet, great bones, great conformation and a great brain. She was an uber cool horse, such a bummer.
I’d look for Grande with a pinch of TB, but I looked and looked and those old G-line bloodlines are tough to find.
I love the G-line and its sturdiness, and I wish I had a G-line mare. I have had a W line gelding who was very sturdy with great bone and big feet, an easy keeper. I now have a D-line mare (my second) and she is very petite, but sturdy with great feet (I’ve had a couple of different farriers say the same thing). She grows an excellent coat and she is super low maintenance.
My Oldenburg mare (well, technically Canadian Sport Horse though by a Holsteiner and out of an Oldenburg) is built like a brick house. Great feet in addition to being as sturdy as they come. I showed her well above her scope level for many years and she’s going strong at 17 and still courses around 4’ easily. She is one of the soundest horses I’ve ever owned…one abscess in 10 years and nothing else other than the odd minor injury here and there. I would take another like her in a heartbeat. Especially as I’ve been dealing with my [fragile] OTTB with speshul feet for the last several years. He’s a rock star and makes all of the effort well worth it, but I would LOVE it if he was sturdy like my mare! 
Her pedigree: http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/index.php?query_type=horse&horse=FOXY+SOCKS3&g=5&cellpadding=0&small_font=1&l=
My G-line over L-line FEI mare is super sturdy. Tons of bone, great feet, amazing work ethic/brain, and is competitive at FEI. Just earned a 68% at I-1 as a matter of fact.
I’m not surprised to read “G-line”. :yes:
Most horses I love are out of G-line mothers… Very interesting.
I like low maintenance horses (no supplements, no fancy shoeing is needed (it’s a big deal if they need 4 shoes), hardy constitution, efficient eaters, etc) that are more FEI horses than YH types - the kind that when the work gets more complicated they relax into the exercises and blossom. They also are expected to stay sound into their late teens in consistent heavy work. So with that in mind - old D (not Donnerhall necessarily) but Duellant, Goldfisch II, Absatz (not more than 2-3 crosses at most) - those are my top “foreign” names and then distance bred TB. But these bloodlines need to WORK daily. They do not thrive in a 2-3 days/week program. But alas we do not breed Oldenburg or Hanoverians even though we stand a couple of stallions that have those breeding approvals. Waldaire has G through Gotthard in his sireline, Wizard carries G on both sides of his pedigree, Avebury/Adamant/Again and Again/Showtime all carry G through Abundance (Goldfisch II).
I gave away my Dahlwitz/Wendekreis/Wisenbaum xx Hanoverian to a pleasure home at age 20. She was extremely sound - still is at 22 - but had a pretty high sense of self and could buck you off faster than you can say BAM! 
if you asked for something incorrectly in Herself’s opinion. That was a trait that she had from the time she was started undersaddle. She’ll probably go for another 10 years and is treasured in her home where she rules the barn. :lol: She was the epitome of TOUGH.
I agree with Grande in the background. Hardy, healthy, tough minded horses with great willingness to work - once you convince them that they want to. You ask them rather than tell them but they will turn themselves inside out to perform for you. They also tend to be long lived and fertile in addition to all the health qualities mentioned above.
Amazingly Grande was almost not licensed because he was too snall.
[QUOTE=Libby416;6584142]
I have a Hano mare by Escapade that gets fat on air. Shes the mare in my profile picture. She also has Merano on her dams side…
Heres her pedigree for you to peruse.
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/entourage3[/QUOTE]
Our 3 year old filly by Escapade out of a our TB mare is a very easy keeper too. I know Escapade himself is also very easy keeper. Works for me. I will take that over some of the hard keeping TBs we have had over the years 
Here is our girl by him.
Balta’Czar. My BC mare lives on air, even with a foal at her side. Great feet, too. Gets trimmed once every 10 weeks - has never needed shoes. Don’t know if it’s a Balta’Czar thing; she was out of an easy keeping TB mare as well.
I’ve only had two vet visits that were NOT for routine shots in 8 years with my Pablito/Cor Noir mare.
First non-routine visit: She attempted to jump a gate from a standstill in the dead of winter rather than walk through the opening. Genius. Has a small scar from where she skinned herself - was down for a month to heal and returned to full work rather quickly. She was 4 when this happened.
Second non-routine visit: As a 9 year old. Battling a nasty stonebruise/abcess. First one EVER in 8 years of ownership.
No idea if her lines are normally considered hardy, but my mare sure as heck is!
My Hanoverian by Kalypso who has Guter Fang on the bottom of his pedigree is as tough a mare as I’ve ever seen - with super feet. We never trim her hinds and they stay trim and balanced, and trim her fores maybe three times a year. She’s not taken a lame step, to date, and is also one you ask but never tell. Now 13, dam of seven foals and in foal, she plays like a youngster. She and I have an almost perfect partnership and she is worth respecting. Also, she is very, very intelligent and understands gestures and some words perfectly well! I really enjoy her. Kleopatra is 16 hands of powerful mare, great jumper, beautiful mover, and never broken to saddle. She just won her broodmare class at Warrenton and has won her class at the MAHB mare show, two of her very few outings other than foal inspections each year.
Diane Halpin: Facebook
Laurel Leaf Hanoverians
My Hannoverian mare is 20 (I can’t really believe she is that old), she looks like she is about 12, very sound being ridden at 3rd-4th level work 4x/week. 17hds black with 4 socks, got 7.9 on her MPT (9’s for jumping), nice mover, correct and not a ton of knee, scores in mid 60’s to low 70’s thru 3rd level. She is so stoic, she has never really been off. She is a lady, through and through- works very hard but you have to have her respect and respect her back.
I plan to show her again in the spring.
Bloodlines here;
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/dorina11
I have one foal from her, wish I had more.
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/index.php?query_type=horse&h=ARETHA6&g=5&cellpadding=0&small_font=1&l=
Just looked up Escapade’s pedigree and his dam is G-line. Her name is Gesa, by Graf Grannus.
In addition to G, look to E-line and A-line, plus Ramino-R line.
My Oldenburg mare gets fat on air, is barefoot, and sturdy. A wonderful change coming from my life filled with TBs and their high metabolisms, bad feet and swells-from-a-scratch (generalization, I know!)
She is out of a TB but by A Crown Court, who is by Abundance - who Tasker and Not Again have personal involvement with and dozens of decendents of.
I also have a Hanoverian mare by Kalypso and out of a Grande dam line (so double the G influence) who is such a steady, easy keeper of a mare. She’s 16 years old and acts like a youngster. She did have a jumping injury 4 years ago but recovered 100% sound. She’s a jumping machine, it’s her favorite thing to do. However, I’m the one who’s the chicken so we stick to dressage which she does beautifully; she’s naturally rhythmic and one of the most generous horses I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding. I just love her heart and her work ethic. I’m eagerly looking forward to breeding her to just the right stallion in 2013.
Why don’t you switch to Irish Draughts…we can use more breeders especially those interested in these very traits that make Irish Draughts important. I went Irish because I want to keep horses out in pasture 24/7…that is what they like. I wanted them to not be injure prone regardless of the world they lived in…perfect or imperfect…they do not hurt themselves. I wanted them to not be ouchy or sensitive and they are actually too tough as it is hard to know when they DO have a problem. I have to pay attention because they just go through it if they are having fun. Add they are civlized, have a high work ethic and 3 powerful true gaits, are easy to start and nag YOU if they haven’t had fun today. If the warmbloods had kept breeding horses to the traits of the G-line I would be happy but they wanted sensitive, refined, hot…so I have Irish Draughts. PatO
