Incredible incredible horse

[DownYonder]

[QUOTE=neVar;2028154]
LOVELY horse

As others have said- it’s obvious he doesn’t have much work done with him- [/QUOTE]

Quaterman won the 3 y/o stallion class at the Bundeschampionat this year, so he has obviously been under saddle for a while. If he is like most young stallions in Germany, he was actually probably started early last winter.

This horse is ethereal. As someone said - he has only a passing acquaintance with gravity.

But people - he is a CHESTNUT!! How can he be so fantastic? Everyone knows that only dark-coated dressage horses are worth a flip! :lol:

[slc2]

i wouldn’t allow my 3 year old to be ridden for an hour this way, but 10 minutes, 20 minutes 3 x a week, if it was THIS 3 year old, yes, though at home, the reins would be slightly longer as he wouldn’t be so up. if it were a less balanced, less athletic horse, uh uh. and i would stretch him like at the end of this.

i would rather not ride my 3 year old stuck in some artificially lowered frame that would have to be all reschooled, and would actually ruin his balance and strain him even more.

[chicki]

[B]Really? Hmm.

Even though he is unproven? Even though there are no other offspring to compare to? How do you know his genetic prepotence? Are you certain he will pass on big elastic gaits to his offspring? Not all do you know. Are you certain that he will complement your mare’s weaknesses? How do you know what traits he will throw and which he won’t?

This is exactly how so many babies end up on auction blocks and standing in back yards in knee deep mud with halter scars.

Everybody says “OOoooooooh!! Preeeeeeeeeeeety pony!!! And he has BALLS! Come on mare, get in the trailer!!”[/B]

Honestly, I think that is the dumbest comment I have ever heard in regards to horse breeding. Seriously.
For one, if nobody bred to new stallions on the assumption that they will produce shit because they are unproven, we would be left without a breed, because the proven stallions would die off.
Secondly, the horse has EVERYTHING other than being proven going for him(not just balls!). He clearly has the mind, the talent, the rideability and impecable breeding, the look and most likely the conformation although I would like to see some confo shots.
If I could go out to an environment which you are refering too and find offspring of top european talent then I would be a VERY VERY happy woman, however, it doesn’t happen, and it never will. And on top of that, if he is a shitty producer the people who own the kind of mares that are bred to him will stop, and choose something else.

I am with the other lady who said that they want to breed their mare to him. The moment he is liscenced Hano…I know a certain little don fred filly that is going to be having a date;)
There is NOTHING negative about this horse in regards to sport that can be gleaned from this video.

[YoungFilly]

I would so breed to this stallion so fast, proven or not. He is just such an example of exactly what most people would want in a top dressage horse.

But, I do have one thing about the video that I do not like, and it is the sitting trot on a 3yr old. I think if it was only for a short amount of time to show the horse, ok, but if this is what happens in his daily training, I would really think this could actually ruin his gaits in the long run. It is a fact that you can shutdown a horse back by sitting to much if the muscles are not strong enough to support it. I can’t imagine how this horses back could be strong enough at that age to endure 30 minutes of sitting. But, we can’t judge anyones training on such a short clip, and its obvious that the horse has been started really well.

[slc2]

i really don’t see the guy sitting down on the back. he’s doing that ‘float and grin’ that they do with the youngsters.

[Aggie4Bar]

Two words: air pockets.

He’s not sitting down the horse’s back, and he’s working a lot harder to be out the way than it looks.

[MyReality]

Let me be the guinea pig please! I will let you know if his offspring is any good… I actually know of a certain mare, lovely mare.

Everyone could tell he is quite green and the rider is not riding him very hard. We are talking about a top trainer/rider on a top horse. He is not going to ruine the horse any time soon… and yes I do have faith in the German system.

Actually I was told, by someone who was a working student at a German farm. He said the horses will be groomed by the grooms, assembly line style… warmed up in hot walker… then only ridden for 15 minutes to 30 minutes at a time for schooling. This is to prepare them to peak for the 5 minute needed for a show. (I didn’t ask what farm nor did I know if this is a common practice in Germany.)

About training styles… I know someone who has a family breeding farm in Portugal. His grandfather is a friend with Nuno Oliveira, and he watched Nuno ride. He said Nunno would sit on a young horse nobody has sat on before… without doing any activie riding, simply by shifting his weight, and that alone will change how the horse balance himself. Within 10 rides, the horse was doing shoulder in. There are trainers with such skill, I would not speak so soon as to how their horses should be trained.

[abrant]

Wow…

My comments - if I had this horse. I would trail ride him, I would take him to the grocery store, I would nap on his back, you would have to drag my ass off him him and pry my cold dead fingers from his mane (they would be almost permantently imbeded there anyway, from trying to stay on his gaits, haha). But that’s just me.

Also - It’s a shame that some people can’t tell how green this horse is. Trust me, the excitement of the moment is going to make it look like he is being worked much more advanced than he is. He’s been taught to be respectful of the bridle and the moment has him so excited he’s going forward into it. But you see stretching moments and bouncing moments that remind you that he is a total green bean. He hasn’t been overworked. I took a 2 week off the track TB to a show and did a crossrails, I glanced in the arena mirror as we were cantering by… I was like, “OMG, we look SEXY”. But that’s not TRAINING, that’s just a young horse dealing with a situation that is exciting for them. That wasn’t even hardly decent riding, lol. Given the rider’s obvious mastery, I would say that boy probably doesn’t have 60 days undersaddle, if that.

And as far as his offspring ending up neglected because someone knew one lady who neglected a warmblood. Well, it happens, but it happens quite rarely. That lady had a perogative to neglect. It could have been a dog, for goodness sakes. It has no relevancy to this stallion.

~Adrienne

[EqTrainer]

@merrygoround;2026887

Absolutely gorgeous. I did notice though that the rider seemed quite cautious on the lengthings, or was it my imagination that he asked for them?

I would be cautious to even put my leg over the saddle.

[YoungFilly]

@EqTrainer;2028388

I would be cautious to even put my leg over the saddle.

Hell no! Not me! I would ride that horse in a second! That would be like being asked if you would get into the space shuttle! A chance of a lifetime. :winkgrin:

Airpockets. That makes sense. Some of these riders can just make everything look effortless.

[EqTrainer]

@YoungFilly;2028431

Hell no! Not me! I would ride that horse in a second! That would be like being asked if you would get into the space shuttle! A chance of a lifetime. :winkgrin: .

I would too… but thoughtfully. Very thoughtfully.

[canyonoak]

More people every day want to buy the Special One…In a week or so, the PSI Auction will have a ring full of them, bingo bingo,bingo, one after the other: a fantasy on four legs, boinging along.

These horses represent an industry, for sure–lots of people involved. Feeding them, mucking out their stalls, embroidering the blankets, providing the lights, the champagne–you name it.

Keeping the coffee machines filled in the indoor riding arena sitting rooms of Western Europe probably helps tip the entire world coffee industry’s yearly gross.

For as many years as I can recall, the young stallions have been shown under saddle in the testing. The movement from 100 to 70 days is fairly recent.

So all the ones who are MATURE ENOUGH (pardon the caps but I dont know how to do bold) compete this way. And lots of them go on to solid careers, just as some of them…do not.

I do not believe there is a horseperson alive who could have Quaterback and NOT show him to the rest of the world.

Christian Flamm is my new poster boy for riding the young ones so well that it looks as though they are really trained–he has been doing this for several years now.

The point is: if one owns a stallion, one shows that stallion to the rest of the world. if one owns a typical stallion, there is money spent on ads, on shows, on photos,etc etc.

if one owns a Quaterback, in the ultra-competitive world of German breeding stallions, one goes to Bunderschampionnat, one goes to one’s OWN stallion show…and one comes away with people standing up and clapping, spreading the word far and wide that another magical one may just have passed in front of your very eyes.

The future is all fantasy right now: like other horses, he could get hurt, he could prove to not breed true, he could go on to greater glory–the whole road is in front of him.

But he is meant to be a breeding stallion–so it seems to me, before the road becomes reality–with all that reality might hold–this is a good time to promote him, promote the breeding practices, promote the industry.

[fiona]

I’d sell my soul for that horse along with most of the riders in europe!
I’d trade body organs just for a ride.

[class]

[QUOTE=YoungFilly;2028431]
Hell no! Not me! I would ride that horse in a second! That would be like being asked if you would get into the space shuttle! A chance of a lifetime. :winkgrin: [/QUOTE]

hate to be the one to break this to you, but space shuttles actually suck. yes, they might look cool and be the ride of a life time, but there’s no trunk to carry your groceries in and they can’t even pull a horse trailer… they’re just not very good all-around vehicles.

[DownYonder]

Excellent, post, Canyonoak. Thank you!

I particularly like this part: “The future is all fantasy right now.” How very, very true!

And it will be interesting to see whose stallion show this boy ends up in come Jan/Feb. I’m betting that there are more than a few major German stallion stations trying to pry him away from the Brandenburg state stud. It might be in Brandenburg’s best interests to lease him to a big stud like Shockemoehle or Boeckmann, or even to sell him. But then again, it might be even better for them to keep him. He won’t get as many mares if he stands there, but I bet German breeders would flock to him no matter where he is for at least the first few years. You know the old saying - “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.”

[poetaperegrinus]

May an innocent ask a question? Obviously this horse is visually spectacular, but I’m curious…what makes air-time so great? or, what makes suspension valuable from a dressage perspective? Is it just a desired visual, or indicative of something else, or valuable for training?

[Underdog]

Wow

CanyonOak…I’m a no name. I really try to bone up on blood.

But whats interesting with the dynamics happening here…are the same folks telling you they want an all rounder horse, or one that goes damn well on the trail or downhill…is looking for a specific phenotype or have certain goals in mind.

Isn’t that what you are doing?

Goal specific. I thought that what a breeder does.

If not. I quit.

LOVELY animal. Congrats.

[nero]

There are not enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe this divine creature. I’ve never seen suspension like that, and the canter jump, my god, extraordinary. He is the uber horse. A dressage machine.

I’m not sure why anyone would judge an animal like this on not being versatile - and how does this person know he’s not anyway? Does anyone try to diminish the greatness of Tiger Woods as a golfer because he can’t programme a video recorder or lift 300 pounds in a gym??? Odd way to analyse an animal bred specifically to excel in dressage and progress the sport.

Thanks to Eurobreederstour for this clip, it has made my day. It made me think I’d found religion because I kept saying "oh my god’ all through the footage!!

[canyonoak]

well, I think everyone should thank eurobreederstour, aka EBT <g> because the video clip is from HER website and she did the video and put it up for the rest of us to enjoy.

and to answer the person who asked WHY this kind of movement is desirable to some of us-- it is desirable in the same way that Baryshnikov or Nurejev perform in a desirable manner. Or for that matter, almost any world-class athlete in top performance.

It is max effort under pressure, made to look easy.

The more suspension or air time, the more stored energy and power to be shaped. The more power to be shaped, the more expressive the movement.
The more expressive the movement, the more thrilling and enjoyable. In the case of a horse–IF the horse swings in the back, flexes the joints and moves forward, then the rider is carried in a buoyant, balanced fashion.

If the horse moves with this kind of power and swing, then the feeling is, as Dr. Klimke put it, 'to know what it is like to be a god."

[Sakura]

He is a really magnificent horse, and I would put him in my barn if I won the lotto.

But… his way of going is reminiscent of some Arabian Park horses that I have seen. I am concerned that the very thing that turns me off in the Arabian world is becoming fashionable in the Dressage arena.