I suspect they’re coming from the Amish so… they’ve… seen some things…
Perhaps not the kind of things you’d want them to see…
Also, heavily edited videos can be deceiving about how broke a horse is to weird stuff since you don’t know if you’re seeing take one or take twenty or take twenty with a few cc’s of Ace…
It’s true. I’m taking them on face value, but it’s why I don’t buy sight unseen. Happily, I’m also not currently in the market for a horse I can shape a tarp off the side of, so I don’t need to worry too much about the provenance of the videos!
If they can do all that the videos suggest, on the first take and sober then those are some good eggs.
The point everyone seems to be missing is that all three are actually Dutch warmbloods. The one everyone here seems to think it “the” Dutch Warmblood is the riding type. KWPN is the acronym for Koninklijk Warmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland and translates to the Royal Warmblood Studbook or the Netherlands a.k.a. in the US as a “Dutch warmblood.”
So I agree with you that it’s not deceptive to call them KWPN, but it’s also not deceptive to call it a Dutch Warmblood. The purpose-bred riding type does not “own” the term of the overall registry.
I also think this has become a rather silly discussion targeting a few breeders. If someone is buying a horse based on its breed only and not how it presents, then they run the risk of it not performing to their needs and specifications, anyway. Had I bought my Appaloosa back in the day based on his bloodlines I would have expected a foundation bred roan or leopard working cattle horse. What I got was an elegant, leggy 16.2 solid bay world champion hunter gelding…
Stop invoking common sense!
I agree, I think I tried to say that upthread but clearly not articulately
I linked CM farms above nice enough horses for all around riding, if drug tested / PPE – would be decent lower level eventers on a budget.
Not personally my cup of tea, but if it is safe, sound, sane, and kind - I would be all about it!
I have no insider knowledge but something about the videos gives me “definately blood test” vibes. That being said, while these horses are not my style I don’t find the way they’re labeled to be dishonest.
I love the Brookby Heights videos when they get sales questions.
Henry was advertised. A potential new owner asked me if you could drag stuff off Henry. My first thought was What ??? But then I realised I really should know these things so… Introducing Henry and the things we know we can drag from him…
So true! I bought a horse that the seller said was a QH cross. Turned out he was full Morgan!
To play devil’s advocate
Halla (won 3 Olympic gold medals in show jumping) was by a Standardbred out of a French Trotter, so harness/trotter breeding doesn’t preclude jumping ability.
I can’t come up with as impressive example, but there have been plenty of successful jumpers who were all or part saddlebred.
Now “American Show Hunters” are about a whole lot of things that have NOTHING to do with jumping, and everything to do with fashion.
When Europpean warmbloods were first imported to the US, THEY were considered “carriage horses” and “unsuitable to be show hunters” in comparison to the TBs that then dominated the division. Since then things have changed.
I fully support “truth in advertising”, and have no sympathy for people that advertise horses as something they are not.
But to suggest that the presence of “harness horse” blood means a horse can’t jump well over big fences is just short sighed breed prejudice.
OMG! #teamhenry all the way!!!
What an awesome guy.
I don’t entirely disagree, but there is a significant difference in shoulder angle and how the neck ties in to the shoulder in older era saddlebreds versus modern saddlebreds. I know that old type could jump the moon, although I don’t think they showed a lot of bascule. The newer type doesn’t impress me much in that department…
And since the US KWPN/DHH book allows for more saddlebred crosses/influence than the EU book (never mind the ADHHA, which is sort of like the AWS of US driving horses), you see a lot more of that trait in US KWPN/DHH than in some of the more sport bred KWPN/DHH in Europe. I mean there’s definitely some “high steppers” with vertical movement over there, but in general they like that more extravagant hock and knee action with loft AND reach favored in dressage/driven dressage. I think that type is probably closer in conformation to the old type saddlebred that was so popular in the early/mid 20th century.
I ended up following on FB one of the kwpn breeders mentioned here and there was FB drama today about someone complaining about her marketing them as jumpers on another chat group.
Zangersheide has a very strict selection and registering process, so no need to speculate ! Just log in the Zangersheide studbook and search for the name of the Horse. Lol
I was going to say something similar to DMK but she beat me to it!
There are plenty of horses of various breeding who can jump high and well and consistently, but this is sort of random chance in many of those cases. Long-backed and flat-rumped and straight-shouldered and with their legs set a bit behind instead of underneath their hinds horses do not tend to be those types, and this is the profile of the modern Saddlebred. When I was a kid we had a handful of Saddlebreds at one of the barns where I rode for a few months that were the old-school style and they were dependable albeit fairly flat jumpers.
As for the harness vs jumping horse issue, I can understand why breeders of the jumping types of KWPN would be miffy about people marketing the non-jumping types as jumping horses. It would be like (kind of, I know it’s a stretch) someone who breeds Toy Poodles marketing them as hunting dogs, which job Standard Poodles were originally developed to do.
That is where I got my guy from- pulled blood and came back clean as a whistle. Zero complaints about my guy or the trying, vetting, buying process. Could not recommend CM Farms enough!
In the public FB group? I happened upon that discussion. It was about their non-disclosure of being KWPN Harness Book Horses. Apparently, lots of people had comments alluding to this sellers less than stellar credibility. Not just related to horses. Wow.
Yes indeed. Susie Hutchison’s Bionic Woman was an off-track Standardbred pacer. And a highly successful GP jumper.