I am new to driving, and I have bought an experienced Friesian that I imported. I have decided to purchase a Kutzmann Sportive, and need to decide on either Pneumatic or hard rubber tires. At this time, I am unsure of my driving plans, except I know I will be doing some pleasure driving on grass, sand and some asphalt. I do not know if I will ever compete, but may go to some fun-type schooling events with dressage and cones as I progress.
I appreciate any comments or suggestions.
I’m not familiar with the Kutzmann carriages, but all of the carriages we have ordered have “quick change” hubs. This way we can train with the pneumatic wheels at home and then change it out for the hard wheels for competing (for CDE’s). At a CDE, you cannot drive with pneumatic wheels. They must be hard rubber.
We love using the pneumatic wheels as they dig less into our sand ring when we are starting to fit up our ponies after the winter off. They also give a nicer ride for the driver and passengers. I do reccomend them for every day use 
That brand is more of a CDE carriage, so not a show pleasure carriage - so you will not be able to enter in a “regular” single horse division, but a lot of pleasure shows now have a division just for marathon carriages. They tend to get quite a few entries in this division as its an expensive sport and not everyone can afford 2 carriages.
If you can, I would purchase both sets of wheels and make sure you ask for a “easy change” type of hub. It saves a lot of time when you have to switch the wheels out (ask me how I know!).
I have a Kutzmann fox II and I need to swap out the hard tires for pneumatics soon (for the very first time), I’ll let you know how it goes! 
But if you can swing buying both sets of tires, I second that it would be your best bet.
Also, if you are ordering a now, and you think “air ride suspension” might not be worth the extra $$$, think again! I’m a relative newb (pleasure drove 2 decades ago, now starting CDE), but all the experienced drivers who have been in the carriage have (repeatedly) told me how very much they love it.
Good information; thanks. I guess I didn’t understand what “pleasure driving” meant. I mean just driving around wherever, for my own pleasure! I know the quote I was given said it was “air ride suspension”, and quick change hubs. I was given the option of tires, but I guess I’ll ask how much extra for both sets.
You will love the air ride suspension! We have 4 air bags on our single carriage and no air bags on our pair carriage. The air bags ride much smoother, especially on rough ground (even in our sand ring after the footing has been “stirred” up from riding/jumping). Even the pneutmatic wheels make it a smoother ride - go for the extra set of wheels if you can. You won’t regret it!
I am a total weirdo and actually prefer the ride I get with the solid rubber tires of my road cart with leaf springs vs the pneumatic tires and coil springs on my BO’s stud’s cart. Haha!
I have not been in a kutzmann with pneumatics, but I have ridden in one of their marathon carriages with the air ride and hard rubber tires and it was lovely! Didn’t seem to cut too deep in the sand ring, was smooth as silk on hogfuel, and surprisingly smooth and quiet on paved and gravel roads.
I just switched out my hard tires for the pneumatics for the summer. It was super easy and and the pneumatics are awfully nice. It does seem like you feel bumps a bit more, but ht eair raide tamps down the jarring for sure.
I think it was goodhors who said the pneumatics tend to not cut into the soft ground but travel over it, so you feel the bumps… but the joy of living in Georgia is all that clay approaches concrete level of hardness in summer so even the hard tires woon’t be cutting through in a few weeks. And the pneumatics are definitely a lot nice on the road and in the sand ring (and presumably in Aiken/Florida where sand is king).
We have two Kutzmann vehicles, a large carriage for the drafts and a cart. Both have hard rubber tires (the extra set is about $1000 for four and we chose to pass). The carriage has air ride suspension and the cart leaf springs, both ride really nicely and the cart is superbly balanced. Kutzmann sells a mind-boggling variety of vehicles from presentation to marathon to people haulers so you can’t really paint them with a single brush.
We went with the hard rubber because we are in Arizona and cacti abound. What is the point of pneumatics if you’re filling them up with foam to prevent flats? I have heard from some that flats don’t really happen with these tires, but between space in the workshop and the extra cost we decided to stick with a single set of tires for the vehicles.
Schooling events shouldn’t matter on the tires, but some clubs will be more picky than others. Some allow pneumatics so long as they aren’t those fragile bicycle-spoked deals and others are all hard rubber no matter what.
Good luck with your purchase!
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