What are the opinions on these horses in sport horse breeding -
Art Deco, Oh Star, Rainbow. Temperament and style of movement (hunter vs dressage) most importantly. Thanks.
No opinions on these well known stallions???
Art Deco is the only one I’ve seen enough offspring of to really have an opinion about-- he seems to have been pretty versatile because I’ve seen H/J and dressage horses and they all seemed to be nice easygoing horses.
Pretty much all I know about Oh Star is that he was (is?) a great jumper and I’m not at all familiar with Rainbow.
Thanks.
I’m familiar with Art Deco and Rainbow, but not Oh Star.
Every Rainbow offspring out of a good quality mare I’ve seen has sold in the low five figures. I really liked Rainbow; unfortunately he saw a lot of poor quality mares though since he was “pretty”. I notice Art Deco had a similar problem, a lot of lesser quality mares went to him because he was colored.
Art Deco offspring in my experience are a little more “dressagey” and tend to be more ammy friendly than the Rainbows, however I personally loved riding the Rainbow offspring. Rainbow get tend to be more jumper-type, with some success in the dressage ring, but do not make great hunter candidates IMO.
AD has sired some nice lower level hunters, I think their rideability has a lot to do with it. Neither stallion really seemed to throw the greatest movers. Even though I have loved every AD offspring I’ve sat on, I do not like the hind end he puts on them.
[QUOTE=Angelico;7898970]
I’m familiar with Art Deco and Rainbow, but not Oh Star.
Every Rainbow offspring out of a good quality mare I’ve seen has sold in the low five figures. I really liked Rainbow; unfortunately he saw a lot of poor quality mares though since he was “pretty”. I notice Art Deco had a similar problem, a lot of lesser quality mares went to him because he was colored.
Art Deco offspring in my experience are a little more “dressagey” and tend to be more ammy friendly than the Rainbows, however I personally loved riding the Rainbow offspring. Rainbow get tend to be more jumper-type, with some success in the dressage ring, but do not make great hunter candidates IMO.
AD has sired some nice lower level hunters, I think their rideability has a lot to do with it. Neither stallion really seemed to throw the greatest movers. Even though I have loved every AD offspring I’ve sat on, I do not like the hind end he puts on them.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. This is the info I was looking for.
It’s funny, because I’ve had the opposite experience with my Art Deco gelding. He is reactive, inattentive, and high-strung in the dressage ring. But he will ride out on trails all day, and will jump any fence you point him towards. His movement screams dressage, but his attitude says “Get me out of this ring right now!”
[QUOTE=Angelico;7898970]
I’m familiar with Art Deco and Rainbow, but not Oh Star.
Every Rainbow offspring out of a good quality mare I’ve seen has sold in the low five figures. I really liked Rainbow; unfortunately he saw a lot of poor quality mares though since he was “pretty”. I notice Art Deco had a similar problem, a lot of lesser quality mares went to him because he was colored.
Art Deco offspring in my experience are a little more “dressagey” and tend to be more ammy friendly than the Rainbows, however I personally loved riding the Rainbow offspring. Rainbow get tend to be more jumper-type, with some success in the dressage ring, but do not make great hunter candidates IMO.
AD has sired some nice lower level hunters, I think their rideability has a lot to do with it. Neither stallion really seemed to throw the greatest movers. Even though I have loved every AD offspring I’ve sat on, I do not like the hind end he puts on them.[/QUOTE]
I can expand a little on Angelico’s experience and say that I’ve met many nice AD get, but I also do not like many of their hind quarters. I mostly only know the AD eventer offspring, which were all very amicable but none of them I would say were UL potential.
[QUOTE=fullcircledressage;7900973]
It’s funny, because I’ve had the opposite experience with my Art Deco gelding. He is reactive, inattentive, and high-strung in the dressage ring. But he will ride out on trails all day, and will jump any fence you point him towards. His movement screams dressage, but his attitude says “Get me out of this ring right now!”[/QUOTE]
Ditto this with my AD mare 
She was a great event horse–very athletic and a good jumper–but often had trouble with ring work and dressage (tense and inattentive.) When she was good, she was very good–but it was a lot of work to get her relaxed, focused, and through. She is a beauty, and a sweetie. Her 2 1/2 year old filly is not as spooky, but from birth has shared her dam’s suspicion of water and footing changes; luckily I’ve been working through this issue with her from the time she was weaned, and she is now much better…)
[QUOTE=Dr. Doolittle;7901376]
Ditto this with my AD mare She was a great event horse–very athletic and a good jumper–but often had trouble with ring work and dressage (tense and inattentive.) When she was good, she was very good–but it was a lot of work to get her relaxed, focused, and through. She is a beauty, and a sweetie. Her 2 1/2 year old filly is not as spooky, but from birth has shared her dam’s suspicion of water and footing changes; luckily I’ve been working through this issue with her from the time she was weaned, and she is now much better…)[/QUOTE]
I’ve heard quite a few similar stories from other owners of this line. He’s helping me rediscover my inner eventer! I’m trying to strike a compromise- if he gives me 3 good days of ring work, we’ll spend two days hacking out and jumping things. It seems AD really puts his temperament in his babies, much to the frustration of some owners. I am in touch with an AD owner who literally designed her whole barn and riding career around her AD mare, because she simply is not interested or mentally stoic enough for dressage. I think that’s what the deal-breaker for my gelding is. He can’t handle the repetition and detail involved in dressage. We have to start learning a new concept, he’ll freak out, so we go back to something he knows or go hack outside, and then have to come back to it once he’s mentally decompressed. It’s made for a slow learning process, but an invaluable exercise in patience.
Yup, to all of the above :yes:
Ironic, since AD himself competed at Grand Prix. When I was competing with my mare, I worked a lot with Jim Koford, who trained AD up the levels and put him on the map; he really got my mare, and when he sat on her during lessons/clinics, he said “she is a lot more complicated than she looks” 
Apparently AD was not easy, but Jim is a brilliant rider with a great sense of humor, and is able to successfully work with “sensitive types” and get the best out of them.
I used to work with a breeder who had quite a few Art Deco-bred horses every year, and I would totally agree that many have some temperament quirks. Not so much that they aren’t still nice amateur horses, but they are quirky more often than not.
I just LOVED Oh Star when Todd Minikus competed him! I have never once met one of his offspring to my knowledge.
I think OH Star was limited on how much he bred as he had EVA ??? or something similar (please correct me if I am wrong) that required more management by the mare owner and prevented him representing the USA in some games. I think he also was not (and is not?) promoted. I went looking for him recently and cannot find him anywhere on the web–very interesting pedigree (I think with the SF xx on top?) and an amazing one-of-a-kind horse.
