Am I insane? I have a WB/TB 2yo filly that I absolutely adore. But I can not afford to keep her if she does not have a job… I’ve finally admitted to myself I am never going back to the hunter/jumper show circuit as a competitor, but do want to ride. I just spent a few days with a friend trail riding in WV. Not all pretty groomed trails either, but serious up and down mountains, through rivers, etc. I rode her ranch broke gelding and had a blast. If I could send my filly off to be broke the way that horse was, I’d ride all the time. And I know it takes a long time for a horse to get that broke, I’m willing to let her be gone for as long as it takes, so long as I trust the people she is with. Is it possible? She’s got a great brain, very laid back and willing. Any suggestions on where to send her if you don’t think I am insane? It would be in the spring when she’s 3…
A horse is a horse, it’ll work out if she has the temperament for it. Not really more complicated than that.
To do the best we can do for any horse, we need to see what fits that horse and train them for that.
What if your filly had, after all, not been suitable for hunter/jumpers, she hated that work?
Get her started and see what she is best suited for, she may surprise you.
A young horse will take long to grow up into itself, but you can spend those growing years guiding her thru sensible training that fits her.
If you really want to do a certain kind of riding, don’t fight it with a square peg in a round hole, get a horse that is already there.
That is less painful for all.
Then, realize that you too may change as time passes, so do what you enjoy now, see where that takes it.
If that is trail riding with a horse already good at that, why not try to find such a horse to lease or buy and see how you like it over time?
Most sensible horses do take fine to trail riding, unless one is so hot it is hard to fit any place, but may be safer in suitable arena work.
We had plenty of TBs and 1/2 TBs that made excellent ranch horses.
No, they are not competitive in specialized disciplines against those bred for that, just as those would rarely be if you tried to make them open jumpers.
Still, for general work, any sensible horse trained right will be happy there.
Hoping this makes sense?
Good luck finding the right spot for yourself and your filly.
I have one, a gelding, that is going to be my ACTHA horse I hope.
My friend has a full Holsteiner who is a brave, quiet, sensible trail horse. He looks way too fancy to be a trail horse but he loves the trails. He does some eventing, but definitely refers the trails.
I’m currently retraining my former 1.30m jumper to be a ranch/trail horse. We purchased 80 acres out in the range in Colorado. He’s loving it so far and at his age (22) he has the perfect temperament. Who knew that a French bred import would make a great cow horse??
YES! I know some warmblood breeders, riders and trainers that have began to ‘cross trained’, their horses, for lack of better term. When you have the proper ranch/trainer (huge emphasis here), the mental and physical benefits can be great. If your horse is capable of the work then I see no reason not to do it. JMO 
Didn’t the US Army import Trakehners back in the 1920s-30’s for Calvary horses? Horses don’t know what they’re supposed to be:)… I had a really nice Feiner Stern mare who was going to be my trail horse, fox hunter, dressage horse, and endurance horse… until she ate some nasty creeping indigo…
My 17.h.h. Holsteiner/TB is exactly that. Theoretically, she is too big bodied to be a hard core endurance horse, not cat-like enough to do real cattle work,
but she is brave, sound, willing and kind.
I started her on trails, and did so mindfully. Every teeny puddle, every teeny swale, or moss covered log that might be only a foot long, had to be negotiated quietly without sliding sideways through my leg.
She is absolutely awesome for my style of riding…she is well trained on the flat, has evented, and will be going Training as soon as my little rider feels like taking on the job- the horse is ready.
Because nothing was too small, or too insignificant for her, she is now bold and trusting…we have worked on the side of hills, so she is sure footed and on top of that a gorgeous looking girl.
Of course you are not insane, silly!
I knew a guy that was given a warmblood because he got burned out on dressage, the gelding was about 17h but the guy as tall and needed a tall and big trail horse, all they did was trail ride, the rest of his family had 15h qh type horses and then there was the big guy towering over the rest
Well, not a WB but my TBx is the best trail horse ever!
Not spooky, not herd-bound and perfect gaits for a comfy ride. Like someone above said, horses don’t know what they’re “supposed” to be! I also trained my TBx to pull a cart and jump… who knows what I’ll teach him next!
Echoing the others - it doesn’t hurt to have her started and see if she’s suited to it. A good brain, laid back, and willing are all good characteristics for her to have if you want to point her in that direction.
Where in WV are you? I know of a very good trainer in the Staunton/Harrisonburg, VA area that brings young horses along in the ranch style tradition.
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Get her started and see what she is best suited for, she may surprise you.
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agree fully… our best western horse was supposed to have been an English Pleasure
A couple of years ago I moved to my family’s cattle ranch in South Dakota with my then-10.y.o. TB jumper. I didn’t know how he would feel about cows since he tends to be a little spooky but he took to it like a duck to water. My biggest problem was mounting and dismounting because he’s 16.3. Was he as good with cattle as my uncle’s little QH? No, but he really liked having a job and it was so nice having a smooth gaited horse on a 10 mile cattle drive!
At the barn I managed in PA, everything went out on trails as long as it was suitable. We had quite a mix of breeds, too. One of the best trail horses was a 17.1 Dutch WB mare who had spent years as a broodmare (a Voltaire baby, so NOT bred for trails :lol:). I doubt she’d done much trail work before we started riding her regularly at the age of 19.
Yes, the horse with the right mind can do this job, regardless of breed. And plenty of WBs actually enjoy bossing cattle around. My KWPN gelding did.
One thing I’d suggest you keep in the back of your mind since this is an unbroken horse and you want to send it to a Ranch Broke- kind of person: Remember that a tall, big-framed WB matures more slowly than does her AQHA brethren. So the amount of muscle she’ll have available to move around her skeleton when she’s, say, 3 or 4, will be less than would an AQHA of the same age.
I say this because when I watch all of the turning and backing and quick changes of direction that I see common in Western Training (and ground work) for young horses… and then I have tried to do some of that on young WBs, I can see how much weaker the latter breed is. I didn’t think this kind of work would be hard… but when the horse showed me it was, and I considered the specialized body type long bred into AQHAs for their work, and an entire training tradition built up along-side that, it made me think twice about what I was really asking the tall, lanky WB to do when I schooled him like a stock breed horse.
Great point mvp. It is easy to forget that QH have been selected to be faster maturing than warmbloods. Wether intentionally or unintentionally.
