You are being unreasonable in your list. A friesian without feathers? A 1 year old horse that is inquisitive but bulletproof calm with flawless manners? A yearling that is already 15h or more, or a guarantee that the adult horse will be that size?
I think your trainer may know that your expectations of any horse, but particularly a young one, are just not reasonable and may be to some degree saving you from yourself.
If you open up the breed, you can find what you actually want, by buying a breed known for level headedness, or an older individual who has proven same.
I see this as a seller all the time - the adult amateur who only wants to see my 6yo bred-to-the-nines dressage horses who make your jaw drop when you watch them canter, when really she should be wanting my little 5yo 1/2 Arab who you could probably light on fire while riding him and he wouldn’t care in the least. The two are both expensive, but for drastically different reasons.
I also depart with the parting thought that everyone wants what you want - fancy with potential but safe and calm - thus many of these may never come to market and you may never even have the chance to buy them.
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Sorry I wasn’t clear - I don’t expect a baby to have flawless manners - I’ve been kicked enough while working on feet to know better than that! But some babies are Extra while other have a more mellow temperament. Also, not less than 14.3 hands once full grown. That’s what I meant. Also re feathers: I’ve seen several with minimal feathering, also, open to crosses.
A month? It took me a year to find my last riding horse, and my criteria weren’t nearly as restrictive as yours. Some of the really good ones are not advertised. They sell by word of mouth and you have to know someone who knows someone.
Do you want to trail ride and enjoy riding a calm horse? Then go find a 16 year old Paint that has been there done that.
Anxiety and a young horse are NOT a good combination. This will not end well. Not unless you have the money available to put the horse in training until it is… oh, about nine years old and as such has acquired all of its brain cells and gotten most of the completely normal young horse behavior out of its system.
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Unless you’ve been day in and day out with a young horse, I don’t think you quite understand the completely normal baby antics that come, much like with human toddlers, from a lack of experience and emotional control that horses, like all creatures, need to be taught.
There are some horses that are born old souls, sure. From my experience, those are unlikely to be related to a friesian. I do know someone whose 4yo friesian cross is absolutely lovely, sane, and quiet; she found her by word of mouth via her trainer.
It would be fine if you said you were fine with these normal behaviors, but you said they are “completely incompatible” with your anxiety. I don’t think I’ve had a single young horse who hasn’t gone through some teenage phase or another, however brief. Owning horses is by itself anxiety provoking.
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I think perhaps it’s your time line that may need adjusting. A month isn’t very long to shop. Especially in our current market where horses are selling like hot cakes.
I have a Friesian cross myself so I’m partial to your wish list. Full Friesians will have feathers and crosses to varying degrees. Mine just has some scraggly bits. You might consider removing that from your wish list though as it’s easy enough to clip even full feathers. So no need to pass on an otherwise good horse over something like feathers that you can easily remedy.
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My cross is also lovely, sane and quiet.
That’s the QH in him 
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Yeah, that’s where my 1/2 Arab gets it from too 
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Haha, I mean, I’ve been bulldozed, stepped on, whacked in the head with their skull, struck at, kicked, had them leap and crow hop while leading, been skiing in the indoor…before every session I tell every yearling “Make good decisions today” and they don’t always listen. But I definitely definitely have my favorites based on their temperament. All things being said, I think my unwillingness to work with an Extra yearling long term is my biggest set back.
I think you may be severely limiting your prospects by only considering Friesians/crosses. There are lots of other nice horses out there that do well at dressage. I’d also like to point out that feathers can be shaved off.
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We only know what you’ve written here, and “volunteer to work with the yearlings” could mean anything from “they let me brush and pet them” to you being an expert colt starter who is working on ground manners and leading. But most people who are the latter are not also averse to working with [list of normal young horse behaviors] and mention having anxiety.
If you’re only buying one horse, do you want to ride trails and dressage, or do you want to raise and train a young horse? They are both perfectly fine choices. If you buy the young horse will you still be able to lease and/or lesson on other horses, and is that really what you want?
I’ve allllways wanted a pony. I bought myself a yearling Connemara Pony a few years ago. He’s turning four soon. I have zero business riding a young horse, so he’s at a trainer’s. This was an experiment, to see if I want to produce ponies as a retirement project. So I’m totally fine with what I’m spending. But it is… A LOT. And compared to my much older horse he is just exhausting. You have to be 100% present every moment, he is absorbing info like a sponge about what is and is not allowed, etc. He’s a baby, he has no thumbs, to explore his world, everything goes in the mouth and gets dismantled if he can reach it.
So just be clear about your goals here. Don’t buy a young horse in order to save money… it doesn’t work that way. To reach the end destination of a nice rideable horse, you will pay, one way or another.
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That’s fair, and yeah I can definitely look pst something like feathers. The more I’m writing the more I’m heavily weighing temperament. My trainer has been asking around but so far nothing. I was very upfront with her that I didn’t want a “Susie” (drop dead gorgeous mare at the barn who was unbacked until they were 6 because they were/are so mentally immature). She’s like 14 now and you’d still think she was 3. No Susies.
we looked for nearly two years, physically looked at nearly 400 head looking for the right horse…and that was in 1989/1990.
As for the current market, I suspect I would not even be looking since a friend recently spent between $30,000 and $50,000 (amount was not specifically stated by the breeder, just a range) for a four year old English Pleasure horse who has never even been in the show ring yet. Horse is to be her saddleseat horse.
OP’s requirements might limit the number of head to zero
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Have you looked up some of the cross bred registries to see if you can find any leads that way? I’m only passingly familiar with the Heritage Horse registry but I believe they are recording Friesian crosses? Might turn up a list of breeders that way
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Dream horse!
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Hmm hmmm. Hopefully something will turn up for you. My general experience is that breeders prefer to either sell by weaning or wait until they are going under saddle. I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions though.
Some of the Friesian crosses turn out very nice and some not so nice. So conformation is probably just as important to consider as temperament.
I bred my own. A fair bit of a gamble, but it’s been an incredible experience and I don’t regret it. Though there have been some phases where he wasn’t lovely, sane or quiet lol but just phases.
Well, it certainly sounds like I’ve given them a tall order and I’m either going to have to be patient and keep saving towards the purchase in the meantime or compromise on the breed (sad face). Won’t be making any decisions right away though so hopefully something pops up on their radar that they think would be a good fit.
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I think there is general consensus that your list is a bit unreasonable. I don’t think it’s been mentioned yet, but in my experience many Friesians (/crosses) are not built for dressage in that they are more challenging to get to come through their back and stretch. My experience is only a handful, but I feel like I would see way more doing dressage in my area if they were built for it.
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It is difficult if you limit your choices to a breed with smaller numbers. (I do agree BTW that many Friesians are not well conformed for higher level dressage and can be difficult to get “stretchy” for the lower levels)
Being a suspicious sort, I first have to ask that you consider if the trainer really has your best interests in mind. Aside from breed, there are many horses that could meet your criteria for hacking and lower level dressage, so vetoing so many makes me wonder. And of course, trainer stands to make a lot more money if you buy a baby than if you buy a basically broke horse.
Few of us started our horse owning journey with a baby or with a horse capable of the upper levels in our chosen pursuit. In your place I would continue looking for a horse I could actually ride immediately after purchase. I would look at other breeds if the ads appealed. And I would be patient and make sure I found the right horse and the right situation.
Best of luck!
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yes lol
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