What responsibility does a breeder have to point out conformation faults to a young horse buyer?

And now I hear there’s a move to breed mini GVs :rolleyes:

Oh dear. Let’s hope that people will have learned something from the debacle of the indiscriminate mini breeding.

Well aren’t you full of optimism! :lol: Sure, take a breed largely bred for hair and color, miniaturize it, and assume they have learned from history :lol:

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Fine. Take away my tiny scrap of hope, you big meanie. :winkgrin:

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:lol: :lol:

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Nope to the spotted (unless LP) it’s ‘coloured’ that is the UK term (short for broken coloured). So coloured cob or gypsy cob (or maybe coblet :eek:).

There are already mini Gypsy cobs here. :winkgrin: https://www.dragondriving.co.uk/horseforsale-142427.html

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I was in Ireland last year and one of the people I rode with explained it to me thus, “If you called me and said you had a nice cob for sale, then I’d ask “Well is it a hairy cob?””. I like that.

Show Cobs and Gypsy Cobs (called ‘Traditionals’) are quite different types, though some could do either job depending on how they are turned out. Show cobs are hogged, legs trimmed and tails shortened. Traditionals… well the hairier the better! They do already come in a variety of sizes, the littler ones have been used as driving ponies historically. Then of course you have Welsh Cobs, which are again totally different!

Yes and thank you. For those of us breeders [former or not] of such beasts it is important to delineate between the different, as in breeding and pedigree, Cobs that exist. I had someone comment the other day on how ‘hairy’ and ‘thick boned’ my Cob is and then ask, “what is his breeding? Morgan?”…LOL, it could have been a real insult but thankfully once I clarified that he is a section D Welsh Cob her recognition and line of questioning went else where. I giggle because with the definition of Cob you are talking about types and uses, somewhat like warmbloods LOL! Yes, I know there are those groaning and moaning. Still with that analogy, Welsh Cobs are more like the Trakehners - one with a closed book and a true breed.

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I’m planning on driving my truck and trailer 6 hours on Wednesday to look at a weanling and bring her home if I like her. The more wine I drink, the better her pictures look. Cheers!

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Oh man do I have some comments here. I love gypsy vanners. I’m a hunter/jumper rider and my first pony was one. We had no idea what we were doing, we just bought a cute sweet pony to do 2’ with kind of thing. Her original sellers imported her from England (where I think she was basically a school pony, they were clueless with a lot of money) to be a dressage pony, one look at her and she obviously was never going to be a dressage pony. She did however love to jump, and we did lots of it, all the way up to the 3’ level at usef rated shows. She has incredible heart which I find is not uncommon in the breed. She is now retired and eats my money.

In the last year I was horse shopping, and I decided I needed to look at vanners again. I needed to know if it was just her or if it was the breed. I do think, to a certain extent, it’s the breed at least personality wise. But if we’re talking about finding one in the United States that has been taught useful life skills, particularly under saddle? Incredibly difficult. I actually found a 4 year old that I loved, and would have bought if he hadn’t failed a PPE. Clubbed front foot, unsound. This was with someone who was a “reputable” breeder, well known nationally for selling the breed. Her (now former, she left not long after this experience, I remain friends with her) professional (dressage) told me openly that most of the breeders clients are people who have no idea what they’re doing, buy sight unseen, and rarely do PPEs, and pay quite a bit of money. Nothing sold for less than 15. If the breeder couldn’t get 15, and it had something wrong with it, she would just give it away somewhere quietly. A few of their horses sold for top dollar that had issues, the pro tried to be open and tried to match horses to people’s desires but ultimately she was a hired hand who couldn’t deny a sale to an unwitting and persistent buyer. The pro told me in the 6+ years she had been there I was the first “real rider” to come try one of their horses. Most of their buyers are looking for the fantasy horse, looks pretty in the field, anyone can ride it, never spooks, hair blowing in the wind kind of thing.

I tried looking around at other breeders here and couldn’t find anything that was built for sport, lots of pretty, hairy horses many with questionable conformation. After that I decided to let my retiree be the unicorn she is and moved on from the breed. It’s really a shame, they’re wonderful riding horses with so much heart and ability but they seem to mostly just be worth their spots and hair here. One day maybe I’ll go over to Ireland and get myself a cob again.

Anyway, long story to say this is totally a buyer beware situation. I am unsurprised this breeder will do nothing about it. Hopefully she bought one that will do well despite her conformational flaws, mine certainly overcame hers and exceeded expectations. Some heart in that one.

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