When looking for a low-level dressage horse...

[J-Lu]

People have given you alot of good advice but I’ll add my two cents on top of what others have said:

Don’t count out TBs. Some are calm and wonderful. But not all, so be picky about who you look at.

Don’t count out ex-broodmares. There are some very talented 7-13 year old registered warmblood broodmares that are wonderful and pleasant amateur riding horses that can be purchased for $5-10K. They can be cheap because they don’t have a solid show record or much training. But sometimes the breeder is scaling down and it is cheaper to “firesale” than keep the horse at the barn if they’re not going to be bred.

Don’t count out Arabians, morgans, appendix QHs, paints, draft-crosses, etc. Some are very very nice and very talented for lower level…sometimes even upper level…dressage. you can sometimes find a western pleasure or trail horse drop out who is a drop out because he has really nice expressive gaits. You can sometimes get good deals on these horses.

Don’t count out any horse that needs a good home. Network! Sometimes very talented, very pleasant horses have owners who fall on hard times or develop health problems and they’d rather their horse go to a good home for cheap than a bad home for a good price. I know many MANY people who got nice horses this way.

Good luck!

J.

[slc2]

Actually, I think there is one specific breed you should consider as a breed, that’s a Norwegian Fjord.

[Melissa.Van_Doren]

Most of my students are adults, many with limited time, limited fitness and limited courage. They own a variety of breeds, ages, sizes and types, but the riders who make the most progress have horses with these things in common:

• Willing temperment… the horse is friendly, calm in all but the most stressful situations, looks forward to work, tries hard every time out, and doesn’t get rattled by rider mistakes

• Good basic gaits… naturally forward walk, reliably dead-steady trot and canter tempo

• Conformation that lends itself easily to the discipline

• If any, very minor soundness issues

Finally… don’t underestimate the “feel” you get when you sit on a horse. You should want to ride your horse every single day (even if that’s impossible… in fact, especially if that’s impossible)… that level of “I LOVE my horse” is what gets you through the difficult periods of training, gets you out to the barn to practice as often as you can, and gives you the pride and ambition to want to continually work to improve your partnership.
:yes:

[Jealoushe]

Obviously, temperment and training are the most important. I will tell you though, that an Appaloosa will be there for you through the nerves, the worries, and try their heart out until they can not try anymore. They can be very successful dressage horses. Obviously I grew up with an Appy pony, and have owned many after and am biased, but they are genuinely good horses for nervous riders. They are also striking and versatile. I’m not saying they are ALL like that, but most are.

[Arizona_DQ]

Julie in VA,

I was in the same boat as you. If you only want to stay at lower level dressage locally, it should be pretty easy for you to find something reasonable! I had/have no aspirations to go to the higher levels. As an older re-rider and a timid rider, i wanted a bomb proof horse. My idea was to find a decent older (teen years) Quarter horse type gelding. I found a 12 year old Arab x AS mare. She is bomb proof ! No dressage training but lots of trail miles. We are getting ready for Training level and I am thrilled with her. (Trainer says she can go at least through second level - but can I ??? :eek: ) I paid $3,200 and did not even give the seller a count offer (I hate to barter). I brought my trainer with me and essentially trainer said that she could tell we had a bond and unless the mare had only 3 legs there was no way she would have nixed the deal…(Trainer also knows I am a timid rider :winkgrin: )

Here we are at a local schooling show!

http://s540.photobucket.com/albums/gg341/teckelhof/?albumview=slideshow

As everyone else said, temperament was the most important thing for me! Good luck!

[bort84]

Haha, just wanted to second the “don’t count out an Appy.” My boy has been a dream come true, and I got him for $700 bucks out of a pretty unfortunate situtation. He was at a saddleseat barn, and nobody liked him because he was an appy. They had him so irritated that he was dumping every rider in the barn! (that’s what happens when you don’t turn him out and only ride him once a week without a lunge first…) I’ve yet to come off of him, and he was like a completely different horse the first day he was with me.

Now, obviously this is not the type of reputation you want to look for, but it’s a good story about picking up a quality horse for basically no money. And, as far as breed goes, I did discover there are a lot of dressage type appies out there. I’d always had saddlebreds, and here I am with my fabulous little rugged appy who moves like a fancy WB and will jump anything. He does have a little more giddy up than you might like, but there are really a lot out there that are very dressage friendly.

Anyway, I’ve never spent more than $4K on a horse (usually less), and I’ve found some real gems. You just might have to put in a little extra leg work to find them.

I’ve also had some broodmares that we’ve brought back for showing, and many of them are wonderful. That’s where your trainer can really come in and help you decide if they have enough background training and are also sound (both are sometimes an issue with broodmares.)

[KnightShade]

Great advice - thanks!

Thanks for the great responses so far! Sorry for sparking a TB debate, too. :sadsmile: Guess that was on my mind because we just “re-homed” (gave away) a TB mare we had bought for my teenager, after the situation quickly deteriorated once she wasn’t in a full-time training situation, and we realized she was too much for either of us to handle. To complement this last novice error, I also have a 2005 Arab gelding we bought as a foal, who I now decided to sell, realizing my limitations in dealing with a horse just starting out under saddle. He has fabulous temperament, but needs to be about 5 years older for me to feel comfortable. When searching, in regards to breed, I want to be open minded to a realistic extent, and will evaluate each horse as an individual.

I will try to get out the word when I have some cash in hand to people we know and network - it would be fantastic to get to know a horse for a little while instead of just making appointments from online ads with strangers. The lease option is one I will definitely consider, too - I just need more time in the saddle to get my confidence back up. I hope to be posting later this year and next about our progress!

Keep the replies coming…

[piaffequeen]

Temperment is the most important quality I look for in a horse. Like you-I have been bucked off-run away with too many times to count. There are good and bad examples of every breed. I have a 25 year old TB named Sam whom I would not trade the world for. I got him for free and what sold me on him was a few things. (1) My trainer actually knew the horse very well and actually Sam’s owner was a working student for her. He babysat his former owner up through Prelim. (2) When I went to go see him, his owner put him through his paces and during the canter a flock of birds flew right in front of him and he never looked up or changed pace-he rode right through them. I have had for a little over a year and I love him to death! We have done 1 schooling show and he was such a trooper!

[IronwoodFarm]

I agree with SLC2, look at a Norwegian Fjord. They are definitely sturdy enough to carry an adult and their barrel really takes up leg. Our stallion has done well in open competition at Training and First Level. He won or came in reserve in a couple of show series and he was overall 3rd for CDCTA’s year end dressage award at training. He was the only Fjord competing against warmbloods, TBs and various crosses. Best of all, he’s just plain fun to ride. He’s so quiet that nobody believes he is a breeding stallion until they look.

[slc2]

Wonderful animals, beautiful too!

[indyblue]

Are they expensive in America ? What about availibility? We dont have many in NZ but the ones I have seen are so sweet.

[terasa]

I’ll second or third or tenth the advice to look for temperment before breed.
I’m in exactly the same position as you, I have a 5 year old who I took in as a foal. Quite frankly, he’s a little much for me at the moment- I havent really ridden since I got him 5 years ago.
The best thing I did was go look at my 3/4 TB 1/4 percheron girl. She’s not what I was looking for really, (I’m short and was leaning towards something even pony sized, perhaps an older schoolmaster type) but I heard from several people about what a nice, even tempered horse she was. She looks exactly like a big TB mare. She was only just started W/T/C when I went to see her, but she had nice, rhythmical movement. Nothing super fancy, but certainly nothing to laugh at either. Responsive, but super safe and honest. I trail rode her for the summer and got back into the swing of things, then sent her for professional training for 3 months. She hasnt ever intentionally put a foot wrong and whenever a situation arises where I’m stressing looking for the worst to happen she just stays quiet and takes care of me. The funniest part? She’s only 4! Take your time and look around. The perfect horse for you might not be at all what you had in mind originally

[Trevelyan96]

Don’t Rule out the TB’s

KS… don’t rule out those TB’s, they’re great, even the OTTB’s. I’m a very timid rider and I have 2 of them!

My best advice is to look for a horse that has some show mileage, maybe in the local hunters, who may not be able to do the 3’ divisions, but they’re calm, sensible, and usually have pretty decent movement. You want something that’s willing and forgiving, won’t give you more than you can handle, but is also capable of more as you move up. If you want to make the hour trek up to southern MD, I’ll be happy to let you hop on Trav, he might give you a ‘starting point’ for what you’re looking for. PM me if you want to take a ride. He’s not for sale or lease, but I think he’d give you a good idea of what a well trained hunter has to offer for the beginning dressage and adult re-rider. He was a green champion in 2004.

You can see our very first dressage test in the thread “First Show, Not Ready”. I was a total wreck, but we got a 61. Judge said he needed more energy, but the truth was he simply didn’t give me more than I asked for because he knows I’m not ready for it.

Good luck and happy hunting. But take the advice of all posters who advised that at this point you want to look for temperament over talent. Calm, willing, and able to do 1st to 2nd level is your best bet for now. Its about the same as looking for a ‘packer’ in the hunters.

[DressageK]

[QUOTE=bort84;3823008]

You obviously will probably not make money on this type of horse, but you may not lose any money either. [/QUOTE]

What kind of horse makes money…? Horses eat money.

[bort84]

Haha, well, it is possible to make money on a horse (including training time and eating); I’ve done it. But what I meant there was, sometimes you can resell for more than what you paid for him or get the same price. Just meaning that you could buy another horse in the same price range if you decided to move up a bit. That’s all I meant = ) But I do agree that most just eat up your money in the meantime, haha.

[atr]

Buy the brain.

I’ll chime in also for appaloosas. Bred for brains. You can’t dominate them, but if you sort out how to work with them while listening to their side of the story too, they’ll give you their heart and soul. I’ve had horses of many breeds over many years for many different purposes, but I’ve found my appies to be the best fit for me, personally. Your mileage may vary, of course. Honestly, most full TBs are a bit quick for me, but I’ve had a wonderful appendix QH, and a really very nice TB/Appy.

My boy isn’t going to the Olympics, but he looks after his mum, and we do pretty well if I’m correct. I reckon he’ll see me through my bronze medal with luck and a following wind…

And he’s just so pleasant and easy-going. And so easy to go places with and to show–my biggest problem is prying the big spotted ham away from his fan club.

[Jealoushe]

I just wanted to share a photo of one of our Appies, who is now on loan to a theraputic riding center.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=35958620&op=1&o=all&view=all&subj=33018542087&aid=-1&oid=33018542087&id=121509012

That is not me riding but a friend of mine. We also own his full sister who showed succesfully to 2nd Level and was Eastern Canadian Pony Club Dressage Champion at the Basic 2 and 3 level (back when they were called that).

[oldenmare]

Julie:

Hi there - sent you a PM b/c I know of a really awesome, talented mare for sale that is in your price range and only 1/2 hour from you. Gave you some details and owner’s number.

You can also contact me with any questions - I rode the mare over the summer (the owner & I cooped at same barn for awhile, then she moved her mare to trainer’s barn). I can’t say enough good things about this mare. She’s a Holsteiner/TB cross - good temperment and very nice gaits.

Also - as an update - Raven is settling in well - pulled her shoes (to let her feet recover!) and working some on longe (as weather permits). She is still prone to nipping and girthiness - sloooooowly working through this but I have hope…

Beth

[narcisco]

So what sort of advice would you offer in regards to selecting a horse to do lower level dressage for a novice? Where would you look, what is very important about the horse, should it already have some dressage training, etc.?

Here is my advice. Buy the horse you like, who likes you, who makes you feel safe. Buy the horse you can walk, trot and canter on comfortably without stirrups. If you’re not at the no stirrups stage, but the horse you can walk, trot and canter on safely. If you’re not at the canter stage, don’t buy a horse.

Buy a horse you’re happy to see every morning. He doesn’t have to be beautiful or papered or fancy, but he has to make you happy.

Many, many riders in your position find beautiful show horses coming from the western divisions. These horses have no “dressage” training, but they are well trained, soft, and safe. Be aware of forced training and gadgets and be sure the horse still has three good gaits (it will trot, not jog in 4 beats, and it will canter in 3 beats, not 4 beat lope). They tend to be very submissive and safe.

Dressage is a series of horses. You are right to look horses who will only need to do lower level dressage. Buying “potential” is the biggest waste of money you can make. As much as I love TBs, of the 10 or 15 I looked at for sale this year, I can’t think of one I would buy for my tense adult riders. They are hotbloods. Finding the exception could be dangerous, so always let your trainer ride the horse first.

The level of training doesn’t matter, and you might find an older upper level schoolmaster who fits the bill. Price wise, it’s always a tradeoff between training and soundness.

Keep looking until you find the horse that “clicks” with you when you ride him. You will know.

Happy and safe horse shopping!

[kayandallie]

Can we address age (of horse and rider). If one is getting on in years, she really needs an older horse for the calm factor; however, then the horse gets old and the older rider is old and then again needs an older horse. This can get expensive. The younger ones can buy an older horse, learn on it and then buy a young horse to train.
So, should the older rider really try to find a very quiet younger horse to go gently into the night together or should she throw yet more money into an older horse who then requires her to keep him while she gets yet another older horse down the road?
You youngsters; try to put yourself in this predicament; seriously, you will get here some day no matter how you try to avoid it.