Dredging up the old Oldenburg thread made me nostalgic for the “guess the breed/registry” game. Who wants to play?
Should probably add a bit more info, but nothing that gives it away. No criticisms of the horses or their breeds please, this is just for fun.
Numbering from left to right:
#1. 10yo gelding
#2. 6yo mare
#3. 8yo gelding
#4. 10yo mare
#5. 12yo gelding
UPDATE - ignore the numbering. Somehow the order of the pics in the original post have changed. How does that happen?
I dunno. It’s hard to evaluate action shots against standing shots. Well schooled horses change their appearance so much under saddle. I’d be willing to play with a set of good stand up conformation photos like Deb Bennett gives in her book. I’d be willing to compare pelvic length and slope of shoulder and see if I can figure out WB versus TB versus anglo arab versus draft cross. But in movement from different angles there is nothing to go on.
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Oops! I just realized the standing shot was there. Guess I clicked the wrong one - it was supposed to be the under saddle photo below. If you don’t like these then post some good photos and let’s play! I just chose ones I had on my phone where the horses were doing similar things at a similar point in the gait.
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I think they are all “purebred oldenburgers” LOL.
Ive seen QH experts ID trakehners as QHs, and warmblood experts ID wbs as TBs.
Too many people claiming to be experts telling us about horses.
A good horse is a good horse. Even if we don’t know where he’s from or what he is.
The oldenburg thread just shows how snobby people can be.
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While a good horse is a good horse once it has been born, trained, and proved itself, if you are looking at prospects the pedigree certainly does tell you what the horse is genetically predisposed to do. It may not be the best of its kind. But it may well have a nicer jump, a faster gallop, more agility, etc than any horse in another breed.
I look at a green Andalusian that has canter pirouettes factory installed as an evasion or an ottb that comes off the track already knowing how to jump neatly, or a green warmblood floating six inches off the ground, and see that all the time. They don’t always reach their potential. But the potential is there.
On the other hand if you are just looking at the rather wide range of horses called warmbloods, it’s true that you need to look at the horse in front of you and its actual pedigree and not get too caught up in the name of the registry. I have seen some very mehh warmbloods both imported and backyard bred. Mehhh as warmbloods. Probably still more promising sport horses than a mehh quarter horse.
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yup, and some of us forget JUST how $$$$/awesome a good QH can be. We live in a slice of the horse universe, actually in the US a small %…People come at it from there expectations and experiences.
to start a thread because you were so upset seems strange.
Someone dissed my horse in the warmup, then I won, it was satisfying. you just have to laugh.
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What is the link for the Oldenburg thread?
Numbers one and 5 could be Saddlebreds, IMO.
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Locally there are a fair number of Percheron TB crosses. One riding school was actively breeding them as eventers and lesson horses.
I don’t know the percentage in each, but the horses I’ve known with this breeding have looked on first glance like: a petite Anglo Arab, a Welsh cob, a draft horse (almost identical to a drafty imported Zangersheide at the same barn), a Lusitano, and a nice grade maybe with some Morgan. All completely different.
They were all either black or grey. None of them looked quite right for my initial guess so they were all foolers to some extent. Would love to have confo photos of all plus the Zangersheide as a fooler but I’ve missed my chances on that.
Anyhow i expect that folks skilled in warmblood breeding might recognize particularly typey horses by their lineage especially if that lineage was locally popular. But the lineage doesn’t predict necessarily what registry the horse is in.
I would be hard pressed to tell you the breed of any horse in front of me, at any time LOL. Your definition of a “good” horse is going to vary depending on what you want that horse to do. I have definite preferences in terms of how I like a horse to look and how I like it to move, but that’s just personal likes and dislikes.
That being said I’m not dissing breeders, and the amount of work they put into selecting bloodlines to build certain characteristics. It’s definitely a science and an art and I have a lot of respect for it, just not much interest in doing it or learning about it myself.
As for warmblood breed / registries I find the whole thing a bit confusing anyway since I know four horses all with the same grandsire, each registered differently: Swedish Warmblood, Danish Warmblood, Hanoverian and Oldenburg.
Getting upset if someone mis-identifies your horse’s breed is silly, unless you genuinely believe some breeds are “better” than others and are therefore insulted if your horse is accused of being one of those lesser breeds LOL.
PS loving the guesses so far on my photos…please keep them coming!
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He’s handsome! I would guess maybe some Hackney or DHH in there because of the knee action but I honestly am clueless about breeds and have no idea.
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While I m not ever going to run a breeding operation I do find that understanding functional conformation is very useful to understand how a horse uses himself and thus how to improve a given horse through schooling. It’s not just a subjective question of what looks pretty to be one person or another but how the lengths of the different bones and the placement of the neck affects way of going. Certain breeds tend to have certain bone structures that allow them to do one job better than another job. But within any breed there are outliers who look and perform quite differently.
This is more training the eye than memorizing a studbook.
It’s also connected to seeing degrees of lameness and understanding muscle function and development.
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Agree with that 100% and think it’s more a matter of educating yourself about horse physiology and biomechanics and not necessarily breed specific. Memorizing bloodlines and traits is surely very useful for those who do breed, but those simply looking for a “good” horse to suit their purposes will find that trained eye far more useful.
Sadly I don’t have that either beyond the basics.
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Though people who breed from phenotype do better than those who just look at the pedigree.
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Thank you! He is Percheron x Paint
Gorgeous!
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I’m going to have to post these one at a time because for some reason when I post multiple
pics. They randomly change order. This guy is a registered and branded Hanoverian from Rubinero / Rubenstein lines.
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This one is a Danish Warmblood, who was imported to the US by a very well-known BNT.
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This girl is 3/4 TB and 1/4 Clyde
