They make good (and fun) low to mid level jumpers. :yes:
And I’m not talking about the Wenglish ones. (and definitely not the halter ones) The ranch horses ones…the cowy athletic quick catty ones. Talk about inside turns and rollbacks made easy.
A lot of QHs are built too downhill… That big butt doesn’t help the horse get over a jump much if it’s way higher than the withers!
This makes me giggle. I was looking at english pleasure QH’s on dream horse and one was advertised as being 17 hands at the back end and only 16’1 at the wither so not something you’d see advertised on a hunter or sporthorse prospect!
[QUOTE=MistyBlue;5129163]
They make good (and fun) low to mid level jumpers. :yes:
And I’m not talking about the Wenglish ones. (and definitely not the halter ones) The ranch horses ones…the cowy athletic quick catty ones. Talk about inside turns and rollbacks made easy.[/QUOTE]
But if you want larger size, some of the older halter lines can be great in there!
I had an extremely uphill 16 hand palomino/qh who had been a halter horse when he was younger (born early 80s), very large, but lean and athletic muscles instead of bunchy. We easily jumped courses at 4’, and my trainer was easily doing higher but stopped because I wasn’t good enough to go higher and we didn’t want him to start clearing my jumps by too much. He also didn’t know refusal was an option, so he just went without problems over everything. We started jumping him at 9 and he didn’t show much under saddle before I got him, so he didn’t have the wear and tear many other horses that age do.
I had a friend w/ a horse with Impressive blood before they knew about the genetics and what that could imply (now you can test and know if the horse is n/n or not), who was possibly appendix, I’m not sure - that horse could jump the moon. FANTASTIC mover as well. Western classes were a bit difficult for her, as her stride didn’t shorten that well, but she did well in horsemanship at least. She could have done very well in either the hunter or jumper rings, I think, as she was rideable and adjustable, with a huge stride when asked, fast, and could go over anything. She still had that ranch horse-type maneuvering ability, too, though.
Uh, don’t get too excited. The tippy-top AQHA horses are in the high five to six figures. And, most of the “failed” AQHA horses are still more expensive than the average hunter prospect because their prices are heavily based on bloodlines.
I agree with other posters who said its rare to find a QH who can compete in the 3’6’’ hunters. I had one who was competitive in the junior hunters
(Devon, indoors etc) in the late 90s but I doubt he would be as competitive now 
Btw, I also foxhunted this horse and he has been by far the best horse I have ever owned.
I just spent the past year looking for a quiet horse for Flash Jr to move up on. Most of the ones in my price range were qh and paints and various crosses. Most of them just did not have the step to do the strides at 3’ much less 3’6. It’s more of a conformation thing - they are not bred for big movement, unless you get into the hus lines. And I’m not sure if it is conformation or training, but many of the hus horses that I saw could rock back on their hocks and lift their front ends to jump.
However - they can cross with other breeds well and if you get the best of both, you may end up with the tb/wb ability and qh brain, which is nice. The horse we are trying is such a unfashionable cross I won’t even say, but she seems to have been blessed with the best of both parents!
I had a QH that I did h/j with at the 3’3 level we could be competetive -at the 3’6" level, even tho he was a great jumper - had the tightest knees, his stride was just a tad short - when all the tb’s looked they were lollygagging to the jump it looked like we were definately galloping - wasn’t quite that bad but close. I had way more fun at the higher level - didn’t have too much to think about just GO!!
