Several posts note gallop as the most important attribute. I agree with this IF you are looking for a 3-4* horse. But most of us are not aspiring to those levels.
Also, you can train a gallop. Kim Severson is very skilled at that.
If I am looking for an event horse for myself, gallop would not be the most important attribute. Canter is extremely important, however.
[QUOTE=Winding Down;8817305]
Several posts note gallop as the most important attribute. I agree with this IF you are looking for a 3-4* horse. But most of us are not aspiring to those levels.[/QUOTE]
No, but the OP asked for attributes of a horse who could ‘go far’ and what to avoid that would a prevent a horse from moving up the levels.
If I am looking for an event horse for myself, gallop would not be the most important attribute. Canter is extremely important, however.
Canter and gallop are the same thing, in my book. I don’t think I’ve ever ridden a horse with an iffy canter that had a great gallop, and vice versa.
Also, along the lines of willingness to go forward, while having a killer gas pedal is VERY nice and LOTS of fun, I’m ok with a horse that you may have to swim through the gears a bit to get up to the top one…as long as they maintain once they are there. One of my FAVORITE horses was like that. He was part WB, and while very lightly built and very “bloody” looking, he didn’t have the massive acceleration his TB ancestors had. An amazing canter and gallop (he could make me grin like an idiot in his extended canter in the dressage), though. BUT on xc, it took him a couple of jumps to get to his top gear. But once he was there, he just held it, and was very easy to make time on because he required little adjusting once in his top gear. He just CRUISED.
I do agree with those that say it does just depend on you (the rider). What works for ME doesn’t work for everyone. I like a certain feel when I’m galloping down to a big fence, while others prefer something different. I prefer little, nippy, catty rides while some prefer something that lopes around a bit more. Finding the fundamentals- good build, good brain, good gallop- and then fit in everything else around it to HOPEFULLY make your perfect UL horse.
Michael Jung says he’d buy horses that’d be successful in the long format days 
When I go to source prospects one of the things I look for in a pedigree are horses bred to run long on the turf…This is increasingly more and more difficult due to the American style of racing dictating precocious youngster with blazing early speed on dirt for shorter rather than longer classic distances.
They usually have a better foot more uphill build deep heart girths can be less Hot Headed and a different muscle type…more long flat n lean, less quick twitch.
There are a few “Old Nurseries” who still have aging broodmare who have these pedigrees and bred correctly will give a run and jump horse.(Cause I just aquired one of those masres for my stallion).
They aren t as commercially popular and when I can tap into that source I buy as many as I can get.
These are the horses of Old Long Format style, I can walk thru my barn and without looking on doors know which ones they are just by body type.
If I where looking to buy a horse who can “Go Far” in the levels this is what I look for…not a WBX no matter how popular but a horse who comes with the inherited traits to run fast n far over jumps. Looks like out UL rides have swung back to this style horse as well.
One thing that one can do is avoid Nearctic cross breeding, based on things that I have read in scientific papers on the explosion of CC horses after Nearctic.
[QUOTE=Manni01;8817027]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwtDd6YkCIQ
http://www.horsetelex.de/horses/pedigree/596831
Thats the horse my nephew got from the eventer auction[/QUOTE]
That is a very nice horse. 
May I ask how old it was when he bought it and approx what price range it was in? under 15,000, 15,000 - 30,000, or over 30,000?
Feel free to PM me if that is not information you want to share here.
I know that, specifically, England and Germany have a lot of good, purpose bred horses with other parts of the EU also being good shopping.
I have been looking on the Internet to get an idea of values — and it appears that the real values are in Hungary, the Czech Republic and also Austria (I even saw a real eye-popper in Latvia! (I had to look up Latvia on a map I will admit…)
Perhaps at an auction there are better values. But I have been to a ton of auctions and the quality is not consistent, with the best horses going for solid money. Yes, a fair number for for $5,000 - $10,000, but these are not horses I would want to buy.
The cost of flying two of us over there, and the $12,000 to ship it home (last year in H/J there was a thread on importing costs. The consensus from those who had done it several times each was that, from stall to stall, they paid approx $12,000) makes a horse from Europe not cost effective.
oh I disagree.
There are many fabulous dressage horses with amazing canters. They could not gallop out of a paper bag.
I have one: warmblood mare with an 8 canter, and lengthening. But she really cannot gallop. She boings around in an uphill “gallop” that looks just like her canter lengthening. When I was eventing her, I was alway so surprised that her times were slower than what I thought they’d be. :lol:
And there have been some outstanding race horses with exceptional gallops that could not do that 8 canter in the dressage ring. Ever.
^ i agree, some horses have stellar canters and awful gallops. i know this, as i have one myself. there are quite a few race lines like that (and they tend to die out quickly!) many, many warmbloods have the canter you need but no gallop; i think Belissimo M has a fantastic canter he passes on, but after seeing several of his offspring out in the field i can say their gallops are really, really crappy. but it doesn’t matter, because he’s a dressage sire.
i’ve met a few TBs by a horse named Star Gallant. he is not commercial or very popular at all, but a few of his offspring have popped up in my area since he stood for stud not too far away - the faster you try to get his horses to go, the more uphill their stride becomes. they just don’t have that flat open stride gear.
we have one gelding in our paddock by Star Gallant too, he has one of the most naturally collected canters i have ever seen a TB have – and he cannot gallop come hell or high water. actually, in his younger years when he was fresh, it was always a joke because you weren’t really going to go anywhere even with all gears firing.
you do really want a horse that has a pedigree for long format or at least the proclivity for turf; you can find several of those lines still in the US, but they are close to dying out. some of the ‘newer’ stallions out there in the TB world for turf that i think might be important for event breeders wanting a dose of TB blood; giant’s causeway (thru frost giant or stonesider preferably), bernstein, delineator, smart strike, sligo bay or el prado (sadler’s wells) all have consistently produced turf horses that have had serious quality for eventing in the US. turf stallions, in addition to their stamina and gallop, consistently in my experience seem to have better movement as a whole.
[QUOTE=Lord Helpus;8817960]
That is a very nice horse. May I ask how old it was when he bought it and approx what price range it was in? under 15,000, 15,000 - 30,000, or over 30,000?
Feel free to PM me if that is not information you want to share here.
I know that, specifically, England and Germany have a lot of good, purpose bred horses with other parts of the EU also being good shopping.
I have been looking on the Internet to get an idea of values — and it appears that the real values are in Hungary, the Czech Republic and also Austria (I even saw a real eye-popper in Latvia! (I had to look up Latvia on a map I will admit…)
Perhaps at an auction there are better values. But I have been to a ton of auctions and the quality is not consistent, with the best horses going for solid money. Yes, a fair number for for $5,000 - $10,000, but these are not horses I would want to buy.
The cost of flying two of us over there, and the $12,000 to ship it home (last year in H/J there was a thread on importing costs. The consensus from those who had done it several times each was that, from stall to stall, they paid approx $12,000) makes a horse from Europe not cost effective.[/QUOTE]
Thank you very much for your nice words. As far as I know he was 5 when my nephew got him. And about the price, I don’t know it really I am only guessing but I assume it was not one of the cheaper horses in the auction.
I know for you it is a lot more expensive to go to an auction in Europe and to buy a horse because you still have to pay for the import.
And I don’t like many of the auctions because some of the horses there really suffer. But on the other hand if an auction is will organized and this one seems to be, maybe its still worth to go and look. All the horse are picked for their qualities and you can choose between several horses. It is kind of a show case.
Otherwise maybe you have to fly into 3 different areas of the US until you find the right one, you will have failed PPE´s and so on. All of this is time and money intense.
I think buying at the auction worked for my nephew and his family. They bought 2 horses at those auctions, he did train with Christopher Bartle and Mark Todd for several years, and then he participated in 4* events (well at least one did) with them. And I think he sold one of them last year for a lot of money.
Manni01, that horse is lovely and your nephew rides beautifully. He did a fantastic job with the horse. You must be proud!
[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8818892]
Manni01, that horse is lovely and your nephew rides beautifully. He did a fantastic job with the horse. You must be proud![/QUOTE]
Thank you for your kind words, well I think his parents are more proud then me they put all the money and work and sacrifices into it.
And thats what I really think is the secret about eventing. Its not really the horse, it the management of the horse and the ability of the rider to form a team with the horse. And I do believe thats why M.J is so successful because his whole family is standing behind him and manages the horses with him. By the way he bought horses from this auction as well.
So I do think the auction will probably provide a nice young prospect for upper level eventing (that is proven by many horses ridden very successful on the highest levels) but in the end, its the rider and the management which will be the reason for success or loss…
Physically, one of the most important faults IMHO is a horse that twists his joints while weight-bearing. You see that more in the hocks or hind fetlocks than in front, but I’ve seen it in front too. I absolutely wouldn’t buy that.
Brain, as mentioned above, is critical, but others have covered that.
This morning Denny Emerson posted the worst mistake a rider can make in horse selection:
“The single worst mistake a rider can make, in terms of horse selection, has little to do with age, height, breed, ability, color, gaits, gender------
It is whether or not that horse makes you nervous or scared to ride it.
Fear is the LAST thing you need when you saddle up. Ride a horse that makes you feel secure, confident, comfortable.
Of all the billions of pieces of advice I or anyone else can give, THIS—”
First – you DO have a great eye. You’ve chosen several babies that have turned out very well, so do trust what you like.
And you’ve gotten some great advice here – I’m just guessing, but this will not be a horse for you to ride yourself at the upper levels? Do you have a trainer/pro rider that you are planning to put the horse with to start it and bring up the levels already? If so, do they know yet what they like?
Because it is so individual – some horses will do nothing for one rider, and then another will connect with them and take them to multiple FEI outings at 4*.
I’d also try to pick the brains of some of the best in the business that bring along young horses. This isn’t always easy, of course, but if you have a rider selected, depending on their contacts, that can be a good way to gather info. Many of those guys will be at the AECs this week, and it might be a good time to put out the word for what you are looking for – there may be several super options that aren’t advertised yet.
It depends so much on who is going to be riding the horse down the road – Buzz didn’t tick many of DC’s boxes in her post (well, he was Bay :lol: ) but when he galloped in turnout, people would stop and stare, and he and Ralph could have jumped/done just about anything together. With me? I was lucky to survive a 2’6" jump and was once told on an Intro test to “put a double on him, and go straight to 4th level.” But the only place you would have seen that in him as a youngster was that gallop. I will never forget the first time I saw it, and he never met a jump that he didn’t want to jump. But, no one with any sense would have bought him. Lucky for him, I came along and I’ve never had any sense.
But, if you can get to Tryon this week and be able to talk to several of the ULR that are known from bringing along babies, I’d do that. You might find the perfect beastie that way! And it won’t hurt, in any case.
And trust your eye and your gut. You are good.
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