I'd be very interested to hear all the various disciplines that your horses are used in, and that includes those of you who do not breed, but own a draft. What are the various things all of you do including recreational-only things.

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Hey everyone -
I am so grateful to have found this forum. I have just recently gotten a gorgeous Half Belgian- Half Arab Gelding who in my opinion is the most beautiful horse. I have always had Arabs or Arab Cross horses becuase I love their personality - /they try, think, and are truly your friends. I purchase my Draft cross as a late 2 year old. He is a late baby (August) and on his birthday I measured him at 17.3 !! We did a lot of ground work prior to his being broke, but he has been at the trainer now 60 days and I have to say WOW!
He is so easily taught, tries incredibly hard, and now that he has figured out that the trainer is in charge - he is getting it.
I do have a question - I intend to do dressage with him, I wonder if he'll be capable of doing the upper levels? He has a TON of elastisity, and hopefull will be fabulous. But I have got to find a way to 'lighen him' up. Even right now, he is very hard and heavy in his gaits - especially the canter. The trot is coming, but whenever he canters it sounds like he is hitting the ground lthunder!

Thanks again for the feedback!
If your trainer is riding him as a two year old, that s early for anything but simple, slow work. Don't expect him to be light for at least a couple of years. He has to finish making the muscle to catch up to the 17 hand skeleton. It takes muscle for the big guys to be light and lots of gymnastic exercise to develop muscles to use the back. It even takes about 3 or four years for the lighter breeds, after they are mature and have begun dressage training, to move to the upper levels.

Try to be patient and just ride him on as many hills as you can. Hop him over cavalletti, do poles, drive. Don't overwork that big baby in little circles or constrained movments. Just let him grow and be straight and forward and light in the mouth and responsive to your legs.
I have a question does any one roach their horses mane. My Belgian cross has a big neck and my trainer had me roach his mane in the summer.
Different breeds demand different things for the show ring. Fjords show with roached manes.

Find out what your breed does in shows, and sometimes it is different under saddle and under harness, so decide which you are going to do most. Then you can decide if you want to roach for the clean simplicity of it and the heck with the show rules, if you are supposed to show, braided, say.

I personally think roached makes a lot of sense instead of hot necks, braiding and a LOT of mane untangling for a working horse.
I own a 6 year old 3/4 Tb x 1/4 Percheron Gelding which I love to death! Last year I bought him out of a pasture in Canada with 60 rides on him as my next event prospect, and boy did he show off what draft crosses can do! In his first year of eventing, he was Area VII's Reserve Novice Champ (with me, a YR)! His lowest score in the dressage ring was a 22 this year which translates to about a 78%. He's an amazingly brave and willing young man with a bright future! He also has half and full siblings (all draft crosses) competing in eventing!
New here, and so glad to see a group for draft and draft x lovers!

I purchased my 4 yr old Clyde x TB mare this past May at a breeders' production sale in my province. I hadn't owned a horse in nearly 15 years; I've been back in the saddle for a couple of years, but really wanted to focus on temperament now I'm a little older and more fragile than I used to be. :-) I purchased her as an all-round lower level prospect - some low-level dressage and eventing, maybe a bit of foxhunting/hilltopping. She'd never make it in the hunter ring - she doesn't have the right movement. But she has taken to everything we've introduced her to like a duck to water. I love her - worth her weight in gold!! We've schooled x-country 3 times this summer and she loved it. Displaces a lot of water in the water complexes, lol. We hack all over, through ditches, over bridges, across fields and past farm machinery and on the road a bit. No problems. I took her to an adults-only hunter schooling show just as a nice friendly first outing and she behaved herself like a pro. She has a lovely jump and a great eye for distance. When she's working on the flat and on the bit she looks all puffed up, lol. My coach rides a lot of horses, a lot of them A circuit horses worth a lot more $$ - but every time she gets on she ends up grinning and saying how much she thinks of my mare and how super, smart and sensible she is. I hope to have her trained to drive in the future too! :-)
I have ridden a lot of horses and feel more comfortable physically on a draft or draft cross. I am 5'9" so I am a bit taller than average and the drafts I have ridden have been 16.1 or so and wide. I have and do ride dressage, jump, both stadium and cross country, and trail ride. I think it would be fun to cut, ride with a drill team or play polo.
I am looking at a two year old draft cross for my 15 year old daughter. Do they make good jumpers? Also, i understand that some conformation traits of the draft would be considered as faults in other breeds. The mare has quite a high knee action too. Will that change as it gets older? How long does it take for a draft cross to reach it's height potential. Also, as we obviously won't be able to ride this horse before we buy it does the high knee action make for an uncomfortable ride?? Any help would be apppreciated???
They do tend to keep the knee action, at least my 9 year old did. I got him when he was 7. Hes totally blind in his left eye, and we're currently jumping 3'. They are excellent rides, very comfortable gaits even with the knee action. They're also pretty brave. Im not sure when the reach height potential, but my guess is about 5? As for comformation, they are pretty stocky. But in my opinion, its just more to love. I've had a quarter horse, and a thoroughbred. I've ridden a lot of breeds in between. If I ever get to buy another horse, Im going for a draft cross. Completely and most definately one of the best breeds to own. Hope this helped!
hi ann, I do to have a draft cross from Hedgeville as well. She's after HV Rocky. Are yours too?
Here is a pic...My dressage coach says she's built for upper levels..her name is Cadence...
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One of my horses is a Percheron Cross. I got him when he was 3 and he's now almost 11. He was a real handful in the beginning and still has a lot of spirit, but he is a beautiful mover and very thrilling to ride - my favorite mount. I use him primarily for trail and pleasure riding.. and we're working on some driving too. At 3 years old.. I could get some things that fit him, but since he continued to grow for a few more years, what fit him at 3 or 4 certainly doesn't fit at 5 or 6. Because of the difficulty in finding 90" fly sheets and other tack to fit a big horse, we were inspired to start an online specialty store called the Warmblood Tack Store which specializes in, you guessed it, Warmbloods and Draft Cross Horses. We carry some Draft items too. We're hoping to have a storefront sometime in the future, but for now we can be found at www.warmbloodtackstore.com. We figured if we were having difficulty finding large sized items, others were too!
This is excellent! My percheronX isnt incredibely huge, but finding a bit, girth and saddle for him has been quite the challenge! I'll be using this site in the future for sure!

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