# Breed question



## StarofHearts (Jan 6, 2014)

My husband and I are planning on getting horses when our homestead is stable enough.

I have some experience, I took riding lessons for years when I was younger, did some summer camping etc. My husband has no experience at all.

Aside from making sure we get well trained animals I need to figure out what breed would be best for the both of us, the reason this is an issue is because my husband is a BIG guy. 6'6' and broad and heavily muscled.

I was told that a Clydesdale would be best for him. What do you guys think?


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

It's less of a specific breed issue and more of a nice, quiet, but quite large, husband horse. 

Many breeds and cross breeds will work well.


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## sidepasser (May 10, 2002)

Actually you could get a shire, a belgian, or any one of the draft breeds or a QH/draft cross, ect. 

the key is that the horse be able to carry his weight and the barrell of the horse take up his leg. Some short horses can carry a very tall person because their barrel is very round and takes up the leg.

Personally for a person who has no experience, I would suggest that breed is not as important as training. A been there done that type of horse of the correct conformation would be sufficient. Oh and I will add - a horse that is very tolerant of mistakes and easy going is an added bonus. Some horses, even the draft breeds, won't tolerate beginner mistakes.

Another option is to get him a good draft or draft cross mule that is well trained. They are not called "beasts of burden" for nothing and they are pretty good at taking care of their riders.


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## StarofHearts (Jan 6, 2014)

I like the draft cross mule idea a lot. 

We are also thinking we'd like to have a well trained draft for him, something that is or could be trained to ride or pull a wagon/sleigh. For now it's just a daydream, but we need to begin planning for their housing and care and knowing WHAT you're getting is kind of important for that.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Your situation is so common, most folks understand the term, " husband horse" But I agree with others, don't get hooked up seeking a specific breed. You might miss out on a good horse that is the "wrong" breed.
I have a friend that is a farrier and plenty stout. She wanted a somewhat bigger horse. Can you tell which one is my friend? Those aren't ponies she's riding with.


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## StarofHearts (Jan 6, 2014)

haypoint said:


> Your situation is so common, most folks understand the term, " husband horse" But I agree with others, don't get hooked up seeking a specific breed. You might miss out on a good horse that is the "wrong" breed.
> I have a friend that is a farrier and plenty stout. She wanted a somewhat bigger horse. Can you tell which one is my friend? Those aren't ponies she's riding with.


That is a magnificent horse. Is it a cross of something? Looks kind of like the "Thur-cherons" my riding instructor was trying to breed (a cross between a petite Percheron (please forgive my spelling lol) stallion and thoroughbred mares.) She got some gorgeous foals out of the idea but was never able to take it very far. The foals all seemed to be heavier boned versions of their mothers, though I never saw one once they were full grown, the owner and I had a falling out and I never went back.


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

First thing I'd suggest is a program of lessons at a good stable. There is so much to be learned before you ever begin shopping besides how to ride. You need to know about their feeding and nutrition needs, their medical needs, how to evaluate good (or bad)trimming and shoeing, find out who in your area is an excellent equine vet who makes farm calls, know some basics about saddle fit, learn what to do in an emergency, learn about conformation and suitability to purpose, and get a firm understanding of exactly what it takes financially to own a horse. 

So many people get in too deep when they don't know enough, either financially or by selecting an unsuitable horse. With the horse market as soft as it is today, selling or even giving one away is not very easy. You could be stuck for a long time with something that's unsuitable to ride, or is a very large financial drain. Unlike a motorcycle, they continue to eat, require trimming and shoeing, worming, dental work, etc regardless of whether you ride them or not.

Get in with a good stable that can teach you more than just how to keep the horse between you and the ground. If you have kids, 4-H or Pony Club both have lots of good information, and you can learn too.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

StarofHearts said:


> That is a magnificent horse. Is it a cross of something? Looks kind of like the "Thur-cherons" my riding instructor was trying to breed (a cross between a petite Percheron (please forgive my spelling lol) stallion and thoroughbred mares.) She got some gorgeous foals out of the idea but was never able to take it very far. The foals all seemed to be heavier boned versions of their mothers, though I never saw one once they were full grown, the owner and I had a falling out and I never went back.


I think he is a cross between Friesian and Percheron. 
Way back when horses were worth something, I had 4 Percheron mares and a Percheron stallion. also had a saddle horse. Stallion got out, bred the mare and we had a beautiful oversized riding horse. So I rebred her and hoped for a matched buggy team. Nope, got an undersized draft horse.
:grumble:


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

haypoint said:


> I think he is a cross between Friesian and Percheron.
> Way back when horses were worth something, I had 4 Percheron mares and a Percheron stallion. also had a saddle horse. Stallion got out, bred the mare and we had a beautiful oversized riding horse. So I rebred her and hoped for a matched buggy team. Nope, got an undersized draft horse.
> :grumble:


That's the problem with a first generation draft/light cross- it's just a crap shoot. The second generation- draft/TB (what I'm familiar with) bred to a TB usually produces a nice usable horse.


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## StarofHearts (Jan 6, 2014)

Horseyrider said:


> First thing I'd suggest is a program of lessons at a good stable. There is so much to be learned before you ever begin shopping besides how to ride. You need to know about their feeding and nutrition needs, their medical needs, how to evaluate good (or bad)trimming and shoeing, find out who in your area is an excellent equine vet who makes farm calls, know some basics about saddle fit, learn what to do in an emergency, learn about conformation and suitability to purpose, and get a firm understanding of exactly what it takes financially to own a horse.
> 
> So many people get in too deep when they don't know enough, either financially or by selecting an unsuitable horse. With the horse market as soft as it is today, selling or even giving one away is not very easy. You could be stuck for a long time with something that's unsuitable to ride, or is a very large financial drain. Unlike a motorcycle, they continue to eat, require trimming and shoeing, worming, dental work, etc regardless of whether you ride them or not.
> 
> Get in with a good stable that can teach you more than just how to keep the horse between you and the ground. If you have kids, 4-H or Pony Club both have lots of good information, and you can learn too.


We are going to be moving again in a year or so, we are planning on doing something like this to get us into horses (me again and him for the first time) but we need to wait until we get to where the job sends us as we are saving as much as possible now to prepare for the move.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

There are always the PMU's but finding a really we'll trained one is hard. This is my daughter going cross country on a Clydesdale/ thoroughbred PMU gelding.


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## mulemom (Feb 17, 2013)

As others have said-don't fixate on a breed. The hardest part of finding a quiet well broke horse is finding a quiet well broke horse. You will want both horses to be easy to handle if you're both going to share chores. Even as bad as today's horse market is be prepared to pay a premium, there's always a shortage of the really dead broke horses. You might consider watching ads near you toward the end of summer-4-H horses frequently must be given up by owners heading to college. Good Luck!


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

I don't know where you are living now or where you plan to move to, but many of the ranches in northern ID/MT/ND and Canada use draft crosses for ranch work because they have to manage big riders plus deep snow in the winter. The most common seems to be Percheron/QH crosses and some of them are exceptional. They've been used for everything under saddle, from roping and dragging steers to packing out wild game and if you could find an older horse that wasn't quite up to the physical work and long hours of a ranch anymore you'd be likely to have an experienced, reliable trail horse that would be usable for light work for years.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Even large draft horses can be overburdened and injured with a heavy rider. Look for a stout specimen with a good strong back. Some drafts have long backs. A shorter back is a stronger back. 

A Clydesdale can be expensive - a Shire moreso. Many modern Shires have awful steep croups, so finding a specimen with good conformation can be a challenge. Clydes can be that way as well. A Belgian or Percheron or an outcrossing of either would be a good choice for you. There are more Belgians and Percherons in the US than Clydes or Shires, so they are easier to find specimens with good conformation. Of the "big four", Belgians tend to have the gentlest and calmest temperament. In their native land, Belgians were plow horses, with all that it entails. Clydesdales were bred more to be a delivery horse. Not a coach horse, but more of a town-to-town freight horse. They had to cover ground at a good pace. American Belgians can be found in a shorter, calmer, stout "farm" body type but also a leaner, rangier, hotter "show" type. Clydes haven't changed much since being brought to America.

A Belgian/Quarter Horse cross stands a good chance of making a good husband horse, but don't let the breed make you blind to the faults of the individual or to the merits of horses of other breeds.

These are generalizations about breeds and crosses therof. You aren't shopping for a breed - you are shopping for one horse. So view each horse on his or her own merits.


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

You might even consider leasing a horse first to see if he really likes it. Sometimes people like the idea of owning horses more than they like the reality of it. If you have a lease that lets you keep the horse at your place all the better.


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## cginpink (Jan 11, 2014)

If you don't have a whole lot of experience with horses, don't go purchasing one without someone who is. 

I made a 4 hour trip (one way) to pick up what was going to be my fancy show horse, a 16hh purebred arabian gelding. He was a beautiful shade of brand new penny with all the chrome - 4 whites and a blaze. Drop dead gorgeous and crazy as a she-bat. Turns out he had been drugged and hated women .... 6 months of hard work and a couple of hospital visits, I was done. Not to mention, he nearly trampled my disabled father once. A male friend wanted him, offered me $300 for him. I signed over the papers right then. He knew the horse and all his shenanigans. Him and horse are the best of pals. Horse did give his wife a stomped foot and two concussions, though. 

Moral of the story ... Take someone experinced with you. It can cost more than your pride if not.


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## MistysShady (Dec 31, 2013)

I love the draftXmule suggestion. Got to love them big floppy ears!

To avoid redundancy because all these answers are very good, I'll mention something a bit random... It's a good idea to look for a horse with previous training that "shaped it right." A nice filled out topline will make riding the horse easier, as it will likely be less inclined to throw it's head in the air and try to avoid contact if it already has the muscles to use it's body correctly (which in turn gives the rider more comfort). 

As for the draft crosses, I would take your time in getting to know Percherons/Perch X's you may come across. While they are lovely, they tend to be hotter than some of the other drafts. I believe they have a fair amount of arab in them that causes this. 

My favorite horse was a Clyde/TB but he ended up being euthanized at 9 years because of hip dysplasia. I don't know if this is common for that cross however... I guess he had too much meat on his little graceful thoroughbred bones... I don't know. But it may be a better cross with something stouter like a quarter horse.

If you found an affordable warmblood with a wide enough girth to allow his leg to be in the right spot, that would be good. Things like westphalians, trakheners, Irish sport horses... they can all be pretty beefy and strong, yet graceful and pretty. 

If all you want to do is pleasure ride, you could even look into quarter horses, especially I think their called stock quarter horses? The ones used for roping and that sort of thing? They aren't tall and you may look funny on them, but they are perfectly capable of carrying a heavier rider and if there are any confidence issues, this can be a very good thing! Same with the icelandics, if your into that type of thing. Lol. 

Most of all, before buying a horse, listen to your heart. Don't buy one because it's convenient... buy the one that you know is "the one!"


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

My test pilot is 6'8" and rather than search by breed, we look for big stout horses proportionate to his size


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## Dead Rabbit (Oct 30, 2010)

rode some draft crosses in montana one time. they were used also as guided hunt horses. used to ride and pack out elk and the such. very enjoyable horse to be around and ride.

not my cup of tea so to speak for every day riding. im a gaited man, but ive always liked a good draft cross after that.


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## Snoshoe (Feb 5, 2014)

I was in the same pickle, 6'2", 240lbs. Had the same ideas about hurting horses. so we bought a 17 1/2hh Belgian (teddy) picked him up for $1200 was told he use to work one of the prominant plantations (cant remember the name) in Georgia. I thought great I can use him to do some horse drawn work around the farm and pull a 6 pax carriage. just have to get the harrness. This guy is big, he is the only thing I own I dont make look small. He take me on his back with a little fuss and rides ok ( I need to work with him more) but when we are headding back to the barn he is a freight train. shakes the ground and just has a huge here I come presance. 
Anyway we are working with a horsemanship trainer from MT. He told us a horse should be able to carry 25% of its body weight with no problems. An issue with saddling drafts could arise because their backs are more for pulling than weight carrying. 
Good Luck with your search.
I must say though Draft horses are like bulldozers they work hard and are fun to play with but they are fuel hounds. My boy eats about 1 and 1/2 the amount our quarters eat and twice the amount of our Araibian stud. (whos for sale I might add)


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

That's a good point: some drafts have hard-to-fit backs. 

Some don't have much in the way of withers and those are the most difficult to fit. Many people find that saddles with an arabian tree work well on their draft. Full quarter horse bars, at the very least. Some extra flare at the front of the tree is helpful. There are also "draft size" saddles that are flatter and have a wider gullet. But not every draft needs a "draft sized" saddle.


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## sidepasser (May 10, 2002)

My belgian could eat her weight in hay, but required almost no feed at all. She was an air fern in regards to feed. The mule I had was a belgian mule and was the same way, could eat a bale of hay at each feeding but only required just a handful of feed.

Sometimes that is a blessing and other times a curse.


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## StarofHearts (Jan 6, 2014)

Thanks for your continued replies everyone! You all have great advice and I'm loving reading all the responses. My husband is trying to get a new job somewhere, he's had the interview and been notified that he has passed the interview and testing phase now we are waiting on the background check and job offer with the location. I'm praying it's somewhere nice LOL


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

One thing to keep in mind is that draft horses can be extremely expensive to put shoes on, at least in our area. Mules are too, but not as much and they generally have very good feet. It is also hard to find a shoer that will do either one. I would keep that in mind if I were going to be riding in an area that I would need to put shoes on the horse.

In an Amish area things might be different but here one of the few guys who shoes draft horses flies in from Seattle, you have to pay part of the ticket and keep the tools he wants on hand. He was charging $275.00 to shoe a horse on top of that. The local guys charge 2- 3x as much for a draft horse as a light horse, and most simply won't do it.


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## offthegrid (Aug 11, 2009)

Molly Mckee said:


> One thing to keep in mind is that draft horses can be extremely expensive to put shoes on, at least in our area. Mules are too, but not as much and they generally have very good feet. It is also hard to find a shoer that will do either one. I would keep that in mind if I were going to be riding in an area that I would need to put shoes on the horse.
> 
> In an Amish area things might be different but here one of the few guys who shoes draft horses flies in from Seattle, you have to pay part of the ticket and keep the tools he wants on hand. He was charging $275.00 to shoe a horse on top of that. The local guys charge 2- 3x as much for a draft horse as a light horse, and most simply won't do it.


This is a good point; some farriers won't even work on draft horses. One way to rule out this problem is to find a farrier first, and a horse second. People often tell their farrier about horses for sale before anyone else - they know lots of horse people, and their horses...so can be a great help when buying or selling.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

offthegrid said:


> This is a good point; some farriers won't even work on draft horses. One way to rule out this problem is to find a farrier first, and a horse second. People often tell their farrier about horses for sale before anyone else - they know lots of horse people, and their horses...so can be a great help when buying or selling.


You can also learn to do it yourself. For nearly 30 years, I trimmed my own draft horses. That was all I knew. Then, I did a neighbor's pony. Wow! So easy.
I bought a shoeing stock, to get the weight off my back. 

Shoes are costly, www.Anvilbrand.com, but last a long time. But you don't really need shoes unless the horse has bad hooves or you travel a lot.


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## Cali Bassman (Mar 7, 2014)

I weigh in at around 260, a few years ago I decided to start riding again with my wife. We've always owned horses but it had been 15 or so years since I had ridden.. What I relearned on was a stout 16hh quarter Horse... He was a good horse to relearn on as he was a show bred lazy horse..
Now I'm not suggesting quarter horses as a breed, the ones we have now are real fast aggressive cow horses. What I'm saying is any breed might work, but for a newbie, you want a laid back, been there, done that, kind of horse. Plenty of non draft breeds can carry a big guy..


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