Gypsy Vanner Horse Owners I need your knowledge

[welsummerchicks]

You need to realize if you bring it up on an internet bulletin board, you're going to get people who like your breed and people who don't. There aren't many other breeds with the same marketing history, you have to admit.

I also think you need to grow a little bit thicker skin. I've listened to the most horrible negative tripe about my breed for more decades than ypu've been alive, and because it's the majority opinion on some bulletin board, I also get to suck up an awful lot of 'they're trash and they suck and you paid too much you moron'.

Breed bashing is the number one horseman's passtime, and when most of them gather, that's what they do. I can't even escape from a tack shop without listening to someone scream about how awful some breed is, they're ruining Quarter Horses, they're ruining Arabs, blah blah blah blah blah.

If you don't want to ever get criticized for what animal you choose to buy, keep your lip zipped when people start talking about breeds.

Personally, I think the outrage and anger on GV is miss-spent, I think if most people in the horse business look around they will realize that every horse market has a wee bit of the blarney in it. But I ALSO think looing at conformation and gaits and being realistic about it, is a little better than the usual Magikal Gypsy Vanner nonsense all over the internet, that really deserves most of the ridicule it receives.

 

[EweSheep]

Yep, it PAYS to have a thick skin! I've been railroaded and runned over LOL! And one is entitled to their own opinion, of course.

Don't get me wrong, I love the look and color of the Gypsy Vanners simply because I never heard of them until someone here on BYC mentioned about it. I learn as I go along. I know there has to be some improvement needed for the GV to be a good all purpose horse, give or take a few generations. I know most of the horse breeds we have here started with Arabians and Monolgian horses somewhere (Przowski's horses), etc. and the GV are no different than the ones that started off. I would dare say in fifty years, either the Vanners will sink or swim or become exctint or become obsolete that it has to be re-created again.

 

[tdgill]

I think we all love horses.....

 

[onecent]

Quote:
Thats exactly it!

 

[EweSheep]

Yes who could NOT love horses!

 

[mandelyn]

I really like the look of the Vanners and Drum horses, and you can the breeding in the feather quality (like chickens? lol), conformation, and movement. Like any other breed, there are people who grab the name and run with it, breeding a decent stallion to any mare in heat. When breeds get popular, you just need to do your research on them.

Personally, I would have a hard time picking burs and pasture crud out of that hair. And keeping it white! Would you wrap it like you would a tail?

A friend of mine has a Shire stallion that is just a riot. Cantering across a field on him is something else. Or carting down the road. He also parks out like a walker, which is hilarious. He does it when ever you leave him to stand. You wouldn't even know he was a stud, great temperament. He has light feathering, so it isn't too bad to keep clean.

It's sometimes hard to not have a breed bias, and when that bias is against your favorite breed, you just have to shrug it off like the others said. I quit telling people it was an Arab that sent me to Urgent Care... they acted like it should have been expected. It isn't, she wasn't the norm for the breed. But she was one of the ones to contribute to the bad rap they have for being high strung and loony. All the rest of the Arabs I've worked with were amazing.

 

[texasgal]

This happens on every GV thread -- on horse boards and now chicken boards. People feel the need to take an "I love GV" thread and use it to discredit the breed. All breeds of whatever animal are human invention. They are horses - bred with particular traits in mind.

I'm sorry to the OP .. because I think the horses are fabulous ... and don't really care about the history or whatever .. they move me to the very core.

Nothing .. NOTHING .. moves me like horses, period. Running horses, prancing horses, working horses, mini horses .. they MOVE ME.

And the very sight of a GV stirs something up inside of me .. isn't that what makes ANYTHING worth something - how much it stirs a person to buy it .. for whatever price.

If I had the money .. I'd own 10 of them!!

I wish I was on my other computer. DH and I were traveling home from the Hill Country one day and took a wrong turn. I yelled "STOP" .. not because of the wrong turn, but because of the GV stallion standing in a nearby pasture. When we stopped and I grabbed my camera .. he meandered up to the fence (which was, unfortunately, a 6 foot chain link fence) .. I snapped several pics .. which were nice despite the fence.

To the OP .. I understand your feeling about these horses .. completely.

 

[tdgill]

I agree!!! They ARE gorgeous and make my heart pound like hooves on the ground! LOL

ETA: I also love the idea of rescue horses. A friend of mine has two gorgeous rescues and loves them very much. They are in their late teens and who knows what they might have been thru. Its nice to know they have a good home now. I think its worth researching rescues, I know thats the first place I would look for a horse to love!

 

[patandchickens]

I have not seen people *bashing Vanners* on this thread. Nobody (that I have noticed - I will admit I have not reread every post on every page

) has said "ooooh, they are terrible horses, you don't wanna touch one with a ten foot pole, they are worthless and/or Evil Incarnate"

All I've seen said (and said myself) is that they are perfectly nice horses but seem priced all out of proportion, and you can get what seem to me (and to others) to be equal-looking equally-nice horses for waaaay cheaper if you want to.

How is that breed bashing??


Pat

 

[tdgill]

yeah, I didn't see where anyone was at it either...I went back a couple times to reread even. Sooo I think we can chalk it up to "passion" that we have for horses.