Gypsy Vanner Horse Owners I need your knowledge

[judyc]

Egg_newton,

You say you are in East Central IN?

There's a person with either Vanners or Loud Drums in Danville, IN. I can see them as I drive down 100 N. west of 300E.

 

[patandchickens]

Yes, draft and draftX breeds generally do have very userfriendly temperaments and are easy to handle and start under saddle when they have been brought up right.

Quote:
What a great opportunity for you! Go for it, have fun!

Tennessee Walkers are really neat horses too, some show people have given them a bad name through what they've done to them but the horses themselves have excellent minds, very straightforward to work with.

Good luck, *have fun*

,

Pat

 

[AmCanyonStables]

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Sorry for the late reply, ChicknJ - just saw your message. I am not a member, as I am waiting for Maddie to get to 16 hands (she is still 15.2), which Drums are supposed to be for registration. (funny though, I see a lot advertised who are shorter). I could not see the photo of Boon, I got red xs. I have thought about breeding Maddie, but I wanted a sire of at least 16 hands, at least 1/2 Gypsy, and of course good feather. I kind of gave up on it due to the oversupply of horses in this economy, and the difficulty in finding an affordable sire with those attributes. Maddie's color is nice, she is very dappled - the sellers initially advertized her as "Chocolate dapple" - since chocolate dapple is another name for the silver gene, this is not the case. Her dam is the usual clyde color, Bay Sabino. and her sire Black tobiano, no silver gene showing in either one, so she could not be silver. I think they were thrown off because she had a creme colored tail at birth, that gradually grew out. You can see some of it in this earlier photo. So, I do believe she is Bay Sabino, but I have not had her tested. I will look up Boon - you never know!

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[tdgill]

bringing this post back to life in hopes of more pictures! I knew you BYC buddies would have something posted when I searched for feathered horses or vanners!

My great uncle drove the 12 horse team for Genessee Brewery in Rochester NY. I think they might have been shires. I'll have to go research.

 

[redhen]

I think those are THE most beautiful horses...

 

[welsummerchicks]

I have to go with Slinky, ulta and pat.

Overpriced marketing scheme. Brits are laughin' all the way to the bank.

That said, they are pretty, and people seem to like them.

For a lower cost attractive nicely colored horse for those who find the Gypsies too expensive....

A farmer down the road crosses a small Pinto-Shire stallion on really nice small ponies and gets much, much better results. Small draft and Friesian also creates a stylish, but more costly horse.

Another surprising cross - Pinto Saddlebred on a pony. SHARP.

I've also seen some very nice Pinto-Draft crosses to make wonderful, sensible, attractive family horses.

Around here, stylish looking smaller horses with feather are very common. Nice colors too. But for 1500 and 2000 bucks, not 25,000.

 

[Heartlandrabbitry]

Don't know anything about them but they are stunning

 

[patandchickens]

Yeah, about ten or twelve years ago a friend of mine bought a young horse in KY for, I forget, I believe it was $900... *dead ringer* for a lot of these upmarket Vanner things. I don't mean just 'heavy built pinto with long hair', I mean, as a horseman, ACTUAL dead ringer. Nine hundred dollars. I believe she was told it was a NSH-draftX cross, but, you know, basically a mutt. Dead ringer. Nine hundred dollars. Have seen similar ones for sale since, in similar price bracket.

I am not sure it is *Brits* who invented or are making money on this either... isn't it a basically *American* invention, starting with someone down in Florida IIRC who imported some of them (as cheap grade mutts) back in the early 90s?

I wonder what the next hair breed fad will be... have sort of fallen out of the busy part of the horse world, no idea what's the next hot thing.

Pat

 

[welsummerchicks]

I think you're right in that the average gypsy didn't get rich on this one. But I'm not sure of the rest of it.

I'm told the situation is diverse even where they come from - with gypsy and non gypsy owners. But that regardless, they were selling for equal a few hundred dollars each for quite some time there. To say some Brits looked on them with 'scorn' would be putting it lightly...gypsies are not viewed as handsome, romantic children of the wind by all....

If I just look at some of the earlier importers, and the facilities they built, I'd say they either started out with a lot of capital or they made an awful lot of profit.

I'm thinking earlier on near the start, it was a mad market to import very low and sell very high, but not sure it goes exactly like that now. There's a lot of people selling Vanners now and their facilities vary from posh to average. I'm guessing a lot of Vanner sellers set up now without importing a single horse.

I think it's going to be Andalusians next, or already is. They've had a small cult following for a long time, but I think it's going up.

The trouble with them, is especially in some lines, they can be very hot and sensitive, and that just isn't good for the average person. I've seen some that try so hard to please their rider, they are having a nervous breakdown trying to figure out what the rider wants, or are so frisky and up the rider is...remounting a lot. From what little I can tell, the amount of spunk and hot varies both in lines and individuals....also from what I've seen, I think the solution is to offer a lot of in hand classes.

'Hair breeds', as they're called. With the Vanner, it's the long mane, tail and leg hair.

There are a lot of 'color breeds'. The Friesian was that way, but I think that real hot growing tidal wave of interest is dying down. People actually are finding those hairy legs need a lot of care.

The public seems to be getting bored with just black, and Friesians have other specific issues too(heat, etc). But they are getting crossed to anything and everything produce color offspring, much to the horror of some folks in the original registry.

Fact is though, the hot part of the market doesn't have much to do with the down sides of any breed that comes into the limelight. It's just always changing from one breed to another, regardless of that. The hot, kind of media-y part of the new horse market just keeps popping around anyway.

The ideal for marketing is a 'hair and color' breed, such as the Vanner. Especially if a romantic sounding history is available. The Andalusian is suddenly popping up in all sorts of colors, such as Palomino, black, chestnut, which helps with marketing. And it can often have a very long mane and tail. AND a romantic history, and outfits. Romantically Spanish, with bullfighting, fancy clothes, flamenco dancing and red roses and charro clothes getting thrown around. Even better, it offers working horse classes, something 'classicists' can love better than 'modern dressage' and feel real good about.

I was looking at some, and most of the sellers told me the price on the greys was much lower, the hotter market is for the new colors. And the CLAIMS they made about their horses....oh dear....ALL can excel at anything, beat any other specialty breed, can be ridden by anyone, never even get frisky or go too fast, never buck, shy, perfect for any age, born trained, actually, don't even NEED training, EVERYTHING is just 'natural' to them...should be canonized, in fact.

In all the both hair AND color breeds, I think except for price(outrageous compared to what he goes for at home, I think no breed has a higher import markup, maybe even at this point) the Vanner, is the most suitable for the eager public. They appear to be pretty well suited to the average pleasure horse buyer. Hardy, quiet, cute, and not a big gait.

 

[bagendhens]

my cousin in the uk has a vanner...
stunning horse but hes a little hot headed even now hes mature, definatly not a horse id reccomend for a beginner.

drums seem to be of a much easier temperment but they are huge!

theres plenty of colored/spotted draft crosses that look like vanners and drums that are much better suited for the average horse owner.
i will say though my dream horse is a drum...(my grandfather used to raise shires so i have a huge soft spot for them, and love the colored horses!)