Gypsy Vanner Horse Owners I need your knowledge

Oh how did I miss that priceless gem - 'dressage and doma vaquera only'.

Darlin' you made my day. Here it comes...here's the windup....

Well a rooty toot toot toot to her!

If that's all you can do with them, work them in a ring in two classes, how can you GET them from the barn to the ring? Load them up and haul them 500 feet? NO WAIT! Hauling isn't dressage or DV, so fahget abbout it!

To be fair, I don't think they work cattle like little low built Quarter Horses. I have seen them cut, but I don't think they do it in a way that would beat a lot of top QH these days. It's a different style.

Would one work cattle....sure. But I'm going to be annoying and say it would be a waste, and yeah, if you want to work cattle, you can get them moved on just about anything, but to win in competition, you know it needs to be a QH. DV really is designed for the Andalusian and the breed grew up and was selected for that sort of competition. But even within the breed, there are different types, temperaments, builds, gaits. And if you love your horse, well, anything is fun.

I am going to bet you, you could trail ride it, and it wouldn't melt, but I'm also going to say, with some of them, it might be a pretty dang exciting trail ride. You might be screaming under your bed the next time someone suggests trail riding....Some are fine, some are not. One lady came and left one at our barn, and said, 'train it and sell it', and burst into tears and drove away. They are NOT all for everyone. And they're not all quiet. The trainer said that horse would scoot out from under her faster than anything she ever sat on, every time a flea - ah ... burped, every time she moved, sniffed, thought a thought, she said. Not all are like that, but some lines (very popular lines) are. The trainer admitted the horse was so anxious to please it obviously was a very good horse, just not for everyone.

But.... the sellers and breeders I met were...they were...insane. They terrified me. They were very frightening people. If I saw one in a parking garage and I was alone, I would call 911. The most completely undiplomatic, nuts, unrealistic, weird, CRAZY things they said! They would jump on me the minute I walked in the door (OR EVEN PHONED, OR EMAILED) and start screaming, 'OUR HORSES ARE BETTER THAN WARMBLOODS! You'll beat warmbloods!! HAHA HAH AHAH AHHAAHHAHAH WARMBLOODS SUCK!! They're a CONSPIRACY! THEY ARE UGLY AND EVIL!!!!!!'

I would stand there and offer them a sedative and suggest cutting back on the Starbucks Monstres, and then tell them I love and own warmbloods, and marketing their horses by cutting down another breed is stupid, And leave.

The STUFF they came up with. I couldn't stand it. Their horses, most of which were not sport type at all, but looked like little pregnant buckskin mules and moved like windup toys, were going to beat....ANYTHING? AT ANYTHING?

That said, there are good people in that breed. I liked a few that I met. But I absolutely can't stand the 'saddle seat' classes, the in hand classes, or much of what people 'in the breed' are doing. I think it is a horrible waste of a very nice horse. I think some are breeding for that rat-a-tat, staccato, tense gait, and I don't like that either.

None of the folks I met that I liked, were 'in the breed' per se. They were quietly - NORMALLY - working with them as if the were a horse, a regular horse. Hacking them. Not having them piaffe at at birth. Giving them good basic training, stretching, strengthening, rhythm...not screaming, sensible, stepwise training, not, 'After six months they can do Grand PRix! Go to the Olympics! Piaffe and Passage under saddle at 3!'

The worst thing anyone said to me, was, you don't have to take your time in training, you can do anything you want at any age, because they are THE ORIGINAL DRESSAGE HORSE, and THEY ARE ALL PERFECT at dressage, one even had the insanity to tell me you don't have to TRAIN THEM AT ALL!

I think it actually takes a long time to get them to stretch and develop the back properly. They are not Magical Butterfly Horses that poop flowers, they are horses. They need the same basic training and strengthenng all horses do. But oh are they fun. I don't have one - I tried a couple, and boy oh boy. They are light, but it means they need time to learn to come out and reach for the bridle and stretch the back, too.

I think that Invasor isn't a good example of a sport horse type of Andalusian or Lusitano, Soto himself says that anyhow. He took a LOT of flack for how he rode that horse.

In interview, he would say, basically, 'Yeah, I know, I know, but we get the job done' and made no bones about the horse being a freight train and had to be ridden that way. I can remember sitting there and kind of chuckling watching him. That man would come out of the ring with his face dripping wet and beet red every time. A hard horse to keep together.

Many of the top Spanish and other top riders are getting more sport type Andalusians and Lusitanos. They have a very loose, supple movement, and work better through the back to start.

Bad at extensions - welllll....some are, some aren't. I think where they used to frequently lose points alot actually is in the half pass, and for a lack of suspension. But that is changing. The top breeders are doing amazing things.
 
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WC

Oh yeah I can attest for the Paso Fino breeders, I have never seen so many porkers with little tiny legs with little feet going tat-a-tat on the sounding board. Especially the ones that would hold their horse in place which it is AGAINST the rules, you MUST have the horse MOVING across the board, not stopping in the middle like a car squealing tires in place, burning rubber. I had a Paso that was ridden as a fino fino horse and I thought for kicks I asked him once to fino, he did and then I gave him cues to slow the forward motion......BLAM! That horse exploded on me, he was not taking that crap at all. All he wants to be a pleasure riding horse and I grated him that priviledge and never again i would ask him to fino and step in place commands. He would go performance gaited so willingly but to ask him to fino, he would literally chomp his bit, goosehopped, shaking his head...its a warning he will explode. On the trails he was a dream!

After I sold him, I've informed the buyer not to ask him to fino or make him stop while fino-ing, he would explode. He is tired of showing and he hurts. Glad the new owner has no goals for showing him.

So after seeing a few years of the PF Nationals, it really digusted me big time to see those people showing off. Capunicho broke down, his legs were a mess and his offsprings and his descendents have that same problem. Too weak of legs, too small of feet, too stiff and too fat!
 
Please, no bows. I am sick, and you're keeping me busy and entertaining me by giving me something to write about, and I'm grateful.

Re fino-fino-fino, I think that once the horse experiences something more pleasant, they don't want to go back to He**.
 
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From that one breeder Friend and I liked, her Andalusians were a slimmer, more upright and refined than Invasor. One of her mares was very heavy with thick cresty neck. All of her horses were very sweet and friendly. Her stallion was even pastured with an older gelding ... and the older gelding was the boss!

I'll have to see if Friend will email me one of the pics she got of the stallion. She's a very good amateur photographer--she's usually the one taking pics of me and my horses over on BYH. She got one pic of the stallion rearing ... just gorgeous!

EweSheep, while I've only ridden a Paso Fino once, I have seen the guys on RFD TV--large guys, one VERY large man with a weird shaped big head, liver lips and a surly expression--riding those little Pasos with the little legs just a goin'

Now, the woman whose Paso Fino I rode said that they often BREAK the tails to get that kink in them. Is that true?
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Oh Lawdy! LOL I can see what you mean about that LARGE man, remember Ochoa, the kingpin drug dealer, HUGE guy on Resorte IV, I thought OMG!


Now that is so extreme but I dont know if the Paso expressed pain or gladly do it.

How in the heck we strayed so far from Gypsy Vanner topic LOL!
 
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Yes it is TRUE that they break the tails...many of the Colombian horses have a natural kink to it and people LIKE that kink so they would break them. Good God!
 
my friend bought two geldings for $5000 a piece, they are beautiful, small but sturdy, very gentle like a draft breed, one is flashy black and white and the other is black with 4 white stockings and a blaze, they are out of an irish inported stallion
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