So uh... thought those QH/paint types were supposed to be easy keepers

[bkreugar]

So LONG time horse owner. Mostly large ponies, and a LOT of arabs. They were all easy keepers cept or the occasional thorobred cross, they were generally not easy keepers.

Currently I have a 20 yr old babysitter morab, barefoot fat on just roundbale hay. Had her for 12 years and now my rank 8 yr old son rides her.

12 yr old pinto arab cross. LOOKS full arab, but acts like a qh, dead steady on trail, no spook, with get up and go when I ask. VERRY happy with this girl as I feel I got the best of both worlds/breeds with her. Just the roundbale is FINE for her BUT she requires shoes on front for her delicate tootsies. She is defiitly ouchy without shoes.

Last year bought a reg 7yr old paint mare for dd13 as she had outgrown morab in size and ability. Mare is a great match for kid, just enough of a challenge for her. Mare is 15.3 and not incredibly stocky. She is SUPER athletic,fantastic mover, daisy cutter, very straight in her gaits, no paddling etc. Kid and mare have been jumping 2'6" with EASE. Mare is not thrilled with trails but is getting better. A great 4h mount for my kid.

BUT... roundbale only is NOT enough for her. It as during winter with very light riding but now, with heat and 6-8 hrs of riding a week she requires grain AND.... she too is ouchy without shoes. So THIS mare is NOT an easy keeper. Now don't get me wrong not having buyers remorse...but thought these qh types were supposed to be easy keepers. Seems to me the arabs are easier upkeep and that has always been my experience. Guess this mare being a paint takes after the thourobred side more. Or maybe its all that athletic ability that requires more food. More fast twitch muscle = more food?

Just a slight rant.

 

[muddyhorse]

some are and some simply are not. I have one that like you said barefoot round bale just fine. on the other hand I have another one that requires shoes on all feet, supplements ect ect. back in the day when they were expected to work on the ranch a horse that could not keep up was not used for breeding. then more and more people began keep ing them as pleasure horses, show horses became more specialized. hardiness was not selected for beauty was. I could really get on a soap box here

 

[bogielousa]

Try a probiotic first!! It does wonders on my not so easy keepers, check her teeth, make sure she's able to chew properly is my first for any cause of low weight.... and maybe look into if she has ulcers....which athletic working nicely behaved quarter type horses are very prone to having....they sometimes internalize the stress rather than spook.

ouchy feet to me would mean something's wrong....somewhere....Do you have your hay and soil tested regularly? ...does she show strong signs when in heat? could be as simple as magnesium deficient, since you mention not so happy about trails (which to me would indicate she's touchy, mares are more prone to being deficient as well)if so I 'd say magnesium would be something I'd look at first, since I've had horses with similar things happening, that respond well with a little extra magnesium. For that you could try Remission supplements....

Those are just some things that pop into my head based on your descriptions...and that won't hurt if you do try them.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

From what I've seen around here, it's the opposite of what you're usually told. There are scuds of QH/Paints around here, and they are just bred however whenever for whatever. It may be different in other places, but it's what I've noticed. Same thing with the Walkers.... they are all thin/tiny, don't put on or keep on weight well, and have "bad" feet, usually ill tempered...

I guess sometimes you get good ones, sometimes you don't.

 

[babyblue]

Its all in the quality of the line and the possible amount of tb and how far back it goes. Also considering horses that are breed to work, not just be pretty show ponies. That makes a difference between a touch as nails old fat qh and the leggy 17 hand guys that have a lot of tb in them.


First thing though I would really worm her and get a good dentist to look at her teeth. Those two things can save you tons of money in the long run.

 

[bkreugar]

We bought her in august and I had to do all her vet stuff( shots, worming,coggins ANDher teeth). Her teeth were BAD, and it took a long time. While she is not parrot mouthed ,vet said her teeth are such that she will require MORE reg maintence (remember she's only 7). So it IS possible she is due for a dental appt and I will worm her, just irratated that my other 2 in SAME conditions are easier keepers.

I agree I think it is the TB in her bloodline.

 

[onthespot]

Hardest keeping horse I ever had. At a fifty pound sack of alfalfa pellets every day for two years. Nothing was wrong with her teeth. She came from a line of hard keepers, but they won a lot and produced world champs and world champ producers... So... guilty. I kept and bred horses that ate a lot. Her feet were good though, and she was very sweet natured too. So were her babies. Spicy and sweet, LOL. Not for beginners.

 

[patandchickens]

Really I would not have put modern stock horse breeds on my list of "easy keepers" -- to me, that would be arabs, morgans, Lipizzaners, etc. Also an awful lot of draft horses, at least in the sense of how much they need to eat to maintain healthy weight -- how much they WISH to eat is a whole nother issue LOL

But even with real traditional easy-keeper breeds e.g. arabs there is always variation and you can certainly find INDIVIDUALS who are quite the opposite.

And as far as shoes, IME the great majority of modern stockhorse breeds (i.e. except the few older-style ones still being bred) do have really CRAPPY feet, so no surprise there.

The thing is, you buy an individual horse, not its whole breed, so its breed is not terribly relevant IMO except for making broad guesses of how things will go if you have no other source of information (e.g. if you buy a horse at auction you can see its feet but you *can't* always know how it's been fed)

JME, good luck, have fun,

Pat