Bloodlines for High Knee Action

[MooreAcres]

The horses down at Sundance LB Stock Farm. I have found my love for the AMHR/ASPC cross, Arenosa bred horses. I have FOUR mares that were bred by Sundance and they all knock my socks off every time they cut loose out in the paddock. Leave me standing there with my jaw on the ground...we wont mention the drooling...

 

[ClickMini]

Littleum, I am with you on that one as well. I have a granddaughter, through Celebrations Tennessee Tyme (Tymer). She is AWESOME!!! Has wins in both Single and Country, 2007 Reserve Champion All-Stars Ladies Single Pleasure, 2007 4th All-Stars in Open Single 32-34 and 3rd in Ammy, Reserve National Champion Country Pleasure Driving Mare, plus a win in her first CDE at the Prelim level in 2009 after taking 2008 off to have a foal. Just an amazing mare. Beyond movement, she has HEART. And she has Grands in halter as well. A TRUE all-around horse.

And for those of you who are admiring Baylee at Mountain Meadows, a whole bunch of Stacy's breeding stock are also daughters of Tymer. So the Tymer/Baylee crosses are super hot!

This year, she is learning to be 1/2 of a pair for combined driving. I am really excited about she and Esprit!

 

[stormy]

Lutes Komo Dandy fan here! Here is a grandson Oatmeal Acres Kan Hee Doo, some of you will remember his liberty performance this year at AMHR Nationals. Movement is 100% natural and passes on to his offspring.

 

[Reble]

I must ask? Is the driving horses that have good leg action and stretch have longer bodies that help this bloodline for driving?

 

[disneyhorse]

I must ask? Is the driving horses that have good leg action and stretch have longer bodies that help this bloodline for driving?

I think the angle of the leg, hip, and shoulder has more to do with action than length of body. My Shetland pony stallion is extremely short in the body and back, but he can move! In length of body, also, the ratio between their topline and their underline is what matters, too. They need a long underline to really let their legs stretch out, as you can kind of see in this picture:

That said, I have found good moving minis of all bloodlines. I think it's the individual horse, not really the farm or bloodline they come from, although some farms try to emphasize movement which definitely will increase your odds. I don't believe that a horse that can't move, bred to another horse that can't move, will randomly produce a big-moving horse. Hackneys are bred for movement through their conformation, and it breeds on.

And just beyond talent, your horse has to have trainability and a very forward attitude (think dressage, you don't want to be working hard to get your horse to move) to make the most of their talent under harness. This is a very important component.

Good luck in your search,

Andrea

 

[MountainMeadows]

Rebel

You will probably get mixed answers on this questions -- yes, historically I can say, that the longer bodied horses gave us the best action. You will also hear that cowhocked horses will give you better action than straight legs. Personally, I believe that the neckset & shoulder layback are 2 of THE most important physical factors when looking at a potential driving horse. Next is going to be flexibility of the poll and slimness of neck - particularly in the throatlatch area. The hip must be full and strong enough for the horse to be able to really engage & power forward or else you will get an unbalanced look.

All that said - if the horse doesn't have the ATTITUDE to want to work and the WILL to win, you are probably not going to have a stellar driving horse - the horse will drive - and maybe even look really good - the the ring today is asking for just that little bit extra that ATTITUDE and WILL are going to bring to the party --- those are attributes that are not necessarily seen thru your typical conformation assessment. That is where breeding comes in - there are bloodlines that are known for their attitudes and willingness - and a lot of those horses are passing on not only the physical talent to be able to win the the disposition needed to take it to the next level.

Can you tell that I love the driving horse! It has been my passion for nearly 28 years and as the bar keeps getting raised higher and higher the challenge becomes greater and greater, but I would not have it any other way - that said, I do personally believe that there are limits on what we can expect of our horses and as their keepers we need to be congnizant of our repsonsibility to not ask more than they can give and realize that there are limits on ability as well as ambition.

Stacy

 

[Reble]

Thanks Andrea and Stacy appreciate your replies.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

Thanks for all the replies, and especially pictures too

! Now my next question is which driving class would you put this filly in:

She has great movement and does great in liberty but is she more country pleasure or could she make it in single pleasure???

 

[targetsmom]

To answer (or not answer) which class this lovely mover would go into, I will refer you to a recent thread on the driving forum:

http://www.miniaturehorsetalk.com/index.php?showtopic=114232

So I would guess country, but suggest you wait to see how she looks once hooked. Now it also sounds like you want to put her in single pleasure?? Is that "better" than another driving class? Just wondering... by someone who plans to enter the new Classic Pleasure Class this year.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

To answer (or not answer) which class this lovely mover would go into, I will refer you to a recent thread on the driving forum:http://www.miniaturehorsetalk.com/index.php?showtopic=114232

So I would guess country, but suggest you wait to see how she looks once hooked. Now it also sounds like you want to put her in single pleasure?? Is that "better" than another driving class? Just wondering... by someone who plans to enter the new Classic Pleasure Class this year.

I dont think any of the classes are better than others, I just already have western country and country pleasure horses, even a roadster horse, I just dont have a single pleasure with the extra action. For that filly I just was wondering which one she would fit better, I wont know how much action she will have under harness until next yr at least but just wondering on the guesses while she is at liberty. Thanks for the link I will check it out!

 

[disneyhorse]

That little chestnut filly definitely looks best suited for Country Pleasure.

At liberty, a Single Pleasure horse would have a lot more knee action.

Here are some of my past Single Pleasure horses at Liberty:

This is a Graham's bred horse.

These are Little Kings Buck On Broadways sons. These guys were full brothers, and this was their working trot, not really a "liberty" trot:

Remember, when the tail is flagged and they are at that "liberty" trot, they trot a lot bigger than they usually do under harness. Sometimes you can really get it out of them, but it takes a lot of work and more often than not, the horse can't sustain it and pull weight.

Not all great liberty horses are the Single Pleasure horses (although sometimes those trots... wow!) A good horse is a good horse, and your little filly looks like she's got a nice, collected, balanced trot. I think she will make a great driving horse!

Andrea

 

[Getitia]

So many lovely horses posted - I too absolutely love a gorgeous horse that has gorgeous animated movement in both front and rear and it is what we strive to produce. Each year we make just a little more progress in achieving that goal.

We have a few pretty nice movers

- this is a Blue Boy Bred Mare - Flights of Fancy Cordon Blue

she was an AMHR National Grand in Open Pleasure Driving

Buckeye WCF Cicada Song - Arenosa bred

Also AMHR National Reserve Grand in Open Pleasure Driving

Here is Cascades Velvet Starlet - Rowdy breeding

One of my favorite most animated moving mares - Buckeye WCF Paposas Red Hot - Arenosa bred

 

[targetsmom]

Here is the one I posted on the driving thread that I will add here: Aloha Acres Fashion By Magic -

loose in the pasture, no one chasing her:

Driving - late in the day at a Pinto show:

Now perhaps a better trainer could get her looking different, but I am happy with her.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Country Pleasure, definitely not Single. She's a lovely girl but does not appear to have enough freedom in her shoulder even at liberty to have that lift. I've always liked her though!

Leia

 

[gatorbait4sure]

Getitia,

Post Bella's trotting photo on here! I would, but have no iddea how to!

dru

 

[Lewella]

The CLR horses at Drew McDonalds are amazing movers - http://www.drewmcdannald.com.

The CLR stuff is line bred Wink's Showdeo Kid II who was the cover of Feb 2009 Journal.

Grassmere Farm always has line bred Wink's Showdeo Kid II ASPC/AMHR horses for sale.

 

[KTS@Sawmill River]

SRF - The Slobody's if your wanting A/R horses that move like none other with unlimited driving potential....

Thank you so much for your kind words on our horses, Leeana!

Most of our driving horses stem from the Rhotens Little Dandy line..... IMO, that line is very potent when it comes to natural action, even if it is a Grand-daughter or grand-son...

As mentioned, Stacy Score breeds some beautiful moving horses with the Mountain Meadows prefix.

Here are a few of my Dandy bred driving horses: All Amateur trained and conditioned

SRF Revelette - Res. World Champion Single Pl. Driving and Park Harness - by a grand son of Rhotens Little Dandy and out of a Res. World champion Single Pl. horse

and Revelette's full sister, SRF Silhouette - Multi Top Ten Single Pl. Driving in AMHR and World Top Ten Country and Roadster horse

SRF Heiress... World top Ten in Country Pleasure - Rhotens Little Dandy grand-daughter

and this is the dam of Revelette and Silhouette - Leprechaun Acres Missy - Res. World Champ single Pl. - professionally trained

And as mentioned - and I have to remind myself whenever I watch my horses prance around the field - How a horse moves at liberty won't always be how they will move with a cart behind them.

 

[mdegner]

Hi Melinda:

I haven't been on in a few days and I just saw your post and my first thought was you need a Baylee baby. I see someone beat me to the punch on that suggestion. You should check with Stacy and see what she has. I'm happy to announce that we will be having our own Baylee baby born on the farm here in late march early april (Mountain Meadows Tymers Savannah is the dam). I'm pretty sure we won't be selling it though.....

Best, Mary

 

[Mominis]

What I like about the Baylee horses isn't so much that they have the high knee action that you were asking about (though, obviously they do), but it is more in the way that they move. It's my opinion that Baylee's shoulder is structured in such a way that it allows for him to move so freely out of the shoulder. In this respect, his motion is less 'sewing machine' and more park-y, in my humble opinion. Not to mention he's so doggone cute!

 

[King Park]

HI

I think the SMHC horses have nice movement. Im going to try SMHC Ringmaster in harness.







Photo from SMHC's Ringmaster's YouTube video

The day he arrived at my place after a 2 month quarantine from USA to Australia. Movement is au naturale!

Very interesting topic. Love it!

Samantha

King Park

http://www.sabledesign.com/kingpark