My horse growing up - Page 3

Molly, I wondered if he was being broken to cart work or simply being two lined. If he is being broken to cart work than yes, the blinders make sense, it's just with the beauty of his movement I figured you were going to offer him as a dressage prospect rather than for carriage work. If it's anything 'other' than cart work, I prefer a shadow roll to blinkers at least until the shadow roll proves ineffective but again, cart work is a different animal all together. And yes, she does seem to be throwing better as she goes the 2010 is the nicer colt of the pair. Going to be looking for her to produce a full sister for you to keep as your next breeding prospect?

Sunsilver, what are you talking about?  They're both her horses.

Oops, didn't realize that. Well, Deko's movement is definitely superior to the other colt's!

You're comparing a 2 year old to a foal still on his mother's side?

Seriously?

The 2010 colt is the superior colt.  Deko is nice and will make someone a very handsome dressage prospect once he's been gelded.

He's a stunning animal.  I rewatched the video twice.  He just floats and is the picture of grace and beauty.

Crys

No, I was comparing Deko's evaluation video to Symmetrie's. Both were done when they were still at their mother's side.

And the 2010 colt scored higher.

Okay, I didn't watch the more recent videos of Deko. I can see now his neck is a bit on the short side, and he carries his head quite high when running at liberty. Not a desirable conformation feature, especially for a dressage horse prospect. I still think his movement is superb, though, and he's learning to flex his neck nicely when being worked from the ground.

Do you have pictures of his daddy, Molly?

I do agree that Deko has lovely movement and his chrome and his attitude is a bit more 'flashy' than the other colt but if I was looking between them strictly from a show prospect, my money would be saved for the 2010 colt.

I imagine that Deko will make someone a very good companion and if they have access to the right trainer/facilities they'll have a lot of fun with him in the show ring but I really think the 2010 colt will go much further.

I personally think Deko can and will go VERY far in dressage - his movement is very correct and flashy, he is a big strong boy with a lot of presence, and his temperament is perfect.  He can and will go to FEI dressage with the right trainer/rider - absolutely!  The 2010 colt is showing a lot of promise - he is a bit more refined but don't let the baby legs and cute face fool you - this is a BIG colt and he will be every bit as big/powerful/impressive looking as his big brother.  I do think Symmetrie has slightly better movement than Deko, but I think Deko's movement is "VA".

To explain the buggy/driving/long line training a little more - Warmbloods are very slow-maturing horses, and they are NEVER broken to saddle (ridden) when they are 2 years old.  They are much too young to carry a rider at that age.  Deko is only 2 years old.  Most trainers start their 2 or 3 year olds with the long-lining you see in part of the video - teaching him to work in a "frame" using his rear end and learning voice commands, rein aids and to obey the "rider" without a rider's weight.  This particular trainer breaks youngsters to drive - not because they are going to be driving horses (Deko will not be a driving horse) but because it's a great way to "break and train" a young horse to do everything except carry a rider.  Then when he's ready and old enough to carry a rider, it will be a very easy transition.

You can see more about this trainer at his website www.griffinsporthorses.com 

I used to break/train young horses and always did the long-lining first - never broke babies to drive, but I think it's a great thing to do, and the blinkers make perfect sense to me as a part of that training.