Are Irish Draughts the new favorite of BYB's?

I think we need a lesson on what an Irish Draught Horse is (or draft, however you want to spell it). Because nobody seems to know anymore. Breeding your Thoroughbredraftrakehner mare to an ID stallion does not make the baby an ID, or even necessarily an Irish sporthorse. It's definitely a mutt. Whether or not it ends up being a sporthorse prospect is anybody's guess until it's actually born.

This critter's from the same breeder/website as that bay colt (which was also a mutt that was advertised as an Irish SH).
This one is supposed to be a Thoroughbred/ Irish SH mix. I still have no clue what breeds consist of an ISH, so if anyone can shed some light on that, it would be much appreciated. They claim his registration is pending, but how can they register him when he's a mixed breed? Anyway, they have him listed as an Irish Draught, even though he's clearly not even close to purebred. Get a load of those pasturns and the nonexistent heel. Ew.
I know dinky little Arabians that have more of an ass than he does. He looks wormy, too.

I'm kind of confused because on the website, those horses are pretty decent, to say the least. Most of them are TB's, too, so I'm not sure what the deal is there. Well, until you get to the Irish SH page and there's a big bay fugly. Half their pages don't even work, so I don't know.

Furthermore, why would you combine all those breeds? More often than not, the offspring tend to inherit the bad traits of all the breeds. I can understand crossing two really nice purebred horses, but don't let the offspring reproduce. You don't know which genes could end up where. As seen with this colt. What cracks me up is how much they're asking for him. $15,000! He's a fugly three year old who has next to no saddle time and they're asking a fortune for him.

Aaandd we have another gem from the same people. This one's a filly going for $14,000. She's got better feet and hindquarters than the other two, but has a bad shoulder and a knife neck. Again, listed as an ID, but has mixed breeding. She has no saddle time, since she's only two, but she's still $14,000. This makes no sense. Maybe, in a good economy ten years down the road, if she's dead broke and has actually accomplished something or has some kind of show record, maybe $14,000 would be reasonable.

In the ad, they talk a lot more about her ancestor's accomplishments than about her. As if having accomplished ancestors makes the filly more valuable by default. Sorry, but it doesn't work that way. If the filly isn't sporthorse calliber, she's not worth all that much, regardless of who she has in her pedigree. What do you think an offspring of Secretariat is worth if he/she can't run worth shit? Absolutely nothing. At least as far as the racing industry is concerned. It's the same in the sporthorse world. They're proudly rambling on about her bloodlines because they have nothing to say about the actual horse they're selling. Very good marketing technique, right? Awesome.
Well, this mediocre fugly that hasn't done shit can be yours for the low, low price of 14 grand. Whip out that checkbook, eventers.

Slightly OT, but I have a serious question:
A draft cross isn't a warmblood, is it? Like if you breed a Thoroughbred to a Belgian, would the baby be considered a warmblood? I don't think that would be the correct term.
I was always taught that a warmblood is a pure breed. Swedish Warmblood, Danish Warmblood, Hanoverian, Oldenburg, etc. The purebred sporthorses that originated mainly from Europe and have prominent Thoroughbred ancestry. I understand that the term "warmblood" refers to horses with mixed hot-blooded and cold-blooded horses in thier ancestry. They're the result of generations of selective breeding and the warmbloods we have today are the final result of that. Well, I've been seeing a lot of dime-a-dozen draft crosses listed as "warmbloods". Can you just cross a draft with a hot-blooded horse and call it a warmblood? The offspring isn't a new breed or anything, just a half breed. Would "warmblood" still be the correct term for those horses are are those people confused?

Rollkur - What's the deal?

Alright, I'm an ignorant hunter and I know next to nothing about dressage. So enlighten me.

1) What is the purpose of Rollkur?

2) Out of all the photos and videos I've seen, all the horses looked angry, miserable, and looking like they wanted to drop dead. What would possess someone to crank a horse's head back to the point where he's rasping and heaving like an asthmatic cow?

3) Hyperflexion is extremely damaging to horses and yet I've heard that Rollkur is used as a training tool by some dressage trainers. WHY???

4) A good rider wouldn't hyperflex her horse, at least for any long period of time. I can't think of when a horse would need to be stretched that severely in any situation. So again, why?

5) What is considered non-abusive Rollkur? Where do you draw the line?

Based on what I've seen and heard, Rollkur is supposedly fine in small doses. I can't see any way that this would be okay or beneficial to the horse. If it's supposed to teach collection, that makes me even more opposed to it. Nobody needs to suffocate their horse in order to teach him to collect himself. That's what lunging, side reins, and competant riding is for.

Do any of these horses look remotely comfortable? They look tortured to me. And Lord knows I'm against anything that causes a horse an iota of discomfort. Even in short intervals, why would hyperflexion be a good thing? I'm having a hard time researching it because I'm trying to weed out biased and one-sided articles. Does anyone have first-hand knowledge or experience with this?

It looks pretty abusive to me.

Ur doin' it wrong!

This is kind of a piggy back off of Bad_Riding, but I have to post it. This sooper speshul trainer dude has a bunch of videos showing his ridiculous methods and less-than-decent riding. This one especially stood out to me. Check out that position. Not only was all his weight in his ass, but he was flopping around like a sack of potatoes and was too heavy on the reins. How the hell can anyone use their seat correctly when all your weight is in your ass all the time and you're leaning back on the horse's hindquarters? No wonder he has to haul back on the reins like a banshee to get the horse to stop. *sigh*

The juiciest part was the dumbass comment that almost had me gagging up my Dr. Pepper.

Hey crazyhorse,

Ignore all the other 16 girls commenting about your riding (they all went to english riding clubs with instructors telling them line up ear, hip, ankle and drop your heels). Your riding is perfectly fine. As long as you are relaxed and the horse is relaxed, who cares what position you ride!

I do ride straight up and down most of time but I have ridden like you have and I stop yelling at my kids for adopting their own style.

Everyone is different and every horse too.

Can this statement be any more ignorant? "Who cares what position you ride"? Gee, I don't know, maybe your horse? I guess this person needs to have something explained to her.

Your seat is everything. If you have no seat, you have no hand or leg, and if you have no leg, you have no seat. You go to seat, then to leg, then to hand. Always. Your seat rides the most important part of the horse: the hindquarters. Your seat is the first thing you go to when you're aiding your horse. The horse responds to the smallest shift in your weight, which is impossible when you're flopping way back behind the vertical and have no weight in your heels the whole time. Then you have the leg, and this guy's are loose as wet noodle and flopping in every conceivable direction. Your legs ride the hindquarters and ribcage. It's impossible for your horse to be balanced unless you have a firm, steady leg and you let your weight sink into your heels, which also secures your seat. Yes, our English riding ways are sooo goofy, right? It's ridiculous that we focus on being balanced and secure, isn't it?

The horse can't read this guy's seat because he has none. He stops/ slows the horse with the reins alone, which is just plain sloppy and inefficient. He isn't secure in the saddle at all, and I guarantee you if you put him in an English saddle and the horse stopped suddenly, he'd going catapulting over the horse's head.

The sheer stupidity is enough to make you bang your head against a brick wall.

Is there anything right with this ad?

I hate it when people talk up their mediocre-quality horses and make them sound like more than they are. This little gem is a perfect example of that.

Dusty is a blood bay 3 year old Irish Sport Horse gelding. Dusty is sired by the Elite Hanoverian stallion named Gold Luck, who has been top-listed in the USEF Dressage Sires List for years. Gold Luck is sired by the legendary Grand Prix Dressage stallion named Grundstein. Dusty's dam is Ashley Whisper Waddilove, an Irish Draught mare imported from England. Ashley placed 4th in the 2 year old IDSH class at the 2001 Midlands Irish Draught Show in Southam, England. Ashley is sired by the TB steeplechaser Mr Waddilove. Ashley's dam's sire is the Irish Draught stallion named Diamond Jake who was a Grade B showjumper and foxhunter in the UK, and represented Great Britain in the Young Riders Showjumping Team. Dusty is a beautiful, brave and flashy horse. He is very friendly, highly trainable, and intelligent. He has good feet and bone. Dusty has a great attitude, nice conformation, fantastic movement and superb quality. Dusty has 3 elastic gaits with lots of suspension. He has an excellent temperament. He should mature 16.1+h (Dam 16.2h & sire 16.1h). He ties, bathes, blankets, fly sprays,loads, and is good for the farrier/vet. He is UTD on vaccinations, deworming, and farrier. He is presently being started under saddle.

Things that I find wrong with this:

1) They're talking about the colt's pedigree more than the actual colt. It makes it even worse when he clearly doesn't look the part and no one cares about the pedigree when the colt has nothing to show for it. I see an ewe neck, sickle hocks, and cruddy pasterns. Not to mention the lack of muscle. This horse is worth nowhere near $15,000.

2) They have him listed as an Irish Draft. If his sire is a Hanoverian, he's not an Irish Draft. He's a cross. A mutt, so to speak.

3) They're advertising him as an "Irish sporthorse". A horse isn't a sporthorse unless he actually competes. And I have no idea what an Irish sporthorse is. Hanoverians originated in Germany, so what makes this colt an "Irish sporthorse"? Could you just as easily call him a "German sporthorse"? He's only half ID, so I have no idea why they call him that. Again, probably in an attempt to make him sound sooper speshul.

4) A horse can't have a blaze, and a star, and a snip. It sounds like they're really trying to make him sound unique and amazing. What he has is called a stripe. Just a plain ol' stripe. You would know that if you ever picked up one of those 3rd grade level horse care books from the school library.

I hope anyone in the market for a horse that has 15 grand laying around is educated enough to see the faults here. You can go to just about any auction or feedlot and find better horses for 200 bucks. Like this Quarter Horse colt. He's way too nice to be in a feedlot, but that's where a lot of them end up. You can find your next jumping prospect at an auction if you know what you're looking for. Plus all the horses that are actually worth 15 grand out there. How much chance do you think they have of selling him? Exactly. *facepalm*

Totally random encounter.

There was a turkey outside my window this afternoon.
I've been laughing about it since. It was so random. XD I managed to snap a few pictures, since she was just strolling around the yard, surveying the flowers. They're kinda blurry because they were taken through my screen.

That's the last thing I'd expect to see out my window. I hope she wasn't lost. I didn't see any other turkeys.

OT, but did you know turkeys sleep in trees? It makes sense, since they probably couldn't get away if a coyote attacked them in their sleep. But how do they get up there? Especially the males. I've never seen a turkey fly more than 12 inches off the ground. And I've never seen a turkey in a tree, even at night. What do they do, shimmy up the trunk? I'd like to see that.

Has anyone else had critters show up in their yard?

HOLY SH** BATMAN.

This poor filly.

Those are the worst legs I've seen in a long, long time. Can we say camped out? (She's also over at the knee and has a straight shoulder, but who notices that next to those hind legs?) This is ridiculous. How does she move?

I've never seen a horse camped out this bad before. She looks rather uncomfortable. No one is going to pay $1,800 for this conformational train wreck. She's advertised as an English/western performance prospect, which makes me question the seller's mental state. This filly will never be an athlete. It's going to be nearly impossible for her to collect herself, and she'll certainly never do well in the show ring. I don't even think she'll make that great of a riding horse. And she's more susceptible to joint and lameness issues, which just adds to the long list of things that are stacked against her.

I see where she got that straight shoulder. Momma doesn't look so great, either. From what little you can see of the dam, there's nothing about her that I would want to replicate.

Their stallion has no business being a stallion. He's not bad, but he's not special, either. Not exactly breeding material. He would make a nice gelding. We wouldn't be missing out on anything by not spreading his gene pool. I don't get it.

Why don't you put a bullet through your own empty skull?

That would be much more beneficial to the rest of the world, as opposed to going out and slaughtering wolves to your heart's content. Now, unless you live in a cardboard box, you've probably heard that wolves are being taken off the endangered list in Idaho and Montana. They expect to start hunting them again this fall.

We might as well send the hunters/poachers out there now and say "Here, try again! You didn't finish the job last time!"
The ranchers are thrilled about this. Now they can shoot wolves on sight and it's perfectly legal. Now, I appreciate steak and hamburgers, but I will never approve of killing wolves to keep them from eating cattle. That's why I tell people to get a dog. Watch dogs protect livestock. Therefor they keep wolves, cougars, and bears away. Second of all, the wolves were here long before we were, and they have to eat. We're the ones destroying and invading their habitat, and therefor their food sources in the wild are becoming more limited. They have no choice but to prey on livestock when we're taking away their resources.

This brings us to another issue. Another reason people want to hunt wolves is to keep them from over-hunting other game animals such as deer and elk. Um, HELLO! That's what they're supposed to do! Deer and elk are their natural prey! What else would you have them eat? 'Cause y'know, I'd be happy to feed a couple of you soulless cretins to a pack of wolves. They're not eating your livestock, are you happy now? You want to start shooting wolves (because they're doing what they were made to do) because you want to preserve your precious sport hunting.

Wolves hunt to survive. Human beings kill off wild animals for a cheap thrill and an ego boost. Oh, and of course to have their heads lopped off and hung on a wall like some kind of trophy. If it was up to me, sport hunting would be banned. I don't understand how anyone with an iota of humanity can hunt down and kill another living being for the sheer pleasure of it. You want a thrill? Why don't you let me squeeze off a few rounds in your direction, then have you skinned and your pelt tacked up on the wall above my mantle? That would be my trophy for improving the human gene pool by removing you from it. Sounds like fun, right?

We have hope, though. The Western Wolf Coalition is fighting the proposal, along with other people who've been writing to Congress. As you can imagine, a lot of people are pissed about this. We just need enough people to speak up.

Ever wonder why English riders get a reputation for being narcissistic snobs?

This is why.

This girl's riding isn't the issue at all. She's actually a very good rider. It's her attitude that makes me angry. Take a gander at the title and description. The arrogance.

Anyone who thinks English riders are cocky have probably only met people like her (although she does do western as well). I've met many accomplished and admirable riders, and not one of them has ever referred to him or her self as an "amazing rider", or even talked themselves up in any way. In fact, many of them just shrug and smile when people compliment them. Apparently no one ever told that girl that modesty is an attractive trait. lol I left her a nice comment and I'm curious to see if she replies.

I also noticed that she gives very little recognition to her horses. Another difference between her and other riders. If you look at Beezie Madden or any other well-known equestrian, they rave about their horses like proud parents. And isn't that the way it should be? I love how this chick is soaking up all the praise for herself.

People like her make all of us look like haughty stiff necks.

My cat just brought a live sparrow into the house.

I thought it was just a toy... but then I saw the feathers. O.O

I thought it was dead at first, because it was just laying there when she set it down. Then it made a little cheeping noise and I was like, OMG! So I grabbed Annabel and put her in the bathroom, then caught the sparrow, who had flown into the windowsill. The poor little guy was scared out of his mind. :( He was just limp while I was making sure his wings and legs weren't broken. There was no blood, either. I took him outside and put him in a tree, and he flew off right when I let him go. So I think he'll be fine.

That reminds me of when I rescued a frog at the barn last summer. He was in one of the horse shelters and he was all dried out and had a bloody eye. And he was about to be stepped on. D:
So I caught him and ran through the barn like, "I've got a frog and he needs water!" (I got some weird stares from that one). I put him in the creek and then he was a happy frog.