As seen in the October 2018 edition of Horse Deals Magazine. Article: Anna Sharpley.

Our discussion began with the question, what is a Warmblood?. “Put simply,” says Rozzie, “it is the mixture of a cold blood horse and a hot blood horse.” Crossing a Clydesdale with a Thoroughbred would produce a Warmblood, however, not necessarily one that would find admission to the number of Warmblood studbooks that exist today. Warmblood does not even describe a type, but it is a generic term for a group of studbooks; Hanoverian, Oldenburg, Westphalian, Belgian Warmblood, Dutch Warmblood, etc. The aim of all these stud books is to produce modern sport horses and not necessarily a type of horse and they keep precise records of the horses produced and their performance. For instance compare Heath’s charismatic stallion Regardez Moi, an Oldenburg horse by the Westphalian, Rubinstein out of a Hanoverian mother and Rozzie’s Dutch-bred Jive Magic by Jazz. Both Warmbloods, both successful Grand Prix horses, but quite different types.

The brief was to discuss the handling of young Warmblood horses and whether or not there was a “one size fits all” approach to producing them. This is what they had to say and it may surprise some readers, but Heath let Rozzie do a lot of the talking and said he would interject if he disagreed, but of course he did not.

“Because we are so busy and so diverse, we probably don’t handle our foals and very young horses as much as some people would. If we only bred half a dozen a year we would probably do more with them. The foals get handled a little at birth and then really until they are weaned, they are handled only when they are wormed. When they are weaned, they are taught to lead and if they are going into the auction, they go on the walker and consequently get a lot more handling, have a rug on etc. But I would not call it intensive handling. If they are not handled a lot, they are probably a little more nervous of you and respect your space on the whole which is not a bad thing. They must respect your space and not walk all over you which can happen. Foals that are handled too much can become too familiar which may be cute at six months, not so much at six years.

“We tend to assess each horse individually and leave them until we feel they are ready to start their education. Ours are started very gently, usually at three years old. Also if it is one of the girls here breaking them in (under supervision) and they are also competing, it will be a very slow process. It is not an intensive month or six weeks, there is no time limit on it. The girls are very good with the horses, but they are not professional breakers and we don’t want anyone hurt or to have a fright, so we take it slowly and nobody gets above themselves.

“Warmbloods, particularly some lines are very slow developers. The Jazz lines are notorious for being slow developers. They definitely grow and develop until they are seven or eight years old. Jarrah R (one of Rozzie’s Grand Prix horses), now at 12 looks totally different from when he was even nine or ten. We would rarely break in a two year old."

“Whatever the breed of horse, every horse is different, Warmblood, Thoroughbred, pony, cart horse. You will have certain traits in certain lines and you can make assumptions that something is the case with that particular line, but like any brother or sister, they can be completely different in their character. The Warmblood is bred for more loose power, engagement and collection, and jumping ability. The Thoroughbred, and I love them, are not bred for collection, they are bred for speed. They are for the most part brave and are naturally more forward going and on the whole have a stronger flight instinct. It does not mean they cannot be dressage horses, it is just for the most part easier for the Warmbloods with genetics to collect and for passage and piaffe. There is a lot of Thoroughbred blood in the modern sport horse and if the horse throws to the Thoroughbred, they have a greater inclination to flight, if they throw to the Warmblood and are pushed too hard, they are more likely to want to shut down. But that is a general statement because you can have those traits in any horse.

“The experiences of young horses are different. For instance, you can get a young horse off the track, even a two year old and it has already been handled a lot and knows a lot. It ties up, leads, is happy in the wash bay and will go on the truck, etc. I think people tend to forget that when they have a baby Warmblood. They are not like the young Thoroughbreds and have not had that extensive education. You have to remember that when you get a young Warmblood; you have to start at the very beginning. And that is not a characteristic, it is conditioning because the Thoroughbred starts its education at 18 months old. Our horses are not handled like young racehorses and any purchaser must be aware that they have not had that early training.”

“I just think you have to keep listening to your horse” adds Heath. “As Rozzie said we don’t start breaking them in until they are three years old and we would be happy to break in a five year old. The horse just has to stay confident and happy. If a horse is not happy and feeling pressured about being broken in does not mean he will not be completely happy with the process in six months time. You run a serious risk of ruining your horse if you pressure it too early and the early part of schooling is breaking in, which is a dramatic process and I would be watching that the horse remains confident and happy through the process. And if they aren’t happy, back off and back off at any part of their training you feel they are not confident and happy."

“Part of our training the babies is to jump them on the lunge. By jump, I mean a rail on the ground or raised to 40cm, not big. We are looking for attitude, not necessarily ability. Eventers are only required to jump 1.35m and most horses can manage that if they are trained with their confidence intact. We just watch how careful they are over the rails. Some will flounder all over them and others will do everything they can not to touch them and we are very interested in those horses, but we would not jump them under saddle until they are four years old.

“Some people tell you that it is not good for an eventer to be too careful. Yes, they have to have a certain amount of courage, but the really good eventers these days are really careful. The problem with that is they are potentially more difficult to train because if you make a mistake they can get frightened more easily. You just have to train them more carefully and ride them well. Funny that; it does help!"

Young Horse Classes

“Young horse classes are very good for the horse breeding industry, stallion owners and young horse class enthusiasts” continues Rozzie. “In Europe, it is just about an industry on its own and in many ways, it is good to get your young horse out and about. But really it has little to do with training a horse to Grand Prix. The classes are all about being flash, with big movement and looking like an eye-catching amazing moving young horse. Really, if you are training for Grand Prix it is all about collection and the horse being confident and knowing its job. I am not saying that a successful young horse will not make it to be a successful Grand Prix horse, but many successful Grand Prix horses were not successful young horses.

"Remember going forward and going fast are two different things. Forward is an attitude. An alternative to young horse classes is Preliminary and Novice dressage competitions. Some people enjoy producing horses for young horse classes and that is great, and there are plenty of good riders that regularly produce beautiful young horses.”

“Young horse classes can cause horses to become strong in the hand,” adds Heath, “because they are asked for strong movement. The temptation is to pressure them and therefore it can become quite physical. True extension is true collection. Collecting young horses too early and being too forceful is not in the horse’s best interest. Throughout their training from breaking into Grand Prix, the horse just has to stay confident and happy.”

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