Jon Peerless

Jon Peerless - UK

Question about Saddlebreds and Friesians

Question: I was wondering if you could give me more information regarding what your opinion of the American Saddlebreds, Friesians horses as dressage horses.

Response:
I grew up riding Saddlebreds and my experience was they did not have the attention span to learn difficult manuevers easily. My horse had a nice extended trot, though, and was very smooth to ride and did a lovely collected canter. However, he hated any drill type work, "lost his brains" and was better for long distance trail riding and basic hacking.

As for the Friesians, they were originally a carriage horse. I like a few of them and am very picky. If I were to own one, she would be built with long legs and nice forward movement.

Friesian crosses I am not too familiar with. It seems to be a fad for people who own a Friesian stallion to cross them on whatever they have in their pasture.

If you love your horse, to me that`s all that matters. Consider putting some time and effort into her and seeing how far you get.