Haflingers!! The Ideal pony for me??

[prettybluepony]

Well ok, so I'm 14, god know how tall, ;), and around 7-8 stone, fairly light build, and used to horses and ponies throwing all they've got at me at times. I want an young pony that I can work on, maybe sell on as a child/adult all rounder. So recently I have been looking around and haflingers have really caught my eye!

So here is the big Q, who has experience with this breed, I have found a nice little 14h gelding, who seems good to me. It says he is registered, etc., but what should I look for with haflingers, etc!

I dunno if this post seems silly, but well I'm one of those people! :D
Suzanne :)

[Wally]

If you want to show him at Haflinger shows he'll ahve to have the right papers, there are a few coming into the counrty who are not properly registered and may be a cross breed.

Get in touch with the Haflinger Society of GB,

In the old days when I had them they were a leg at each corner, very kind and reliable and very, very strong. The Modern Haflinger has been bred lighter and sportier and the temperament has suffered as a consequence.

Haflingers should have no white on their legs, no socks, or white pasterns, they can have white face marks though. Grey or dark hairs through the mane are a big no no, neither are red hairs, the mane should be as one coloured as possibe, ie flaxen/blonde.

They are generally eager little fellows who can take on big horses and keep up all day, and then when the big horses are tired they keep on going. Generally they have good feet and will live on fresh air.

They make good driving horses and riding horses. they will hunt, jump endurance and le trec. Genral all round good little horse.

These are my two stallions, father and son I used to drive, and below is them at the Summer Solstice 100 mile endurance ride in a day.....and the Haflingers were placed regularly against much bigger horses and Arabs.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f177/sprimble/stowandstraussascot.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f177/sprimble/stowstraussendurance.jpg

[prettybluepony]

Wow, your ponies are gorgeous! Well the ad says the horses are GB papered and passported, so hopefully no problems there, but if we do go ahead then we will be making a lot of calls! :) They sound great!

[Wally]

Find out the breeding and they might be related to the two above!

[Bexster]

My haflinger is gorgeous, she came with no papers unfortunatly, so I wont be able to show her as such but she is great!! She is gorgeous to look at but very strong, she is only 3 so very immature but learning quickly,as long as you get an older one and you have plenty of horsey experience.Haflingers are tops!!:D

[Bessy]

My first pony was a Haflinger mare (21 years ago!), and she was great and an absolute stunning pony with solid colour and a white blaze. I was a very weedy child and she did take advantage of me, being so solid and strong - she would bolt home with me on a regular basis! But she was very good natured and easy to do. She taught me a lot, we had loads of fun and even did pony rides at the village fetes!

She had all her papers and was named Clifton Una, if I remember correctly her sire (or was it dam?) was Clifton Anderson and the stud she came from was somewhere in the midlands.

[Wally]

I used to know the folk with the Clifton stud. Wern't they at Whitchurch, It's such a long time ago!

[Wally]

Was her name Helen Robbins? ...the lady who had the Clifton stud?

[xox stace xox]

i have a haffy shes very sweet natured but v strog willed and very green as long as you are confident and exirienced enough to get through the rough patches they are meant to be good but strong lol

[Bexster]

My lolly cranes her neck and makes it difficult to stop her when she wants to run, her neck muscle is solid and she has learnt her weight is powerful at early age, I got her from a 15 year old girl that owned her for 2 months and really couldnt handle her, but they are suppost to be fantastic all rondefrs when older and schooled correctly.

[ILurfSmurf]

they can be very strong!!!!! lovely tempermant though, my friend had one and he did have a tendancy to take advantage of the fact she couldnt stop him pulling, and she unfortunately lost her confidence after a series of very nasty falls. Not all are like this though, as when i got him (she is alot 'larger' than me, however my 17.2hh irish draught makes me considerably stronger) and he was fine! all depends on your strength i think as to whether or not its the right breed for you!

[Frances]

Wally's Haflinger knew, and I mean knew, if you could ride, thought you could ride or had never ridden before.

He was not mean but he would let you be an ornament and take you on little jaunts through the grass stopping to eat and never moving again while the rest of the ride went on.

I watched an acquaintance, who said she had ridden all her life, be taken into the grass verge and just stayed there while she could not even lift his head. It was very entertaining to watch!

F

[Wally]

...yes, but if you really thought you could ride and got over confident he would drop a shoulder and then laugh at the heap.

Never mean, just a wicked sense of humour and like to keep you in your place.