Friesian X Hanoverian??? HUH????

J

jumper-4-joy

I luv Ash!!!
Oct 21, 2005
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California, USA
Hi,
Well, I am in the horse market!! I have been looking for a couple of months for a young dressage prospect. Not far from my house, I just discovered there is a friesian x hanoverian for sale! It hit me as the best mix ever, but I would really appreciate your opinion on it.
She is 4 yr old, 15.2hh, started under saddle, forward gaits, knee action.

That is all of the info I have for now, but was wondering if you think that combo could make a good (not necessarily grand prix though) dressage horse.
Also, what is the behavior of both of the breeds??

Thanks!:D


(click to enlarge)


friesian.jpg
 
I have a Friesian mare, who has fantastic potential for dressage.
They are a quiet breed, but forward going, most with golden temperaments.
Usually have either high knee action, or super stretch!
My mare is fully registered, and cross breeding with studbook pure friesians is forbidden.
Many Friesians world wide compete at grand prix level. The breed is nowadays being bred for sport reasons, so the Friesians are more of a modern fine built animal with greater height, rather than the traditional baroque style, carriage horses.

Not sure about the cross, since i don't know a great deal about hanoverian crosses.
Many of the friesian crosses that I have seen do exceptionally well though.

My young 4 year old Friesian mare, that i'm selling soon, sounds like she'd be great for you, but I am in England!! She certainly has dressage potential.

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Joni
 
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I love the friesian crosses they always seem to have that extra action from the friesian and have the nicest temperaments too. I cross breed my friesian stallion Wessel to TB's and love the results, if you look at my website you will see what sort of thing we get, they will deff. do dressage as they naturally hold thier heads up and drop thier quarters to carry the rider properly and they have more stamina than a friesian. You have to be careful though as most modern friesians, as Blitzen has said, are being bred much lighter and tend to have long backs and weak quarters - great for driving but no good for riding, and alot of the crosses have long backs too.
 
I think that cross would be lovely:) The oldenburg has a lot of friesian in thier blood and it was certain oldenburg lines that helped the friesian from becoming extinct:) The dutch breeders are trying to breed a sportshorse so the modern friesians are lighter and do have longer backs. My own friesian has a longer back and it was because is back was longer that the dutch judges told me he would be a good riding horse, they also say he has the potential to reach a high level of dressage:) they don't rate him as a good harness horse. His sire is a top dressage horse in the netherlands:)
 
Friesians are very popular in baroque dressage, but not so much in modern competitive dressage. This one looks much more Friesian than Hanoverian - and in the higher levels of dressage judges unfortunately do tend to favour the more Warmblood types.

Hanoverians are, of course, famous for dressage - and some of that talent might come out in this cross - I think the questions is, just how serious are you about dressage competition. You say not Grand Prix, but if you're looking at going a few levels up, you may find (rightly or wrongly) that something more on the warmblood side is more what judges want to see.

Temperament and behaviour wise, both are usually fine - though there are examples of nut-cases in both - as there are in any breed. I think that would be something you'd need to assess with this individual, and not make any assumptions on the basis of breed.

However, if you're looking for a leisure horse that can do a bit of dressage and be lots of fun to work with and go out and about with, this one would probably be a good bet! :)
 
What KF has said is true however there are friesians competing modern competitive dressage and doing very well. There was a friesian mare competing in the american olympic team. Unfortunately she has been clipped and I rather suspect because of the judges views about friesians. Afterall they are the/one of the oldest bred warmbloods. Quite a few friesians in the netherlands are competing at George ST Prix and Grand Prix level too:)

It would be hard to tell from that photo what she is like, are there anymore pics of her under saddle and in-hand? If you are interested in this horse ask for pics of her movement etc There is nothing stopping you from clipping a friesian warmblood though as there is with pure breds:)
 
I have seen loads of examples too of friesians reaching very high levels of dressage and quite a few do really well at high school work thanks to thier andalucian origins, I do think they are quite an under estimated breed, but then there are alot of very poor quality friesians about which is a shame, we get alot of people ring us up asking if Wessel is pure as they have only seen the really long skinny ones, and never the baroque ones, which seem to be like hens teeth nowadays.
I have to agree with Styric, there are some really good examples of what a friesian shouldn't be, or any horse for that matter, on that friesian equine, look at that mares back - it's so long!!:eek:
 
she looks really good, :) the fresian in her would make a good dressage horse, and the hanovarian would make it better at dressage and in theory because of the hanovarian she should be able to jump well. If you can get her jumping, my prediction is that she would make a good 1 - 3 day eventer. :) (but as you said before, not olympic standard, :p about novice standard - she needs to be a proven jumper before i can predict intermediate, although she could reach that in the future)
good luck, if you do get her i think she will make you happy! :p:p:p;)

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I have a 4 year old Friesian cross and im hoping to do dressage with him too. Lots of people say you can see the friesian in him, a judge at the show i went to at the weekend asked if he was part friesian, however i dont think he looks it at all until he moves. Hes winter coat is black but unfortunately hes now deffinately bay and he does not have a typical spanish type ears and head, his head is huge and more like a warmblood type i think. I have no idea what he is crossed with, he was imported from Germany, any ideas?

He does have the most gorgeous movement and for such a chunky horse hes very light on his feet and has lots of knee action. Hes only part backed but i hope we can do dressage with him someday. I also know he can jump because he has jumped out of the menage several times and the fence is atleast 4 foot! I will have to try and get some vids of him working sometime.

heres pics of him, what do you think?
Dylan06-04-0718.jpg

Dylan06-04-0704.jpg

big head!:
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I have a big fat chunky friesian mare :D She thinks she is a big dog, very people friendly. Had a dressage friend say she would go far in dressage if the work was put into her (very unfit and lazy at the mo but only 2yo) she has a nice knee action but can really stretch it out and strut her stuff when the boys are watching!! She also carries herself very naturally, so she has an exciting future and would defo recommend them purely on thier nature!!

My mare also has an eye for jumping and cleared a 4ft hedge to get out the field :rolleyes: A friesian cross in my opinion is a good breed to get grace and althetisism (sp?) without the fizzy/highly strung nature of most warmbloods.
 
sorry blackhorses, not been here for a while......the mare went to her new home only last week following her 5 stage vetting.

I sold her due to wanting a more experienced Friesian for dressage, to compete now (funnily enough for this thread!!). Also looking for my dream horse.....slightly heavier built than her, with loads of manes! She is amazing and will go far given more time, but I want something a little older.

I love the Friesians, and have owned/loaned several types of horses and ponies over the years, but can't ever imagine having anything other than a Friesian now (saying that, my chestnut welsh cob will never ever go anywhere!!)

Joni
 
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