> Yes, but the topic here was breed standards, not the exceptions to the > breed. I have an Arab who did remarkably well in hunters when there was a > strong prejudice against the breed in that sport. We also have a > supposed-to-be western pleasure App that couldn't jog if his life depended > on it...but he made a nice low-mid level dressage horse, and was also a > pretty decent hunter. There are always exceptions, and as I said before, I > don't think too many people buy warmbloods to be pleasure horses. > Maybe not in US, but you know, here in Europe, Warmbloods are the domestic breed. So for a long time, these were the horses all riders used. Only in the last 10-20 years alternatives like QH (for the western riders), PRE (for the classic riders) or Icelandic (those a little bit longer, 30-40 years) showed up. And if you look at the numbers of Warmbloods bred, they can't all be in sport ;-). The riders usually not only go out on trail with them, but doing dressage exercises or jumping a little bit, is good for every horse.
The health issue you mentioned might be the simple problem of using them too early, too hard. Although the evaluation itself does not include riding, the stallions have to absolve a Fieldtest, with dressage, jumping and corsscountry. In addition, the auctions for the young horses put a lot of stress on them too. They have to perform 3 years old, as being fully educated. So this means they are started quite early. So if they don't get a rest after this stressy time, some of them develop health issues already quite young. Jasmin
