Why you should consider an Irish Draught for your next dressage horse!

Irish Draughts are safe, sensible, smart, sound, low maintenance, versatile, and full of personality! They are much less expensive than a typical warmblood too. Need I say more?

The BHB's registry

As an amateur I want to have fun when I go out to ride, and my Irish Draught makes that possible. I see other amateurs frequently battling (physically or mentally) with their horses, and I know just how frustrating that can be. My now-retired thoroughbred Blitz was the most amazingly athletic horse around... but there was no changing him no matter how much training I put in. If we made it one step forward in a ride, we'd have to start all over the next time. While it was a bit frustrating, in the end we could have quite a bit of fun out jumping as long as we had a strong bit and big fences to slow him down. He could have easily been an international level eventer in the right hands (those with money and strong arms) if he didn't frequently get carried away galloping at blinding speeds and forget he had a rider on him. Once he started having lingering suspensory issues, we tried to do real dressage, but I was always frustrated after lessons because we would work on the same basic things every single time without making any progress. 

On the other hand, with Mark I'm able to pick up exactly where we left off on the previous ride. He loves to work and learning new tricks is one of his favorite things. He definitely requires a rider that is going to give 100% and not let him cheat on certain things, but it's so refreshing to be constantly taking big steps of progression instead of being stuck in one place. He's quite a trainer favorite too since he's a safe, easy ride that rarely gets flustered. He has a high level of respect those who can teach him new things, and adapts to be a more forward and sensitive ride for them... while he enjoys being a kick-along ride for me. The only thing I hate about having an Irish Draught is that when I tell people his breed they always respond with "he doesn't look like a draft horse" (cue head smack). He may not be the fanciest horse, but some things are much more important to the average amateur rider-- safety and fun are at the top of my list! We do pretty well in the show ring too! And when we're not doing dressage, we can easily go off galloping with a foxhunt or jumping around the local jumper show. What more could you want from an amateur horse?

Here are a couple of my favorite Irish Draught stallions in the US that have competed successfully in dressage and have offspring available for sale:

Lionwood Kinsale's Lad-- Currently rocking the I1 level! Son of FEI dressage horse O'Leary's Irish Diamond!

KEC Double Diamond-- Competed at FEI levels!

And last but definitely not least-- The Pride of Gloster! The BHB's now-deceased sire. He sired some wonderful movers in smaller (~16hh) sizes.

The BHB is back to being a rock star!

The entries to our last two shows for the regular show season to try chasing qualifying scores for our (still in-progress) second level freestyle we'd like to compete with in the championship season. In 2 weeks we're heading to the August Aiken show to spend some time training with Amber, then the following weekend we're going to the GDCTA Labor Day weekend show. Busy times for the BHB!

The BHB has absolutely been rocking his training lately! Putting shoes on really did help him, despite his naturally gorgeous hooves. He's been able to really open up his shoulders and progress on his usual fast-track in his training with less resistance. He's working on muscling up a bit more too! He's finally understanding the concept of canter pirouettes with some exercises we've added in. I've been able to try them on him a couple times, and although it feels like I'm all over the place, evidently we've been getting some decent steps. My ability riding half passes in both trot and canter has been improving quite a bit too, and now my bronze medal doesn't look so far out of reach... although I'm still not ready to play with the lead changes much until we're done with this show season. He knows how to do them really well, he just currently ignores them when I ask him and has lots of anticipation when Heather tries for them. He puts a lot more effort into his work and is quite a bit more hot/sensitive when a pro rides him, so I'm hoping maybe the chill attitude he has with me will help with the anticipation.

My birthday present of new boots arrived this week and they fit perfectly! I ordered the DeNiro brushed leather dressage boots from Smartpak and they are gorgeously shiny! For a dressage boot, they are incredibly fitted through the ankle with softer leather, yet they still have all the other qualities a typical dressage boot would have. I think they will be easier to break in than most boots too!

So excited about my shiny new boots!