Warmblood x Thoroughbred Eventers by Neil Sharpe, Prime Park Equestrian Establishment, June 2003 When I was asked to write something about riding Warmblood /Thoroughbred in eventing and doing a comparison with pure Thoroughbreds I was a little bit worried whichever direction I went I was bound to tread on a few toes. It figured that most people will make up their own minds as to their own particular mode of eventing transport regardless of what they read, so I thought: "What the heck, so a few toes get broken." When I started back into eventing in 1988 I had dressage lessons from Jenny Hill in Coatesville and it was after one of these lessons that I met Judy Wear who told me that she bred Warmbloods and had a 9 y.o. by Winnebago out of her Thoroughbred mare “Arctic Oak”. She was keen to see him competed and especially evented. I had no idea what a Warmblood was and I needed a horse so I readily agreed. That was the beginning of some of the best days (and some of the most trying days)of my eventing career. “Winter Oak” as he was known, was a big-boned horse who was huge on spirit but relatively short on stature (15.2¾). He could be a little bit of a problem child in that he was typical of a lot of Warmbloods, being quite cocky and thought he knew everything and therefore did not need to be told by me. We had a few altercations and attitude adjustments, (most of which I won), and he gradually turned into a top eventing horse. He was generally brave and honest and he cruised through Novice Horse Trials in his first season winning or placing in most of the events (and winning the Bell Tea Circuit) along the way. The biggest comment that was bandied around by most of the other Thoroughbred competitors was “He’ll never do Intermediate”,and after our first 5 Intermediate runs where I fell off at every event due to Oak’s and my inexperience at that level, I thought they might be right. But we persevered and the very next trial we placed, and then started winning again, so within 18 months of starting Horse Trials, he became an advanced horse. (more than 60 Horse Trial points). Again the Knockers pontificated that he could not hope to cope with Advanced, as he would be too slow and heavy. As an aside here, I want to point out that Warmbloods are more than capable of making the times in eventing, including advanced time. The simple answer is rhythm, balance, and good judgement, (with a good stop watch). How many riders do you see galloping madly between fences at breakneck speed, only to seen them hauling on the heavy artillery in the poor horses mouth at least 100 metres out from the fence to slow everything down so they can negotiate the obstacle (and lose stacks of time). The answer is lots! Heading out of the start box and getting into a good ground–covering canter that can be easily jumped from is the key. No pulling and yanking, stopping and starting, just jumping out of the stride and keeping rhythm. Something that Warmblood crosses are very good at! Oak became a top eventer who placed in or won virtually every event we went in, including CCI***events. He was one of the top ranked horses in NZ (over 200 eventing points) upon his death in April 1994 (due to colic). The Mistress II was another classic example of a class horse. By Jaguar out of Tina Reed’s mare Jessica (TBX), Roxy had not done any jumping when she came to me in 1997 as a seven year old but she had won Novice Dressage Horse of the Year that year with Louisa Hill. When we sold her to the USA in 2000 she was Open Medium Dressage, 1.20m Showjumper and an advanced eventer. She is now owned by Sally Cousins, (a top US event rider) who has hopes of taking Roxy to the next Olympic Games! (see www.sallycousins.com). Winter Ginkgo, Oak’s half brother, came to us as a green 5yo. in 1996 and went on to become winner of the inaugural CIC* at Richfields and a great eventer. He was also sold to the States as a Medium Dressage, Intermediate eventer and 1.30m Showjumper in 2000. Don’t get me wrong. There are some fabulous Thoroughbreds out there eventing (but most are fairly ordinary) but they are a chance thing. Taking a purpose-bred racehorse and turning it into a eventer is riskier than taking a purpose-bred eventer (eg. Warmblood x Thorouoghbred )and making it into a top eventer. I do agree though,that buying a slow racehorse is going to be significantly cheaper initially than buying a purpose-bred eventer. I will say now that I believe that in NZ we have a great opportunity to continue to produce some of the world’s best eventers even though they will probably not be full thoroughbred. With the way things are going in the FEI, it appears that the rule changes are going to suit warmblood eventers admirably and penalise the Thoroughbred due to the distances being shortened and movement, power and agility, (not speed, stamina and agility) becoming the main criteria. Up until now thoroughbreds have dominated the world eventing scene and, I expect, will continue to do so for the next 3–5 years. But when the new rules really take effect, imagine us being able to cross our fantastic TB’s with really talented warmblood stock and not only having the expressive movement, but also power, agility AND speed and stamina to make our purpose bred eventers the best in the world. We have some catching up to do with Australia, (look at the results over the last few Olympics and check out the breeding of top horses), but we already have some wonderful horses in the pipeline and now, with a change in the administration in the selection department who truly believe that performance is the criteria, not breed, we have a great opportunity to feature them on the world scene. I will continue to ride both TB’s and Warmblood crosses because I love eventing and my partner, Ruth, has a fantastic eye for a good horse, so we have been very lucky with our Thoroughbreds. But a good horse is a good horse, regardless of the breed. I just believe it’s a greater likelihood with a purpose-bred animal.