Crossbred Drafts

[Git-Up-Doc]

I was sitting here thinking of what my future draft team will look like.

As discussed in the favorite breeds thread I said I would love to have a pair of Ardennais or Brabant, then I got to thinking about some Bay drafts and about crossbreeding say a Percheron and Belgian, or a Percheron and Clyde, or a Clyde and Belgian.

Anyone have any pictures of their crossbred drafts that they would like to show off ?

Also share any experiences you have had with any crossbred draft

Thanks.

[SunshineAcres]

I don’t have a draft/draft cross breed. I have a Belgian/QH cross that I affectionately refer to as a Quelgian. Her name is Maddie. She’s a tank as far as saddle horses go. She’s 16 hands.

[Git-Up-Doc]

very nice. She certainly has the Belgian head.

I took a trip to Saskatchewan with 4-H on exchange and while there we rounded up some cattle. I rode a horse who was also a QH X Belgian. His name was Pie-Plate and could he ever move.

[dominiquer60]

This is Dolly, she is a Belgian cross of some sort, she measures just under 15 hands. Her full time job is at a thereaputic riding farm for handicapped kids and their families. She is excellent at her job and is often used for back rides where the therapist and the child ride at the same time. Dolly was my 4-H project way back when, she is absolutely boob proof, you can trail ride her over, under and through anything as long as you can stay on while she makes it happen. She wins the hearts of everyone she touches, we even won the 4-H show my last year against some seasoned horse show brats and their thoroughbreds. She is an amazing little horse, I would love to find a pair her size, type and temperament someday.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

dominiquer, that horse right there is built for work. Nice mare.

[dominiquer60]

Thank you, she is built for it, but the two things wrong with Dolly is that: 1. She is not mine and I could never bare to take her away from the children. 2. She is bombproof under saddle but is a ball of nerves in harness just ground driving, I am sure that it could be dealt with but at 31 it would not be kind to put her to work. She does remain an ideal model of what I would someday like to own and work myself, and I am always thankful for the memories that she is a part of.
Erika

[J-L]

I would love a team that size. I have a some nice QH mares that I’d like to cross with a draft type stud and try to raise a team similar to her. I really don’t need horses over 1400 pounds give or take a hundred.
One of these mares is a blue roan that is a gentle but stout made mare. I think her and a old timey percheron would be a good cross. If I can find one in this area I’ll make it happen.
Thanks for the pictures, nice horse.

[dominiquer60]

I forgot about Duke, another random Belgian cross. Here he is 8 years old, he was rescued and gelded that spring before he was assigned to me, well once I found out there was a draft coming to our breaking and training class I requested him. This was the first horse that I ever trained to saddle and the second to harness, he was great. He is too big for I would like, but his attitude was priceless. He came to us with no known training other than a few minutes to get on the trailer for the trip to school. I even had to work on getting him to stand tied, the first time we tried to give him a bath, we were more wet than him. After a couple hard weeks he settled right down and accepted his tasks. After 4 weeks he would stand ground tied while I took a hose to any part of his body even his face without any resistance. In 8 weeks, we walk, trot, cantered, bare back too, stood ground tied, and drove single all over the place, it took him 60 seconds to agree to load to go home and as far as I know the customers were thrilled with the big guy. Another great grade draft that I had the pleasure of working with.
Erika

[dominiquer60]

I forgot about Duke, another random Belgian cross. Here he is 8 years old, he was rescued and gelded that spring before he was assigned to me, well once I found out there was a draft coming to our breaking and training class I requested him. This was the first horse that I ever trained to saddle and the second to harness, he was great. He is too big for what I would like, but his attitude was priceless. He came to us with no known training other than a few minutes to get on the trailer for the trip to school. I even had to work on getting him to stand tied, the first time we tried to give him a bath, we were more wet than he was. After a couple hard weeks he settled right down and accepted his tasks. After 4 weeks he would stand ground tied while I took a hose to any part of his body even his face without any resistance. In 8 weeks, we walk, trot, cantered, bare back too, stood ground tied, and drove single all over the place, it took him 60 seconds to agree to load to go home and as far as I know the customers were thrilled with the big guy. Another great grade draft that I had the pleasure of working with.
Erika

[Gulo]

Hi Doc. I have posted some pics of our big Clyde/Percheron cross, Raven, in the photos section under working the single animal (on a spike-tooth harrow) and Favorite photos.

Essentially, she’s like a black clydesdale on steroids. Many also ask me if she’s a Shire. She’s got a ton of character (and well over a ton of weight!) and really likes to please. Apparently the clyde/perch is known for retaining the feather i like.

I’ve also thought a good cross might be one of our pure Clydes with a roan Brabant.

I think the future of draft horses (any domestic animal) lies in crossing – breeding for “type” rather than breed.

[jen judkins]

Erika, What do you think Duke is crossed with? He very handsome and I like his size.

My friend has a morgan/percheron which I’m seeing more and more of. They are smaller but extremely strong for their size. She uses him as a saddle horse very successfully but I believe he was used single for logging as a youngster. I don’t have a great photo handy, but here he is picture with my saddle horse….so you can see he is not much bigger…about 15.2 or 15.3. He has the red halter on.

[Jean]

This mare and filly belong to a member of the Green Mountain Draft Horse Assoc. The mare is a morgan/perch. He also has her sister, great pair. The filly’s sire was a belgian. This picture was taken when the filly was 3 days old. Sweetest personality I have seen in a young filly. Fred works the girls single and double. They are no more then 15 hands high.

[Git-Up-Doc]

The filly looks like it will be a nice drafty type horse. I really like the coloring on it.

Jen, the morgan percheron is a very nice looking horse.

Gulo, I am very impressed with Raven. She really does look like a shire. I also agree with breeding for type. By breeding for type and breed at the same time this would allow up to maintain the current draft breeds and essentially create new breeds for our purposes. Breeding for type is exactly what was done way-back, this worked because the breeds were then suited for the areas in which they were developed. Now that were exporting and importing all these breeds and making all this newly designed equipment, and motorized horse equipment we need to start developing breeds suited for that purpose.

[dominiquer60]

Jen,
I am not sure what Duke’s lineage is, after all he was saved from the Alpo can at an auction. I would guess mostly Belgian with other draft horse blood, he was at least 16.2. Skye, the exchange student in the picture, was not at all a short lady. He had bad, mostly neglected, feet and was rather clumsy at times, twice he went to his knees after a good trip over his own feet. He was good natured though and would gather a big breath and get back on his feet before I could get off.

Dolly the other horse I posted was claimed to be a Belgian/Morgan cross, other than the size I never really saw the supposed Morgan in her.

Erika

[Gulo]

Doc – i first spotted Raven in a neighbor’s pasture, and was awestruck. I too thought she was a Shire! About the only thing un-shire like about her is her head, with a broad straight profile like a Clyde, rather than the more narrow, roman nosed profile of many shires. Anyway, she was sold to me as a pure “registerable black Clydesdale.” It took me the best part of a year to track down her actual lineage from the guy who originally brought her to Alberta!

Another cross i’m entertaining as a Clydesdale man nonetheless keen on crosses, is Clyde x Gypsy Drum horse. These gypsy horses are, to me, in many cases just smaller, more ruggedly built Clydesdales with the added advantage of already having a mixed lineage (including usually lots of Clydedale and Cob blood.) When i first began looking at them, and comparing them with the increasingly poor quality of the the show Clydes, i thought “here’s the salvation of the type!”

I too really like the look of that morgan/percheron.

[Author]

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