Drum horse

[Briiii]

I have a drum horse , 50% Clyde 50% gypsy cob , standing at 16hh rising 4. My question is as she doesn’t really fit into any cob type , how would I go about showing her ? Her breed type is to leave natural but for showing do I need to hog? https://www.instagram.com/p/CNGKQTIHHrtAICUmwsvMRUHJyaEhqq6eYFHPhY0/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

[carthorse]

I'm not even sure what classes you'd show her in, and that would make a difference to turnout. Maxi cob classes? I which case I think you'd hog and trim.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

It's a tricky one, there aren't really classes for large horses of her type. You could show her in the Heavy Horse classes or in Traditional classes without removing any of her lovely hair and feather. She is very eye catching!

 

[diplomaticandtactful]

There are very few heavy horse classes, I manage to show my boy as he is a veteran so it is a mixed class but we are always the only heavy there. Down south there are more classes and some specific for heavies like comtois - but few and far between. have a look on some of the comtois sites and you might find classes there

 

[Jessey]

I have friends who show heavies (percheron's, shire's, clyde's, suffolk's), theres quite a bit for them in east anglia. I'd think you'd probably be looking at Maxi cob though as is part bred.

 

[Briiii]

Thank you everyone , I just worry as she’s still got growing left to do so would technically be bigger than a maxi and only has 9” bone so isn’t super heavy and isn’t particularly heavy with feather unless I fluff it out.

 

[carthorse]

Maxi cobs don't have an upper height limit. I'm not sure on bone requirement, I think it's more a case of being true to type, but for a show cob a lightweight should have 8.5" and a heavyweight 9" so if you were showing her as a lightweight type of maxi cob I should imagine 9" would be acceptable. As a maxi cob she'd be shown as a show cob so all the feather trimmed off, hogged and tail cut to an appropriate length.

 

[Jessey]

I think maxi have a suggested upper limit, but it's not a hard and fast rule. They would probably accept slightly lighter framed for HW as she's young. Show cobs are hogged and clipped legs, so amount of feather won't be an issue.

 

[Huggy]

Omg - all this talk of clipped feathers and hogged manes is making me hyperventilate!

 

[carthorse]

Omg - all this talk of clipped feathers and hogged manes is making me hyperventilate!

The one thing that I didn't like about Luka when I saw him was his feathers - too much and all white! I don't have them right off, largely because I'm dreadful at clipping and trimming and he's a fidget too, but I do keep them short. I wouldn't hog though.

 

[Huggy]

I look at this, and I just couldn't do it. He wouldn't be him clean shaven - bit like shaving off Santa's beard, and making him bald! It's all personal preferences, I suppose and the rules and regs for showing. And I get how hard it would be with white feathers!

 

[carthorse]

Oh it's mostly laziness on my part @Huggy, though with a slight element of liking to be able to check legs easily. I think full feathers can look wonderful on someone else's horse!

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Sid has got masses and masses and masses of feather. When the trimmer lifts his front feet, the feather hangs down from his upper leg, above the knee, 6 inches or more. The feather around his hooves is impenetrably thick.

This is winter woolies of course. I'll see how it looks in the summer but they are hard work. I would be tempted to clip them, but my vet strongly advised me to leave them on under all circumstances as in her view they are one of the best protective and preventative things for horses prone to mallenders. Don't clip and don't wash, was her advice. Which I am taking. Not that I am lazy. Not at all.

 

[chunky monkey]

I dont find it hard work at all and Ive got two with thick white feather. Maybe because im not showing. I dont worry about the white being pristine. Billy in particular has long flowing leg feather. Chunky in is younger days were longer. Nowdays they are just thick. A quick 2 minute paint up a couple of times a week and thats it.

People have commented to me about there thick beautiful feather. They must take loads of brushing, my response is no none at all. They seem stunned by my response.

 

[Skib]

Looking on line, I think that in the USA the name Drum horse exists in a different sense as a type or breed of horse which may be shown. Whereas in the UK, the term "a drum horse" is used in a military and musical context to refer to the horse that carries the drums and drummer.
They have splendid, Byzantine influenced tack and in the UK , are one of two or three types of UK heavy horses and are paraded with feathers.

Apart from Trooping of the colour one can sometimes see them at the Olympia London winter horse show - Both are on TV so if you go to You Tube (or in the UK to BBC ) you may find film.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Great picture @Skib. Look at those gleaming feathers!

 

[Briiii]

So this was our turn out as a 2 year old , I know she needs a wider nose band but this was a local show. She’s still got so much growing to do and broadening out, just gutted there aren’t any local heavy horse shows or classes, unless I just throw her in a traditional class

 

[Huggy]

She's lovely.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

What a super looking girl. I guess it will have to be a traditional class for now, until you can find shows with a Heavy class.

 

[Jessey]

All the heavy shows I’ve seen (as friends do them) it’s only pure breds, so I don’t think she’d do well in those, I’d think she’d be better in a trad class.