[kaluha2]

A friend and I were talking today and she made the statement that TB's are weedy with little substance. She is a WB lover.

I asked how much exposure she has had with TB's and she admitted very little and that the ones she has seen are just local to this area (non-racing state).

Boarding here with me is also a young guy that claims to be a "jumper trainer" and he has made that same statement a time or two. As the time goes by it is readily apparent he lacks experience in most things horsie.

Honestly, these sorts of statements pulled out of the air by those with little experience boil my blood but I maintained my cool. I have explained that I cut my teeth on TB's in the 60's and 70's and then rode WB's when they were first imported here and that I'd walk past a lot of WB's to get a ride on a TB most any day.

While there are TB's out there that are ill-bred and look like God know's what that that is not exclusive to the breed. Bad breeding is found in all breeds and everywhere.

I need to get up some pictures of TB's that had/have the Wow Factor that might change their minds. Can anyone give me some names of TB's with the Wow Factor in the looks dept. Thanks

[SnicklefritzG]

This horse is definitely not weedy. Not even close:

http://www.chronofhorse.com/sites/de...rklaneHawk.jpg

[ex-racer owner]

Two popular breeding stallions that I can think of would be "A Fine Romance" and the recently deceased "Coconut Grove".

My OTTB has been mistakenly called a "warmblood". I had a thread from earlier this year with a picture attached of him taken when he was a week off the track. One of my vets accustomed to working on sport horses is very complimentary every time she seems him.

[hundredacres]

They don't need pictures...they need a slap upside the head. Why would an entire racing industry, all over the world, rely on weedy horses without substance? And why is that same horse bred IN TO their precious warmbloods to improve the breed?

And who says the WB is the ideal horse to compare it to? The WB isn't the gold standard (this got my hackles up, sorry!).

Dumb %$#@'s.

I beamed with pride when my vet thought my new QH was a TB .....to me, the TB IS the ideal horse!

[Laurierace]

I don't see how anyone that close minded is going to be swayed by pictures but looking at the Blood horse stallion registry should provide hundreds of examples to the contrary.

[Profidia]

A friend and I were talking today and she made the statement that TB's are weedy with little substance. She is a WB lover.

I asked how much exposure she has had with TB's and she admitted very little and that the ones she has seen are just local to this area (non-racing state).

Not surprising. Prefers a plowhorse. Maybe ought to be a farmer

Boarding here with me is also a young guy that claims to be a "jumper trainer" and he has made that same statement a time or two. As the time goes by it is readily apparent he lacks experience in most things horsie.

Yeah.....
Well it does take a horseman to throw a leg over a TB. Any fool can be carried around by a dumblood. Then again what constitutes a "trainer"? Around these parts it's usually a kid of the people that own the farm. Sorry, not impressed.

Honestly, these sorts of statements pulled out of the air by those with little experience boil my blood but I maintained my cool. I have explained that I cut my teeth on TB's in the 60's and 70's and then rode WB's when they were first imported here and that I'd walk past a lot of WB's to get a ride on a TB most any day.

I know tempers can rise by picking on each others breeds but honestly why do you care about the opinions of morons?

While there are TB's out there that are ill-bred and look like God know's what that that is not exclusive to the breed. Bad breeding is found in all breeds and everywhere.

I need to get up some pictures of TB's that had/have the Wow Factor that might change their minds. Can anyone give me some names of TB's with the Wow Factor in the looks dept. Thanks

No, you don't need to do anything of the kind. You need to not talk to or even be around people like that. Screw em!!!

[brightskyfarm]

Recently I was engaged in a thread about MISinformation about tbs. This is only one small piece of such MISinfo -- the rest rambles from being hot-headed, to needing months/(or to some a year) off to detox (yea, from what? they are now banning lasix!), to restarting techniques .. all with no basis of fact.

What these type of statements first do is identify the idiot. Once you are aware of the intelligence level you are working with, then like training horses, you work from that starting point.

It sounds like you are at ground zero.
Perhaps a trip to the track would offer some enlightenment.
My personal horse is a turf/dirt mile-70, 16.3 size 2 all around, legs like tree trunks and huge! as in HUGE! 71K in3yrs. no weediness there. and...........hes typical!

[Madeline]

Just have the idiot Google Thoroughbred and click on images... ( if they know how to use a computer.)

[laughATTACK]

Not surprising. Prefers a plowhorse. Maybe ought to be a farmer

Yeah.....
Well it does take a horseman to throw a leg over a TB. Any fool can be carried around by a dumblood. Then again what constitutes a "trainer"? Around these parts it's usually a kid of the people that own the farm. Sorry, not impressed.
I know tempers can rise by picking on each others breeds but honestly why do you care about the opinions of morons?

No, you don't need to do anything of the kind. You need to not talk to or even be around people like that. Screw em!!!

While the people the OP is talking about sound to be thick-headed and very ill-informed to say the very least, your post also makes you sound the same! A good horse is a good horse - regardless of it being a TB, a WB, a QH or a purple painted Pegasus! Referring to all WBs as plow horses and stating that any fool can be carted around by one makes you sound just as moronic as the idiots the OP refers to. Sure, it's okay to prefer one breed over another. In fact it's natural. But to condemn all WBs just as some condemn all TBs is just as blind and unintelligent!

Back to the original post at hand, it does sound as perhaps your friend does seem open to some education, as she admitted she's not been exposed to many quality TBs in her time! I've got plenty of photos of TBs, both racing TBs and showing TBs, that would shock and amaze her. And hey, if you can open the mind of just one close-minded TB condemner, well then more power to you! Unfortunately, breed stereotypes will always exist - TBs are nutcases, WBs are dumb plowhorses, Arabs are psychotic...you get the point. Sometimes, the best one can do is realize that sometimes the uninformed and ignorant are too stubborn or too stupid to let themselves be educated so just ignore them and know that a good horse is a good horse, no matter what he is! They are the ones missing out!

[PeteyPie]

Here is a photo, right from the pages of COTH, of a weedy little two-time Eclipse Award winner:

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...od-night-shirt

Better photo in this article:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/...od-night-shirt

Pretty face:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockand...es/2954103522/

Here is is stumbling. Is he going to break? No. He is going to win the 2 1/2 mile race. (Lonesome Glory Hurdle Stakes (G1) for 4-year-olds and older going 2 1/2 miles over National fences):
http://www.horse-races.net/cgi-bin/s...7/lone07-2.jpg

[DLee]

I will say, living for years in the intermountain west, there was a fairly big difference in the TB's I saw there and the TB's I see here in Kentucky.
Yes, a lot of those TB's that I saw on the tracks there WERE 'weedy' looking, fairly narrowly built horses. Quite often underfed as well, which didn't help.
When people from there (who are horsey people) come visit me here, they often remark on how substantial these TB's are, and how they 'look like Quarter Horses'.
I do believe there are (or at least used to be) some regional differences.

[BansheeBreeze]

I will say, living for years in the intermountain west, there was a fairly big difference in the TB's I saw there and the TB's I see here in Kentucky.
Yes, a lot of those TB's that I saw on the tracks there WERE 'weedy' looking, fairly narrowly built horses. Quite often underfed as well, which didn't help.
When people from there (who are horsey people) come visit me here, they often remark on how substantial these TB's are, and how they 'look like Quarter Horses'.
I do believe there are (or at least used to be) some regional differences.

I have a New Mexico bred TB (who is NM bred about 10 generations back lol) and he is often mistaken for a QH. I think in the west they go more for speed and shorter races (in NM the "marathon" or "distance" stakes races are 1 1/8 so that probably has something to do with it.

Heres a photo of my narrow NM bred TB. I posted one of the photos on another board once and people were shocked at how "fat" he was for a TB. Nope, not fat at all, in fact just barely covering his ribs. He just happens to be built very solidly.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...87025618_n.jpg

[harvestmoon]

Yeah, I'm with Laurie. Tell them to look through a stallion register.

And, sure, there are some weedy Thoroughbreds. But sometimes those weedy Thoroughbreds can be kick butt racehorses.

[kaluha2]

Petey Pie: YOU are a Genius!!!! Of course this is so simple. I'll invite both to the next Queens Cup Steeplechase. If they can't find a TB or two in that bunch they'd love to have I'll eat the tickets!

HundredAcres: As you know from my post about my idiot neighbor and the foundering horse across from me and that's not to forget the folks behind me that allowed a perfectly good foal to die in a freezing puddle of water in Feb because he was born with feathers for frogs and his feet were soft---I might just be surrounded by morons. LOL!

Everyone thanks so much for taking the time to add your input. I just really needed that little vent.

[tradewind]

To make that statement is as idiotic as saying that all Warmbloods are coarse, cloddy, and riding them is like steering a Mack truck...Breed predjudices in both horses and dogs REALLY annoy me.

[Equibrit]

It's not a case of looks - it's more about QUALITY. I would rate the quality of TB bone and staying power over that of a WB any day.WBs just haven't been bred long enough to be of reliable QUALITY. Big bone does not translate to quality bone, and big lungs and muscles do not necessarily translate to staying power and heart.

[billiebob]

Running Order
Courageous Comet

^^^thought of those two in about 0.2 seconds.

I've known a couple of wonderful English-bred TBs that everyone, including a vet who did a lot of work at the track, mistook for WBs because they were just TANKS. Huge-boned with big feet and massively wide chests. My "weedy" 16.3 TB, whom no one in their right mind will mistake for a WB, wears a size 2 shoe and takes a MW/W saddle.

[mojo7777]

People who say these things--I hear them too from time to time, and it steams me--reveal themselves as severely lacking in knowledge and horsemanship. We should not allow them to get to us! I have only to point to my solid, big-boned TB, who is often mistaken for a warmblood, and let him do the talking!

[Foxtrot's]

For years we had the 'weedy' TB's here in BC - all about 15.2 - could handle the smaller track, came out of a mold. But now with Kentucky breds coming up the style has changed. Nothing sport horsey about them as a rule.

The steeplechasers and those coveted by the eventers are definitely not weedy.
But the stereotypes are bandied around by the ignorant.

[FairWeather]

Well, there are a lot of "Weedy" TB's when you compare them to the massive warmblood or Irish beefiness. They are completely different types, no arguing it. But the word "Weedy" indicates that they are poor looking or "not substantial". There are certainly small-framed TB's out there who do quite well in sport, and there are heavy TB frames that do well too, and everything in between. Educating people is one thing, but is showing pictures of nice looking TB's going to change the mind of someone who is ignorant about breeds of horses? I think it just identifies them as not very knowledgeable.
It's like saying all quarter horses have terrible feet--it's a breed stereotype that is not worth arguing about with someone who doesn't care to seek out the information themselves. Seeing pictures of lots of QH feet won't change the mind of someone who has that stuck in their heads