# Has anyone else bought an amish buggy horse?



## rookie (May 14, 2012)

Hi and welcome, 
A lot of amish buggy horses are standardbreds that did not make it at the track. If you horse has a freeze brand, on the right side of his neck then he was a race horse. He may not be amish trained but track trained. A lot of amish get them because they are pretty sane and already trained to buggy's they are also use to traffic and sounds. 

A lot of standardbreds make lovely trail horses. He may be nervous and marchy on the cross ties but should settle in a few minutes. Its not because he is afraid or has never been on cross ties, in fact he has probably spent a lot of time on them. How long have you had him? 

I would start him undersaddle slowly. In my opinion, a lot of people rush them. They are use to having harness equipment around them and as a result they don't have a problem with the saddle. Its that a lot of people don't spend time teaching them things like under-saddle skills like having a fast and slow trot. They don't teach them how to have a collected and smooth canter. Its all these things that are introduced on the ground before a saddle is thrown on them. If you have never trained a standardbred or a horse I would suggest working with a professional and focus on how they are encouraged to canter. Standardbreds have been taught for a long time not to canter, they are not encouraged to canter at the track. So, depending on how long they have been on the track can indicate how they react to being ask to canter. I had someone teach my off the track standardbred to canter by standing at the center of a 10 foot circle and hitting him with a lunge whip until he cantered. Its been two years and he is still a bit frantic at that pace and you pull out a lunge whip and he gets worried. He is much better but if I had my choice that would not have been my choice on how to teach him to canter.


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## PunksTank (Jul 8, 2012)

I work with a standardbred/Perch cross from the Amish at a therapy barn, I've also worked with a number of draft horses bought at auctions in Penn. I'm not going to get into that.

As for being jittery, yes many of those Standardbreds are quite hot, the Amish actually need to abide by a speed minimum on many streets to avoid causing car accidents and such, so the horses need to be hot. Which is how our therapy program got that cross, she wasn't fast enough. Many of the horses are encouraged and expected to move at least at a fast trot all the time. So this will take time to unteach your horse. Most, when they realize they don't need to run, are relieved. It just takes time to let them realize. 
I find many Amish broke horses are very rein-reliant and really have little to no understanding of seat or leg cues. Obviously there are exceptions, but as most are primarily cart or plow horses, riding skills aren't commonly reinforced. So remember to sit heavy, soften your body, and lots of half halts to help ease him back to a more comfortable trot. You'll spend a LONG time going through that, release pressure when he's trotting calmly and lots of half halts, heavy seat and calm body to keep him soft. He'll probably go very well on voice commands. Often they use "G'ip" and "woah", try to avoid using the word "Easy" as most horses are put on edge by the sound of that word, "eeeeassssssy" it's just hissy. A low, deep "woooaahh" is more effective.
They also tend to have little to no bendabilitiy, they'd rather take big wide turns, tight turns confuse and make them uncomfortable. So this will probably take time for him to learn too, don't expect him to be spinning or anything any time soon 

Sounds like you have a good fun horse, but quite a project ahead of you. It just took a month or so to get the therapy horse up to par, but she was a lazy girl, not a hot one like yours. 

The draft horses I've worked with I drove most, most didn't know how to ride but would tolerate someone sitting up there and steering them. They're very used to the shafts hitting their sides so they don't really understand leg commands at all, since they've been trained to ignore it. The love of my life Belgian I got riding great in just a short time, but again a lazy type.

Good luck, keep us posted and We Love Pics!


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## loveduffy (Dec 22, 2011)

welcome to the forum


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## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

Welcome...we love pictures to post some if you have them


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

The horses on the track are very rein reliant. It's not the Amish who make them this way. A friend bo't one and it was total confusion between the two of them. She wanted to train the usual ways and he understood none of it. He wanted it how he'd been trained which she couldn't figure out.


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## CdnCremello (Sep 8, 2012)

Thanks for all the responses!

He doesn't have a freezebrand, and he's not as delicate looking as the standardbreds I've seen, huge neck on him, but not draft-like hooves, no feathering either. I'll post a picture when I get one for sure! He walks well on the road, but as soon as he thinks he's going to the field his tail starts going up and he wants to pick up a trot, which, while he does have a lovely trot, is not ideal for being led around. We were talking and said "hut" and he tried to pick up a much faster speed, so I guess we won't say that again! We'd like to get him going through all his different gaits in hand (he does seem to know them all) before anyone gets on him. While we've only lunged him the one time, it was apparent that he needs to burn off some serious energy before we can try again, the barn owner is just putting up some higher fences, because he's quite large at 16.1, and the fences were built for ponies. I will keep everyone updated and post pictures!


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## G8tdh0rse (Aug 14, 2012)

This is interesting. Keep us posted on how things are going.


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## LadyDreamer (Jan 25, 2008)

They also use a lot of saddlebreds. You might be confusing the two, because most of the Standardbreds I have met an seen have been thick and massive(for saddlebred people, we use standies as roadsters in our shows). They are built for power and speed, whereas the saddlebreds are fine and much more delicate. You just might have a standardbred. Some Amish also breed, so if there is no brand he might not be registered and might be a cross.


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## rookie (May 14, 2012)

I would second him either being a Amish bred or cross horse. I met a sweet but not that bright standardbred/percheron cross out of the Amish. They sold him because they had no clue what to do with this big horse and he was afraid of his shadow. Do you have someone (like a trainer) to work with? It might be that your horse is needing time to settle. A horse out of the Amish may not be that terribly different then one of the track and it might benefit from a few weeks of just relaxing and being a horse.


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

I bought my horse from the Amish, as a cart and riding horse. He did not have much training under saddle. But when you were driving him he only had one speed, fast uncollected trot, as soon as he felt weight in the cart he was 100 yards down the road before I sat down. The first 2 months all we did was walk slow and stop, sometimes we I just got in the cart and had someone head him for 5-15 min then unharnessed. As soon as he got to fast we would stop and stand for a while. Alot of the time it was walk 20 steps stand for 3 min, walk 10 steps stand a min. I still, 7 years later have him stand *at least a min* after I get in the cart, before I ask him to walk on.

Same with the trot, he had no idea that there were different speeds that he could go. As soon as he got fast at the trot I would either stop, bend or circle. A John Lyons instructor that was giving me a hand also suggested speeding him up then slowing him back down, asking for variations in speed, getting him used to the differences. Now he loves trotting slow, sometimes he trots so slow I think he is going to fall over.

Good luck, Photos please.


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## CdnCremello (Sep 8, 2012)

I think he's probably been bred by the amish, I checked and don't see a brand anywhere, so probably not registered. My trainer is going to be coming in the next few weeks to do an assessment on him, and start putting a plan together with me. He definitely wants to be out, he circles in his stall, bites at the wood (not cribbing, just gets frustrated and bites the top of the stall), and if we pick up a lead he perks right up! But as he doesn't stop very well in hand and just wants to go, go, go, we're just taking him for walks and not letting him pick up the speed until the pasture's reinforced for him. The only reason I thought that standardbreds were more delicate is because I've met two, and they've both been fine-boned, delicate in the face, one off-track that my friend boards with my guy, and one that was at the ranch I worked at. I'll post the picture of him from the lot and see what you think!


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## CdnCremello (Sep 8, 2012)

Here he is!


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## CdnCremello (Sep 8, 2012)

Let's try this again...


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## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

OP- you might want to Google for "retraining a standardbred " and "new vocations". Lots of tips on how to retrain the, or any cart horses. 
And they do turn in tight circles, not with bending, rather by crossing over in front.


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## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

CdnCremello said:


> Let's try this again...


He sure looks like a standardbred...nice! I like him.


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## EmilyJoy (Dec 30, 2011)

We bought a 10.hh Hackney pony from off an Amish... Needless to say I was not impressed! I love the pony, but when we first got her she would NOT stand still...I've worked with her without any harness on until she would stand calm... Now I find I have to do the same thing WITH the harness because she goes and acts all go go again with it on. She wouldn't stand still, would back up, step side ways or Rear because she was so focused on going...wow what a mess !


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

CdnCremello said:


> Here he is!


Looks like a standardbred to me. 
I like him too.

It is going to take patience from you to teach him patience.


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## CdnCremello (Sep 8, 2012)

I would not mind at all if he was a standardbred! EmilyJoy, luckily, he's not that bad. He will stand still for us, but as soon as he gets moving, his tail (which is quite short) starts going up, and he wants to go! But no silliness besides that when we're working with him. I guess I should have mentioned that trait, when he trots, he holds his tail up reallyyy high (higher than most do naturally) and he will only go to the bathroom in his stall, no where else (not on the 3 hours trailer ride, not when we're out working with him). My mom got one from the same feedlot at the same time that's also an amish buggy horse, and she's very different from him, extremely head shy, but other than that, super calm, is on stall rest for an abscess that developed under her road shoes and pads, and never paces, digs, nothing. Just stands quietly.


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