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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1131
  
| aqha4mejt - 2016-03-16 8:25 PM
Not all Impressive bred horses are hot and not all have bad dispositions. I've shown halter and have several of them now to ride. If you were to actually look at the way Impressive is bred you'll see that he has some nice running blood in him, Sugar Bars, Leo, Lightening Bar etc. AND if you really look you'll see that his Momma is a 1/2 sister to Doc Bar. Both were sired by Lightening Bar. It's been my finding that a lot of people who talk badly about them have never even owned an Impressive horse. There are good and bad dispositions and conformation in every blood line. Do your research and judge each horse as an individual don't lump them all under one category.
I have trained several impressive horses, So ya... It also depends on what they are crossed on. We had an impressive that was cowhorse on the bottom, and he was fine. We have a mare who is as wild as wild can be anytime you try to do anything with her. She's all pleasure/halter bred. I've had a lot of Impressive breds, and I'm just not a major fan of them as running horses. They don't hold up over time. |
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 Double Standards Don't Fly
Posts: 1283
Location: At the barn | Some of these responses are proof of the negative and unwarranted stereotypes against Impressive bred horses.
I have several and NONE are mean or out of control. Actually 2 of the absolute smartest and most talented horses I've ever trained are Impressive bred. My gelding is STUNNING to look at, is a bang up awesome rope horse, head, heel and pasture, and there's not a cow that can outrun him.
His mother was the same way. And they are both the friendliest and best dispositioned horses on my place.
I also have 2 stallions that are excellent rope horses and very quiet and have great minds.
And Impressive was very much running bred.
They all tend to have one thing in common. They are VERY smart. Perhaps to a fault. Maybe that's why so many ppl have issues with them. |
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 Blaines and Beauty
Posts: 1431
| The fastest horse I have ever sat on was Impressive and Skipper W lines. (And I have had own daughters of Dash For Perks, Martha Six Moons, Bully Bullion, etc) He had AQHA halter points as a weanling and I bought him as a 3 year old. He had an onery streak for sure but could flat out fly and was sound. He only liked women - would kick and bite men. He would even turn around and bite my husband's toes when he was riding him and try and kick him when he would take his blanket off but be loved me and would try his heart out every run. He was 1D, super tough and could stand up on any ground. He won a saddle and lots of buckles for me. I made sure he was N/N when I bought him. If you look at Impressive's pedigree, He was bred to run. My husband used to work at a huge halter horse facility and I can see how some of them can get mean. I don't think it's a bloodline thing, it's how they are raised. The babies are born and stay in stalls for the rest of thier showing years - getting high fat feed and are on a strict exercise schedule and then get tied up, necks sweated, etc. They get ill tempered and act out sometimes. Some horses love all the attention and the ones that hate it are the ones that act up. That's how my gelding was, when he was a yearling he became an outlaw and they just turned him out for a few years, lol.
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 Having Smokin Bandits
Posts: 4572
 
Location: Woodstown, NJ | The horse in my avatar is Impressive bred. He won the NBHA Youth State championship last year. But honestly, he wouldn't be my first choice for a barrel horse if we were interested in doing more than competing locally. For our purposes, he's perfect. Not only will he do barrels, he'll team pen, trail ride, jump, western pleasure, you name it. And he does pretty well at all of it. He's the one who I can put anyone on. He's definitely not hot or mean but he's no plug either. I guess it would depend on the individual horse. And how far you want to go. If you're really competitive, a prospect with running blood would probably give you the best chance. (Though Impressive was actually a racehorse.) Good luck! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 488
Location: NE Arkansas | I have a impressive bred gelding. He's an older fellow now an is wonderful. He was always there as a back up barrel horse or whatever I asked him to do. He has the best attitude. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| To the OP - I have noticed a lot of cheap halter prospects here in MN at sales. Many are sired by Kid Clu offsprings who is double bred impressive. These horses exactly the stereotype of "halter" horses. Posty hind legs, teeny feet, heavy muscled... even so much that their heads look TINY. I bet there are 20-40 at the biggest QH sales and they rarely go for $1,000. Many of the yearling and two year olds dont sell for much more than a couple hundred bucks.
I personally wouldnt buy one like that due to their confirmation, I feel like it is setting them up to fail. But as many others have said, it depends on the breeder. I am assuming a lot of these horses come from the same ranches. I should start paying attention to who consigns them.
A friend of mine messaged me for advice on a prospect... it was a kid clu x bully bullion. I advised her against it, ONLY because the horse was built like a halter horse. I think it would have struggled in a barrel pen with both atheltic ability and soundness. But if the horse had been built right, I wouldnt have steered her away. A friend of mine has a Sunfrost x Impressive mare and she is as kind as the day is long. I just put the first ride on her and was nothing more than trying to please.
Another friend of mine has an n/h western pleasure impressive mare and she is a typical sassy mare but a hell of a performer. Her n/h makes her tricky to own and she just didnt get the 5 panel done when she bought her some time ago. She regrets not but she wouldnt trade the mare for anything. |
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Member
Posts: 6
| Impressive was an Apendix QH, that later earned his full QH registry. He began a racing career, but was injured & couldn't continue racing- so they found other things for him to do.
I've owned & ran an Impressive gelding. He wasn't the fastest, but he wasn't the slowest. Not hot, but not a complete dead head. And HYPP N/N. Just because they don't have the current designer pedigree doesn't mean they aren't worth a look |
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Duct Tape Bikini Girl
Posts: 2554
| I'd just like to warn you, if things don't work out and you end up having to sell an Impressive bred horse, that big N/N on the papers won't matter to most. From personal experience I would like to warn you, buyers will run like you're shooting at them if they see Impressive on the papers. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 920
| I grew up and it always seemed Impressive was everywhere. Now he's such a taboo but he is bred for run. We had an own daughter. You could rope off her and trail ride her and she had a motor to boot. She also bucked like nobody's business if something touched her butt. She was fickle. She was one of the prettiest horses we ever owned also. |
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 Can You Hear Me Now?
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | I have had one thats double bred impressive and n/n for hypp. Shes beautiful and tall. She does have metabolic issues and will likely be put down this year. Nothing we do help her and prevents The abscesses she gets. I will honestly say never again thry are mostly built horrible and eay to hard to sell.
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| I am not a big fan Impressive horses but check out PERKS ADVANTAGE. He did very well in futurities. He belongs to a friend who trained him. After his futurity year, she rodeoed on him. He got hurt and now is her favorite pet. His mother was double bred Impressive. He is on ALLBREED but I cannot link it on my tablet. You need to judge each horse as an individual. |
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