Welsh cobs- abiltity at anduance

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From: tamara. 
Email: t.j.habberley@btiinternet.com

I wasn't going to rise to the bait on this one - but here goes. I was quite shocked to read an article/reply from the Welsh cob ring about Welsh cobs ability in Endurance. MY God I thought these Guys would extol the Cobs virtues not denigrate them! All I can say is maybe it s due to the cobs you import!
I ride in the UK and compete in endurance on my welsh cob gelding Brychen. So far we have achieved silver series 50 miles rides and I plan to go further in 1999. I was quite shocked to read that the Welsh cob ring reckoned cobs were I quote "like Friesians more suited to dressage". This is rather like saying an Arabian can only race or do endurance. Of course we can not stereotype a breed to being just good at one thing. … What rubbish! 
In the UK the current holder of the highest grade one (no penalties) mileage in competitive trail rides is a Welsh Cob Oakden Frenin, of very Old Welsh lines. One of the top ride ride horse over a 100 miles is Bobby a Clydesdale / trotter horse (no Arab what so ever) Another top horse was Charlie a Suffolk punch (draft) cross TB. A recent third placed horse at the 3 rivers race ride again was a welsh cob, Because our horses are more Burly than the slim Jim Arabs please don't think they cant endure.    
I recently wrote an article to an UK magazine about the same subject. Their feature writer had been keen to assure an owner of a welsh cob and welsh cross that they shouldn't think of going above 20 miles at a snails pace. And guess what? I did a ride the next month over 40 miles on my cob and won a speed trophy coming in quicker than the author of the article on her Arabian! Im not trying to say my horse is something special what Im trying to say is that all the authors of treatise on Arabians, breeding TBS etc miss one big point. The trotting breed in the UK was bred to go damn fast over a good distance from pre Victorian times onwards. Welsh cob stallions used to be advertised as winning over 14 miles carrying 5 stone in 1 hour 30 min. etc They were expected to be performance animals. If they did not perform they were not bred from. End of story. Evan modern show cobs come from performing back ground lanarth Stallions descending from a stallion which pulled a tradesmen's cart around London (if you've read Black Beauty you'll be familiar with the high stepping, swift butcher s boys horse)… different from their modern descendants. In the same way modern show Arabs are nowt like the horses that went on Ghazi. SO I guess its no suprise that Arab bloodlines that do well are predominantly from Polish or Russian Backgrounds were, guess what they were performance tested.
Upto the 1920's a lot of horses were a utilitarian animal bred to reach point A to Point B pretty fast and Back again. Horses that could do this on meagre rations were desired.
So please any one looking at a heavier type of horse and thinking ' oh that's nice, but Id like to endurance ' give it a second chance you might be shocked at what's there- and more fun, so might your competitors…
Tamara.
P.S. go on flame me…