Don't tell me what my horse can't do

When I tell people I have a belgian x halflinger mare, especially fellow horse people, especially fellow horse people who show, I usually get a less than enthusiastic response.

"She's really cute and all... but, well, what are you going to do with her?"

I like to see the way their eyes get wide when my answer is: "Jumping, or low level eventing, or maybe dressage - I'm not sure yet, she's a pretty athletic horse."

"Well," they say dubiously, "she does have a pretty big neck."

Last time I checked having a neck the size of a mack truck does not a big jumper make, but at least they tried to say something nice. I appreciate the effort.

No, Poppy is not a fancy warmblood or a talented trakehner. No, she will never do the high level jumpers... but I never planned on doing those anyways, so that is just peachy keen with me. I have a 17H TB. I know what breeds are typically associated with jumping and dressage, and what breeds are not. I also know my beautiful TB spent twenty minutes stuck behind a 12" high rail (whinnying his head off and working himself in an absolute panic) that Poppy had already jumped over to get to the green grass on the other side.

Breed isn't everything. So for all your doubters out there, take a gander at this beautiful video of a five year old PURE belgian mare. It's a bit long, but if you fast forward halfway through you'll get to the jumping. I can only hope Poppy will look like that someday. In the meantime I'll be content with the picture of her free jumping while I progress with her flatwork, and just keep on smiling when people look at me like I'm crazy.