Hello all, I love this forum and often come here for information. So, I've been looking for a good draft animal for our small farm, I had been thinking of an ox or mammoth donkey. Now I'm thinking about a Haflinger. We're going to go look at a few that are broke to ride but not drive.
I have experience with riding horses but not draft. I've seen that some of you think Haflingers are a little high strung? We only need one horse for occasional plowing, and maybe log pulling. It will probably be a riding horse most of the time. We don't want a humongous horse. I've tried to find a Fjord without luck. Any other breeds that might be better?

Suffolk make really good ones, and they're usually 16 hands or so . I have had a chance to work a pair and I was really impressed.
Shanen

any quarter horse could also do it. You don't need a specialized breed as any horse can do the job. It is just that some sizes fit the job better.

Emmy
We use 3 Haflingers and they are the only Haflingers I have ever worked so what I say about the breed is limited to them. Each individual has their own personality and one may be more “high strung” than another but as a rule they are pretty laid back. We have 3 geldings from 6 to 11 years old, they weigh about 1100lbs and stand about 15hh.These are farm hoses and work any equipment we need to plant forage and produce as well as cut hay and cut firewood. These are the same horses I learned to drive with and I have found that the more experience I have gotten, the more enjoyable they have become to work. It may be I am communicating with them better or it may be they are more used to working and what I expect out of them. Most likely it is a little of both reasons. They are a nice horse that is cheap on feed and can work hard when needed. I would stay away from the small ones, look for something with good bone weighing over 1000lbs, most especially if you plan on working it single.
My advice for someone new to driving with a horse that is new to driving is to take small safe steps. Working in a round pen is a safe place to figure things out. Obviously if you are lucky enough to have a teamster close by you would be wise to get there help.
Good Luck

I ride cowhorses mostly, but the outfit I work for has a Halflinger as a ride, pack or drive type, and on occasion I have ridden him and wish I had a whole herd of them. Great foot action, willing and gentle. Can carry a grown man all day and you don't have to peddle him. Only hole in him is his back, it's not round it's flat. One thin pad and hock it in him.

I might get a bit if flaming from haflinger owners/breeders, but my experiences has been with haflingers and haflinger mules. To me they were higher strung. Not bad but certainly not the calmest I have run across. You might find them hard to fit a saddle to due to their confirmation although, now I have been seeing some haflinger saddles on the market.

The last ten years or so there has been a trend to breed them taller which is directly opposite from what a haflnger was intended to be.

From you post, it doesn't seem like you would be working it all that much in harness which might not keep it as laid back as you want.
If it were me, and I was wanting a mount more for riding, I would look at other breeds. Most horses and large ponies can be very successfully trained to work in harness also.

I am with Vince on this one. I am not a fan of Haflingers. Had 3 different ones in here to break and not one of them was something I would want to own. I know there are good ones because I have seen them. They seem to be a little ponyish in attitude but also flighty. And I like ponies. I am also not a fan of QH as draft animals for beginners.

Thank you everyone for your opinions, I really appreciate it... I've never seen Suffolk around where I am Mannies, but that's still a little bigger than I was wanting.
Plenty of quarter horses and other types, but they're mostly just for riding, and those that are trained to drive are small and not good for farm work.

I was attracted to the Haflinger because I heard they were easier to train and remember their training longer than most horses (So I've heard) I know it depends on the individual horse, along with the teamster... I suppose I'll keep looking for now, I'm still new to all this and I'm starting to realize how much I don't know.

Thank you everyone :)

If you like the size and body type of the Haflinger, then go for it. But shop for an individual that suits you. There can be just as much variety within the breed than between breeds. You are buying an individual... not a breed.

Forget the breed and buy the horse. It does not matter what breed the animal is if he will do what you need. If you are looking a horse find one that meets your needs. Don't buy one because he is chestnut with a white mane and tail (and I'm a Haflinger owner and fan). Unless you are breeding and//or showing, Breed and papers mean nothing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Emma, people are generalizing far too much. There are plenty of good, safe, calm Haflingers. Some people just don't know how to judge horses and obviously pick out the culls. I have owned several in my lifetime and not one of them was high strung. Mine were calm, willing workers. When shopping for horses, many people fall in love with the first horse they see and that is a mistake. Be very careful with what an owner may tell you and take it with a grain of salt. There are a lot of people who have no idea what a good horse is and think they own the best in the world because they have nothing to compare it to. Take a trusted friend with you and above all else, avoid the person who considers himself/herself to be an expert because their third cousin's next door neighbor has a friend who knows horses and will be glad to advise you.

I traded and sold horses all of my adult life. Had numerous mules and always had some for wagon rides. The Haflingers are the only thing that has stayed on my place for more than a few months at a time. Have had one I bought as a weanling for 12 yrs. Haven't used a mule on a wagon since. O yea! And they do ride alright too.

The reason I like Haflingers is mostly my lack of experience in other driving horse breeds. I have had two different ones. I had a mare who would do anything for a human, but was the meanest horse in the pasture. Rode good (pretty choppy at anything over a walk), drove beautifully. If I only owned one horse I would have kept her. I now have a gelding in his upper teens. They are definitely willing workers. Hard to find a saddle to fit properly, I just use a bareback pad and keep him at a walk. Harnessing is easier with their shorter height (especially with a work harness).

When talking about breeds, generalization is about all you can do. You can certainly find a suitable horse in about any breeding that will suit your needs if you look long enough.

However, each particular breeding was developed for certain tasks in mind. If a person starts with that information for several breeds, they can narrow their search time down considerably.

Most on here know I like mules and like anyone else with a favorite, I extol their virtues while not saying much about the other end of it,although I am keenly aware of such non attributes. Same goes for people who have haflingers, thorobreds, quarter horses, arabs, etc..

I have bred or owned mules from tennessee walkers, fox trotters, quarter horses, thorobreds, arabs, haflingers and a few I didn't have a clue to their breeding (of which some of them were darn good mules).

About 15-20 years ago you couldn't find a haflinger mule or even a haflinger mare in Colorado and I think I was about one of the first to breed a few in Colorado. I had to go to MO to find a mare and I bought one from Tom Lysinger, a noted haflinger breeder back in that time. Nobody wanted to breed haflinger mules because the haflinger foals were selling like hot cakes. I drank the Koolaid, figuring if they made such a dandy little draft animal they would make great pack, harness, and saddle mules. Of which I don't are few around

The mare in just about any breeding plays a big part in the disposition of the off spring, and more so the longer the off spring runs with the mare. This is more so with a mule foal.

I did two breedings with that mare and then sold her. Granted, not a big statistical sampling, but other folks that bred haflinger mules since then came up with the same conclusion. They were a little too high strung. Possibly due to back many generations ago, haflingers had an infusion of arab blood when the breed was being developed. This arab trait continues to be there with haflingers that are not crosses which may breed that out of them. I am big arab fan but no one can deny that they are at least a warm blood.

Of the two mules I bred, I sold one at 6 yrs old because she had such a round flat back that I could not get a decent saddle fit on her and could not keep a pack in the middle of her for more than a mile or so and I have done a lot of packing in 40 years. However the guy who bought her loves her to death and is very happy with her. She had the best disposition of the two.
The other, I just traded for a smaller mule this spring and she was 12 years old. She hurt me bad in a run away last fall and now is on a pack string with an outfitter in NE Colorado. This was my main saddle mule that I doted over for all these years, but she just could never be trusted not to spook at something. It was a decision I did not make lightly

A mule breeding will personify the traits of the parents which is why I mention all of this. Of the mules I have had, tennesee walkers and fox trotters turned out the best mules with quarter horse right behind them. The quarter horses being a lot more cowy if bred right. The tail end were haflingers, arabs, and thorobreds in that order.

Haflingers became a fad breeding 15 years ago or so, just like fjords. Everyone just had to have them because they were handy on smaller farms etc. where bigger horses just didn't fit in. Some became some darn good draft ponies, many did not.

The OP posted " We only need one horse for occasional plowing, and maybe log pulling. It will probably be a riding horse most of the time."

Because of that, IMHO, I believe she would be best suited with a horse or pony breed for that purpose of mostly riding and then train it for a harness work.

I would not discount some ponies. They can be stout little buggers that you get a lot of work out of them and if the person isn't a giant, a 13 &1/2 hd one would certainly be up to the tasks.

Another possibility is to find one of the smaller stocky morgans which are noted for their versatility.

An animal that is difficult to fit tack or equipment to is definitely more of a hassle than one that wears gear straight off the rack.

I'm following your thoughts Vince. I have a little mare of unknown breeding. WelshXMorganXQH was what I was told. I wish I could clone her. 750 lbs, 13.2 hands and handy. She has taught all my kids to drive and at 20 is still going strong. I am seriously considering breeding her to a good old school morgan if I can find one.

It tasks a little time for a Haflinger to warm up to his/her new owner, but then they usually are some of the most willing horses you can imagine. They get better and better as they get older, like many other breeds, but their advantage is, that they age very slowly and are good for work even in their late twenties. I prefer the stockier type, which usually is also a bit calmer than the more modern types that were bred to be more versatile, such as working in the field and riding. The riding types are those with narrower backs and longer legs.
A farmer in Lawrence, Ks, calls his farm the "Willing Horse Farm" because he so impressed with the willingness of his three Haflingers to do anything he requests of them.
I think the reason why so many horses nowadays seem to be "hot" for their owners is that they get used too rarely. A horse that is worked constantly will usually calm down.

With little experience to draw from starting out, I've had fun raising and training a Dutch Belted calf up to her current age of four. She pulls our five cords of wood out of the woodlot on a cart, gives us a calf each year, she's becoming affectionate, and the manure fertilizes the gladiolas we sell by the hundreds. She gets into wet areas where I wouldn't put the tractor, and seems to enjoy the work as much as I do.

Here is the haflinger I had. She was the stocky /drafty type, 13 hds. Which made it hard to fit a saddle to

Just like anything, now you have people breeding them to get a 14 hd+ animal ,which,IMO is not what the breed was developed for and those are ruining the breed.

How's she ride.

Paul. She was a little choppy, but not too bad. Good little mountain pony. Only problem was deep snow. My boots were in the snow when riding her, but she plowed thru it with no hesitation.

My response was to Peter, Vinces's post wasn't up yet.

Sorry, Vince I'm not trying to be smart with you. I was hacking on Peter and his cow in the middle of a horse discussion, but your posts were not there when I would send, then when I look again you had Posted right before me. Then you responded to me right when I was clearing that up. Look at the times when posted. I can't quit laughing though at the way it played out. Not sure I'm cut out for this kind of communication. I do like the mare though I think a halflinger crossed on some good cow blood would make some neat little horses.

Funny. The lady at the start said she had thought of getting an ox or a donkey, so I jumped in. Another time, I told a horseman who was giving rides how I get my wood out, and his comment was "Well, that's better than hauling it out yourself."

I was logging few years and got hurt bad if it wasn't for halflinger team I would had to stray in the woods for several hours. I now have 5 . Some are voice control some are training a whole lot is in training and understanding each animal I worked in anything I could hook to.