Beauty comes in all sorts of different shapes and sizes — for every thoroughbred or warmblood lover, there are those of us who are totally addicted to cobs. Here’s why (and make sure you don’t miss the Horse & Hound cob special, which is out now)…
1. There’s something heart-warming about a cob doing dressage — what’s not to love about a big, hairy beast dancing as elegantly as a ballerina? Cobs can be completely ace at dressage, if trained correctly. Cobs can do anything.
2. Ditto jumping. Cobs might look like they have four feet so firmly on the ground that they’d have to defy gravity to get over a small cross-pole, but some of them have jumping skills to rival many of their less robust equine friends.
3. With their calm natures (well most of them, most of the time), they’re perfect hunters — a lovely armchair ride for crossing country, soaring over fences. Good times!
4. Who doesn’t love a horse in leg warmers? If only hairy legs were so desirable in human beings — it would save a whole load of money on hair removal cream or razors. Mind you, those lovely long feathers do need maintenance, otherwise they can look more like those found on a dead crow than an elegant peacock.
5. Cobs are actually the hipsters of the horse world — they can pull off wearing beards and moustaches, not to mention bright colours and funky patterns, in a way that thoroughbreds and other bigger, more elegant, horses just can’t. A thoroughbred in a sheep-patterned fleece rug looks like the Queen in fluffy slippers — just a bit wrong, somehow. A cob can totally style it out.
6. Cobs are easy — well, relatively, they’re still equines after all. You can leave them out all year round — they probably won’t even need a rug. No fancy feeds required.
7. Not every one of them might take you round Badminton, but they’ll sure as hell give you a great ride out round your local bridleways. They’re the original go-to horse.
Like this? You might also enjoy reading these:
Own a traditional gypsy cob, draught or native? New dressage championships for you
H&H’s guide to show cob classes: from weight divisions to showing off correctly
Subscribe to Horse & Hound this spring for great savings
8. It is said that a good show cob should have ‘the face of a lady and the backside of a cook’. We can all relate to that!
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