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How do you know what your horse is best for?

2K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  ponyjocky 
#1 ·
How do you know what your horse will excel in? What type of horse do you look for in the events?

Western Pleasure it out of the picture, but what about reining, cutting, ranch, trail, cow horse, team penning, barrels?

My horse is mostly halter bred, and is built like a tank. He's in training right now and we're working on the basics teaching him to neck rein.
 
#2 ·
How do you know what your horse will excel in?QUOTE]

I think that your horse has to love what it's doing to excel in it's job. I know lots of horses bred very very very well for specific jobs, have the conformation, athletic ability, mind...etc. But when it comes down to it the horse has to love (or at least like) what its doing. I don't think you can be 100% sure until you and your horse have tried different things.

I'm not really sure if thats what you ment....Just a thought.:)
 
#3 ·
With Lacey, I discovered what she loves to do (being a trail pony) basically because she kinda forced me to. She kept freaking out in every english saddle I tried on her (I originally bought her with the intention of doing dressage and things like that) so one day I decided to try her in a western saddle. As soon as I got that saddle on her, she went perfectly.
Then, I took her to a camp last summer and did a lot of trail riding. I had previously thought that she was a spaz on the trail and that that was not something she was interested in. About the time a flock of 100 or more quail cme bursting out of the trees right next to her, with no spooking on her part, I realized that she really does like being on the trail. Now I've been riding her more extensively on the trail and boy, she is the bravest, most curious, fun to ride on trails horse I have ever ridden. Whenever the trailer is out, she starts bouncing around and waving her head at it like "people are going somewhere! I wanna go!" so I'm pretty sure she enjoys being on the trail.

Basically, listen to your horse, when he finds something that he dearly loves to do, you'll be able to tell. Lacey is not built to be a great trail horse (tiny legs compared to her body, really rocky trot, etc) but she really is. So, just try out lots of stuff with him and he'll let you know. =)
 
#4 ·
Your horse will let ya know if you're doing something wrong, or if they want something new.

I had to do a lot of searching with Annie. She didn't really want to be a reiner. She's get pissy if I asked for a run down for a reining stop, she didn't like any dressage, and she didn't dig down in turns enough or barrels. So I took her out on the trail in an english saddle (When I was just learning to ride english) and thought I'd be a dare devil and take her out on the little CX jumps they had set up. I was too afraid to try anything big but Annie adored it and has started actually pulling me into jumps. So I think that's her calling. She wants to jump and I'm gonna let her :)

As for yor halter bred horse, I'd maybe consider reining or cutting. If pleasure is out of the question. A lot of Pleasure horses are Halter horses, but I see a lot of people in this area use their Halter horses for reining too.
 
#6 ·
When I first look at a horse I asses their pedigree...if there aren't bigger names up front then I kind of don't use the breeding for what they will excel out but at least you can get an idea. If they have the bigger names up close then I'll generally expect them to be that type of horse.

Then I look at their conformation. Then their personality/mind and what they like to do.

I think breeding tends to be a pretty good indicator, if they good horses are closer up, as the good horses get further away I think it won't always be indicative of what they will be good it.

Conformation and the "will" of the horse is extremely important too after you look at the pedigree. Especially the "will/want" part. And for this a horse will normally tell you when you are pushing them to do something they don't want to do.
 
#9 ·
Expose them to as many things as possible and see what they enjoy doing. Doesn't matter how they are bred or even how they are built. Some conformation issues can determine what a horse should not do if it is questionable they will stay sound at a more demanding discipline. But there are exceptions to every rule.
 
#12 ·
He'll let you know once you expose him to different things.
I originally wanted my mare to become a jumper, and since she is a warmblood you'd think that'd make sense. But she prefers basic dressage, and speed events like barrels, poles, and flags. It's funny because I do a lot of trail riding with her, and she's gets really annoyed and will walk super slow if I trail ride her too often. She really enjoys when I make her work in the indoor arena. Always very willing to go in, ears/head up and alert, and won't pitch a fit or get moody even after trotting/cantering circles and practicing transitions for over an hour.
 
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