Cadri4n

Like people most horses and their breeds have been stereotyped. Which ones do you agree with and which ones do you absolutely disagree with? Like for example I have heard that Arabian horses are very intelligent but also hot headed. Is this true?

Stabilo

I've been told that warmbloods like to throw their weight around, and that thoroughbreds have no tolerance for pain. I think their behaviour does have a large part to do with how they were broken in.

purplefdu

Lets see:
Arabs are hot blooded and hard to handle and ditzy.
Mustangs are dangerous.
Minis are cute and sweet.
Mares are hot blooded, moody and hard to handle. Geldings are safest. Stallions are dangerous and hard to handle.
Standardbreds aren't built to bend.
QHs are dumb.
Drafts are slow and dumb and useless for riding.

I'm sure I could list these all day. I don't agree with any of them. Each horse is a separate case, kind of like people. I don't think all blondes are dumb, and I don't think all Arabs are hot blooded. Training, environment, rider, etc all dictate how a horse turns out, not just their genes/breed.

Ladybird

This reminds me when I was younger and everyone thought Doberman Pinschers were mean, evil dogs. I was helping care for a friend of the family's Doberman when he was taller than me. When I got an adult Doberman when I was an adult, everyone was afraid I would be hurt because he had been abused. They're not dumb animals. The only person he ever tried to bite was the man and boys who had abused him.

The same principal holds true for horses. You treat them right. They'll treat you right.

Cadri4n

Yeah I guess stereotypes are the same in horses, humans and dogs. I pretty sure that some horses live up to their sterotype but there is always the exception.

Stabilo

Aren't minis difficult to handle because so many people don't bother to train or break them in, because they're not going to be ridden? Sort of like how people are slacker with little dogs?

indianpony

Lets re-read this, but in a different manner.
Aren't animals difficult to handle because so many people don't bother to train to break them in? YES.
Whether they are ridden or not, people don't bother to do anything that takes time and patience sometimes. Whether its a mini horse thats just meant to be cute, or a dog that you're going to loose in your Uggs or a child who was never meant to be.

Its not the horse breed/dog breed/child's ethnic group thats hard to deal with, its the inattention they've been given as part of this misconception and stupidity.

Amy4711

It´s funny, when I owned warm bloods I noticed that there where a lot of similar behaviours and ways how to ride them when they where from the same breeding-family (e.g. "Romadour" etc.)

My horse now is a PRE (Pura Raza Espanol / Pure Spanish Breed) and they are said to be very hot blooded. Well, mine isn`t ... He is very "awake" and clever but not "hot".

In one way all horses are the same (...) and in an other way every one is an individual for itself (with his charakter and things it has learned in live).

I see it that way: a breed is like a box. People tryed to put in what they liked for the horeses they rode and worked with. The box got a size, color and some "inputs" but there is also a part of "surprise" in that box what makes every horse to an individual.