Are your shire x's stubborn?

Supertrooper

Supertrooper

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We've had ours since September now and he doesn't have a nasty bone in him but god is he a stubborn g*t!!!! His list of tricks are as follows -:

- trying to break the baler twine when tied up by flinging his head around

- if ignored will pull things off side or pick them up and then as soon as he has your attention, drop them on floor

- not standing still while being groomed/tacked up/mounted

- occasionally breaking away while going out to field and galloping round showing off, he will then let you catch him straightaway and behaves then!

- planting his feet on hacks (only when on his own)

- trying to sit down when farrier doing feet and generally being naughty (farrier is brilliant with him and he is improving every visit)

He is getting better though honestly but he has alot of cheek!!!
 
I have 2 shire crosses and they are both different to each other in their outlook on life.

My old mare is very forward going and moves on at a right pace, whereas my big lad can be quite stuffy.
My mare will go past anything and if she see's anything that she doesn't like then she is attacking in the way she goes past it. My big lad will normally go past but if he really doesn't like something he will plant himself and not even a JCB would move him. But he will follow another horse past anything.

Having said that, they are both the most honest, loving and trustworthy horses you could find. So I put up with the slight quirks cos they are so safe in every way.
 
No, mine was golden , so laid back he was practically horizontal! he would do anything, not phased by anything at all! He was beautiful, i really didnt want to sell him, but he went to a top Dressage rider in the end so i was happy i gave him a great start.
 
I don't think George has got a nasty bone in his body, but he certainly has a few cheeky ones! He certainly tries it on sometimes, but if you're firm he gives in v quickly :D he isn't the bravest soul either, but again if he thinks you're confident he is fine. Although I have had him plant on hacks on numerous occasions, but I give him a moment, tell him he is terribly brave and then he will usually continue on his way :D

He is an absolute character though :)

What are yours crossed with? George has got TB and Welsh blood as well!
 
Mine can be quite obnoxious, shakes and tosses his head at the other horses coming in from the field. Hes also lazy but the sharpest spooky horse Ive ever rode. Hes talented but quirky and he likes to think hes the boss :D
 
Stubborn doesn't even begin to describe it!
Our first ShirexClyde had worked in a RS for 2 yrs before we got her and she had learned all kinds of tricks to get her own way. The favourite was tripping if you asked her to walk out, or to trot. We eventually taught her that it wasn't acceptable but she she was still stubborn in other ways - she once refused to stand up in the stable when sis was trying to turn her out. She had found a patch of sunlight and was determined to stay in it! Sis had to be very firm to get her up. We hacked her home the day we bought her and sis was riding her as we turned off the road she was familiar with, she ground to a halt and we had to resort to methods I'd better not describe her to avoid upsetting those who don't know Shires to get her to move - she never did forgive sis.
Then we had a Show-bred Shire who kept going over the drystone wall into next-door, she needed bute when she was on box-rest. I tried to make it more palatable by putting it in a jam sandwich, she spat it out, so I picked it up and offered it again. This time she threw it into the water bucket. I could almost hear her say 'You won't try that again!'
The 2nd ShirexClyde (Pearl) only ever went at her own speed, no matter what any-one else was doing.
Having said that, they were all wonderful horses, the 2xClydes were brilliant nannies for the faint-hearted and fazed by very little.
Unfortunately they are all long gone, 2 of them before their time, which is why we have avoided Shire-xes again. The gene pool is too small and they seem to succumb to health problems, possibly related to their size.
 
My 3/4 shire is an angel, clumsy, yes, food driven, couldnt be more, thinks he is 13hh, oh yeah, thats fun... But once he knows you want him to do something, he will do it unquestioningly.
The shire at work however (full shire) is a pain in the backside. Won't pick up her front feet at all, tries to kick you with her back feet when you pick them up, and won't move any faster than the slowest walk imaginable. It took 4 vet nurses and vet to get her to pick her feet up last time she was lame. Have tried working with her to improve it, and... nothing. She makes me want to pull my hair out!
 
Dancing Queen said:
No, mine was golden , so laid back he was practically horizontal! he would do anything, not phased by anything at all! He was beautiful, i really didnt want to sell him, but he went to a top Dressage rider in the end so i was happy i gave him a great start.
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Ditto!! Except our lovely boy went to a 5* home where they are going to do a bit of dressage and hunting with him.
 
I shared a shire for a while (no papers but certainly high percentage if not full) and he was a stubborn sod too! he also did the plant and not move thing on a hack. Not often phased by things but when he was you had no chance of changing his mind. Also in the school he knew every trick in the book for evasion. And we once went for a good blast on the mowed hayfield, the only chance we ever got. He plodded up it and strolled back down lol. Bless him.

He wasn't boring though, very cheeky and full of character. He was also not good for the farrier, but with patience he came around.
 
Mine is somewhere in the region of 14/15yo, he hasn't grown out of it :D.

Bad behaviour obviously not corrected at a young age!

He's a gentle giant though!

Wouldn't harm a fly intentionally! (Possibly club your round the face with his head, clumsy!)
 
Ours is only quarter Shire with the rest being some rather smart TB. Most of the time she is an utter star in her temperament and her performance but she is SO stubborn when she wants to be.

When my daughter started trying to improve her (daughter's not horse's) dressage she would work beautifully but then come to a halt and stick her nose out, daughter would "wiggle" trying to get horse to submit in the slightest, horse would stand still with nose out and then, finally, with a grunt and a groan respond by moving her head round to one side and sticking there, with daughter getting redder and redder until horse would suddenly move her head back to the other side with a "Well you said you wanted it moved so I've done it" expression on her face. We were all in fits of giggles watching, including the instructor who is a rather eminent eventer and sometime pupil of Mr Hester. He finally took pity on my daughter's embarrassment and said he'd get on board the naughty mare. He got her powering round the school looking fantastic, came to a halt, out went the nose, "wiggle" went the instructor, round went the head to the left and stuck there, more determined wiggling and eventually the head goes round to the right and sticks there, ears forward, expression of "Well you wanted it moved so I've moved it" back on face. He gives in, pushes her on, head goes back to just where he wants it. He trots her round more, has another attempt at the halt-with-nose-in, fails and announces that we'll work on that another time.

Incidentally she usually does a beautiful halt now, but when she feels the need to really show you up (in front of a new instructor, say,) she will do it again, leaving you sitting there like a nana as she turns her head from one side to the other (after some effort on your part) for all the world as if she's taking a keen interest in the view first on one side and then the other and utterly unable to "hear" what you are asking her to do.

We love her to pieces!
 
Mine is so laid back to,lazy,driven by food.I would never change a thing about him.

I got him 3 years ago untouched,he has been a dream,has not been phased by anything.

As you can see my my sig pics he is bone idle sitting in the field.
 
Nope. Got 2 shire x's and both are very pleasant eager and kind boys. Okay abit clumbsy (sp) and LC is sharp and spooky and they both can be headstrong but they are certainly not stubborn. They are both food obsessed and will break down doors if they think their feed bucket is behind it.
 
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