Chestnut mare stereotypes

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Any truth do you think about the chestnut mares stereotype? How did it come about?

Was talking with a friend as a chestnut mare related to Homey may be coming up for sale in Spring. She said chestnut mare likely to be fiesty. I didn't even think about it.

I was looking for a gelding but a more mares seem to be available.
 
I have found chestnuts in general to be a bit more reactive than other colours. Sometimes spookier. I had a couple that didn’t like being groomed and seemed to be physically a bit sensitive. I don’t know if there’s a reason for this. That said I recently acquired a gorgeous chestnut mare who is utterly lovely and is a real trier, so sweet natured.
 
Mine's a sweet, kind hearted, people loving mare, who always tries hard and, even when she's freaking out about something, tries her best not to hurt you. She's not perfect, and god knows she's no world beater, but she's kind all the way through.

The only people I see perpetuating the chestnut mare stereotype are the ones trying to explain their poor training / management / lame horses' behaviour away as "not their fault".
 
None whatsoever. I have a chestnut mare and although she's only a youngster, so is playful still, she is ever so sweet natured and not at all fiery. I have worked with a number of chestnut mares, all different in personality and nothing to do with their colour.
 
JFTDWS said:
Mine's a sweet, kind hearted, people loving mare, who always tries hard and, even when she's freaking out about something, tries her best not to hurt you. She's not perfect, and god knows she's no world beater, but she's kind all the way through.

The only people I see perpetuating the chestnut mare stereotype are the ones trying to explain their poor training / management / lame horses' behaviour away as "not their fault".
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Well said.
 
smolmaus said:
I was under the impression it was a joke we all knew wasn't real. People say the same thing about red haired women! ?

My red haired human friend with her chestnut mare loves the jokes but her mare is in reality an absolute angel.
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My youngster (who happens to be chestnut) tips her feed bucket as do many many other horses that are not chestnut or a mare and someone had to pipe up this evening 'that's what I get having a chestnut mare'....it gets tiresome.
 
I mean I had a chestnut gelding that I used to joke should have been born a mare as he was a bigger drama queen than any of them! He was Welsh too so that might have had something to do with it!
 
I Have 2 here - one is very sweet and easy, and so is the other! Chestnut mare 2 came here for backing, having barely been touched, and we were expecting her to be here a while before being ready to find her new home. Turns out she was "born broke", and she's w.t.c under saddle and hacking out quietly after 3 weeks!

MY two ginger boys are far more trouble!
 
As a card carrying red head who owns the stereotypical chestnut mare, I milk it for all it’s worth - daily.

At clinics when twittery lady wants to chat to me delivering a monologue of drivel I just say “sorry if I comes across as rude but please don’t bring your horse too close to my chestnut mare as she will have a piece of you, and I wouldn’t want you or your lovely horse to be upset”.

It’s great - I have my own space and can listen to the instructor, watching others peacefully”.
 
Boulty said:
I mean I had a chestnut gelding that I used to joke should have been born a mare as he was a bigger drama queen than any of them! He was Welsh too so that might have had something to do with it!
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I have a chestnut, Welsh mare. There’s no hope for her ?. She’s got a face that conveys exactly what’s going on in her mind and most people are a bit scared of her until they know her. I love the bones of her though and I’m the person who gets her, and she knows that.
 
My cousin has a chestnut mare and she had a fair reputation according to other folk. Mostly she’s a sweet pony but can be difficult. But I think that’s more to do with the Welsh and god knows what else mix in her breeding than her colour.
when she’s good she’s amazing.
when she’s bad she will rear at fly spray. But she’s really friendly with other ponies in the field. Just hates everyone hacking
 
My old pony was a chestnut mare and part Arab as well. She was gentle and kind and easy to handle and ride, good with people and horses.

Only thing I would say is there sre a lot of people who strongly believe the stereotype so when it comes to selling, the is a smaller market than for a bay gelding.
 
I actively sought a chesnut mare as my most recent purchase and she is the best. I am head over heels for her. She is an absolute darling
 
We had a big Chestnut mare with a flaxen mane and tail at the yard many years ago. She was actually a really nice horse to deal with usually (other than kicking out if a horse behind got too close on a hack!).
And I remember there being two Chestnut horses at college. The mare was very sweet, the gelding was abit more spritely!
 
One of the best mares I rode at work was a chestnut mare only 14.2 but looked like a miniature TB, we used to fight over who rode her she was just the loveliest to ride and handle.

She only ended up with my boss because her owner owed her hundreds in unpaid livery, so they left her as payment what an idiot! my boss used her for lessons for her students and some clients who were young children, she used to say she was one of the best ponies she had ever known.
 
Mimi2005 said:
My youngster (who happens to be chestnut) tips her feed bucket as do many many other horses that are not chestnut or a mare and someone had to pipe up this evening 'that's what I get having a chestnut mare'....it gets tiresome.
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As with anything said about ours and eachothers horses, it has to be said with love!

Me and a friend have two bays with wonky blazes who are occasionally very thick (like most horses) and "wonky blaze, wonky brain" is only allowed to be said by people who love them.
 
I think there’s just a bit of stereotyping going on…. Didn’t there also used to be something about never buying a chestnut with one (?or two) white socks as well? And as others have said, it’s a really handy excuse to explain away cheeky behaviour. With the arrival of baystards and patchtw*ats courtesy of Shi*teventersUK on FB, maybe the chestnut myth will finally start to be dispelled. To be honest, there’s more bays playing up on there than chestnut mares……. ???
 
I don't think there is much truth to it. My horse at times fulfills the stereotypes, but she can also be a total donkey at other times, so which of those times are down to the chestnut mare part! I don't mind people joking about it much, though, I assume everyone knows it's not that simple
 
It’s just one of those lazy stereotypes that people use to excuse bad horsemanship.

Of course there are some sharp chestnut mares, in the same way there are sharp black geldings (like mine). Breed, type and training have far more impact than colour.

It’s also self-fulfilling; if you treat a chestnut mare like a fire breathing dragon and attribute all issues to her being a chestnut mare rather than trying to resolve them, you’ll probably end up with a fire breathing dragon!
 
Goofus said:
Coat color can supposedly impact behavior https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26884605/, but so can lots of other things. The quietest horse I ever had was a chestnut mare.
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Thanks for the link. From the abstract (couldn't be bothered reading the whole article), they find that black mares are more independent than bay mares. If this is true, you could also expect to also find a division of chestnut mares into more or less independent according to their ASIP alleles (which would not be manifested in the colour of the chestnut horses)...

By the way, it's only in the UK that I have ever heard of chestnut mare stereotypes. As far as I know, there aren't any chestnut mare stereotypes in France (we've got plenty of other ones, I'm sure).
 
I always thought it was just a stereotype.. but my mare bought a chestnut mare 8 months ago and she is the stereotype to the T! ? she wanted a gelding but could only find mares for sale.

Probably just a one off. I know in dogs, I’ve heard red cocker spaniels are more prone to cocker range. Not sure if that’s true.
 
I do wonder if there is something in the 'red' gene that is common across people, dogs and horses as it is known that red haired people need more anaesthesia. I wonder if whatever it is that is different about pain perception/threshold/processing (apologies have not read the detail in full) in people also impacts upon how ginger animals also perceive pain...
 
Titchy Pony said:
Thanks for the link. From the abstract (couldn't be bothered reading the whole article), they find that black mares are more independent than bay mares. If this is true, you could also expect to also find a division of chestnut mares into more or less independent according to their ASIP alleles (which would not be manifested in the colour of the chestnut horses)...
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It's an interesting thing to study, I guess.

"From the current study, the genes governing base coat color in the horse seem to influence behavior. Historically chestnut horses were considered excitable, but horse breeds, coat color, and their associated behavior may have changed since that proposition was originally made. We found no significant relationship with behavior at the MC1R locus, which codes for chestnut coat color, though detection of such an effect may have been hampered by the low frequency of the e allele in this population. The correlation between the recessive ASIP allele and a more independent temperament will help guide horse choice and care, as well as improve our understanding of pigmentation and behavioral pathways."
 
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