Discussion / opinions - horses happier with particular jobs?

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Tobiano

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hi - I am the luckiest person ever as have just returned from a fabulous riding safari in Botswana (& in one piece too!)

Whilst there of course my friends & I fell in love with the horses we were riding and had a fun little fantasy about bringing them home with us!

We came to the conclusion that even if we had lottery millions it probably would not be kind, as these horses seem to love their work out there and coming home to mincing round a school and hacking for an hour rather than 4 a day (NB they only do that 1 week in 3!) would probably not be fun for them.

So I am wondering, what do people think about horses being happier with particular work? For example, if you buy a hunter or competition horse and then just happy hack is that fair to it? Any experiences / examples / opinions?
 
tobiano said:
So I am wondering, what do people think about horses being happier with particular work? For example, if you buy a hunter or competition horse and then just happy hack is that fair to it? Any experiences / examples / opinions?
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Sounds like you had a fantastic time :smile3:

Yes I have bought a number of horses (many unseen) for a particular purpose and then found once they arrive here that I see that they aren't quite suited to the purpose I bought them for. Often they are sold as one thing and then when I see them moving/working I see something else. Not a problem at all for me, I just change the discipline to suit the horse. I have enough horses to be able to do that though, it's different when people only have one or two horses and they want to do a particular type of riding so the horse often has no choice but to fit in with the discipline the rider/owner wishes.
 
Thanks SF - so how do you know they are not suited? Is it because they are not very good at it, or do you see behavioural signs? Just really interested as of course I realise I don't know if my 2 would rather be doing safaris!!
 
I have one who is quite highly trained in dressage. I feel very sorry for him though because he clearly hates it. Any schooling attempts are fights. He gets crotchety and naughty. Doesn't matter who gets on him he doesn't like it. He does however love hacking. He will do really well at endurance I think. You just point him and he goes. And goes and goes and goes. He strides out, he swings through his back. He never naps or tries to turn for home. I think he makes his feelings clear.

I have another who does any kind of work, jumping/schooling/hacking any of it very grudgingly. She would much rather not do anything at all. Lazy mare
 
More their movement. I've bought horses who are sold as showjumpers and then when they get home I see they are more hunters (American hunters) so we take them down that route. Or I buy one to be a hunter and then find it actually prefers to be a showjumper. Sometimes they're bought as western horses but on riding them and seeing them move, they have a far more English way of going so we ride/compete them English instead. Some are bought as trail horses and then we see the potential in them for doing another discipline. Some, the reverse, bought as competition horses and we find they are sour of competitions so we flip them over to being trail horses. I'm pretty laid back with what any of them do/excel in as I have so many that it's not necessary for them to always be what we expect them to be on purchase.
 
Horses, like humans, have various talents and personalities which will suit them for different things. I hate to see a horse in the wrong job (and I often do) and wish people would listen a bit more to what their horses are trying to tell them.
 
I always do what the horse is best at and enjoys the most, nothing worse than forcing a horse to do a job that it doesn't like. I wish peoplke would sell on rather than trying to continue down a path that the horse doesn't want to go down.

My cob was bought to show but lives for his hunting - so he is now a hunter (albeit a short legged fat one!).
 
What an amazing trip! Bit jealous here! I quite agree about horses suiting particular jobs sometimes. I used to know a lovely lovely horse who his owner used for dressage. He was very talented (and very patient, since she was an older lady and struggled a bit physically), with big flashy paces and a real presence, so he used to do very well affiliated. But he always had a bit of a resigned expression in his eyes. Then I saw him showjump - and it was a different horse entirely. The sheer life and enthusiasm was unreal and he just flew. The energy he exuded surging into fences made his dressage look flat. He'd been a showjumper and converted to dressage, because it suited his owner better. It was definitely not his calling.
 
My mare I bought to jump, jumped for 5 years and then she did a high suspensory injury in the ring. Once back and fit I tried to jump her again but she wouldn't have it, tried to have her as a happy hacker and she hated it. Got her into dressage and she really enjoys it.
Got involved in horseball and she enjoys playing that too!

But most excitingly we have just started jumping again, only upto 1m as she is an older girl now and owes me nothing, but you can tell that she loves it the most!
 
The horse I bought was made to jump by his last owner even though he hated it. I was there on a fair few occasions where she beat him with a whip to get him near a filler and he would just end up dumping her anyway.

He's a 17hh BWP - bred out of the most fantastic GP jumping sires, but he just doesn't have the bottle to do fillers or planks! Put any pole up at any height and he's jump it. Put a plain plank and he'll freak out. He was stressed, scared and didn't trust any rider.

In my eyes he was never going to change. So we both had a complete switch around and started dressage. 3.5 years down the line and he's fabulous. We've both learnt so much together and he always tries his heart out at everything we do - even when I ask for advanced movements. He now has a stress-free life doing what he loves!
 
I love the way that despite never being given any kind of food incentive, all our ponies love to be caught, because they look forward to their work. However, they hack and drive. I doubt they'd be so keen if we were schooling.
 
Also envious about your holiday .. Oh well, one day :(

There's a horse at the RS who I'd love to rescue. If he'd had his own human they would be writing missives about how wonderful he is. Intelligent, sensitive try's hard and not a mean bone in his body. As it is the only expression registering in his eyes is anxiety. So very sad.
 
I think they like or dislike particular jobs. My last horse would suffer DR/ flatwork but really wasn't keen on jumping. Hunting, however, was a different story. He'd hunted a lot before I had him (was his job, really) and I did the odd day on him. I did quite a bit of DR and jumping with him but eventually gave up and just hunted him. His last 18 months or so with me were probably the happiest I've known him. We primarily hunted and hacked, with the odd fun ride. He was in his element. This was a horse who wasn't the best loader in the world yet he seemed to know when he was going hunting (does a horse know he's got his "hunting bit" in when you tack him up before leaving the yard??) as he'd trot up the ramp. He absolutely adored it and would try his heart out all day for you, yet give him another job and he always needed coaxing.

New horse I've had just over a year. Bought him as a 5 (just about to turn 6) yo who'd done a season or two of hunting in Ireland. I've now done a bit of everything with him. His preferred job is definitely XC, with SJ coming a v close second. Get him on the XC and he is an absolute machine (and I rarely describe a horse in that way!). He's only 15hh but he'd jump the moon as long as he thought you were with him. He also enjoys SJ but only when the fences are bigger, doesn't try over smaller stuff or makes his own entertainment. DR... he quite enjoys schooling at home and does try because he likes learning new things but as yet, he's not feeling the love for DR comps (unfortunately for him, he has a winter of DR coming up as we've done a couple of ODEs this year and I want to do more next year, so we've got to at least manage it respectably!). And hunting... he just doesn't love it the way my last horse did. He hunts nicely - is v well mannered, goes first/middle/last, jumps anything and everything, isn't strong, he's quick and clever. But it's a bit automated, if that makes sense. He doesn't seem to enjoy it hugely, just wants to keep up, whereas the last one lived for it.

So yes, I think different horses like or dislike particular jobs.
 
I really think that horses show a preference for what type of work they prefer.

My old lad Pinto, hated schooling - which was a pity as I prefer dressage to anything else! So we compromised... for every time we schooled we went out on two hacks.

I also a friend or two take him on regular gallops across the fields, and another friend used to borrow him for horseball lessons which he adored.

Blitz was bought as a dressage prospect. Obviously he is too young (just turned 2) to make a determination if he will like it yet or not, but if not, then I will find something he likes to do.

Tartine was bought to fill the hole Pinto left in my life. I was going to concentrate on dressage, but it appears she adores jumping, so we (me and my friend) are going to see how she likes eventing.
 
Of course horses have Favorite / best jobs for them, my bay was bred to drive and started life in a driving job he hated it he's found his niche as a hunter .
My TB is bred to national hunt race but hated being in training he's a great horse but just not a race horse
MY ID was shown he's an amazing hunter but does not do schools at all I think he got bored.
My cob will try anything he's the ultimate multitasker every thing from pulling timber to HDT to hunting dressage he loves everything.
I like the horses here to do the job they like best funnily enough they all seem to end up hunting.
 
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