Ginger mares' reputation: fact or fallacy? Discuss!

Not in my experience. I've known a few chestnut mares and only one would fit that description. I find no difference in daft behaviour between any colours or sexes.
 
My Orange Mare was a sweetie. Sensitive & didn't suffer fools, but one of the kindest, gentlest, most generous hearted horses I've ever been partnered with. Adored kids & dogs/cats/other animals. Always the field boss but never needed to do more than give the others a dirty look from time to time. She was a big girl, 17hh, TB X Warmblood, but never mareish. Just a lovely person to be around. (I have a soft spot for gingers, can you tell?! My OH is one too).
 
It's a fact that red heads feel pain more than other hair colours and red headed people need more drug than people with other hair colours when they need a GA.
My physio certainly thinks that chestnuts feel more pain than other colours and mares not being neutered are Different to geldings .
Having said that I have only had lovely chesnut mares .
 
First pony was a chestnut mare - evilness personified! But the bond we had was incredible , it was everyone else she bit, kicked, chased (many a child came in from the field crying as they were unable to catch their pony due to my monster chasing them off). I had to groom her with a whip in one hand - never needed it, just to ensure she knew kicking wasn't an option on the tickly bits. But she was good as gold with me otherwise once she knew she could trust me. Wouldn't put me off another one although now have a grey gelding. Love the gingers.
 
I don't like chestnuts so I've only owned two, both mares and both very highly strung, I've had two chestnut tobianos, one of each sex, both have been totally bomb proof.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss things as old wives tales without some consideration as to how they came about, "the black sheep of the family" - in my experience, black sheep do indeed segregate themselves from white sheep and tend to be wilder. In some sheep breeds, Shetlands for instance, the white sheep were coveted for the wool and kept closer to the croft and looked after more carefully than the coloured sheep who were essentially left to fend for themselves on the harder ground. This means generations later than the coloured sheep are more primitive with more original traits than the white sheep.

I once bought some Hebridean ewes (black) and was quite surprised to witness that the black Shetlands teamed up with them, leaving in some cases their own mothers behind to join the new flock. Usually flocks will stay in their own familiar or family groups so this was very unusual behaviour. Interestingly they left the brown and the grey sheep behind!
 
Goldenstar said:
It's a fact that red heads feel pain more than other hair colours and red headed people need more drug than people with other hair colours when they need a GA.
My physio certainly thinks that chestnuts feel more pain than other colours and mares not being neutered are Different to geldings .
Having said that I have only had lovely chesnut mares .
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That's because red hair in humans is a mutation therefore there are other "side affects". They also have one less layer of skin than everyone else which is why the burn more easily in the sun.

Is chestnut a mutation in horses? This is an honest question. If it isn't then I don't see why things would affect them more just because of colouring but if it is it might explain things?
 
yes true in my experience. mine is a total sweetheart on the ground - not 'marish' in any way but incredibly sensitive/sharp and fizzy. and typical sensitive ginger skin (mud fever/scars as she doesnt heal well). every other one ive know has been hideous (but to be fair so has every other mare ive known!)
 
I have always loved chestnut mares, we have two at the minute :)

I have not found them different to other mares tbh, I have met crabby bay geldings! Each horse has there own personality and temperament which I don't personally think is linked to their colour :)
 
FfionWinnie said:
I
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss things as old wives tales without some consideration as to how they came about, "the black sheep of the family" - in my experience, black sheep do indeed segregate themselves from white sheep and tend to be wilder. /QUOTE]


Earlier this year a neighbour's lambs had a week when they decided to be VERY un-PC - basically split into a black and a white gang and had excellent chases. The black 'uns came out on top nearly every time!
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I have 3 chestnut mares I have owned a long time - 2 pure Irish Draughts and one 3/4 TB. All started as hunters and one actually survived being my OH's hunter for 3 seasonns without trying to kill him. Even the 3/4 TB was a good hunter for our not very good rider huntsman (they just kept tying her up so she came home.) And i also have a chestnut WB - who is a doll. And of course I have LOTS more chestnuts - who went grey! I've seen NO proof that chestnuts are more difficult - or quirkier - than any other colour.
 
Goldenstar said:
It's a fact that red heads feel pain more than other hair colours and red headed people need more drug than people with other hair colours when they need a GA.
My physio certainly thinks that chestnuts feel more pain than other colours and mares not being neutered are Different to geldings .
Having said that I have only had lovely chesnut mares .
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My Irish vet from a family that bred and trained hundreds of horses says the redheads are the most sensitive and especially reds with lots of white. That fits with my experiences that out of a hundred bays and a hundred chestnuts, you'll get more over sensitive horses in the chestnuts.

Add the mare sensitivity to that and there is some truth to the chestnut mare belief.

The only one I've ever had was sedated to shoe and very quirky to handle.
 
FfionWinnie said:
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss things as old wives tales without some consideration as to how they came about, "the black sheep of the family" - in my experience, black sheep do indeed segregate themselves from white sheep and tend to be wilder.
Click to expand...


Earlier this year a neighbour's lambs had a week when they decided to be VERY un-PC - basically split into a black and a white gang and had excellent chases. The black 'uns came out on top nearly every time!
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I've seen this often and wonder how we think we can remove racism totally from human society when it's so deep in our genes. I've seen it in ducks and sheep splitting into different colors. There's a field near me now with three groups of sheep - black, white and skewbald.

Agree with FW too, these old wives takes generally have some basis in experience over centuries. Anyone read the latest research about 'an apple a day'? Granny was right!
 
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Mine is quirky on the ground- takes no nonsense and would eat your for breakfast if you werent confident. But she is the easiest, kindest mare when she trusts you. Brilliant to ride and never puts a foot wrong.
Would try her heart out once she knows you.
 
Another fascinating sheep fact is that a study showed sheep prefer to mate with a sheep who has the same coloured face as themselves. Now one may wonder how does a sheep know what colour it's own face is, but apparently, they do!
 
wyrdsister said:
My Orange Mare was a sweetie. Sensitive & didn't suffer fools, but one of the kindest, gentlest, most generous hearted horses I've ever been partnered with. Adored kids & dogs/cats/other animals. Always the field boss but never needed to do more than give the others a dirty look from time to time. She was a big girl, 17hh, TB X Warmblood, but never mareish. Just a lovely person to be around. (I have a soft spot for gingers, can you tell?! My OH is one too).
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This is exactly my mare! she is a big girl but always very sweet and gentle! Not one to suffer fools though!
 
I own a ginger girly and i absolutely love her. She's an angel on the ground towards humans but the definition of evil when it comes to other horses (even worse in season); she thrives on having a one on one horse/owner bond and individual turnout. Riding wise she's as genuine as you can get until you push her past what she deems is enough for the session, then she tries her luck by shoulder dropping and spinning or sitting on her backside. Everybody just laughs it off as "typical chestnut mare" behaviour but it makes you think of the chicken and egg argument. For a stereotype to be said so often in our world there had to be some form of an origin and something to base it off. So while i agree that yes, it probably is an old wives tale as each is to their own, i do think that something along the line had enough of an impact that we are still feeling it now so surely there must have been some form of truth behind it?
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
As title really.

Do Chestnut Mares live up to their reputation?

Is it true that they are difficult? Quirky? Fizz-up quickly? Are a nightmare to handle and ride and generally not something you'd want?

Or is this just an Old Wives Tale.

Opinions please!
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I have two chestnut mares and both have given me confidence and would look after me when I've had a melt down with nerves at competitions. They are both kind, fun, talented and genuine
 
No differance in my experience.

There is a chestnut TB mare at my yard and yes she has a panic mode, but then so does my bay WB mare. She is good to handle, not marish, just gets very attached to her field mates but is settling down now they are in overnight. Good to handle, good to other horses. She does get a bit fizzy but I wonder if it's because her owner is always saying "Ooooh shes a TB mare" and it plays into the behaviour if you get me?

One of the best mares I ever rode was a Chestnut mare. TB X I think she was. Trainable, good to handle in all ways, she could be a bit spooky and strong but never ever unsafe. Didn't buck, rear, nap, bolt, spin, nothing. Good to clip box and shoe, just too forward to be classed as a plod.

My friend has a Welsh Sec D liver chestnut. She is also good in all ways, can put children on her, hacks out for miles, she just doesn't like tractors with a turbo on and can be a bit rude on the ground.

So all in all, they have their attitudes, but then all horses do. Never met one that falls into the category of "typical chestnut mare".
 
The redhead anaesthesia thing is a "fact" according to Dr Google of course. But I'd just like to say, as a redhead married to a surgeon, it's not a "fact". He does say there's a bit of anecdotal thought around some people, but certainly the anaesthetists he works with don't see a redhead on the table and go, right, 20% more, as Google would have you believe. It's not a given. He also assures me I had a perfectly normal epidural ☺
 
Nudibranch said:
The redhead anaesthesia thing is a "fact" according to Dr Google of course. But I'd just like to say, as a redhead married to a surgeon, it's not a "fact". He does say there's a bit of anecdotal thought around some people, but certainly the anaesthetists he works with don't see a redhead on the table and go, right, 20% more, as Google would have you believe. It's not a given. He also assures me I had a perfectly normal epidural ☺
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I was at a barbeque with a consultant anesthetist this summer and I asked him. He was almost embarrassed and clearly it is something he is not encouraged to admit. But he said he will normally give redheads and anyone alcohol dependant more anaesthetic.
 
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I am a chestnut mare fan! I have 2. My New Forest is the epitome of a chestnut mare, she is opinionated and not afraid to share her opinion with those around her, when she doesn't feel like doing something she will argue but when she does feel like it she will outperform anything else I've ever owned by a mile. My other one, although she is only a tiddler, approx 11.1hh, I wouldn't say she is a suitable small child's pony. There's no malice in her, she is just rather too sharp.
 
I've had 3 chestnut mares (still have 2 of them) and they have all been quite different personality-wise and where they had similarities I put it down to them all being welsh rather than chestnuts or mares.

TBH I haven't owned many horses so I can't really say if they are sharper or more sensitive than others!
 
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