Horse colour preconceptions

[ams88]

Hello!!

Does anyone have any preconceptions of certain colour horses...or maybe superstitions? There are a lot of preconceptions about other animals such as cats (black ones being unlucky...tortoiseshell being mischievous!) and I wondered if it was the same in horses.

 

[iAMASHOWJUMPER]

chestnut mares are likely to be insane

 

[Kelly1982]

Especially ones with four White socks isnt it?

 

[cptrayes]

I don't agree with it but:

One white sock, buy it
Two white socks, try it
Three white socks, suspect it
Four white socks, reject it.

In my experience, though most chestnuts are absolutely fine, and horses of all colours can be spooky, a chestnut is more likely to be a spooky horse than any other colour is.

 

[FabioandFreddy]

chestnut mares are likely to be insane

True from the one's i've known! Think i've just been unlucky though!

Cobs are all plods! Hear that one a lot though know some people with horses to dispel that myth!

Nothing supersticious but i'm not a fan of coloureds. Just personal choice!

 

[wildflower]

Welsh chestnut mares are.... I can vouch ..nutcases....having owned one for the last 4 yrs...she is a hormonal, contrary, forward, sharp, loveable sweetheart,....must say it has,nt put me off owning another one either , she has taught my daughter how to sit a buck

 

[Janah]

A bad Dun? No such thing!

 

[ams88]

I have heard that grey horses are meant to be unlucky in racing...has anyone else heard this?

 

[black_horse]

black ones are unlucky :S

Delicia is black with one white sock...so i should buy it but she will be unlucky

 

[MeganLindsx]

dark horses with no white markings= easy to groom

 

[only_me]

I don't think desert orchid would agree with greys race badly

A good coloured is hard to beat

 

[patchwork puzzle]

chestnut mares are likely to be insane

My experiences have put me off bays and made chestnuts my favourites forever.

My first pony was a chestnut Arab X Welsh with four white socks and was the best little pony ever.
After I sadly lost her, I had two bays and they were both crazy (one did have a brain tumour bless her so she could be forgiven.RIP Jazz)
However I now once again have a chestnut mare and once again, she is fantastic, a real sweetheart.

 

[saffytessa]

chestnut mares are likely to be insane

A bad Dun? No such thing!

This made me laugh as my chestnut is the most laid back sweetheart and my dun is a stressy spooky nutter. Still love them both though

ETA Chestnut is also part welsh and the dun is of the cobby variety!

 

[abitodd]

chestnut mares are likely to be insane

There is, I believe, scientific research to back this up.

Chestnut horses have more nerve endings,therefore are more sensitive/spooky. And of course mares have added hormones.

Next on the sensitive scale come black horses.

Of course sensitive horses are the most rewarding to train!

 

[Piglet]

You never get a bad roan, chestnut mares = scatty, (apparently before anyone starts battering me)

 

[sakura]

dark horses with no white markings= easy to groom

and those mostly white = very difficult to remember what colour they used to be was it brown? black? ... green?

 

[LadyRascasse]

If your horse is named anything like Joe (Seppy, Seth Joey etc) it will be prone to vets bills I say this as my lad Joe was a walking vet bill and my friend brought a horse named it Seppy as she used to ride my lad and he was so good and she loved him. and hers turned into a walking vet bill. both were PTS a month apart!!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Utter, total *******s.

We know far more about colour genetics now and genetially the base colours are black or chestnut (you can have one black and one chestnut gene - Ee - but the horse will look black as that is dominant) every other colour is one of those base colours that has been modified by other genes.

If chestnuts are nutty, surely every horse that is genetically chestnut should be nutty too (red duns, palominos, chestnut/greys, chestnut skewbalds, chestnut appys, strawberry roan etc...) and is an Ee horse half nutty?

How the horse is handled, brought up and trained has far more effect.

 

[black_horse]

faracat i think we are aware of this

 

[Montyforever]

Have to say I have never met a sane grey mare yet but have known some lovely chestnut mares

 

[Suziq77]

I have heard that grey horses are meant to be unlucky in racing...has anyone else heard this?

Oh yeah. Desert Orchid - he was a shocker!

Alferof and Grand Crus? Wouldn't touch them***

A good horse is never a bad colour


**** secretly coveting both and hoping somehow their owners decide that they have a future in the showring with me riding them....

 

[LadyRascasse]

Oh yeah. Desert Orchid - he was a shocker!

Alferof and Grand Crus? Wouldn't touch them***

A good horse is never a bad colour


**** secretly coveting both and hoping somehow their owners decide that they have a future in the showring with me riding them....

Dynaste isn't bad either, 2nds only to the legend that is Big Bucks

 

[Meowy Catkin]

faracat i think we are aware of this

There are some very experianced horse people (unfortunately I seem to know them all) that really believe it.

 

[Suziq77]

Dynaste isn't bad either, 2nds only to the legend that is Big Bucks

Big Bucks - wow!

Love my grey horses best tho

 

[nuttychestnuthorse]

Chestnut mares - nutters, but then my tb chestnut mare when she wants to work she's proving to be amazing so it's whether or not you can handle the nuttiness!!

 

[VioletStripe]

Greys and coloureds will mean a completely insane owner - I have never had to spend so long grooming! xx

 

[ausipaliboi]

I was once telling a friend what my 'special' palomino had done and her reply was that's typical of pali's.

The socks poem I know is

One white sock, keep for life
Two white socks, keep for a week
Three white socks, keep not a day
Four white socks, send far away

 

[*hic*]

It's funny how many variations there are on that rhyme. The one I grew up with was

one white foot, buy him
two white feet, try him
three white feet, look well about him
four white feet, do without him

As for horses named Joe being walking vet bills. My Joe really bucked the trend on that. I think we owned him for five years, he never saw the vet other than for routine jabs.

 

[LadyRascasse]

As for horses named Joe being walking vet bills. My Joe really bucked the trend on that. I think we owned him for five years, he never saw the vet other than for routine jabs.

I actually think with my lad with was more an age thing, for the first 2 years we had him, never sick or sorry (18/19) when he was 20 he has a very severe lameness, change of farrier sorted that. 21 cut his forelock and started to get stiffer behind arthritis. 22 he was fine but we suspected cushings. 23 very bad winter with his cushings. 24 diagnosed with cataracts. from day one he had copd too. However even though he had ailments he was the nicest and kindest horse you could wish to meet. He was a pleasure (and an expense ) to own

 

[muffinmunsh]

Op ... Tortoise shell cats are considered lucky in Germany

Chestnut mares are the BEST IMHO!