Horse prejudice.

[HorseMaid]

I know I'm biased but I think my mare, who is 33% Arab, the rest crossed with cob/ID is amazing. I wish she was a hand bigger but oh well. She's got all the Arab attributes in a heavier set body, and I'd love a purebred Arab in the future.

I've met some fantastic ones, so I don't know whether I'd say it's a prejudice, but I don't think I could ever own a proper really hairy, feathery cob. They're just not my cup of tea. When my mare's inherited feathers and tail start getting a bit out of hand I do cut it all off, we call it "cutting off the cob" and no one is allowed to mention the "C" word when we talk about her.

Apart from that I absolutely love learning about the different attributes of various breeds and would love to try them all out!

 

[CanteringCarrot]

doesn't anyone just like horses? I love all horses. There are some breeds that would be unsuitable for me but I love them all.

Sure.

I also think there is something to learn from every horse too.

 

[Hepsibah]

I think the only horses I'm prejudiced against are the extreme broken faced arabs. I find them revolting and wouldn't want anything to do with them or the people who buy them or breed them.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Where is Shils? Why isn't she here professing her love for all things Cob?

 

[marmalade76]

A few pages back there was a pic from the USA about 'Gypsy vanners'. That made me laugh a bit, as it referred to them as 'purebred gypsy vanners'. I mean, there could be anything in the background of a coloured cob, I can't see how they can be purebred anything.

I too have had the 'carthorse' comment while out riding a Fell.

I think it was Birker who said they'd never have a brown car. My car is brown and although I rarely clean it, it doesn't show the dirt much at all. I wasn't sure at first but now I like it

They also called them "carriage" horses, "cart" would be more accurate.

 

[Time for Tea]

A grey is easier than a coloured! If it looks yellow it looks the same colour all over. If a white bit on a coloured looks yellow it looks 5x as bad next to the brown or black patches

I don't like fleabitten greys they end up looking spotted

I once had a blue and white small coloured horse, his blue grey patches were blackish when young, his paler skin just grey. As an old boy he was snowy white except for his blue grey patches which were flea bitten! He had one blue eye and one brown one. I’m sure you would have loved him………well I did, he taught me to jump and I was 50 and had never jumped before. It was quite an achievement for him. And me!

 

[Caol Ila]

I don’t think either the current pony nor the previous one did anything to dispel any prejudices against their breeds! The chestnut Welsh was absolutely everything you’d expect in terms of being an idiotic spooking, snorting dragon. The Highland puts in no more effort than is required into any activity that isn’t eating (or being a thug) & is described as slovenly by my instructor (who loves him really). He also thinks he is in fact a dog which seems to be another breed trait.

Mine have swapped breed traits. My PRE is so laid back she is horizontal, while my Highland is hot and spooky.

Sure.

I also think there is something to learn from every horse too.

To be honest, when I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was about prejudiced horses. I have a couple embarassing stories about my horses spooking at women in burkas we've hacked passed in the park, another about Fin spooking at a guy with some kind of motor disability, and yet another about him quickly ducking behind his trail buddy when a couple people with learning disabilities wanted to interact with the horses. Thankfully, his career as a therapy horse never took off.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

On the issue of Arabs and fashion, I suspect there is also an element of change in attitude to weight, size and saddle fitting.

When I was a child, I think taller people were happier to ride smaller horses. And perhaps people were generally thinner or we didn’t have as much focus on weight.

My riding instructor evented her Anglo Arab to a high level, and he was only 15.1. These days people seem to want (or need) bigger horses or chunkier horses. There Is definitely more of a fashion for solid-looking horses. Which I definitely like too but just not to the exclusion of lighter types.

I also don’t remember struggling to find saddles to fit my Arabs and part-breds, and I had a few. One saddle fitter recently told me it may be that I can’t ride Mimosa in anything other than a dressage saddle because of her shape. It has been expensive, stressful and time-consuming to get her into tack, and I still don’t have a GP for her so would be jumping in a dressage saddle if I decided to jump.

well mainly its a case of breed your own!

40 years and 5 generations later i am pleased with the result

I may have to do just that at some point!

 

[ycbm]

One saddle fitter recently told me it may be that I can’t ride Mimosa in anything other than a dressage saddle because of her shape. It has been expensive, stressful and time-consuming to get her into tack, and I still don’t have a GP for her so would be jumping in a dressage saddle if I decided to jump.

Have you looked at WOW or any other saddle where the panel sits behind the shoulder blade and the flap goes forward over it? WOW can also take a16 inch panel on a 17 inch seat if she needs that as a short backed arab.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Have you looked at WOW or any other saddle where the panel sits behind the shoulder blade and the flap goes forward over it? WOW can also take a16 inch panel on a 17 inch seat if she needs that as a short backed arab.

We tried so many that I’ve lost track but I will look into this again perhaps with a different fitter. Thanks for the recommendation.

Our saddle fitter was very much of the “oh well Arabs are really tricky” but didn’t have very many solutions for that.

Her dressage saddle is a Nick Dolman monoflap saddle and it is absolutely lovely but I’d love a GP for her to hack in.

 

[ycbm]

I was so ignorant I didn't know Arabs reputations when I bought my first horse. He was a purebred 4 year old who had been broken 6 weeks. He never gave me any trouble riding wise, but he was a nightmare to catch.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

On the issue of Arabs and fashion, I suspect there is also an element of change in attitude to weight, size and saddle fitting.

When I was a child, I think taller people were happier to ride smaller horses. And perhaps people were generally thinner or we didn’t have as much focus on weight.

My riding instructor evented her Anglo Arab to a high level, and he was only 15.1. These days people seem to want (or need) bigger horses or chunkier horses. There Is definitely more of a fashion for solid-looking horses. Which I definitely like too but just not to the exclusion of lighter types.

I also don’t remember struggling to find saddles to fit my Arabs and part-breds, and I had a few. One saddle fitter recently told me it may be that I can’t ride Mimosa in anything other than a dressage saddle because of her shape. It has been expensive, stressful and time-consuming to get her into tack, and I still don’t have a GP for her so would be jumping in a dressage saddle if I decided to jump.



I may have to do just that at some point!

Have you looked at Fiona Cork saddles? A friend of a friend who has arabs for endurance has got a gp from FC for one of hers which has a sharer, she's v happy, trees are m2m.
I have one (I covet their jump saddles too but cannot warrant a 3rd saddle) and feel like I can go all day in it.

 

[tristar]

sure there was a saddle co that made for specifically arabians at one time

 

[tristar]

On the issue of Arabs and fashion, I suspect there is also an element of change in attitude to weight, size and saddle fitting.

When I was a child, I think taller people were happier to ride smaller horses. And perhaps people were generally thinner or we didn’t have as much focus on weight.

My riding instructor evented her Anglo Arab to a high level, and he was only 15.1. These days people seem to want (or need) bigger horses or chunkier horses. There Is definitely more of a fashion for solid-looking horses. Which I definitely like too but just not to the exclusion of lighter types.

I also don’t remember struggling to find saddles to fit my Arabs and part-breds, and I had a few. One saddle fitter recently told me it may be that I can’t ride Mimosa in anything other than a dressage saddle because of her shape. It has been expensive, stressful and time-consuming to get her into tack, and I still don’t have a GP for her so would be jumping in a dressage saddle if I decided to jump.

arabian saddle co
they are still there on the web, just looked

but there is loads of different makes

 

[criso]

On the issue of Arabs and fashion, I suspect there is also an element of change in attitude to weight, size and saddle fitting.

When I was a child, I think taller people were happier to ride smaller horses. And perhaps people were generally thinner or we didn’t have as much focus on weight.

It's definitely the case now that people want taller horses but I'm not sure it's necessarily about weight.

I've seen so many adverts and on yards teenagers moving onto really big horses. Wanted adverts that say must be at least 16.2 because.my daughter is tall. The daughter in question may be tall for 14, though we are talking 5'6" not 6', but is very slim.

None of us wanted to move off our 14.2s certainly not to 16.2. However competitions were divided by height of horse so we would have had to move into open sections, now it's by height of jump so they can still jump 60cm

 

[paddy555]

To be honest, when I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was about prejudiced horses. I have a couple embarassing stories about my horses spooking at women in burkas we've hacked passed in the park, another about Fin spooking at a guy with some kind of motor disability, and yet another about him quickly ducking behind his trail buddy when a couple people with learning disabilities wanted to interact with the horses. Thankfully, his career as a therapy horse never took off.

I think on the basis of that my arabs were totally bombproof , or they were just simply VERY shocked.

one lovely warm Sunday afternoon, one arab gelding and one arab stallion, we rode down a lovely grassy small field with tall grass at the side. We didn't see till the last moment (and then we had no idea where to look!!) in the tall grass were a couple, both naked, "at it". Horses looked straight ahead and carried on walking and so did we. The couple carried on with their "activities"

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I'm a bit glad that Arab's and their crosses aren't as fashionable, keeps them within budget for me .

I definitely think it might be a height/ weight thing, I adored my first PBA but always wished she was a fraction taller (she was only 14.3hh) and I had to work hard to keep my weight down to keep riding her (though maybe that was a good thing for my waist ).

On the issue of Arabs and fashion, I suspect there is also an element of change in attitude to weight, size and saddle fitting.

When I was a child, I think taller people were happier to ride smaller horses. And perhaps people were generally thinner or we didn’t have as much focus on weight.

My riding instructor evented her Anglo Arab to a high level, and he was only 15.1. These days people seem to want (or need) bigger horses or chunkier horses. There Is definitely more of a fashion for solid-looking horses. Which I definitely like too but just not to the exclusion of lighter types.

I also don’t remember struggling to find saddles to fit my Arabs and part-breds, and I had a few. One saddle fitter recently told me it may be that I can’t ride Mimosa in anything other than a dressage saddle because of her shape. It has been expensive, stressful and time-consuming to get her into tack, and I still don’t have a GP for her so would be jumping in a dressage saddle if I decided to jump.



I may have to do just that at some point!

Same, I never struggled with my first PBA for saddles, (unlike the two carriage bred horses!), not sure what you've tried but she wore a Jeffries WH that fits Beryl too, and before that I think it was a Paul Jones GP that we had. Beryl is currently sporting Equipes, dressage (Olympia that was Topaz's bizarrely) and a jump (Synergy), she does need a crescent shaped girth due to a forward girth groove and tendencies towards croup high, though she seems to be levelling out nicely as she grows! Both have been typically, wide barreled, short back, croup high and forward girth grooves.

Though to be honest I've never really had much prejudice against us, the two carriage bred ones we actually got more complimentary comments out doing dressage about seeing 'normal' horses doing higher levels. The only thing I hear alot is that Arabs don't jump and I've no idea where that comes from!

 

[marmalade76]

On the issue of Arabs and fashion, I suspect there is also an element of change in attitude to weight, size and saddle fitting.

When I was a child, I think taller people were happier to ride smaller horses. And perhaps people were generally thinner or we didn’t have as much focus on weight.

My riding instructor evented her Anglo Arab to a high level, and he was only 15.1. These days people seem to want (or need) bigger horses or chunkier horses. There Is definitely more of a fashion for solid-looking horses. Which I definitely like too but just not to the exclusion of lighter types.

I also don’t remember struggling to find saddles to fit my Arabs and part-breds, and I had a few. One saddle fitter recently told me it may be that I can’t ride Mimosa in anything other than a dressage saddle because of her shape. It has been expensive, stressful and time-consuming to get her into tack, and I still don’t have a GP for her so would be jumping in a dressage saddle if I decided to jump.



I may have to do just that at some point!

Have you tried show or working hunter saddles? I have a Humphries & Swain GP that worked really well on my arab. AH (Andrea Hicks) are worth a look too.

 

[marmalade76]

Mine have swapped breed traits. My PRE is so laid back she is horizontal, while my Highland is hot and spooky.


To be honest, when I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was about prejudiced horses. I have a couple embarassing stories about my horses spooking at women in burkas we've hacked passed in the park, another about Fin spooking at a guy with some kind of motor disability, and yet another about him quickly ducking behind his trail buddy when a couple people with learning disabilities wanted to interact with the horses. Thankfully, his career as a therapy horse never took off.

I've had a couple who didn't like greys/light coloured/coloured horses, one was grey himself.

 

[Caol Ila]

My horses are fat-shaming too. Yikes!

Last month, OH and I had Hermosa in the park. Me riding, him walking. We met a woman who was large, shall we say, and she had a dress on, so she kind of resembled a tent with legs. Hermosa clambered into the grass on the side of the trail to put space between her and this woman, and she did that banana-shape thing horses do when you ask them to pass something they are not sure about. Most of the trails in the park go in circular routes, hence a wee while later, we encountered her a second time. Once again, Hermosa banana'd to the other side of the trail whilst giving her a bug-eyed look.

The woman said, "Why is she afraid of me?"

OH and I were not sure what to say, so we stared blankly.

 

[Nudibranch]

I have a Dales who receives a lot of compliments. But not long after I got her, an ex neighbour who did know better said, " Oh, are you going to put her to a tb and breed something bigger?".
Er no, I'm not. She's 15.1 and takes up the leg plenty thanks. And if I did ever breed her it would be to a Dales.
What's with some people's obsession with bigger = better? As the owner of several big horses, all deceased at relatively early ages including a 17.3 who was pts at 7, I can categorically state bigger is not better.