Horse prejudice.

ILuvCowparsely said:
Don't understand why you could not say your horse was a standardbred. Seems strange when there is nothing really that should alienate a standard bred as something of distaste or something to avoid oin a livery yard.
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GoldenWillow said:
I do think cobs still tend to be looked down upon as not a "proper" horse and have noticed a prejudice against Standardbreds and trotters.
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paddy555 said:
Not sure why people are so uninterested and almost prejudiced against gaiting horses in the UK.
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Association with a certain human community has done them no favours in some people's eyes.
 
Warmbloods have been described many times on here as ā€œdumb-bloodsā€ with difficult tendencies. The two Iā€™ve had my old boy a BWB and my chestnut a KWPN have pretty much turned their hooves to anything and are polite with no vices. They donā€™t drag you down to the field or refuse to load or be caught like some horses that are supposed to be more suited to novices. šŸ™„. They still have their moments though but certainly nothing bad or mad.

I am a horse /animal lover and I love the diversity and accept each horse for what it is. Do I have preferences- yes, do I look down on others - no I donā€™t.

Standard-bred is not a breed Iā€™m really familiar with and not really come across except on here. Although if people are hiding their identities to avoid prejudice then maybe Iā€™ve met more than I realise šŸ§
 
The 'dumb-blood' stereotype -- Plenty of horses who fit it perfectly, and plenty who don't. Once worked on a dressage yard with about a dozen Hanoverians, who were total thugs and miserable to handle on the ground. When the trainer saw me doing a little bit of groundwork with one to stop it from running me over, he laughed and said, "These horses cannot be trained like your horse." Yes, I thought, because you can't be bothered training them.

Arabs are flighty -- I knew lots of Arabs in Colorado. Most were rock solid trail horses but some of the show bred ones could be quite bonkers.

TBs are nuts -- The ones I've known who came out of racing with their brains fried and with soundness issues certainly can be, but the one who weren't damaged by racing are amazing, calm horses who are used to everything.

PREs are hot -- Well, mine isn't, but n=1.

Drafts are slow and phlegmatic -- I've known some quite sharp ones.

Cobs are placid, beginner friendly horses -- I've known some sharp cobs too. Used to teach a lady who had one such horse. She'd bought it because she thought it would be novice-friendly, being a cob, but the mare was hot as a hot thing. She was a turbo-cob, lots of fun if you knew how to ride. Owner was one of these very uncoordinated, unbalanced beginners, and the mare was not forgiving. She'd buck off the rider when the rider got too wobbly and hung on her mouth. It was not a good partnership.

Highlands are slow and calm and good beginner horses -- Mine is not but I've met other ones who check that box.

Welsh sections Ds are fire breathing dragons -- I haven't come across one who bucks that stereotype yet.
 
Having Arab's for a lot years I've come across quite a bit of prejudice and strange bizarre comments.

I've had liveries refuse to have my horse in their field as Arab's continually gallop around and will cause my horse to copy and he will become wild to ride.

Non Arab shows are the worst I've been told I'm in the wrong class I should be in a part bred class!

Your horse should be plaited is a good one.

Arab's are all nutters and can't jump and run about with there noses in the air all the time.

There heads are ugly some guy once said Arabi looked like he had been repeatedly punched in the face.

I find most people love them or hate them.
 
LadyGascoyne said:
A lot of people comment that Arabs are flighty and easily spooked.

I usually point out that, since they have nearly 4000 years of historical use as war horses, I feel thatā€™s most likely a rider issue.
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It's normally a lack of proper work they are so intelligent they need to use there brain or they get bored and find silly things to došŸ˜

I think that's where alot of novice owners struggle with them they are not for everyone I agree with that.
 
Caol Ila said:
Once worked on a dressage yard with about a dozen Hanoverians, who were total thugs and miserable to handle on the ground. When the trainer saw me doing a little bit of groundwork with one to stop it from running me over, he laughed and said, "These horses cannot be trained like your horse." Yes, I thought, because you can't be bothered training them.
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Quite right I was told that too when OH and I had lessons at a specialist dressage yard. Their big horses all behaved with me. It is Shetlands I cant manage.
 
Pinkvboots said:
It's normally a lack of proper work they are so intelligent they need to use there brain or they get bored and find silly things to došŸ˜

I think that's where alot of novice owners struggle with them they are not for everyone I agree with that.
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My old Arab chap was a twit if he didn't have enough to do. Pretended he was frightened of traffic, which he wasn't. He just found the drama amusing.
 
Esmae said:
. The thing that drives me up the wall is the "Arabs can't jump" brigade. All sorts of prejudice against Arabs.
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if you are an intelligent horse what is the point of going round a course of jump after jump when they all look the same and you end up back where you started?
you can see arabs have a point about jumping.

They are quite happy to jump something that gets in their way on a ride. It would be silly not to.

what I do find strange in general is people's lack of interest in slightly different breeds. If someone had a different breed I would be asking to go see it. I might not want one but I would be interested to find out more.
 
Certainly not the case any more you need a big budget now for ridden new forests almost more expensive than a connemara.

Jenko109 said:
New Forest Ponies!

Even just today I saw someone comment that they all go for meat. It seems that too many people still are of the mindset that these ponies are worth nothing.
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paddy555 said:
if you are an intelligent horse what is the point of going round a course of jump after jump when they all look the same and you end up back where you started?
you can see arabs have a point about jumping.

They are quite happy to jump something that gets in their way on a ride. It would be silly not to.

what I do find strange in general is people's lack of interest in slightly different breeds. If someone had a different breed I would be asking to go see it. I might not want one but I would be interested to find out more.
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My Louis would jump coloured jumps he enjoyed it Arabi just used to spook at them but he will jump logs out hacking.
 
LadyGascoyne said:
A lot of people comment that Arabs are flighty and easily spooked.

I usually point out that, since they have nearly 4000 years of historical use as war horses, I feel thatā€™s most likely a rider issue.
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There's also the horrible way they are shown in hand; any horse would look flighty if people were whooping and stamping and flapping plastic bags at them

As for Arabs not jumping - this was in H&H recently, a story from 1968
Arabs can jump but people seem to have forgotten that they do!
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Yes, when I had my NF mare some uninitiated people would comment, "wouldn't you like a proper horse"......... absolutely no need, my pony was faster, could jump higher and was much better bred than their 2nd rate horses!
When I came to live in Devon I liveried on a farm known for breeding PB Arabs, the farmer's wife told me that they had gone right out of fashion (late 90's).

About that time I bought my coloured mare, my instructor's very experienced and old school mother said to me," she is only worth Ā£50.00 from an auction", I had paid Ā£800 for her and was offered Ā£15,000 (yes thousand) by a Swedish dressage trainer!

When I was just a teenager (late 50's /early 60's) my father bought me a big strong skewbald mare, cobx probably, we could both ride her and I don't remember any prejudice then, us kids would ride anything and between us we had a really handy bunch of ponies, I was even happy riding the mule!!

If I had a prejudice myself i would say it was against Shetlands (sorry!), just can't quite see the point in them.
 
So much prejudice against Arabs, they are mad, neurotic, can't do dressage, don't jump, hate water etc etc. Only one of mine has been more of the stereotypical types and even she was a super safe hack albeit hot so not for a novice and did a lovely dressage test. The proper ridden types are great riding club level horses as most people want a fun safe hack, do some unaffiliated dressage and be able to jump at local shows but most people are convinced they are no good at anything unfortunately.
 
malwhit said:
Years ago cobs were not the hairy coloured horses that are called cobs, or traditional cobs now.They were short backed, square horses - they were the body of a horse on the legs of a pony. The skewbald/ piebald "traditional cobs" were just called Gipsy horses/ponies.
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They were called vanners, meant for pulling gypsy & tradesmen's vans, not for riding.
 
I've been told I'm short sighted not buying a grey. After all if a horse can do a job why worry its coat colour? But I don't think I'm prejudiced when saying I do want to buy a coloured or grey/palamino/dun.

It's just what you like. Like I'd hate to have a brown car or a yellow coat. It's just personal preference.

I don't dislike cobs either, I just prefer ISH ir WB'S
 
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