Is a foal....???

[vick]

What you train/teach it to be or what is breeding is, eg a jumper/nasty temperement

 

[alainax]

Nature vs Nurture debate - its a huge one!!!

I did numerous years at uni looking at this - in conclusion.... its both

 

[vick]

same as human bains, a little of everything humm, thanks

 

[JanetGeorge]

What you train/teach it to be or what is breeding is, eg a jumper/nasty temperement

Yep - bit of both.

Although very few foals are born with 'nasty' temperaments, some are born with the genetic make-up that might make them more difficult to get then handled nicely, e.g. more nervous than most, more high-strung than most. But GOOD handling from an early age can overcome this. The mare has a lotmore influence than the stallion - because in addition to her genetic input, she also has FAR more time to teach the foal 'behaviour' than you do. So the bossy,cowbag of a mare tends to have a bossy cowbag of a foal! The quiet, easy mare tends to have a quiet,easy foal (although if the mare is TOO much of a pushover, the foal may end up a bossy little git - particulrly with other horses, and especially if it's not reared with other mares and foals.

Athleticism (good jump, fantastic canter, BIG trot etc.) are all due MUCH more to genetic make-up - although obviously good training can improve on natural talent!

 

[Dolcé]

we have 3 youngsters, 2 with identical breeding and the other with the same sire as the other 2. All 3 when they arrived, 1 as a 2 year old and the other 2 at 6 months, were NASTY! They would have ears back from second they saw you and I mean flat back, they would bite nastily and were generally awful to handle. All 3 have turned out to be lovely, I know the grandsire was a nasty temperement (found that out later), the 2 younger ones came directly from the stud that bred them. I do think you can get around the nasty temperement but I do think that was bred into them, however, whether they will revert in the future if pushed we will have to wait and see!

Our own home bred baby never showed any nastiness from the day he was born and is as kind and laid back as the rest of our 'original' herd. I do wonder if this has rubbed off on the 3 youngsters and helped them to be 'nicer'.