Is it bad to dislike a horse?

My best mate dislikes one of mine. He's not too struck on her but they muddle along ok with me in the middle. She really disliked my last gelding too but he was an odd soul.
 
I'm sure my old appaloosa would have been on lots of peoples list of horses they hated, he used to bite and kick pretty much everyone, and his previous owner had to have 3 people to tack him up, he hated being rugged and would throw people off for a laugh.
I just clicked with him though, from the first ride I adored him. Even when he was trying to ( or succeeded ) having me off I used to think it was funny. He never tried to bite or kick me, although I always was very careful not to let other people handle him with out me being there incase he turned again.
There have been a couple of horses that I just didn't click with, they didn't do anything wrong, I just didn't like them very much, but again, they were idolised by their owners.
The only horse I ever hated belonged to a friend of mine. I am sure that he had something badly wrong with him, he used to bolt with her and caused quite a nasty accident for her once, another time he reared for no reason and fell backwards down a cliff. Miraculously he and his rider were ok, but I never trusted him after that, I don't like horses that don't have self preservation.
There is a horse on agistment where I am at the moment, who all the lliveries and the workers say they hate, he is for sale and his owner doesn't seem to like him very much either.
I feel sorry for him, it must be horrible for him to be disliked by everyone that handles him.
Kx
 
There were a couple at college I really disliked.

One was a little blue and white gypsy cob type, hated riding him, really disliked caring for him. He was box you in the corner of the stable and try to bite or kick you. You could barely touch him without him launching at you. He towed you anywhere and everywhere on the yard. I got someone else to do him after his back feet missed my head by an inch.

Another one would pull evil faces as soon as you stood by the door of the stable, try to bite, try to kick, and bolted with me when I rode him. I was banned from riding him after that, although it was nothing to do with my riding, we just didn't get along!
 
The only ones I haven't liked have been ones that have no manners what so ever, do to their owners not handling them correctly. eg; a Knapstrupper Stallion who's owner let him barge past her when lead, would not use anything but a float boot that had been worn by a mare when he decided he didn't want to get in the float and also thought it was cute when he threw his head up when you tried to put a bridle on him. Might be cute when they are foals, but not cute when they are 700kg+!!
 
I know a lady with a bug eyed little welsh pony. He's affiliated, wins everything and anything on a good day but i dont like him. Maybe its the bug eyes, maybe its a lack of personality or something. I have no idea but he's done nothing wrong i just dont like him. Saying that i dont exactly hate him either.
 
Wagtail said:
I know what you mean about 'bland' horses. I much perfer something with 'character' which usually means they have some kind of naughty streak. I like a horse that shows intelligence too. Some horses can appear bland, and then they do something such as looking out for a younger horse that is being bullied and you realise there is a lot more going on inside that head than it would at first appear.
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I'm with you on that! I think that's a major reason, given the choice, that I prefer to work with stallions.
 
mandwhy said:
Horses I don't like it is usually because they just seem dumb and soulless to me, I get this more with geldings, I just feel that there's nothing behind the eyes sometimes. It does make me feel a bit bad saying that though, I'm sure plenty of people like these uncomplicated types!
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This. There's one on our yard who I find unbearably thick and dull . . . not really his fault . . . he's also not particularly affectionate either. Ah well - to each his/her own.

P
 
I don't think I've ever hated a horse, but I'm scared of 2 at the moment! I like them, but I just would rather not be near them.

One is a 17hh ISH and is just vile. Pulls faces, kicks, bites and won't be caught!! However, he does have a nice side, we had a lovely little cuddle over the fence the other day :) it was really nice!
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The other is a little welshie. I used to be fine with him, in fact (I don't know if you remember) I was going to share him! He was a sweet thing who'd had a bad experience which had soured him against people, but I could see he would make a nice pony. However, due to complications I couldn't share him and he went to a weird woman who's completely turned him into a devil pony. He chased my mother, kicked YM, kicked YO and all sorts of other nasty things.

Toby may be nasty, but he has his sweet moments and he's a great ride (not my type, but has plenty of fans) but the other...no redeeming features apart from being gorgeous.
 
I don't dislike bland horses, I just don't gel with them like I do with opinionated strong minded ones, especially stereotypical mares & dominant stallions or geldings. And if I think about it, all my favourite horses have had quite dominant personalities, rather than submissive. There's been a few described on this thread who actually sound like my type of horse tbh.
 
I had a chestnut mare (part bred arab) I disliked, and there wasn't a bad bone in her body. She was just petrified of me. She was given to me by her breeder (DO look a gift horse in the mouth). I knew her history from birth and it was a wonderful life. I found it frustrating that one day she would let me put a head collar on her, the next she would act like I've been beating her with it for years. No explanation for it.

I gave her away and her new owners have been saying to people that she was obviously badly mistreated (essentially pointing the finger at me). When I heard this I was horrified, upset and offended. But then I realised that if I had been given her from a rescue centre and she acted like that then I would have felt sorry for her and loved her. It's because I know she never had a finger laid on her that made me dislike her.

So I decided to just let the new owners go around telling people she was beaten her whole life if that will make them love her.

She also had a very screechy neigh that grated my ears. I'm glad I don't have to listen to that every day
 
I know a lot of people dont like my mare as she can pull faces and doesn't like people she doesn't know to catch her/go in her stable (good reason for this, ***** at old yard used to stick nails etc in her stable at night and do god knows what else!)
And she's essentially "useless" non ridden welshie who's a bit of a diva :rolleyes: but shes got character and that's why I love her :)

The one horse I really hated was one I was looking after, a 30 year old spoilt brat who got everything he wanted by demanding it and his owner always gave in to him. If he didn't want to do something he didn't have to, if he started kicking the fence he got a bucket of feed, if he didn't want the little pony in his field she was sectioned off :mad: drove me absolutely insane!
 
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