Natural ability- discuss

[Grey_Eventer]

how far do you think a horses natural ability to jump, do dressage etc. etc. etc. can take them? do you think some horses are born with "it"? how much can training really help, or does a horse need a certain amount of ability to do well?

just interested in what you think of natural ability and whether you think horses are born with it or it is all down to training.
people always tell me my horse has natural ability, and of course whatever training he had will have helped, but they always say he just has such a careful jump that that is something you cant teach a horse, they are born with it...

ps. yes i am bored, and im watching jackass!

 

[kerilli]

i've had both, horses with oodles of natural ability (bay gelding 2nd right in my siggy, wb x tb, could have jumped a bloody house, was the only horse i've ever sat on that i would have come down to a Puissance wall on) and virtually none (homebred ch mare far left of siggy.) she was pretty limited, people who've seen vids of her can't believe she got to 2* level and happily popped round, but she was totally honest, totally trusting, and tried her little heart out for me. but with all the will in the world, she didn't have any more pop, and it would have been unfair on her to ask her to jump bigger fences, because if i made a slight mistake she had no more jump/scope to use to get us out of trouble. Advanced showjumping showed her limits, so she never ran xc in A.
you can teach them style, i totally believe that, but you cannot give them scope. an accurate rider can help a lot, and accuracy makes the fences smaller (or the other way around maybe!)
i think you can teach them conscience too (well, some of them!) but some horses just naturally hate to touch a fence, while others really don't care at all.
a good test is to jump an upright a few times and then put it up about 4 holes. some horses NEVER notice the first time, they'll clout it and then the next time make more effort. jumping by braille. i try to avoid these ones, esp for xc!!!

 

[dieseldog]

Horses are born with talent and like humans some are more talented than others. But just because they are talented doesn't mean they are any good. I would much rather have a horse that wanted to do the job and was less talented.

 

[LEC]

I can reel off names of horses that though talented were not natural but they had a big heart and so they got to the top. You can try to breed the best but if they do not want to do it then you have no hope.

I think dressage is more about conformation than any of the other sports.

 

[Lou_Lou123]

I think ability is an obvious advantage, but attitude has alot to do with it. I have a horse with plenty of scope, but if he's having a bad day he won't jump a crosspole!

As said above, I think training can help but trainability is equally important.

 

[milliepops]

Not much to add to this discussion, but I just thought
[ QUOTE ]
jumping by braille

[/ QUOTE ]
was a brilliant phrase. Can I nick it?

In my limited experience, talent without 'conscience' as K puts it, is not that useful. I'm not sure how 'talented' my mare is, but she is all heart which is worth so much more to me. I used to ride another horse which had plenty of natural ability, but didn't really want to use it, which made for some miserable riding

 

[kerilli]

i totally agree, i'll go for effort over natural talent every time.
"jumping by braille" isn't mine unfortunately, it was said of Charisma's sjing, a long time ago!

 

[milliepops]

ah, in that case, I'll nick it without worrying then!!

 

[connie1288]

I have the horse that is bred for purpose, bred by Preci Spark, she is very tricky in that she is very talented, and has the ability to be very good, IF she chooses to help you. She does not have a huge conscience for hitting a fence, braile can often be the understatment and she would definatly fail Kerillis 4 hole test, however she is one of the best xc i have ever sat on, safe as houses even if i mess it up entirely.
On the switch side, i had a 14.3 connie x tb, she had no natural paces, poor conformation, but she had a heart of gold. She easily popped round JRN's with a very green rider on top aged 6.
Was she talented, to me yes, to most looking in probably not, she was a fat pony that chose to do the job for me, would i have changed her, not at all.
Sorry rambles, in rather a thinking mood 2nite!!