quirky and talented vs sensible- what would you rather have?

hmm, difficult one. At the end of the day, I have ambitions and therefore require a talented horse to help me reach them, if the quirks are part of that, so be it.

My previous competition mare (now retired) was spooky as hell but gave 110% in the ring, however I wouldn't have called her quirky. My current young horse on the otherhand *is* quirky. Cold backed, requires very careful mounting etc and is sharp to ride, but he has 10times more talent than my mare and I accept him for his quirks. It may take him a little longer to peak, but the rewards I think will be greater.

I think it also depends on your facilities and help available. Without access to good training, I guess it would make more sense to have the more sensible steed.
 
KPM said:
hmm, difficult one. At the end of the day, I have ambitions and therefore require a talented horse to help me reach them, if the quirks are part of that, so be it.

My previous competition mare (now retired) was spooky as hell but gave 110% in the ring, however I wouldn't have called her quirky. My current young horse on the otherhand *is* quirky. Cold backed, requires very careful mounting etc and is sharp to ride, but he has 10times more talent than my mare and I accept him for his quirks. It may take him a little longer to peak, but the rewards I think will be greater.

I think it also depends on your facilities and help available. Without access to good training, I guess it would make more sense to have the more sensible steed.
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sounds just like my 5 year old :D i am really quite jealous of people with 5 year olds that you can just get on and don't have to walk around in hand with first... :rolleyes:
its interesting hearing all your experiences...i guess cost must also come into it- the sane and super talented would cost £££s wheras a quirk might make a super talented horse much cheaper?
 
i think it is all about degrees... of talent and quirk.

Pilfer is out on loan because he makes PN feel ridiculously easy but cannot make the step up to Novice 'properly' to be competitive.
he is a bit tricky on the flat but essentially a very straight forward, point and go horse.


Azu was sold because he was quirky beyond belief and scared the c**p out of me!

the very, very experience and famous 4**** rider i sold him to also found his nerve limit and sold on- despite Azu going Intermediate as a 6yro in his second season eventing, going to team training etc.


I now have Millie who at 6 is emerging out of her quirkiness at last and i know when she is channelled she will be amazing.

I also have Vinnie who at 4 has attracted a number of top eventers 'touting' for the ride on him- he is sharp and sensitive but supremely talented and the 'softly, softly' approach is working well.
 
I'm a little bit inbetween- I like ponies! Mostly sensible, with a bit of cheekiness, but no nastiness. I loved my Welshie, who had a fair bit of talent and varied between being a plod with a nervous rider and getting progressively cheekier the more confident you became. To me that was fun, because he always kept me guessing but never scared me.

Little sister on the other hand relishes a challenge and would definitely be in the 'quirky but talented' group. She has guts and a mare that's perfectly happy to do warp speed spins and spooks- that makes her laugh. Anything else is considered boring in the extreme.
 
Most definitely sensible!

I just could not cope with a quirky horse, I like my horses to be safe and quiet..........however, I'm so so lucky that I've found a horse who is safe but also is very talented :D Ok not mega mega talented like top level talented but talented enough for a lot of people to like him :)
 
Totay agree with those who have said it's about degrees - of quirkiness of talent and of riding ability!
My little Arab has been my perfect horse for the last 5 years, he is sharp, quick and spooky at times but I know him better than I know myself sometimes and nothing he has ever done has worried me in the slightest. He's had other people off several times and has bolted with people etc but never with me. Yes, at xc or out hacking he will bounce and buck but it's never felt unseating. But his talent for jumping tops out at about 1m. The youngster was meant to end up as OH's RC alleounder. But he is a LOT more talented than that. I wouldn't call him quirky, but he does have a big old buck and people have commented on that a few times! But again it's not worried me yet. Like KatB's lucky, he's sensible to handle and travel and in new environments, might just try a few acrobatics at times. But to some riders, possibly more technically capable than me but who hadn't had a sharp bouncy little Arab, his high-jinks might be more of an issue?
He's more than talented enough for me but has given my ambitions a boost as I know he has the jump to go novice easily one day.
But one thing I couldn't have is a dull horse I think. I do know people who have schoolmaster types who just go out and win at lower levels easily every time - I'm not sure that would be enough of a challenge for me. Don't get me wrong, I love that J is quite easy these days and consistant at competitions, but I have the satifactiom of knowing how far he has come!
 
sensible - Henry had more than enough jump for anything I could have ever wanted to do - and should have won at dressage. Yet take him to shows, sometimes he was an angel, others throw a strop, wouldnt jump or just be horrid. Last show he went to he spent the entire time trying to nap out of the school we were doing the dressage test in.
 
Agree with everyone on here that it depends on the quirk and the rider's confidence/ability. I love a quirky horse, but I will NEVER (knowingly) have a rearer - OH's horse will go up and has come over backwards a few times (thank god never seriously injuring him) and that, to me, is totally unacceptable and scares me - both as a bystander and a rider. Having said that, a few exictable 'bunny hops' aren't a problem, I think that shows personality.

I was very lucky to have a fantastic pony growing up and I think that meant my confidence was kept really high. After that I had a mare who, although talented at DR (only did a couple of tests on her as only had her a year, but over 70% every time) was a total b**** when it came to handling and loading. Mum also handles my horses and, although she's totally capable, she's softer than me and the mare floored her a couple of times. I certainly wasn't going to stand for that, or the added stress of her not wanting to load for 2 hours at a show etc. So she made me realise that manners on the ground are paramount.

But after her I had a horse who was like my pony but 16.1, completely vice-free and an angel to handle. We could go out and be consistently placed, but 1m05 was his limit. Although this was fine for a while, I didn't like knowing for sure that there was no chance of going any further with him. And, more importantly, I knew that a RC home would be perfect for him and didn't want to keep pushing him and knock his confidence when someone else could be having sooo much fun with him doing RC stuff.

The one I have now is certainly quirky - he stresses when left in the stable block alone, will destroy a lorry if his friends are taken off and he's left on, is really spooky to ride, is horrifically inconsistent, but is mega talented when he tries, is an angel to handle and has the sweetest nature of any horse I've ever met. He doesn't deal with pressure very well, hence the inconsistency, and that's partly my fault for having pushed him too hard, too soon. But having taken him back to basics he's starting to realise that going to shows doesn't have to be a stressful experience (and, while he won't stand alone on a lorry, he'll stand all day on a trailer!!).

So, basically, for me manners on the ground are everything - I could give the current horse to a 5 year old and know he would behave, but he challenges me every day and I never know what I'm going to get when I get on. The inconsistency can be demoralising - as the saying goes, there's no greater leveller than a horse - but I can often pinpoint why it's happened. I've had him 2 years but am only really just starting to learn about him and, improtantly, I can now tell how he's feeling in a warm up and, whereas before I'd go in the ring anyway because I'd paid my entry fee, I have no qualms about withdrawing if he doesn't feel quite right.

So, overall, I like quirks and challenges and would pick them every time over something sane and sensible (except on the odd day where I just wish my boy would be consistent!!), but will not accept rearing or bad manners.

Phew! Essay! Sorry folks!! :)
 
Depends on the quirks. I used to have a horse who was so talented and was wonderful in lessons etc. but put him in the ring and he threw his toys out of the pram. My current horse however feels a bit less talented, but has such a willing, fantastic nature that he'll do anything for me (and as a result has done 10 million times better than the last horse!). It really depends on the quirk and if it gets in the way of competing. I will never have another horse who lets me down, willing natured is definately a must!
 
sensible.
i am a nervous rider and rely on my horse not to freak :p
but then again i rode matrix for 2 years and never came to grief, depite him being quirky, sharp and forward, but i just had a special connection with him. he has done very well showing this year inhand, and he just has a special presence that draws people to him. i love him to bits
but i am not talented enough or ambitious enough to want a quirky super talented horse/
i like to just have fun :) my mare cloud was very talented but just too much for me, she tried her heart out though.
so throught the woffle i mean it depends on the horse, but generally i like sensible, like my share pony- who is also talented enough for me too do well on her, and have a great time :)
but i would ride matrix again in a heartbeat
 
I have had talented and quirky and learnt a big lesson from it. My mare had all the talent you'd ever need.....unbelievable scope, athletic ability and bravery. But her quirks were too much, certainly for me. She had a tricky life before me which caused her quirks and tbh should have been a pros horse from day 1. In the end i had one fall too many...the last one was at an event. I was severely concussed and chipped a bit of bone off my hip, i dont know what day it was but kept saying over and over 'enough is enough'!!!

B isn't even 1/10th as talented (over fences) but he is sane and sensible and has a very very trainable brain. My mare could have gone round badders with her eyes shut and B will never go above novice i don't think BUT he will be and has already been more successful.

He is also so so much easier. As a proper amateur i cannot be bothered with all the faff that used to come with T's quirks. My life with B is a million times simpler in every way and i'm grateful.

Having said that i do often wonder what could have been with T, but i'd used up enough of my lives trying!!!
 
Sensible, I'd rather have consistently good outings at a lower level than be hit and miss at a higher one, at the end of the day it's my hobby/sport and I want to enjoy as much of it as possible. I have had a couple of tricky horses with various issues and it has been so much fun to go back to a pony who improves every day rather than having the same battle for 12 months!
 
I think my youngster is sensible and talented - but time will tell!!
You can get quirky and not talented, or prone to injury and not talented - my perefence is sane and if it has a bit of talent then great, but I like a quiet life above all else! ;)
 
Quirky but talented. Again though, it depends on the quirks. Quirky is fine, but they still need to have trainability. A horse that doesn't want to learn and refuses to be taught I don't like. They can be the most talented horses in the world, but if they really have that mental block about being taught things, then the talent becomes near impossible to harness.

My last horse was an ex-racer (got him at 14, hadn't been ridden for years because he was difficult) and seriously quirky, as in he could bronc for Britain and tried to run away multiple times under saddle, as well as ran off frequently while being led. He was fairly talented, but not overly so. If it weren't for the bond, I wouldn't have thought his quirks were worth the effort. Would've made an alright dressage horse if it weren't for the random bucking and spooking and getting massively tense, but he was too spooky and unpredictable to jump, and I would never have felt happy doing SJ with him, regardless of how well we bonded (which was really well).


Current horse is also an ex-racer. Much more talented than the previous horse, but I suppose 'quirky' is a fairly good term for him. At home *generally* he's pretty calm, but he has a mahoooosive buck if he wants too, and has a tendency to really 'explode'. I can't say 'he's a bucker/rearer' or whatever but on a bad day he'll spook at nothing and he throws himself in the air, squealing, rearing, fly leaping, bucking and spinning. He also has a tendency to twist when he bucks and spin when he rears. We had about 4 months where I felt genuinely unsafe riding him and felt he was really trying to hurt me. He would rear and buck in his stable, and generally be horrible, and under saddle he really tried his absolute best to scare me and hurt me I though. Now however, its infrequent, and I don't feel it's nasty...
Jumping, normally he's very honest and brave and will jump from just about anywhere, but he occasionally has moments where he chucks in random stops (which can come very suddenly) and rears in front of the jumps, and gets himself massively worked up and becomes extremely difficult. But it's gotten much less, and I think it was 'testing'.

He can work really well for dressage but as soon as he gets to a show he tenses up and all his energy goes into going sideways/upwards or anything but forwards. This I think isn't naughtiness though, but something that'll just improve with mileage. Jumping is much the same in terms of tension, but we get round the courses fine because he doesn't panic at the jumps, and tbh, if my canter isn't 'dressage-style' it doesn't matter, as long as it's effective. He is quirky for sure...but I trust him all the same and he doesn't scare me. Safe and sane is nice to ride sometimes, but I don't think I'd want one of my own..I like horses with a bit of spark :) Keeps me interested! :)
 
I have quirky and talented. Unfortunately his quirks aren't as funny to everyone as he thinks they are but I don't think I could swap him for the world! Like alot of people I love to win but I like the challene as well, my boy is 14.3 and has jumped 155 with me - scope? He has won Novice dressage with 77% etc blah blah (i have to stop myself going on about him now :) ) But he rears. Last 4 shows, 1st place dressage then SJ- Elim. next ODE big fat Elim. adn it carries on but I always keep thinking that the next show will be "our time" to shine!!!!!!!!!
 
Sensible! AND I'm not middle aged! The reason being that I've had more than my fair share of quirky things, fallen off too much and to be honest, now would rather just ride a nice horse that isn't deciding that depositing me is fun at random intervals. I have been looking for ages for a sensible but talented one, and now have found pretty much the perfect horse! He's only 4 but just takes everything in his stride and is a real dope on a rope to handle and is a real trier. I've paid quite a bit for him, but feel that having something thats no hassle is really worth it!
 
Quirky all the way, mainly because most of those I've been bought (I'm 15 now) have all been little buggers, but they're the ones that canter over to me in the field just for a cuddle. I've had a point and go one, quite a lot of scope, always consistantly in the ribbons showing, clear SJing and would do an alright DR but just didn't have enough spark to really wow judges. He'd always have one stupid stop XC at anything, a simple house, a hedge, just as if to say 'hey, can't go clear mum!'

My favourite horse was a 13'1 connemara mare - sharpest thing I've ever sat on. We'd trot around the arena for 5 laps, then suddenly she'd just disappear from underneath you and you'd hit the floor as she decided that peice of fence was rather scary. XC was nearly suicide - had to wear spurs for extra 'encouragement' for water as booting and whips just flapped her, could barely touch her with my leg and just clung on for dear life. However, hacking she was a saint, went hunting with me age 8 and cleared all the hedges, boxed in a youngster on the road and was an angel. Was my first time, too! But there were just some days went she said noooo and just wouldn't co-operate, which was frustrating, but amusing if she chose to do so at a show as she had a fantastic range of above the air arts and somehow I managed to cling on. Rallies everyone used to love with me and Charm as she would choose not to like a jump and then just bugger off. My mum didn't even bother to look up, just mentioned we were like a boomerang and instructors carried on with the lesson until we came bowling back. I could read that mare like a book, managed to persuade my mum to have a foal out of her and then it broke my heart when we had to sell her. I would run all the way from school (three miles!) aged 9 just to ride her, only to be thrown off. She taught me a lot, that pony...

Now, after a slightly boring conny, I have a Hanno x, and she's quirky. Nothing can touch her ears, you have to ride her a certain way SJ. It's hit and miss whether she'll get a good score DR, have got best dressage on a few occassions only to be in bottom few the next week. SJ is our bogey phase at the moment - severe two steps back one step forwards. Just going to jump her little heart out over winter SJing I think! But I have my Charm back XC - Genna's a tank. Okay, she may have a few refusals, but they're mainly rider error, and she makes sure I ride every single blinking fence. Lots of scope there, it's just a matter of me trying to tap into her SJing mindset at the moment. Next season I think we'll be coming out with a bang and I'll laugh at when I used to get big fats E's. I hope so, anyway ;D
 
depends on the quirks really - but i think id prefer talented and quirky.

Dani for example is sensible and less talented, but i know what im getting every time i compete...however, he'll never go very far.. and for me, that is boring (personal opinion). Bugsy however is much much more talented, but can be very unpredictable. some days he simply says ''no'', other days he doesnt touch a single fence and jumps his heart out and we get lots of placings...i think i enjoy the unpredictability really, as long as the days when we is good that he is really good :D haha

xx
 
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