Annagain
Well-Known Member
My two - both unregistered breeding but unmistakeably Irish are remarkably similar. I was looking for something similar - or rather a cross between Archie (my old boy) and Monty (my old share horse whom we thought was an ISH but turned out to be TB x Shire x SecD!) but even so, they are like peas in a pod.
Neither has a nasty bone in their bodies which is the most important thing. Charlie wants to please more than Archie does - he has far stronger opinions on what is right for him - but both are lovely to deal with. The both love the mud (as greys this is to my constant dismay). They're rock solid in scary situations but use spooking as a weapon / excuse to do what they want. If I rode Archie at the wrong time of day (i.e. tea time) he would employ the (fairly gentle) 'spook and spin' to try to go home and would display his disgust at not getting away with it but doing a sideways sashay at anything and everything. I once counted 32 spooks on bin day when he normally didn't care about wheelie bins
. Charlie will do the same at certain points of our rides if we go out alone (i.e. where I ask him to take the longer route home) He's getting better with this all the time though. They both get excited at the thought of a canter but after 3 strides it's all a bit too much effort. They're both amazing in traffic and take new situations in their stride. The both love their food and get very annoyed if it's not there when they think it should be but aren't greedy and will only eat what they need. In the field, they are both friendly and easy going. Charlie is more playful but he's still young, while Archie is more affectionate - he's the one the others all go to for a groom. All they both want is friends.
Charlie is a bit more sensitive and gets quite genuinely upset if you tell him off, especially on the ground. I think he must have had a few whacks in his younger days as he's terrified of anything resembling a stick. It took us 30 minutes of gentle desensitising to measure him the other day (he's 16.3 so he's definitely grown since he arrived 7 months ago). I've had to adapt my very blunt approach to Archie with him as he'd never cope with being bossed around in the way Archie has to be (he's a bit of a thug and will take several miles if you give him an inch). I think that is more to do with their experiences rather than their temperaments though.
Neither has a nasty bone in their bodies which is the most important thing. Charlie wants to please more than Archie does - he has far stronger opinions on what is right for him - but both are lovely to deal with. The both love the mud (as greys this is to my constant dismay). They're rock solid in scary situations but use spooking as a weapon / excuse to do what they want. If I rode Archie at the wrong time of day (i.e. tea time) he would employ the (fairly gentle) 'spook and spin' to try to go home and would display his disgust at not getting away with it but doing a sideways sashay at anything and everything. I once counted 32 spooks on bin day when he normally didn't care about wheelie bins
. Charlie will do the same at certain points of our rides if we go out alone (i.e. where I ask him to take the longer route home) He's getting better with this all the time though. They both get excited at the thought of a canter but after 3 strides it's all a bit too much effort. They're both amazing in traffic and take new situations in their stride. The both love their food and get very annoyed if it's not there when they think it should be but aren't greedy and will only eat what they need. In the field, they are both friendly and easy going. Charlie is more playful but he's still young, while Archie is more affectionate - he's the one the others all go to for a groom. All they both want is friends.Charlie is a bit more sensitive and gets quite genuinely upset if you tell him off, especially on the ground. I think he must have had a few whacks in his younger days as he's terrified of anything resembling a stick. It took us 30 minutes of gentle desensitising to measure him the other day (he's 16.3 so he's definitely grown since he arrived 7 months ago). I've had to adapt my very blunt approach to Archie with him as he'd never cope with being bossed around in the way Archie has to be (he's a bit of a thug and will take several miles if you give him an inch). I think that is more to do with their experiences rather than their temperaments though.
