What to you is a 'sharp' horse?

Cobbytype said:
My interpretation of a sharp horse is one that is quick off the leg, that responds to a small nudge, rather than a kick. I'd envisage a quick thinker (although not necessarily rational in that quick thinking) and quite on their toes when ridden out hacking and perhaps one that gets a bit stroppy/fizzy when being asked to do something new that it doesn't understand.
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You just described my horse to the letter!

I class sharp as exactly this and from experience it is mostly irrational thinking. Very hard to deal with as the horse is often unforgiving towards the rider and very opinionated.
 
kate2323 said:
i would never ever buy a sharp horse again...sharp = dangerous...sorry that is the honest truth..if you want to be bucked , napped with spooked with galloping across an arena that to me is sharp....not for anyone over 21 sorry!
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Where to me that's badly behaved! My old WB did that fairly regularly, and he was the opposite of sharp :p slow and backwards thinking (and just by the nature of him being a weak 4YO WB his movements were 10x slower than my fit strong Arab ponies)
 
I expect all my horses to react to my aids but that doesn't make them sharp to me. One of mine is what I describe as sharp in as much as he will spot and react to something before I see it. He is also prone to set off fly leaping with no obvious reason. In the field he is always the first to spot anything unusual. He tends to react first and think later making a drama out of a molehill but once he realises what he is being asked to do he almost goes " well why didn't you just ask that in the first place ". I certainly wouldn't put a novice or unbalanced rider on him.
 
Illusion100 said:
A horse that requires you to be on the ball and that you can't take your focus off for a second. Ones that prey on weakness or inexperience and aren't necessarily very forgiving. Usually intelligent and likes to keep asking questions to constantly check if they can take charge. Quirky, opinionated and prone to tantrums.
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This ^^
 
Cortez said:
A sharp horse is one which is over reactive, explosive and prone to panic. A drama queen, in other words.
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My thinking exactly. I have one. She almost completely put me off riding.
I don't think of forward going, forward thinking, horses as sharp, forward going is totally different, in Spanish it is called 'brio', you will know what I mean Cortez, I have one of those too - best fun ever to ride :)
 
Sharp to me is something that keeps you on your toes, unpredictable & not an easy ride

Something which is quick off my leg is responsive which is exactly how horses should be
 
It isn't a term that is used in New Zealand and I had never heard it until I started coming here.

We would probably use "hot" - and it usually indicates a horse that doesn't settle in company and is a bit of a speed freak.

A horse that shies is just spooky, and one that is very forward off the leg is just sensitive.

Reading here and in other posts, where people talk about "sharp" horses, it usually seems that the horse is just being a horse, but is a bit more than they can cope with or wanted.
 
Well, my little arab cross was always considered sharp by many people including people who had very quirky competition horses. She always wanted to go faster than whatever pace we were going at, lot's of bouncing and leaping around when we got to our canter spots, would rather gallop flat out than merely canter. The last thing she was was spooky though. I fact she was pretty bombproof yet loads of my friends were too scared to ride her thinking she'd bolt off with them. I always felt safe as houses on her as I knew she would never buck or rear and she always stopped so wasn't a 'bolter' by any stretch of the imagination. I've known horses who are ploddy boring things be ridiculously spooky so to me sharp and spooky do not go hand in hand.

Personally, I like sharp as long it as it doesn't want to kill me LOL
 
rara007 said:
To me sharp is responsive and forwards, just like I like my ponies to be :)
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I call that schooled, listening and willing. Your lovely pictures show your ponies being all three.

Sharp for me is something that can spin, drop it's shoulder and dump you at the speed of light for absolutely no reason.
 
Faracat said:
A horse that reacts first (at supersonic speed) and thinks second. This can result in you heading off, rather quickly in the wrong direction because a leaf looked at them suspiciously. The 'sideways teleportation' is another skill often possessed by the sharp horse. However if you can channel them in the right way, they are great responsive rides, but never, ever get complacent or they'll whip round and drop you before you can blink.
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Completely agree with this!
I interpret 'sharp' as more of a negative description - I take it to mean unpredictable, difficult, quick to react, quirky, overreactive to things that don't particularly need any reaction. People describe my horse as sharp and I don't take it as a compliment! She is the above - she will be fine one second and then whip round, knock you to the floor and be over the horizon before you even have time to blink, just because someone's hung a headcollar on a different hook. She will panic about something before taking time to think about whether the thing is worth panicking about, and cause destruction while she does it - you have to be confident and quick to react yourself, especially when handling. The type you can't go for a quiet amble on in the evenings as if your mind even begins to drift off you will find yourself chucked on the floor. They keep you on your toes and need to be kept busy as their minds work so fast. Though in my experience the sharper ones are very clever and as long as their minds are kept active they can be great, since owning her I have become a much better rider and handler - I love her to bits but she's very unforgiving and has definitely sharpened me up!

To ride, I love nothing more than a bouncy, fizzy and forward horse, and see all those things as a positive, but would really think twice before going to see a 'sharp' horse.
 
I'm not sure I'd enjoy owning a 'blunt' horse! I like a sharp horse, they demand respect for who they are, *mostly* refuse to tolerate flaws and are often very talented. A well bred sharp horse is often the one that oozes presence and is difficult not to be mesmerised by. I find they make you the best you can be and that is something I enjoy.

When I see the word 'sharp', to me it means 'not for handler/rider to treat like a big puppy', nothing more. Ditching a rider in a flash because they can, is a dirty habit imho, nothing to do with them being sharp.

Properly sharp horses can be handled/ridden and will behave as 'predictably' as any other horse, it's just the handler/rider has to be at least 2 steps ahead of them at all times.

They can be masters of the false sense of security lull but are often very affectionate with a great sense of humour. I find they tend to be 'one person' horses and once they 'bond' they are exceptional horses to own.
 
I consider my mare very sharp.

She's very obedient, well mannered and in the two years since I backed her, she has never attempted to put me on the floor.

However, she is ultra sensitive to both leg and hand, if you accidentally bounce on her (which happens occasionally as she is a huge mover and has an insanely massive jump), she'll leap about 4 foot in the air, I forgot who I was sat on the other day and gave her a kick when She was being a little stuffy and she did an enormous buck, same if you catch her in the mouth she'll throw her head up and hop in surprise.

If she spooks, it's a very quick and almost slippery movement.

People are rarely happy to sit on her for me and when they do virtually everyone is a bit nervous of her - myself included in unknown/tricky situations.

Basically, she's very reactive and very very powerful. She's very well mannered so never does anything nasty but she has an edge which makes you respect her - because if she DID do something, she has more than enough power to put anyone into orbit.
 
Sharp to me means a very over reactive horse eg the type you get on and feel the back up muscles tight and then spooks at anything one that will go from walk to shooting sideways and bucking prob the type that hardly accepts the leg more a professionals ride.

Definitely different to a forward going/ responsive/ whizzy spooky the odd buck or mini rear which needs just a competent rider
 
I would say sharp means means a horse that keeps you on your toes the entire time. My mare would have been described as sharp - you only had to put your reins in one hand to look at your watch and she would be off. She could go from walk to gallop in 3 strides and you thought about upward aids, doing them was unnecessary. Once she'd blown off steam she was often quite happy to stroll but her idea of getting it out of her system would mean a dozen circuits of a large field, flat out. If you got hold of the reins she liked to put her head between her ankles and keep going forward but she did respond well to the voice, upwards and downwards. She would leap about on the spot at the prospect of a hill to tackle, in gallop of course, and looked around herself constantly. She was great with fire engines, but would shy at a rock on the side of the road and had a thing about a particular species of blue flower. She never reared or bucked unless on the lunge when she really had fun and performed airs above the ground. When I first got her she jogged incessantly and I got stirrup leather blisters despite wearing full chaps. She was guilty of gross anticipation and could spit out her dummy if her idea didn't match mine. But she was a chestnut Welsh D X so really I can't say I was overly suprised that she was like she was. Ironically, she was the most gentle, well-behaved thing on the planet if you weren't in the saddle, fantastic with small children and kind and protective to all other species she came across. So yes, she was sharp, but never nasty. The pony I learned to fall off ( :) ) was also sharp but in a different way - he specialised in finding ways to dump you to show who was boss. Not a nasty pony at all, just cheeky. Some people's idea of sharp also covers being bad to handle, the type that takes pleasure in biting or kicking you for no good reason. I don't call that sharp, I call it sly and I don't like them.
 
This is a really interesting read!

Like some other posters I see sharp as a horse that usually is on its toes, trying to outguess and outsmart its rider, with usually irrational or spooky behaviour and reactions. I would expect the sharp horses to be the type to constantly question, easily throw a tantrum and can turn on a sixpence, leaving rider mid air. Essentially a sharp horse requires a calm, confident rider with even quicker and smarter responses!

A horse that listens and reacts to the smallest of aids isn't sharp, it is well trained and forward going in my eyes.

The way I would describe the feeling of a sharp horse is like sitting on a bottle full of fizzy drink that has been shaken, but not yet opened. You can feel the energy bubbling away and are never quite sure when it may pop, and when it does, which way it may shoot!
 
All my ponies are forward going and responsive, but my bombproof 30yo dartmoor gelding is the only one I'd describe as sharp. He's riden and drive, but I no longer drive him because of it.

He's quick on his feet ridden, which is no bad thing, but the same trait driven can be dangerous. If he thinks I've given him the slightest signal, he carries out the action (e.g. sudden turn), faster than I can react to correct him. Not good if I was just adjusting my glove or something!
 
To me, sharp is a negative thing. Forward and off the aids is responsive and this is obviously good. Sharp isn't listening to aids, it's doing their own thing which might include going forward but not necessarily because you've asked them to.

I'd describe it as an overly reactive (to anything) horse with potential for a nasty streak in the sense that they'd try to get you off if they were set off - bucking, rearing, spinning, dropping a shoulder anything like that.

I've had very strong horses who want to go (or don't want to stop!) but I wouldn't describe them as sharp as they don't do anything else while going.
 
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See, I'd call Kali sharp. He isn't necessarily off your aids (unless you ride him properly), but he does have a very busy brain and is quite insecure and cheeky. I wouldn't say he is particularly spooky, but you do need to have your wits about you when on board and you do need to keep his work interesting or he finds his own amusement. He isn't nasty though - doesn't have a mean bone in his body, and once you have him on side he will try his little heart out - it's more that when he makes an evasive movement (usually a drop shoulder and spin) it's lightning quick with NO warning.

To me, sharp = intelligent, quick (to react/act) and not novice ride.

P
 
Lightning quick reactions to things I may not have noticed yet.
Good for an ageing brain - helps to keep you up to speed.
Sharp and kind is an ideal horse for me. : )
 
I think a sharp horse has quick reactions and is usually very athletic. That can translate into a nervy horse who is overly reactive and never looks comfortable in his own skin. Or it can result in a bold, clever, athletic horse who is a pleasure to ride.

I reckon it takes good riding and a lot of confidence to turn the first into the second, if it can be done, but it's unfortunately easier to turn the second into the first.
 
Steorra said:
I think a sharp horse has quick reactions and is usually very athletic. That can translate into a nervy horse who is overly reactive and never looks comfortable in his own skin. Or it can result in a bold, clever, athletic horse who is a pleasure to ride.

I reckon it takes good riding and a lot of confidence to turn the first into the second, if it can be done, but it's unfortunately easier to turn the second into the first.
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I'd agree with this. I'd also add that the same is true for the rider - a sharp horse can turn an unsuspecting, novice rider into a nervy, overreactive sort pretty quickly too.

P
 
Illusion100 said:
I'm not sure I'd enjoy owning a 'blunt' horse! I like a sharp horse, they demand respect for who they are, *mostly* refuse to tolerate flaws and are often very talented. A well bred sharp horse is often the one that oozes presence and is difficult not to be mesmerised by. I find they make you the best you can be and that is something I enjoy.

When I see the word 'sharp', to me it means 'not for handler/rider to treat like a big puppy', nothing more. Ditching a rider in a flash because they can, is a dirty habit imho, nothing to do with them being sharp.

Properly sharp horses can be handled/ridden and will behave as 'predictably' as any other horse, it's just the handler/rider has to be at least 2 steps ahead of them at all times.

They can be masters of the false sense of security lull but are often very affectionate with a great sense of humour. I find they tend to be 'one person' horses and once they 'bond' they are exceptional horses to own.
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This is pretty much the same way I think of them but its interesting to read how many people think its negative and that a lot of the negative things that are quoted as part of being sharp are to me bad manners bad habits or bad training. I love sharp horses and some of the best trained horses I have ridden were sharp. but its a shame the term has such negative associations nowadays
 
I would just use to define reaction time - my daughter's pony is very sharp, in that he needs to be sensitively ridden and can easily misunderstand and shoot off or spin if confused. However he is never spooky, and certainly wouldn't buck or rear or misbehave, in hand or under saddle.

My horse, conversely, is rather 'blunt' - he is a large Clydesdale cross and it takes longer for messages to go from brain to legs. He is not slow, nor particularly lazy - just the opposite of what I think of as sharp.
 
Steorra said:
I think a sharp horse has quick reactions and is usually very athletic.
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This. I would say mine is fairly sharp - in the clever and bold sense. He's very polite and easy to handle on the ground and out hacking. However, when schooling him you cannot stop concentrating for a moment unless stood still. He's a fabulous xc horse, but prone to throwing his toys out of the pram if he feels you're being too controlling. He's never nasty or dangerous, he just takes any opportunity to question what you're asking and try to do something different!
 
I'd describe Jazz as sharp. He's quick to react (and sometimes over-react) to things and needs you to keep him thinking when he's being schooled or he looks for things to distract him. He's not actually spooky though, if you have his attention then you have it completely, and he won't look up for anything.

You do need to constantly pay attention to him, keeps me on my toes!
 
By way of contrast, I would describe my welsh D as the least sharp horse I ever met. Even though he is fairly spooky, forward going and responsive. If he rears, he telegraphs it, and then conducts the whole operation in slow-mo. It feels like you've got time to read the newspaper on the way up.
 
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