What would you call "green"

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Highflinger

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Just curiosity here but reading a number of ads of horses for sale that say they have been x country schooling, shows, jumping, fun rides, dressage comes, pc/rc even hunted but are then termed as "green".
To my mind if they have done all that (unless perhaps only each once or twice) they are not really green.
What would you consider as "green"?
 
I think even a horse that has done all that can definitely still be green. To me a green horse is some that needs its hand holding or needs managing in some way rather than being able to sit there and let the horse get on with the job to a degree.

My Welsh is fairly established at advanced dressage but is extremely green over poles. She needs help to cope with the idea.

My WB has done lots of arena hire and a few shows but I need eyes in the back of my head to get her round as she just doesn't have the life skills to cope without a lot of intervention. So I think she's pretty green.
 
Green to me would mean recently broken, doesnt mind being ridden at walk trot and canter but doesn't really understand the aids - doesnt bend properly, wanders instead of staying in a straight line, might put the odd buck or spook in, possibly hangs towards home or the gate etc.
 
They can have done a fair amount yet still be green, I went with clients to look at a 10 year old pony this week, it has done plenty of PC/ hunted/ shown/ hacked etc yet was seriously lacking in education and the basics were not really well established, she could walk in a vaguely straight line, trot and canter around the school but not really going where her rider wanted or in any balance or rhythm, she popped a few small fences willingly enough but I would have expected one of my 5 year olds to be less green.

So it really comes down to the riders ability and expectations, a good rider will educate the horse every time they sit on it, a lesser rider may go out and do a competition but may achieve very little and the horse could remain green for some time in the eyes of an experienced person.
 
I describe my 8yo as green. Not only did she start her education late but she's had so much time off work with physical problems that she's seen and done very little.
 
It depends, doesn't it - a pony could've been hacked all its life and be a reasonable hack, but still be green in the school or over fences. I think a lot of fairly established horses are green - they've done a fair amount of work, but not learned a great deal from it, and consequently don't respect the leg / hand, bend or soften, carry themselves fairly evenly straight, pick up correct canter leads easily, or jump in a balanced fashion.

Green, to me, is something which is vaguely willing to do as you ask in simple work, but just doesn't understand what you want - so it's not necessarily related to age or the amount of work it's done.
 
Some of the Dressage GP horses are described as green at that level. Carl referred to his GP horse as a wobbly baby. It's all relative to their age and the activity
 
A green horse is uneducated, and can be any age. I've ridden green 15 year olds, and lovely, well schooled 5 year olds.
 
To me it means lacking in education or exposure for a particular activity. The vast majority of horses will be 'green' in some area. If it decided to do barrel racing with my horse for example, I would describe him as green. If I described a horse generally as 'green' I would mean that it needed education/exposure in most areas of riding. Some horses can remain green for a long period of time for lots of reasons, most commonly that they haven't had consistent work or they simply haven't really been trained much, but some horses stay green as a result of their temperament or lack of physical maturity.
 
I describe my horse as green to school.

We mainly hack - it's our first love - and as a result he'll hack alone, in company, he's good in most traffic, he'll go past anything from farm animals to motorbikes to shoots, he'll wait for horse's to go past, they can come up behind him, he'll cross ditches, rivers motorway bridges and railway tracks and anything else I ask of him. We can pop fallen logs.

But, in the school he still needs to be more laterally supple, can struggle with the right leg's in canter & is still mastering basic lateral work. His outline is appropiate for his basic level of work, but we ain't no Valegro.
He's no Milton either and getting around a small course is challenging for us both to keep rhythm & balance!

He's 12 so 'should' be more established in the school. We can vaguely muddle our way through a preliminary test and a 60cm SJ course - but I don't care, as he does everything I want him too. But if I was to advertise him I'd describe him as 'green'.
 
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JFTD said:
It depends, doesn't it - a pony could've been hacked all its life and be a reasonable hack, but still be green in the school or over fences. I think a lot of fairly established horses are green - they've done a fair amount of work, but not learned a great deal from it, and consequently don't respect the leg / hand, bend or soften, carry themselves fairly evenly straight, pick up correct canter leads easily, or jump in a balanced fashion.

Green, to me, is something which is vaguely willing to do as you ask in simple work, but just doesn't understand what you want - so it's not necessarily related to age or the amount of work it's done.
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This is how I see it.
 
Diva came to me as a just 6 year old who had mostly just hacked previously.
She was absolutely brilliant out hacking but very green in the school- unbalanced, had no concept of bending, ran into canter and often on the wrong leg.

You would have happily used her to nanny a youngster out hacking, but she would be arguably as green as that youngster in the school at that point.
 
It's interesting that the usual method employed in the UK is sort of backwards to how it's done in most other places: hack first (or exclusively) and train afterwards. I'd always have the horse going in a very established manner before taking it out adventuring. I'd rather have muscling, balance and understanding of the rider before going to meet complicated and potentially dangerous situations.
 
SEL said:
I describe my 8yo as green. Not only did she start her education late but she's had so much time off work with physical problems that she's seen and done very little.
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This, but mine's 9. He was backed late and had done nothing really before I got him. With me he's been out a few times, hacked a lot and done some school work and popped some jumps, but he's still very green and isn't consistent in his paces - he's the type of horse who will shoot forward if you cough/he farts...
 
SpringArising said:
This, but mine's 9. He was backed late and had done nothing really before I got him. With me he's been out a few times, hacked a lot and done some school work and popped some jumps, but he's still very green and isn't consistent in his paces - he's the type of horse who will shoot forward if you cough/he farts...
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What about if he coughs or you fart? :D
 
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