And a good solid temperament can compensate for a multitude
of conformational flaws, and the one thing that not enough breeders
select for (IMO) as I have found it to be VERY
heritable. The most perfectly conformed horse in the
world is of absolutely no use without a good working disposition. An
easy to work with horse will ALWAYS be easier to find a good home for no
matter what its conformation than the most conformationally perfect
incredible athlete that requires
expert handling.
And imagine that gorgeous horse coming down the trail, fishtailing,
sidepassing at speed, snorting and plunging, whilst the rider hangs on for dead
life - You and YOUR sedate mount bail out of the way for this gorgeous horse and
my bet is that his beauty or correctness is the last thing on your mind. It
would be mine.
I am remined of a "do NOT try this at home" moment with our now coming 22
year old SE stallion that reminded me of why we chose him - aside from his 22
resting pulse and 8" bone and sleek,, solid comformation. Our daughter who
desires to remain nameless used to hack all over our old neighborhood on him -
with no trouble since he was such a docile fellow. One day I could not find
either of them on the ranch, and to my mild dismay no saddles were missing. I
went out front an hour or so later and saw them coming from the direction of the
Regional Rec area - a HUGE expanse of public park designated for bikes, horses
and the like. I could see from a distance that they had no saddle as they
trotted along; as they got closer I squinted to see just what she had on his
head. Moments later I had to just about scrape myself off the ground as I
realized that they were WEARING NO headstall - only a medium weight neck hoop of
my daughter's making! They had gone for what had to have been a two hour trail
ride in nothing but a shoulder ring and a couple of smiles. And NO do NOT try
this, really, on ANY horse. But she was a youth and HE was a, well, I don't know
what - and to this day what has KEPT him a stallion, aside from the sleek,
beautiful foals he produced, is his incredible disposition. He was called the
Gentleman stallion by training friends years ago, and though he was NOT a highly
desirable "show" stallion to "show mare" owners, he is now beginning to attract
attention from people who actually want to RIDE their own horses! Imagine THAT!
Well, if you had lived in the show ring in the 80's and even 90's, you would see
the stupidity that is profound there - no one actually RIDES their horses, they
pay big bucks for someone else to do it so temperament does not MATTER to them.
It does to us and it should to you if you want to take your horse - of ANY
GENDER - in public.
A new friends some months ago commented n him "Sal seems to be showing his
age - look at how he is half asleep!" I said, no, he is always like that in the
yard!" ISn't that how YOU want YOUR stallions? S
