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[RC] Chalk and Cheese (was: Boldness in horses) - heidi larsonI agree with Kat here as my horse Ash was born and raised to the age of 5 on 100+ acres with little human interaction. Definite herd situation, he's nervous as you can get. BUT, in looking at his mom, she's exactly the same way!! Other horses in this herd will walk up to you, over you and could care less if you take off your jacket, swing a lead rope, etc., but my guy to this day (at age 11) will spook at normal everyday items that he should be used to by now. (For example, taking off his sheet that he's worn and had removed every day for the past 3 months, if it hits the floor near his shoulder he goes low - I call it the "spider-move" and looks like he's going to have a heart-attack.) My husband says he has short term memory loss! He's very sweet, tries really hard, but totally must get his confidence from his rider or he may fall apart. A rider in Calif. just purchased his 1/2brother, (same dam) I'd love to watch his endurance progress just to compare!!! If anyone can look him up, his name is Paasha & he and Kalasha are in the www.allbreedpedigree.com site. heidi and the mighty Ash --- k s swigart <katswig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: I have two horses (half brothers, same sire) who wereborn about 1 month apart, and they were different from each other with respect to "boldness" "self-cofidence" or whatever you want to call it, from the day they were born (and subsequently raised in a herd situation on 100+ acres). The first hid behind his mother when anything even remotely scary approached, while the other walked across a tarp on the ground away from his mother in a gale force windstorm when he was three days old. When the first was one month old and the second was one day old, the second had already had more interaction with humans (because he walked up to them instead of running away from them). Despite the fact that to look at them they were peas in a pod (few people today can tell them apart, in baby pictures, I am one of the few that can), disposition-wise they were and are as different as chalk and cheese (despite the fact that the coward is still a stallion, so presumably has testosterone to give him courage, and the bold one was gelded at the age of two). Well, not entirely different, they do both share some of their sire's disposition traits, but even so, their inherant dispositions is something they were born with. Additionally, I don't believe the living out in a herd situation on large space with other horses is what teaches horses to trust people. It is interaction with people that does this. kat Orange County, Calif. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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