Summary: Mares vs Geldings

RJankovich@aol.com
Sun, 23 Nov 1997 14:03:22 -0500 (EST)

Here are the results from 16 replies on the Mares vs Geldings for
endurance riding:
8 suggested choosing by horse, not by gender
Reasons in favor of mares:
they get along well with other horses
they're smarter than geldings
they bond more strongly than geldings with rider
they have more heart, more affectionate, more drive
they're more alert, spook less, more comfortable as lead horse
they mature faster mentally than geldings
they are more interested in self preservation than geldings
they keep the geldings in line
they listen better than geldings and are calmer
they're more careful than are geldings
they're less nervous when riding alone
they can have babies which increases their value
Reasons to not choose mares:
they're not as predictable as geldings
they push around geldings
they're bossier, bitchy
they're more expensive
they socialize more than geldings
their hormonal fluctuations make them difficult when in season
rider must work harder to get their respect
they're single person oriented
they make geldings act silly when all together

Looks like the vote is that either gender works as long as you like the
horse. Rebecca