Know You, Know Your Horse by Eunice Rush & Marry Morrow

Author:Eunice Rush & Marry Morrow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Trafalgar Square Books
Published: 2012-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Study Sample

9.1

This initial study was exciting because it confirmed every one of our theories:

Human/horse attraction.

Conformation/personality connection.

Breeding personality theory.

Discipline theory.

As of 2012, the three foals Rudy, Simon, and Wilson ran their first races. All three placed well, but Wilson won the first time out.

Breeding Farm B

The next farm we visited provided an incredible opportunity for our research. The owner, who we will call “Diane Powerful,” is what we consider an “extreme” Powerful (had a very high core-personality score). Diane, whose matching horse (and favorite type of horse) is a Worker operates a breeding stable as well as two drill teams. Starting with her grandfather, this farm has bred and raised Mountain Pleasure horses from the same bloodlines for three generations.

Diane provides many of the horses for her drill teams, which are made up of people ranging from 12 to 20 years of age. Her daughter, an Advocate whose horse match is a Talker, also gives riding lessons on these same horses and she cheers the kids on to do well. (Interestingly, we have found many of the people who teach children to ride are Advocates.)

Diane’s horses have to be able to handle all sorts of riders and activities. The same horse might be a trail horse one day, on the drill team the next, the show ring the next, a lesson horse by day, and in a parade that night. All this is done with riders who may or may not have riding experience. In some instances, Diane even uses young horses for these young people to ride. These horses have to do it all.

Over the past 20-plus years, Diane has selected the horses for her drill team riders and students as well as sold horses to a variety of new owners. In all the years she has been doing this, she said she has only had one owner return a horse because of a personality mismatch. When she was unable to provide a horse for any of the students, she helped them purchase the right horse elsewhere. We couldn’t wait to ask her how she did it. Unfortunately, she said, “It was just intuition.” However, after spending some time with her, we began to understand she instinctively knew an introverted child needed an introverted horse. Then the person’s experience level and daredevil tendencies filled in the rest. This was the same for the extroverted child and horse.

We spent hours going over all the breeding pairs she had on the farm. We found she bred an Introvert to an Extrovert every time. This is what gave her the balance that allowed her to provide a horse for everyone who came through her gates. Almost without exception, her horses were well balanced and versatile.

We found another interesting detail while studying this group of horses. While breeding an Introvert to an Extrovert does give some of each, our research revealed the horse with the strongest traits in his or her particular personality usually produced more foals matching their personality. For example, Diane bred Keeper, an “extreme” Talker (RBE), to Rennie, a Thinker (LBI) six times.

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