The Personalities and Coping Mechanisms of Different Horse Breeds

Each breed of horse was bred for certain characteristics and traits that make them good for certain disciplines.

With that comes their responsiveness, intelligence and coping mechanisms.

Within each breed is also variances of personality traits. For example, you could have a thoroughbred, notorious for being flighty and spooky, that is actually bold and confident (on the spectrum of thoroughbred behaviour).

Knowing how to utilise those default traits and use them when working together is key to avoiding conflict in your interactions. If you have ever seen a horse shut down, get frustrated, or lash out during work, this is a horse showing it is tired of being unheard and having an emotional response that is not desired - therefore, conflict.

Age, maturity, herd dynamics and their general environment also play a keen role in their emotional ability to learn and cope with the stresses our training inevitably results in.

• The younger the horse the more they need a confident leader to show them how to navigate their experiences confidently. This is why generally it’s not recommended to have a young horse and a green rider.

• Environmental exposures and life experience can be a tricky one for us as owners, because quite often we don’t know our horses’ history and therefore don’t know why they have particular triggers or things that set them off.

If our horse has had a bad experience before we got them they could be sensitive to certain things. For example if they had their ears or muzzle twitched to be handled they may now be head shy or have issues being haltered and bridled. If they have had an accident in a float previously they may be really resistant to going on floats. If they haven’t had a good backing experience they may have issues with being ridden that we don’t understand.

The breeds can be broadly categorised into their level of confidence and rsponsiveness, but each individual horses’ experience and personality can then change that. The following is a handy cheat sheet on the average breed traits, but should go hand in hand with what you already know of your horse.

Arabs

Arabs are bred for endurance and long distances. They are super intelligent as well, which is why they can get such a bad wrap for their temperament. They really don’t tolerate people not treating them fair and they are also fairly impatient of riders who aren’t particularly experienced. You really need to open a 2-way conversation with an Arab to get the best out of them (get some great tools to open the lines of communication in our mini-course here).

They don’t do well with being told what to do. The more work they get the fitter they get, so lunging them until they are tired doesn’t generally work - in fact, they can sometimes continue to use the adrenaline and run until they drop.

Thoroughbreds

Thoroughbreds (in my experience) are not quite as intelligent as Arabs and can quickly flip the switch, become silly and not process their stimuli well.

They can become unmanageable quickly given the right circumstances. They are bred to go fast for short periods of time. Mostly they haven’t been given the time to be trained as safe horses either and need a good re-education after their racing career for them to be safe for beginners.

Because they are so athletic they make good all-rounders - trained well, they excel in most disciplines. However there is a tendency for people to try and make a quick buck from them by giving them a couple weeks or months of training after racing and then sedating them to sell on. They also have potential racing injuries that can limit their performance. Given time, structure and stability in their training they can make excellent horses for looking after you, but when that doesn’t happen they get a bad wrap for how silly, spooky or agreesive they are.

Stock Horses & Quarter Horses

Stock Horses and Quarter Horses generally are quite intelligent, responsive and learn quickly. They also generally are quite reliable and not overly spooky because stock men need good reliable horses. The way they have been bred over the years means they have retained the traits that make good work horses with focus, concentration, an eagerness to learn and intelligence. They are also generally quite sure footed and sound.

The old cowboy method of sacking them out, however, can lead to these horses having a tendency to shut down instead of be responsive. This means we need to spend time getting them to open up and “speak” to us to avoid unexpected explosions of unwanted behaviour.

Warmbloods

Warmbloods have all the power and strength of the heavy horses, but can have some of the silliness of Thoroughbreds they can be crossed with, which can make for a handful of a combination for the inexperienced rider. Add to that they can easily be made sour in their training or go lame if pushed too hard too young to excel in dressage.

This, in combination with their athleticism, size and strength can sometimes make them quite difficult to handle. They generally have a calmer brain on them then the Thoroughbreds and learn a little slower.

If hacked out and given the opportunity to develop thoroughly and slowly they can be very relaxed and not easily spooked. A lot of them spend their training in the arena though and as such don’t get exposed to lots of different stimuli, so when they eventually do have to go out at competitions they can be overly spooky and sensitive to their environment.

Draught horses

These are our heavy horses such as Clydesdales and Percherons. Typically they are very bold and confident, and they aren’t easily spooked. However, because they are so bold and confident they also tend to be more argumentative and push handlers around (and because they tend to be heavier they can be REALLY pushy). If the trainer has handled them without an understanding of setting clear boundaries and just tried to bully them into submission, they can become nervy and sensitive.

They learn a lot slower - where an Arab will figure out what you want after a couple of repetitions, for these guys it may take quite a few rides. This means the trainers may get frustrated and take it out on the horse - again, making them overly reactive and sensitive.

Standardbreds

Generally speaking, Standardbreds have a fairly calm temperament but as with the Warmbloods, the more Thoroughbred they have in them the more spooky and difficult they can be. How they were handled during their racing career and how they were backed after will also play a role in how calm they are. As with the Thoroughbreds, they can also have underlying injuries from racing.

When looking to buy or lease your own horse, you want to find a horse that matches your temperament and personality, and that includes understanding the different characteristics and nature of the breeds and then figuring out where on the spectrum of flighty to bold that horse sits for that breed. Some people want a more active horse for the discipline they want to ride and can cope with a more intelligent horse that quickly tries to out think them, whereas others may need a slower moving, slower thinking horse for just weekend pleasure rides.

Understanding what you need from your horse, and pairing that with your horses emotional, physical and mental needs in training, will give you the best chance of success with your relationship with your horse.

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