Personalities

Similar to people all horses have different personalities; different likes and dislikes, thoughts and reactions, in short no two horses are the same. While you may have two 3-year-olds with the same breeding one may be very calm and gentle whereas the other may be a bit more “froggy”. A horse’s individual personality can affect how to approach them in training.

I have found that the horses with more spunk will usually be quicker to pick up on things because they are more alert, paying more attention to you as their trainer. On the other hand, the calmer horses don’t pay too much attention to you and your training, almost as if they don’t care.

A horse’s personality can determine what kind of horse he will be when he is finished. For example, the tranquil-mannered horse may become bored with repetitiveness. This can lead to laziness, but they are usually okay to ride even if they have extended time off. This will usually make them good for kids and beginner riders. The attentive horse, however, will probably be a great prospect for events (roping, barrels, dressage, jumping), although, they may have to be reminded of original training if given too much time off.

All horses will be good at something, some built for simple things such as trail rides, others are athletes born for the events. Some horses are just all around, winning championship ropings and be can seen five minutes later packing around the kids.

What do you want to know?

Do you have a question you cannot find an answer to? Do you need help understanding something, but worried someone will think you dumb? Ask the Horse Guru! I will get you the answer to any question about horses you could have. Don't hesitate another minute, post a comment to ask a question or email horse.guru@yahoo.com.

You can also post comments for advise you want to add or experiences you want to share. This is a community for horse enthusiasts, whether you own a horse or just like to collect figurines of them, everybody is welcome. Granted I may not know everything about everything, but I sure do know lots about horses. Test me, ask a question you think is really hard or dare I say it, ask me a trick question - that will really test my knowledge (horse.guru@yahoo.com).

I am always trying to learn, there is always something you don't know. So share your knowledge too. I am always trying to find out about upcoming events and shows. I am into anything involving horses. In fact, I recently became involved in horse modeling - what's that you ask? Come back later to see pictures of the project I am working on, I will be posting photos as soon as we finish the project.

Colic Tips

All of us that own horses are going to come across this problem at one point or another and that problem is Colic. Different things can cause a horse to colic from eating off the ground and getting sand in their intestines to drinking too much water if they're too hot.

There are different signs of Colic. One sign is the horse biting constantly at their belly. Another sign is when they will lay down and do not want to get back up. They won't have regular bowel movements and usually won't want to eat or drink.

Advice I can offer on this, in most cases anyway, is to walk your horse either lead them or put them on a hot walker. As long as they're having bowel movements that is a GOOD sign, but if they're not having bowel movements I recommend mineral oil. First administer orally, but if you do not see results I recommend to then administer it rectally. This can be done with a 1/4 inch clear tubing about 1 and a 1/2 foot long with a funnel attached to the other end to pour mineral oil through. If you don't have mineral oil, you can mix a small amount, maybe 2 tablespoons, of liquid dish soap into about a 1/2 gallon of water or so.

I hope this info has been helpful, but if you need more detail or want to ask me a specific question feel free to post a comment or email me at horse.guru@yahoo.com Thanks for reading.