What breed of horse is best for me?

[boykin2010]

For those of you who are horse experts, I was wondering if you could tell me what breed of horse is best suited for me. I may be moving soon and I have been thinking about getting horses.
Here are some qualities I am looking for.

1. Good temperments. I know this usually depends on how the horse was raised but as a general fact what breeds have the best temperments. I would like to have one that is really gentle and good with kids.

2. Easy keepers.

3. I want a horse that are good just for riding down the dirt road and in the woods. Not looking for anything for speed, just for pleasure and joy riding haha.

 

[Ms. Research]

For those of you who are horse experts, I was wondering if you could tell me what breed of horse is best suited for me. I may be moving soon and I have been thinking about getting horses.
Here are some qualities I am looking for.

1. Good temperments. I know this usually depends on how the horse was raised but as a general fact what breeds have the best temperments. I would like to have one that is really gentle and good with kids.

2. Easy keepers.

3. I want a horse that are good just for riding down the dirt road and in the woods. Not looking for anything for speed, just for pleasure and joy riding haha.

Not a horse expert but someone who's wanted a horse since I was small. Research just a little on the subject, and I would say the American Quarter Horse. Arabians, which was my second choice, are more challenging and high spirited. Beautiful animals but the type I, as a novice, will just watch, never ride. Know my limitations.

I agree 100% regarding temperment. But all breeds have those that are a little high strung. But I think looking at the Quarter Horse, you will find more laid back, pleasure horses.

And as I have read many threads in the horse section, the resounding advise from horse experts is, never buy without watching the owner ride, never buy until you ride, and take someone who has horse knowledge with you.

Hope this helps. Good Luck on finding your pleasure horse.

 

[chubbydog811]

I second the Quarter Horse...Avoid the Arab, unless you want to deal with something more high strung. (note: not saying all Arabs are, just going from my experience.)

 

[michickenwrangler]

I second the Quarter Horse...Avoid the Arab, unless you want to deal with something more high strung. (note: not saying all Arabs are, just going from my experience.)

There ARE some very nice Arabs out there and half-Arabs tend to be mellower than purebreds. As an Arabian person, I would like to point out that they are not necessarily high strung, just more sensitive and "reactive" than your stock breeds.

Quarter horses, Paints and crosses based on those two generally make good trail/pleasure mounts. Most Tennessee Walkers are also good, quiet trail horses. For obvious reasons, avoid specialized "big lick" horses. I ride a TWH barn and they pride themselves on training and breeding horses that can show one weekend and go camping the next.

 

[chubbydog811]

I second the Quarter Horse...Avoid the Arab, unless you want to deal with something more high strung. (note: not saying all Arabs are, just going from my experience.)

There ARE some very nice Arabs out there and half-Arabs tend to be mellower than purebreds. As an Arabian person, I would like to point out that they are not necessarily high strung, just more sensitive and "reactive" than your stock breeds.

Quarter horses, Paints and crosses based on those two generally make good trail/pleasure mounts. Most Tennessee Walkers are also good, quiet trail horses. For obvious reasons, avoid specialized "big lick" horses. I ride a TWH barn and they pride themselves on training and breeding horses that can show one weekend and go camping the next.

Sorry, was tired when I wrote that - I do agree, high strung was a bad way to put it...Half blood arabs are actually great. I had an Arab/QH that was an AWESOME boy! Didn't have the random spook attitude like my full blood arabs had.
Love the TWH's too.

 

[vkalvacev]

I agree with most of the above, paints and quarter horses are the best way to go or some variation of them (appendix might be good, but may be high strung). Also, DRAFTS! Drafts are the best, especially the older ones at auction. Drafts are known as the "gentle giants" and I wholeheartedly agree.. I really haven't seen a draft in person yet that REALLY wanted to work too hard and go over the top!

 

[Ms. Research]

I agree with most of the above, paints and quarter horses are the best way to go or some variation of them (appendix might be good, but may be high strung). Also, DRAFTS! Drafts are the best, especially the older ones at auction. Drafts are known as the "gentle giants" and I wholeheartedly agree.. I really haven't seen a draft in person yet that REALLY wanted to work too hard and go over the top!

My Son fell in LOVE with a Draft. As a homeschooler, he was able to get a chance to have the experience of a "Week on the Farm". Very nice person who raised and showed horses (gymnastics on horseback) had a gathering for a week of children who wanted to learn about their form of show, plus meet other animals. Their Draft horse was so sweet, and my Son loved to see him every time he went there. Wasn't afraid of how big he was because of the gentle nature.

But also, a novice, who has NOT been around horses should consider the size when looking for a horse. Big and gentle can still hurt unintentionally.

 

[mydakota]

As an Arab lover, and a person who has owned and ridden them for almost 40 years, I would hold that they are NOT more "high strung". What they ARE, is more intelligent and more sensitive. What would be a normal "speaking voice" for most horses is a "shout" for an Arab. They learn faster (on average) and try harder (on average) than any other breed I have worked with. You need quiet hands, a quiet seat, quiet legs, and a quiet demeanor to be successful with them on a regular basis. If your horsemanship skills aren't up to them, you probably won't like them. If they are? You will like them just fine. An Arab is almost never a "balker" or a "sulker". You can almost always get forward impulsion out of an Arab. On any horse, if you can get the feet to move? Sooner or later, if you are skilled, you will get them to move "your" way. If they sulk up? You are often dead in the water. All that energy and forward impulsion can get out of hand if the horsemanship skills aren't up to it. It can be scary to someone who doesn't know how to handle it. They are not for everyone. But they are not "crazy" or "high strung". Also, as with ANY breed, individuals vary a great deal. I have seen Arabs who were dead-quiet and Quarter Horses and Paints who were hot as a pistol. Also, bloodlines within breeds vary a great deal. I would take a hot Arab over a Hancock bred QH any day. And yet I have a friend who rides a Hancock who absolutely loves him. Don't worry too much about finding a breed that is right for you. Find a HORSE that is right for you.

I used to show Arabs on the class A circuit. Now I camp and trail ride with mine. They are entirely suitable mounts for it and I enjoy them a great deal. On saddle club events, who gets elected to ride with any rider having a horse with behavioral issues? My mare and me. My purebred Arabian mare. She is that dependably quiet. We have safely brought in more than one rider (most of them on QH's by the way) who was WAY overmounted and having trouble.

This is my mare on a trailride out of the Skull Hollow trailhead last year.

This was years ago. My 4 year old purebred gelding as a leadline horse.

My mare giving my 14 month old nephew a ride.

Doesn't he look scared?

My half Arab gelding and I riding out of the Skull Hollow trailhead. Had a GREAT ride.

 

[Ms. Research]

40 years of experience, I guess you would have made that Purebred Arabian Mare do whatever you wanted. Arabians are beautiful, and as you can say, "sensitive" because, to be honest, they were bred that way and need experienced handlers. Quarter Horses do too, so I don't blame the behavioral problems on the horse. IMHO, its the People the majority of the time. I think that of every animal, we humans, call pet, livestock, whatever. They rush in to satisfy instant gratification, and realize when the REAL time hits, they had no idea. What a nice thing you do helping out someone get to know their horse.

Right now, I'm

Your horses are BEAUTIFUL. You have a life I have DREAMED for years. But I live in the REAL world and know what I can and can not do. If I ever have the priviledge of owning ANY type of horse, I will make sure I know what I'm doing in the saddle, and definitely on the ground caring (which is the MOST important part of owning) before I take a trail ride. I won't be that One rider.

I'm glad to see you are showing your love of the Arabian to the future generation. He looks like his having a BALL!

 

[mydakota]

ALL horses benefit from experienced handlers. I certainly won't argue that. But we all have to start somewhere. Nobody is born an experienced rider. I got my first Arab when I was 7. I owned him 23 years, until he died quite literally with his head in my lap. This is him. Kelso. My first Arabian horse. The pic is when he was 11 and I was 7. It is in the PeEll Homecoming Day Parade in 1972. A 7 year old child, riding an Arabian horse, in a parade. With bands, and loud engines, and a 21 gun salute. Definitely not high strung and definitely not crazy.

I will say that I did have the advantage of having been born into a family with a grandfather who was a Horseman. We were the only two horse lovers in the family. He recognized it in me at a young age, and nurtured it and shaped it. He taught me. I was lucky. He grew up working cattle on ranches, and later ran a pack string on Mt. Rainier with the CCC, bringing in supplies for the work they were doing there. He was a small man--5 foot 3 and 135 lbs and he ran a packstring of 17 heavily laden horses single handedly on the rough terrain of the mountain. As I said, he was a Horseman. But even he started somewhere. He was who bought me that little Arabian horse. You are wise to know that you have to educate yourself before you take on the responsibility of a horse. You can't expect to always take from the horse, giving little beside food in return. You must learn to ride an Arabian authoritatively, and respectfully at the same time. But shouldn't you do that with any horse? Wouldn't any horse be a better horse if you did? Not every Arabian is suitable as a "first horse". But neither is every QH, or every Paint, or every Draft. And some Arabians are the companions of a lifetime.