Girl Power

Some horse people truly loathe mares. I cannot tell you how many people have called about horses that we have for sale that specify that they will not try a mare, no matter how perfectly she might work for them.


“Mares are just too hormonal.”

“Mares don’t make consistent show horses.”

“Mares have such attitudes!”

　
I have heard all the typical comments about mares and thought that they made sense. Geldings never come in season. Geldings are sweet and affectionate. Geldings will perform consistently at shows and are undisturbed by the presence of stallions. Blah blah blah.


I have had geldings that I completely adored. Patrick had enough personality for five horses and was very affectionate. (I am not sure why I used past tense…he still does!).



That being said, I think that I have gone to the dark side. I am coming out as being a huge fan of mares.
I ride quite a few different young horses on a daily basis. I work with both mares and geldings. I can honestly say that, as a general rule, my favorites are mares.


Allow me to give you some examples.


　
There was Lizzie. Fantastic, opinionated, and talented mare. She was an elegant mare with that feminine look that I love. Pretty head, pretty neck-just the type of horse that you look at from a distance and know is a mare.

Lizzie would, on occasion, get that attitude that so many horse enthusiasts hate.

There was the time that I sent the working student to retrieve her from her paddock. She didn’t want to come in and let that be known with a well-placed hoof to the innocent student’s thigh! (Please understand I am not condoning kicking and she was appropriately reprimanded. She was two at the time, had just been brought up from the pasture, and was in her semi-feral, naughty stage…).

There was the time that I turned her loose in the arena and she cantered gracefully off, firing two hind legs in my general direction as she got halfway across the arena.

As an early three year old, she would grow quite impatient with standing tied in the barn and paw. She could be fussy, opinionated, and borderline obnoxious.

However.

As Lizzie matured, she began to channel that assertive nature into her work under saddle. That pushiness in the barn of her younger days, that boss mare mentality- these things served her well as a riding horse. Lizzie was not spooky. She was extremely intelligent. All I had to do was introduce a concept once and she understood.

She became dependable under saddle.
Unflappable, even. Introducing small jumps to her daily routine was a non-event. Larger fences with colorful fill? No problem. Nothing seemed to phase her.

The first people to come out and look at her decided to buy her. I was not surprised. She is currently being prepared for her career as a show hunter. Her new owner has taken her to several hunter shows to hack around and reports that she is retaining that unflappable personality.

Love it.

I had another mare's story typed up but, when I went to publish this post, blogger.com somehow ate it. Fantastic.

And I still have not been successful with commenting. I may be hopeless.