NEW OWNER OF A TB MARE... other riders/owners of the breed...any insights??

[iluvhorses28]

Hi again!

Just curious for those who have been around and owns TB's what comments you may have about the breed....

I dont know if this is a "breed" thing but mine has a longer and faster stride... which PETRIFIES me at times :eek:
She also can be stubborn...not sure if that's her or just because she needs to get used to being ridden after 4 years of being an official LAWN ORNAMENT for her previous owners....

HELP! :eek:

[Kelsey1704]

After owning my Thoroughbred, I doubt I will own any other breed. Joey is amazing...full of heart, sweet as can be, and hard working - not to mention beautiful.

I find most Thoroughbred's gaits to be really comfortable. Is your horse's just fast like she's excited to be out and about, or do you get the impression that's just the way she moves? My horse is long legged so I find he stretches a lot when moving. The fact that she's being ridden more than before could have a lot to do with it.

As for being stubborn, I can't really add to that....Joey very rarely throws a tantrum.

Good luck and congrats on your new addition :)

[jUmPingIsLifE]

i have found stubborness to be a mare thing personally :rolleyes:

im not stereotyping, i promice but i have definatly found that most mares are quite stubbor. or at least the ones i have delt with which is a good amount.

the length of a horses stride is not determined by breed, the same goes for how comfortable it is (unless you are talking about gaited horses) but its determined by the horses conformation.

speed however just depends on the horse, some horses are foward going and some arn't. TBs tend to be on the foward going side (although i have known my fair share of lazy TBs!).

personally i absolutly love TBs they are just so personable, athletic anc full of heart and a will to please the rider from what i have found.

[iluvhorses28]

Well.. maybe it is just that coming from my old TB schoolhorse who is the complete opposite of my new mare-- I got used to his rather sluggish strides... and maybe mine is just right-- and just needs for me to get used to.
With my old TB school horse (gelding)...everyone else is FAST! My RI instructor always tells me.. any slower and I would be at a stand still! :D
Personally, I quite likes his laid back attitude.... that's why I think I got comfy with him FAST...
But now that I have my mare... theres a lot to get used to-- for BOTH of us.
She is a very sweet horse... and I am glad we got her.... :p

But becasue she is not the sluggish type.... she is wanting to GO all the time...My daughter loves her-- I'm afraid I am just a little too timid for her at the moment.. maybe in time I will generally grow into getting comfy with her as well...
I always hear people generally take some time to "get used" to a new horse... hence the BONDING is needed.
I sure hope so! I cant wait to really ride her with complete confidence!

[dcp]

If I were to get another horse is would be a TB. I'm so glad I bought one. So intelligent, sweet, honest and pretty. They can be pretty flighty especially on hacks

[StephA]

Harry is so so sweet and will try and do anything to please. Even if he is hurt ( came back from a loan with a bad back and didnt even realise until I ran my hand down his back and noticed him flinch ).

He is very honest and loving but saying that he can have his funny days where he will act like a 4 year old out on his first ever hack. But it makes it more interesting!!

I wouldnt swap him for the world now...he will be with me for ever and would definately have another

S x

[teabiscuit]

Same as the posts above-they are flighty and sensitive and can be hard work, but after a lifetime of thinking tb's were stupid,flighty planks,my tb gelding has changed my mind completely,he is so smart and sweet and gentle, :D and flighty etc :eek: and totally adorable.He also has really comfortable paces, and when i ride him i feel like i'm taking the ferarri out.(don't get the wrong idea, i'm far too poor to have a ferarri!)

[iluvhorses28]

I Only Just Got My Mare A Little Less Than A Month-- She Already Has Her Winter Coat On-- Rather Thicker Than Other Tb With Her.... Is This A Common Trait? She Is Pretty Fuzzy!

[iluvhorses28]

I agree.....my TB mare is quite new to me, as I only have had her 3 weeks...
Yet I see that she does quite well.... she is being ridden in both English and Western Disciplines... and does extremely well apapting to both. Jumps well too!:D

But I find her a little too fast for me.... but I am a big chicken on new horses.

I am slowing her down some now, I think she read my mind that I like stolls...not walks....:p

[*Sez*]

I think TBs are too intelligent for their own good :rolleyes: . My RI asks me to do the same bending exercises in every lesson: always two softnings of the neck and taking up contact, two bends right, soften again then two bends left. Sal got wise to this and started bending to the left at the very beginning of the lesson without being asked, with an air of "right, we've got that over with now"!

My step-mum put Sal to bed for me tonight as I had to prepare for my guitar lesson. This morning, he saw our neighbour mixing up her evening feeds and putting them outside her stables, all covered up and hidden behind her mucking out tools. Sal decided my step-mum was taking too long with his tea, barged past her, and wondered down the barn, daintily removing the covers from each of the buckets and then trying to help himself to a small sampling! He leapt on my step-mum's foot on Monday (it's those goblins hiding in the muckheap :rolleyes: ), and she's still hobbling, so she went hopping down the barn, raging at him and towed him back to his stable by his rug. He must have remembered Michelle leaving the feeds outside the stables and decided he was too desperate to wait :D . Another time, I was hosing off his muddy legs, and there was a small forest of coloured water buckets around the hose pipe, all different colours, sizes and makes. Sal decides at this point that he's desperate for a drink, totally bypasses the closest buckets and homes in on one at the back which just happens to be the exact same one we have, down to the shade of purple and the size of the bucket. He must have thought I was a very nice mum to magicly produce his bucket when he wanted a drink ;)

He is a lot more sensitive and flighty than our tank... ahem, cob :rolleyes: , which I did find a bit worrying to begin with, but after starting to get used to him, I wouldn't change him for the world!

[Skyhuntress]

Stubborness is a horse thing, period ;) I think some of them get it into their mind of "Oh ya? You only weight 150lbs, why should I do what you want?!"

As for TBs, it really depends on how they were trained. They are known to be a hotter breed then the majority, but some people also TRAIN them like they are hotter, which doesn't help.

I've done a lot of retraining on OTTBs, the majority of them are flighty because they are MADE to be flighty. When they are exercised, they are told to go and go and go, and many people train their TBs (even though they aren't racers) to do the same, just because TBs generally have more speed that other breeds.

That being said, you CAN calm them down. As Sez said, they are extremely intelligent. Alot of people pass them off as dumb because they are notoriously flightly, but I assure you, I have yet to meet a breed as a whole who are smarter ;)

Since they are so intelligent, they usually pick things up extremely quickly; and you WILL be able to even out your mares strides with training.

Good luck!

[iluvhorses28]

Actually, we have one at the stables that is a OTTB, and as calm and collected as he is 99% of the time.. he has been known to out of the blue bolt to a gallop~:eek:
Now I'm scared about my Tb...she is also timid, and I have yet to really KNOW her as her owner.
It's mostly a learning process for both of us, I guess.
BUt is that true that TB's have longer, faster strides? Even if they are not OTTB?

[dcp]

I'm not sure if it's TB thing about the strides. When I got my horse he used to do the fastest trot ever was pretty cool but I believe that was a problem as he wasn't very fit.

All horses are pretty intelligent but my horse is the only one who will head butt his door (maybe not that clever) walk out his stable right up to the huge haylage bale and have a munch. All the other horses are staring at him like how'd you do that!

Not all TB's aer nutty it's amazing how many people think that

[No_Angel]

i have a tb ex racer chestnut mare, her registered name is madams walk and its quite approriate- shes a madam and by god she has a hell of a walk, its more like a march, she really throws her shoulders into it, and its very fast.
ive ridden quite a few racers and x racers and ive have never ridden one with this kind of walk, its amazing. her trot is like a trotters aswell, so quick with enormous strides, i lost my balance quite alot in the first few months, youd ask for trot and this rocket would shoot out from underneath you, i found putting my stirrups up alot and riding in jumping length stirrups helpes loads.
her canter is beautiful, she so balanced and nice, and her gallop is something else, i used to love to ride my idxtbs gallop cause it was soo fast, but i feel like im flying when i ride maddie, her whole frame lengthns and she almost touches the floor, and suddenly my jumping length stirrups go very long and i can hardly reach them, and we just fly up that field, its amazing :D

i find maddie is quite stubborn, not as bad as my other chestnut mare, but she can just not want to come up the field when caught, but if shes stubborn on a hack i can usually get her out of it.
maddie is a completely typical tb, shes silly and flightly and athletic, but shes a very sweet girl when you get to know her and i love the way she always seems to be happy to hack out:D

[teabiscuit]

yes thay can grow a decent winter coat, my tb looks very cute in his:D

[iluvhorses28]

HI!

Worked with my mare yesterday-- she seems to have slowed a lot for me this time around--- My daughter and I share her, so it seems she is getting used to either of our preferences in riding.. Mine being the SLOOOOOOOWER pace of the two.
I know it's only been 3 weeks, I should really give it time...

[purple_jewel]

Being different after owning a tb never again =p
although i had ridden some very nice ones
i realised i prefered a chubby little cob thats plods long =)
thats just type of person i am =)

dont take offence lovely breed =):D:D:D

[Teazle]

Love them - much more responsive to and interested in people than many other breeds. Usually quite bright too - pick up words/language very well. Often gentle and loving on the ground; will trust their owners and go through/over anything. Can be the very best horses - well behaved but forward going, and the speed is fantastic!!

Downsides? Expense! Often poor doers, need rugging up in the winter, and don't have that canny sense of self preservation that natives have so do silly things and get hurt in the field more easily.

[fluffy_betty]

My TB mare has a massive stride and is naturally fast, To someone watching her trot she looks like she is plodding along happilly, until you see her alongside another horse and realise shes floating along at the speed of their fast canter (i used to lead treks out on her and have kids on ponies flying flat out through the woods to try and keep up while we went for a sedate trot - oops)! its really comfortable though and her canter is like riding a rocking horse:D

also she'll jump anything you point her at:D

downsides - she currently has 2 kick marks, one missing shoe and an overreach from an average day out in the field, and schooling and hacking frequently feel like sitting on a stick of dynamite:eek:

she has to be worked everyday, the harder you work her the more she enjoys it!

[little lauz]

I love tb's i own one and work with them . I find them stubborn, but if you get them on your side they would do anything for you , They are naturally fast and long striding hence why they are used in racing. You cant beat a TB or TB cross they are so athletic and can turn a foot to anything. I LOVE THEM !!! enjoy :)

[Skint]

Congratulations on getting your TB mare,

we've got a 4yo ottb mare, she can be rather stubborn and sensitive, forms very strong attachments to her herd,she has the odd diva moment, momentary lapses of manners, but no worse than any other horse her age really.

Athletic, graceful, amazing strides, (similar walk to No_Angel-picture a little army of marching TB mares!:D) intelligent, not overly spooky for age and type. What I like best about her is that she is affectionate, intelligent, she really THINKS about things, and she always tries her best to do what's asked of her.
I dont think I've ever met a TB or TBx i didnt like, they are just great!

Wishing you and your mare many happy days to come!

[CurlyWurlyRach]

Ressurected from '05 guys ;)

[Skint]

ooops sorry! :o