Personality testing for horses: This is not a scientific
study. No doctorates here. These are just the observations of a woman
who has loved and worked with horses all her life and constantly questioned,
“Why?” Why is this horse so much harder to handle than that one? Why,
when I have twenty babies to halter break, are there two or three that
do not respond to the same training program—and why do I find myself
with one little rascal dallied around an evergreen tree and me yelling
for some assistance? Why is it that the sweetest colt in the herd is
the one that blows up and bucks you off? Why is it that the horse you
have raised yourself, imprinted and handled every day is now ten years
old and has you totally bamboozled? You still have to treat him like
a two year-old, and you shake your head and wonder how you made a career
with horses.
In the quest for understanding, I have subscribed to every horse philosophy:
Ray Hunt, Pat
Parelli,
John Lyons, Chris
Irwin, Monty Roberts, and so on.
But I was still left with questions. Then along comes a nice read in
the form of Jane
Smiley’s book, A Year at the Races, and in one small chapter
in the middle of the book comes a big “WOW” for me. Horse Personality testing!
I am driving across the Canadian prairies by myself and madly putting all
the horses I have owned into their personalities when I realize that Saskatchewan
has flown by. Now that does not usually happen. This is good. I get home
and put all the horses I have taught over the years into their respective
slots and some common denominators start to show up.
So that is why my “sweety” bucks me off. She is a Wall Flower (Submissive,
Lazy, Afraid and Friendly). She is very, very sweet, but I pushed her when
I needed to listen to her. And that is why my “10 year-old-slash-2 year-old”
has fallen through the cracks. He’s a DLAA (Dominant, Lazy, Afraid and
Aloof). That does not spell easy as you will see when you read about the
Skeptic! This horse needed to be handled differently. For one thing he
needed a job and he is now ten years old and does not have one. Not all
horses want to be the friendly pleasure horse even if we think that would
be the ideal life.
So this is how personality testing works. Once we know what personality
our horses are, then we can quit trying to stuff that round peg into the
square hole.
The wheels are turning—what if we could personality test our foals? We
would know immediately if they needed us to be there for them every step
(Submissive) or needed us to turn them loose and let them figure things
out (Dominant). Are they fearful and need the slow program, or are they
curious and need a lot of variety? Do they need a job, or are they just
happy to please us? So many questions and so many places I see my training
program needing to change.
I teach some weekend riding workshops. Those horses should not all be doing
the same exercises. Some are bored to tears and some are terrified. I feel
like a lot of school teachers must. I find myself teaching to the middle
segment, and the top and bottom horses are struggling. On the one end are
the DECF’s (the Rock Stars). They have the super egos, are super confident,
super friendly—the all round guys. They thrive on challenge and change.
They are not being challenged. On the other end you might find the SLAA’s
(the Lone Wolves). They do not like new places or to learn new things.
These horses need their security blankets to leave home. Just being at
a new barn with all the new horses around is almost more than they can
bear. They need a quiet little corner and an exercise that is not too challenging.
They want to do it well, and it needs to have purpose for them to feel
safe. These two personalities need programs that are extremely different;
I need to teach from a different perspective.
Perhaps by understanding your horse’s personality a new and exciting world
will open up for you as well. Can you see where the training program needs
to change? Maybe the sport is all wrong for him and that is why the two
of you have been struggling.
Perhaps dressage is boring for him and he needs to be a show jumper; maybe
the show jumper is too afraid and stressed and needs to be the dressage
horse; maybe your horse has too much energy to be an arena horse and needs
to get out on the trail and pound away some miles; or maybe you will be
able to combine the two like a friend of mine did with her wonderful little
Arab mare named Sam. We had been working on teaching her to jump, and it
was proving to be a difficult process. She was hot, would get quick, run
off, and even buck on occasion. Her energy was being directed in the wrong
place. Then one year, she became a pleasure to jump. She started to quietly
“hunter” down lines. The reason for the big change? Her owner had begun
training her in distance riding. Sam needed to go out and do a 25- to 50-mile
ride a week to be able to settle down in her ring work. Sam is an SECF
(Submissive, Energetic, Curious and Friendly). These letters say she needs
a lot of variety. But what she mostly needed was her big E (Energetic)
satisfied. We discovered this by accident. But now that we can test our
horses and know what type they are, we can design a program that is perfect
for them.
Another horse I taught carries the traits Curious and Aloof. Like Sam,
this horse needed variety in his jobs. Louie is a Warmblood whose owner
had been training him as a show jumper. She had heard about an animal communicator
from California and thought it would be fun to hear what her horses had
to say via the communicator. The first thing Louie said was: “I’d like
to be a western horse.” Now the whole family stood and stared with their
mouths open in shock. After all the money and training and horse show fees
they put into him, he wanted to be a western horse?!? They called me in
disbelief and horror. At the time, I couldn’t explain it by personality,
saying, “Oh, he has a big C (Curious) so he needs lots of different things
to do.” But I did try to pacify them and say that I’m sure he just wants
to try something different. He is very confident in his jumping—new fences
only interest him for a couple of times. What harm would it do to put a
different saddle on him and go ride in the mountains or teach him the barrels
or go move neighbors’ cows? His owner was game and let him play at a variety
of new sports, and he loved it! His jumping only got better. By the fall
indoor Spruce Meadows show he was happy to be there and very confident
and competitive in the ring. Although her jumping coach did say, “You will
have to watch those corners—you are starting to look like a barrel racer!”
Delve into it and see what personalities are out in your pasture. The descriptions
under each of the eight characteristics or traits will help you decide
which category your horse is in. Put the letters together and hopefully
that knowledge will open a new door for you. It should help you avoid getting
bucked off, run over, run away with, or stepped on (that’s a favorite of
the Afraid/Friendly).
Horse personalities apply to both genders. For example, a Goddess can be
either male or female. You will notice that Dominant horses will seem male
and Submissive horses will seem female, but they can be either. This could
be the energy they exude, and I’ll talk more about this as we go. For the
purposes of this book, I will be using the masculine for all horses, recognizing
that the personalities could be either male or female.
Throughout the book, I refer to some “Tools” or strategies for working
with different types of horses. A brief description of each of these tools
is at the end of the book. Specific riding or training “how to’s” are readily
available in books, workshops and videos and so are not included here.
I challenge you to use your creativity when developing your program. Get
some basic instruction, but do not be afraid to use your own horse communication
skills to listen and see what works for you and your horse.
So my journey into understanding horses is expanding even as I am writing
this book. I continue to test horses—the number is over 500 now and growing.
The more you come to accept them for who they are and listen to what they
need, the more they will honor you and accept your requests. This is definitely
what I have found. May this information help you to enjoy your horse more
and to see his funny idiosyncrasies and oddities as personality-related,
not something that needs to be fixed.
The Eight Personality Traits
Dominant or Submissive: How much control do they need
in their world?
Energetic or Lazy: How much effort do they put in?
How do they express themselves? How much energy do they carry?
Curious or Afraid: How do they approach life and learning?
Friendly or Aloof: How are they motivated? How do
they fit in socially?
By combining the above eight traits, sixteen different personalities
emerge. Personality testing for people has been used for years to help
people in the work place and in personal relationships to better understand
each other: how they fit in socially, how they view their world, how
they need to spend their time, what fills them up, and what motivates
them. By answering some questions we come to understand our preferences
for how and why we do things. Ideally, this helps us learn to accept
ourselves and become what we were meant to be. The same can hold true
for horses. Each horse is born with a unique personality. The more we
understand it, the more we can customize our program and allow the true
spirit of that unique horse to emerge.
