Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Horses I'd like your opinions on!

If you go see any of these, tell them not to catch them up before you get there.
4 yo mare might be good but I'd pass if I weren't experienced.
Look for easy. I'm thinking you don't need a project.
Good luck.

Anyone who's ever ridden a horse for more than a few minutes has taken that voyage.

That's why I decided I like horses that are 15 hds better than those that are 16. I had a 16 hand QT and it was along way to the ground. As far as mares I'll take geldings all day everyday. I have a nice looking Kentucky mtn horse mare but she is a knucklehead and the wife rides her ONLY. I don't bother to and I won't let anybody else on her.

I might ad that every mare I've ever ridden along with has pissed me off one way or another.

Chicks don't like you?

my Ruby was a little bit of a man-hater because of previous experience. She required some adaptation on my part to forge a relationship.

I ride a mare. Actually getting ready to buy another.

This geldings vs mare thing is horseschitt... No pun intended.

If the work from the get go was quality there shouldn't be issues. Now I realize them chicks have chemical things to deal with. So, modern science has helped us out

Regu-mate.

However, owning a horse is no like owning a cat or a dog. You work with a horse and then come back a month later and expect to have the same horse? Having a horse, a 1000# +/- animal the has more power than you can humanly control and you expect it to do what you tell it, how you tell it when you tell it... if you only spend time with it occasionally? You expect this magnificent beast to listen to your feet, knees and hips and some leather pieces attached to a piece of metal you put in it's mouth...and you only have time to teach once or twice every other week? You dog or cats get more attention than that and how well trained are they?
The horse brain isn't like many. The left and right don't communicate back and forth or vice-versa. You have to teach the left and right independently. Repeatedly and often...

Having a horse is building a relationship if you don't have the time don't have a horse. It is a commitment nothing more nothing less. Much to that!

15 hands of over 16... who needs to fret 4".

Too many are fixated on looks, size, color... what about the foundation, abilities, bone structure, confirmation, feet and lines. They matter way more than the wrapper.

One needs to ask yourself when buying a horse. Why is it for sale and why so cheap?

No matter what the horse seller says any we purchase go back to training from square one. Yours should too. Doesn't hurt to schedule a showing and show up very early.

Jus sayin'

Cocadori.
Although there is alot of truth in what you post, good training or not,it has been documented many times over that geldings are more stable on temperment as a general rule. Inducing drugs into the equation should not be necessary.There are times when a mare is more desireable. Such as leading a pack string of mules, which generally bond very quickly to a mare horse.For a person using a horse once a week or less,it probably does not make a difference,but if you are making a living off a horse, or just using one a lot, that little bit of snottyness or worse that mares can sometimes get into during the heat cycle can be very irratating. I don't want to have to go find the drug to stop it when she comes in heat 1/2 way thru a long 5-6+ day trail ride or hunting trip.

Take a hundred mares and a hundred geldings with all the same breeding and training and you will get a higher percentage of stable animals out of the geldings, but may very well get several good mares out of the lot and a few jugheads out of the geldings.

As for the 15 hd vs 16 hd, that 4" can and has made a difference to many. A 15 hd animal is doable for me,but 16 hd is over the top as I am only 5' 5". I really prefer 14hd. Can I get on/off and ride a 16hd animal? Sure I can. However, my comfort zone means a lot to me. In addition when out bush whacking and trying to find a way to get to and pack out an elk in heavy timber,the smaller animal is a lot easier to negotiate thru the timber, and if I need to pack that animal, that extra 4" to heft a heavy pannier or elk quarter makes a big difference on the side of a mountain.

If heigth did not matter we would not spend as much time as we do breeding animals for specific purposes. ie. big tall thorobreds for jumping and little ponies for pulling coal/or carts out of mines in the past.

To me the best color is broke, but if I had my druthers between two animals with the same training and everything else being equal I would buy the one that I favor a certain color. Just as I might buy a vehicle in a certain color.

There is no sense in buying a horse and then going down the road and saying "Gee I wish this horse was shorter or taller", or " I wish this horse was black instead of sorrel"

If we limit ourselves to a very narrow set of parameters,we will never find the perfect horse,but it does not hurt to have preferences. For instance, I would never buy a 16 hd horse for myself, and I would buy a blue roan over a sorrel, but would take the sorrel if it was a better horse, but would not by a belgium for a saddle or pack horse.

It's all moot to me as I ride mules,but will ride a horse if it meant I had to walk otherwise.

Funny thing I've noticed, women will not put up with a mare acting witchy; they get right after them. Men are much more likely to show patience with a mare in her moment.

Much easier to work with 2 lbs of brain than 1000 lbs of muscle.

Gotta get their head first.

Why a horse is for sale and why so cheap (if that's the case) is always a good question to ask, but we are in the buyer's market of all buyer's markets. As concordi said, show up early, and, when possible, use the horse for a few days, but I have never seen a time when so many really good horses could be found for almost nothing. Yes, you have to sort through a lot of rejects to find the gem, but there are lots of people out there who simply cannot afford to keep a horse any more, or have to cut down on the number they own, and they simply want their horse to find a good home. You will recognize these people because they will ask you (the buyer) as many questions as you are asking them.

That's because we have to get use to putting up with witchy women all our lives.

and the same 2 lb. brain, can be adversely affected by hormones, either mother dearest or mare......

and when the hormones kick in, it's sometimes easier to wrassle that extra 1000 lbs, than deal with the 2 pounder......

I'd have to go look at the young mare. Neighbor here had an own son of Peppy San Badger and he was one of the best cow horses I've thrown a leg over. Rode several of his colts too and they were all athletic, smart and easy to work with although one had a cold back but he got over it easy enough after a few crow hops.. Just a guess here but she probably was used in the cutting arena and couldn't stay in the money.

A big plus is she has probably been handled and dragged to town a lot so that alone can add some needed maturity.

She is bred well.

She ain't too tall.

She however is a mare but as others have pointed out there are exceptions. I had a mare bred pretty close to the way she is back in the early 90's and I wish I had a hundred more like her. You just never know...

We ran 70 horses and 10 mules. We were about 40% Mares. Never had issues. We had performance horses ( reined cow ) we had one mare that got regu-mate.

Our picket animals we mares. Never had to lead a string with em. Our pack strings coulda cared less who led em. We did have our point animals and drag but they never cared who was leading. Just who was picketed.

Never had one "in season" while hunting. The ones in season on pack trips might squeel every now and again but nothing that ruined their work ethic.

Not sure about you but I don't know that many making a a living of a pony these days. I'm in talk with a few right now with some big outfits in SW MT , NV and UT and they never specified gelding or mare. But they are much more concerned about build, smarts and the initial ground work.

I realize that my opinions and experiences won't make a hill of beans difference on what sex horse anyone buys. I'm just growing weary of this "gotta have a gelding cause mares have issues" way of thinking. So many "horse people" have this ingrained in them that they have been fools and overlooked exceptional horses cause they were a mare. And still do.

Yup. I'll overlook an exceptional mare for an exceptional gelding anytime, ingrained fool that I am....

ALthough a small sampling of ones I have owned myself, my wifes barrel horse was a witch of a mare.Of three mollies I have raised and owned, one, when in heat hated bad weather and seemed to think I caused it. Another would not walk 10 yards without having to stop and pee and did not want to work. The one I have now doesn't want to work when in heat.Generally though,the geldings have not had those problems.

Problems I have had is when I have my stock on high lines or hobbled out with other guys stock and they are mares,there is always a problem of domance issues with the mares kicking, sqealing, generally fighting etc. Not so much with geldings.Definitely those mares in heat will tend to kick out more in a lined out situation when another horse has tendancy to stick thier nose up the mares butt.

Big lot numbers some folks will not notice it as much, but when you are in the 2-3's type of deal, a witchy mare can be real irratating.

I have led a few pack strings and typically lead with my mule and mules in the string. But if one is leading all mules and wants those mules to stick around camp, a mare horse hobbled or picketed out will keep them there a lot easier.Switching out leads in a big outfit,the mules get to where they don't care, but if a fellow wants or only has one string of a few mules and leads with a horse,those mules,if run all the time will sure get buddied up to the horse,and it seems a mare even better. If a fellow is packing horse,they are too dumb to care.

It's not a big problem,but if I was looking for one or two horses,it would be a deciding factor in my purchasing strategy.

Damn mustang mare.... probably worth nothing... except she'd work a gelding to death, leave em in the dust and never look back...


jes' sayin'

Which was my next observation. When I noticed women will not put up with it from a horse, I started watching women with other women. They never pull that crap with each other. Women don't put up with it; only us men are dumb enough to.


Theres mares that are good horses, and geldings as mean as any horse. I never let my mares run with the geldings because I was worried they'd cripple one. For me personally, I'd take a good gelding.
Like Okie, I'm a big fan of the Little Peppys. Some of the best horses I ever rode.