mtrose wrote:
darkclark wrote:
Lsrd1 wrote:
Just one last plug for QHs - - no, the vast majority don't go around with a super low headset. But many are super easy to just hop on and ride. Most of our sit in the paddock all winter, 4 - 5 months, and I just saddle and go in the spring. The oldest is 26, the youngest is 6.

I love QH's, but in my personal experience I have found them to be quite hot, not spooky, but more a belligerent type of hot. The type of hot where they get an idea in their head, and don't really care if you are up top or not, and will ride right through your hands and seat.

I also found that they could be darn right scary those first few rides in the spring, after sitting for 4 months over the winter.

These were the main reason I switched to an Arab, they are hot, but a more 'honest' hot (as in, they do care if you die).

There are some great QH's out there, but so many people automatically think 'QH = beginner friendly.

Just my personal experience with the 2 I owned, my boarder's horse, and the 100+ we had over the years growing up.

Now in all fairness, my mare ended up dying of HYPP, so that may have been her problem all along. My gelding is race-bred, so hot is expected. My boarder's horse is of working lines, as have all my Dad's horses been.

In the end it all comes down to individual personality. I've had a lot of QHs you could turn out for months, bring in, saddle up and ride off like they were ridden yesterday. This is the general consensus of QH's, I've yet to experience it though.

I ride a 1/2 Arab mare that is pretty hot and can be silly when left off for only a few days. A few months off and she wants to crow hop and be stupid for the first few rides, then settles down again (but give her a few days off and she wants to crow hop again). She's not a beginner/rerider horse. Then there are other Arabs in the lesson program at the barn I board at that are so sweet and kind and just the perfect beginner horses. My experience with Arabs is that their temperaments are all over the map, it's not even possible to generalize... except the head toss. LOL

I think it's a stretch to say one thing or another about an entire breed. Especially since QHs outcross to TBs so you could have an appendix QH with a totally different personality than a horse with different lines (or a hot cutting bred horse versus a foundation horse, etc). One could say the same about most breeds, though, as far as it being about the individual. I like both breeds, so I'm not really biased one way or another (I've just ridden a lot more QHs than Arabs, until recent years). I absolutely agree. My only point was that so many people automatically think all QH's are easy-going, dead quiet horses, which isn't the case. You need to search out the individual just like any other breed.
  



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