Busy horses frustrate the snot out of me as well.  I like a horse that can STAND on the cross ties, and just STAND when I say whoa.  Lieto has the young horse "jitters".  When I first got him, he was constantly moving.  There wasn't a second of down time for him, except when he saw a squirrel, or butterfly, etc.!!  Love that example.  His is just a young horse thing though, so fortunately he is growing out of it.  We can go long stretches on the crossties without moving now.  I can actually leave him all alone for 10 minutes or more without worrying whether he will still be crosstied there when I come back.  HUGE improvement.  Seriously, you have no idea.  He can stand and whoa and let me drop my reins and stirrups and just hang out for long lengths of time without moving now.  Some days he is a little fresh and needs to amble, but most days would much rather just stand than move now.  He isn't 100% quiet on the crossties yet, and he still feels the need to chew on the crossties when I curry comb him, but given the sheer amount of positive improvement, I know it is only a matter of time before he grows into the horse I know he can be.

Oh, and the incessant pawing - 90% gone - unless someone tries to stand in front of him and talk to me.  GAH!!!  Then he feels the need to paw like a lunatic.  The only other time he paws is when someone else in the barn is handing out treats.  I don't hand feed him, so no need to beg from me.  I put all his treats in his bucket in his stall to try to cut down on both the pawing and the need to turn me into a chew toy.  Of course anytime I invite someone to the barn to show him off, THAT is when he acts like a spoiled rotten insane lunatic because he sees his opportunity to possibly get treats, love, attention, ANYTHING from someone remotely softer hearted than me.  Brat!!

But yes, Imgliniel, a personality match is a MUST when horse shopping.  I walked away from what I thought was the horse of my dreams on the eve of the PPE when I was horse shopping because we just didn't "click" personality wise.  That was a hard one.  He was everything I thought I wanted in a horse, and the seller was giving me a reduced price on him in exchange for remaining in training at his barn for a specified period of time (something I didn't mind).  It took a few good friends to point out how much of a personality miss-match we really were (THANK YOU Beckham!!), and I cancelled the PPE.

~Shelly~