I tend to judge the rider not on their horse's physical characteristics but on its behavior. An ill behaved horse reflects poorly on the rider/owner, and I tend to think them less of a horseman than someone with a well behaved horse.

I'm not talking personality quirks, I'm talking biting, kicking, pulling back, not standing for mounting, dragging the handler and shoving. Making dragon faces (but not biting) when cinched up doesn't count.

Obviously my judgments are mitigated by circumstances, say the owner just got the horse and hasn't finished fixing the issues.

...............CherryHorse Blog..................