Sounds to me like fuglypinto wants to be a fuglybarrelpony!!

My genetically engineered barrel horses all like to play with kids (oops), dogs, balls, sticks, bags, etc. They have alot of cow - not neccesarily thru their breeding, they just like to work cows. It transfers over to hunting a barrel. When you run into an arena full speed, you want a horse that will lock onto that first barrel. If you have a horse that can run full speed to the first and turn it,is quick in it's turns, will leave a barrel hard and fast and doesn't have to slow down much to make the corner, it can outrun a race horse on a barrel pattern. So you want to watch how one stops and turns around also. If he sticks a back leg up underneath himself, keeps his feet underneath himself and stands up good on muddy or slick ground, thats a big plus. I prefer one that is more "four wheel drive" than one that is light in the front end and works totally off their hindquarter.

I would pick a nosy youngster over one that wasn't curious any day. Much more enjoyable to train and usually like their job if you make it fun, which is always my goal.

He might like being a team penner also. Team penning gets a bad wrap amongst horseman, but it is BIG TIME FUN!!