Researcher: Breed and Housing Impact Riding Horses’ Temperaments

Finding great riding school horses is a perpetual challenge for instructors. There isn’t a formula for selecting the ideal school horse–sometimes the perfect mount just comes along, and other times management methods dictate whether a school horse
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Finding great riding school horses is a perpetual challenge for instructors. There isn’t a formula for selecting the ideal school horse–sometimes the perfect mount just comes along, and other times management methods dictate whether a school horse is a success. But a group of French researchers recently put some parameters to school horse selection and management, determining that riding horses that spend more time turned out than confined to a stall display better behavior and are easier to handle, particularly those breeds known for having calm, quiet temperaments.

Clémence Lesimple, MSc, a PhD candidate at the University of Rennes in France, and colleagues set out to determine how breed and housing condition could impact equine behavior during handling.

The study involved 184 horses at 22 French riding schools. All the horses were stabled in individual stalls and spent zero to 12+ hours in turnout daily. Breeds tested included Camargues, Connemaras, Haflingers, Mérens, Thoroughbreds, and French Saddlebreds, among others

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
325 votes · 325 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!