“What a fool of a pony I have got!”
I’ve heard this statement so frequently it is engraved on my heart. Although not because it’s correct. The majority of the instances when I heard such a comment and went to take a look at the pony referred to, I found that he was fine as far as horses go. He was fully alert and responsive. On seeing their horses behave completely normally with me, the owners would say something like “He must truly like you!”. In my heart the slinking doubt always arose: did they actually mean it?
Actually , I am not one of those folks born with some type of paranormal capability to gel with horses. What I know about the equine kingdom is founded upon long experience, continuous observation and the lessons learned from mistakes made. I also took lots of trouble trying to master horse personality typing. I have learned to get along with and value all horses. I alter my approach to each horse to adapt to his temperament type.
Because I’m conscious of pony temperament types, I approach no pony with impossible expectations. Just by way of illustration, I am conscious of the fact that the strongly competitive Wood horse isn’t going to be a push over, nor do I expect the sensitive Fire type to be in a position to put up with high stress levels. Unfortunately, I see too many horse owners and trainers approach horses with totally unrealizable expectations and cause heart break both to the horses and to themselves.
The advantages of knowing pony temperament types
If you’re ignorant of a horse’s Five-Element type, you’ll be inhibited in your plans to get the best out of him. But when you do know his type, you can design your approach to bring about the maximum possible positive response. Trust me, it makes a significant difference!
I quote below some examples of pony descriptions in pairs. One of the pair describes the pony as seen by a person without any awareness of personality types, and the other describes the same pony as seen by an authority on character types.
1. “What a lazy horse!” and “That pony is excellent for newbs he is a typically mild Earth type”.
2. “I swear that pony is mad!” and “We have a very lively Water type pony here, a pony that’s brilliant and animated”.
3. “If this horse were human, it’d be burned for being a witch!” and “The horse I just inspected is a great sample of a Fire horse. They’re delicate animals who love performing but are not able to endure pain”.
4. “What a foolish horse!” and “Lovely example of the Metal horse temperament type. These horses are perfect when they learn”.
5. “I am disappointed by this horse’s attitude!” and “We have here a Wood pony who gets quickly bored, but is continually looking out to learn new things and meet challenges”.
Everything is a matter of perspective. And your perspective is coloured by what you know and what you don’t. You’ve got to have heard the story of the blind men of Hindustan and the, elephant, not pony.
Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers visit HorseHorses
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