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Categories: Equestrian Lifestyle

HI Spy: What’s One Thing about Your Horse that You’d Like to Change?


Photo: Lesley Ward



Do any of these comments sound familiar?”



“If only my horse were a more stylish jumper, I’d get better ribbons in my hunter classes.”

“My horse has the world’s roughest jog. It’s impossible to sit.”

“I wish my horse wouldn’t spook so much on the trails.”

“My horse is known as a mischief maker around the barn. He’s always into something, eating something or destroying something. It’s getting embarrassing.”

“I can’t ride my old horse very often because he has soundness issues. If only I could wave a magic wand and make him young again.”

Magic wands and wishes aside, what’s the one thing you’d change about your horse?  We might envision our horses as perfect, but if we’re truly honest we can think of at least one flaw we’d love to fix. It could be a conformation fault, an anti-social disposition, a chronic health problem or a difficult training issue.  With the New Year just a few months away, what would you like to see go out with 2008?

When 2009 dawns, would you like to have a horse that executes perfect flying lead changes or willingly crosses water? Do you hope that 2009 brings a year free of vet bills for your aging horse? Are you hoping that next spring your mare finally delivers that colored foal you’ve been hoping for?

Though we love our horses, flaws and all, this latest installment of HI Spy asks, “What’s one thing about your horse that you’d like to change?” Click on Submit a Comment below and share your response with your fellow online readers. Some of the answers will appear in an upcoming issue of Horse Illustrated. And don’t worry. We won’t let your horse know what you said.

See more HI Spy questions>>

16 years ago
Cindy Hale

Cindy Hale’s life with horses has been filled with variety. As a child she rode western and learned to barrel race. Then she worked as a groom for a show barn, and was taught to harness and drive Welsh ponies. But once she’d taken her first lessons aboard American Saddlebreds she was hooked on English riding. Hunters and hunt seat equitation came next, and she spent decades competing in those divisions on the West Coast. Always seeking to improve her horsemanship, she rode in clinics conducted by world-class riders like George Morris, Kathy Kusner and Anne Kursinski. During that time, her family began raising Thoroughbred and warmblood sport horses, and Cindy experienced the thrills and challenges of training and showing the homebred greenies. Now retired from active competition, she’s a popular judge at local and county-rated open and hunter/jumper shows. She rides recreationally both English and western. Her Paint gelding, Wally, lives at home with her and her non-horsey husband, Ron.

View Comments

  • My horse balks or runs at out certain jumps with no rhyme or reason. Also bay is so common I want something unique and I love chestnut.

  • I keep my 2 horses out side except when I bring them in morning and evening to eat their grain. I would like my 8 year old gelding to eat his grain a little faster. He is a wonderful horse but I have to leave him in for 45 min. to an hour to eat his grain both morning and evening. He is not an easy keeper so I have to make sure he eats it all before letting him back out.

  • I have an older mare (24) that is set in her ways, and I wish that she would quit trying to bite while I saddle her. She has been this way ever since I got her. I wish her attitude would change, as she tried some things out on the trail too.

  • My gelding is great riding, but the one thing i would want to ever change about him is his age. He's 13, and to me it doesn't see mas though i have much mroe time to love him. IF he were younger, i would feel as though i would have him forever.

  • Lameness,and her weight.(OVERWEIGHT,not under) Oh Gosh...huge issues,and most of us have to deal with them at some point.

  • My horses feet. No madder what we do to try to keep them from chipping and cracking. Even our farrier admits my horse has bad feet. I have tried everything!!!

  • Kacey is just about perfect for me. I know there are things he could do if I knew how to teach him, but so what. He's solid on trails, great ground manners and I can put my 6 year old great-granddaughter on him & know he won't do anything to hurt her. I would like for him to be younger, but then he wouldn't be the same horse he is today. He does tend to crib if there isn't enough grass, but that is pretty minor compared to all the this he is & does right !!!

  • I don't really have a horse, but one of my favorite horses to ride is called suruhano. He's this really awesome horse, and he's got the world's best canter. It's like sitting on a really spring see-saw. And the thing is, he doesn't even have to put an effort into his work.
    BUT, he is impossible to move. Squeezing with your legs hardly does anything, so i tap him with the whip. doesn't work either. so i drive him with my seat, and he GOES WAY TOO FAST.
    so i just kind of end up in the saddle, sweating like i just ran 2 miles, while he just stands there, looking goofy and hardly breaking a sweat.

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