And Now For my Favorite Part!
Well one of them anyway.
When I go to buy a horse the first things I look at are head shape and placement of whorls. In my experience with my own horses and way back when I was starting colts I have found that whorls and head shape are great indicators of personality. This isn’t completely hair brained. Various grates including Temple Grandon have studied it and apparently it holds true with dogs, cattle and even children. I’m going to have to look into that a little more.
Lets take a look at Rusty. The most obvious are his swirls. Two, high, side by side. They worried my when I first saw them, I’ve had horses with side by side that I did not get along with, as opposed to my ponies stacked swirls that I love. But everything else about him looks good and they are not necessarily a bad thing “This type of double whorl seems to give the ability to hyper focus. These horses are challenging and gritty, like most double whorl horses, but the ability to hyper focus and not back down from a challenge can be an asset in professional hands.” I like the sound of that. On closer inspection though he has three more whorls one at the base of each ear and one just below his forelock right in the center. What do they signify? I don’t know. I did find one place that says they mean “greater intelligence and a more reactive nature” That sounds interesting to me at least. so far he is sounding like a very interesting somewhat complicated horse.
He has great swirls just behind his ears that should mean that that is where he will bend best through his neck. Judging by his beautifully developed neck I’ll go with that.
So on to his profile.
Am I the only one who sees a hint of a dish there? I think he has a very slight dish and a slight moose nose. I love this one, “uncommon intelligence and confidence”. Who wouldn’t like that. Of course smart horses are the hardest it seems. If that dish is my imagination he may simply be sensitive and bold.
His jowls, medium maybe? I wouldn’t say large. That just means average, nothing either way really.
I would call his muzzle refined and soft. So more sensitivity there.
His mouth, medium to long. So average to sensitive and intelligent. Linda Tellington-Jones is careful to point out that intelligent horses are easily bored and look for ways to amuse themselves when not kept interested and are often labeled difficult.
From the front, an angle that is amazingly hard to get by the way.
His chin, nostrils and upper lip say calm, interested and again clever.
Eyes, here’s a hard part for me. Large eyes is such a subjective thing to look for. But pig eyes are easy enough to spot so I guess that’s one place to measure from. I’m going to go with medium sized, so again average but soft and kind. Not overly wide between, which would signify intelligence, but not narrow either, slow learner, especially in comparison to his muzzle. So I’ll go with average.
He has such nice ears. Broad and finely shaped, steady and reliable. But maybe a little on the hot side, so lots of go not surprising in a Morgan.
All in all I would say a horse with an intelligent nature, mostly steady with enough good points to offset those two swirls. But the swirls ought to keep things interesting. Not for a beginner, but if someone likes a horse that has a mind of his own, he could be lots of fun.
I went out to get the pictures for this and realized why it is so hard to get people to send good pictures when horse shopping. Most of them looked like this.
it does look like a little like a dished profile. Really hard to tell from the pictures what he would look like in person. It will be a great chance to see if it will be \’nature or nurture\’ I hope he is there long enough to see what you can do with him.
I think this is fascinating. But do not agree it sonds like polm reading or tarot cards I believe what you put in is what you get out. so to me time and dedication is the kee to a good hores but like potatoes there are mini different view s some people say that are just starch and not healthy while others think they are very healthy and full of vitamins and nutrients
You disagree because it sounds like tarot cards and palm reading or because you\’ve looked at your horses and as many others as you could find and compared their temperament to head shape and swirls and found no correlation? I agree that it takes time and dedication to make a good horse but that the results will be different depending on what you start with. Like with potatoes you can\’t plant a white seedling and expect to get a purple potato.
\”They\”, whoever they may be, say that swirls are formed in the womb as the muscles and sinews underneath are built. Why couldn\’t they be an outward sign of whats beneath? We aren\’t attempting to predict the future but to recall the past.
And I happen to know that all your horses fit their profiles;)
Well sed sister . good way to defend your position it is always good to educate rather than get up in arms over a subject .you have a pont like a runer with bad legs or Asama they may not have the write quality to run esaly and it will take extra effort on there part to comepet with the one with pirfict form and build . but like the underdog we will always cheer louder for the one that has to over come what it is born with