okay, re-reading OP - by discipline, the happiest horses are the ones with owners who listen back. 
2 Likes
Sparrowette --that has been discussed. My friend and I were considering buying a Wagu embryo and a cow to implant and then cashing out on the whole she-bang. Problem was I could never slaughter something I’ve raised and fed. I’d have yet another pet.
I think as long as you are listening to your horse they are happy. My quarter horse was bred to do reining and after some failed attempts at that he was a beautiful 3’6 jumper had the hops and the turns for the speed classes. Of course when he turned 16 he told me he wanted to be a pasture horse, he was the shiniest most well behaved pony out there.
2 Likes
I would say you don’t necessarily need to be a carnivore to have cattle?
I would say humans are not carnivores or herbivores, but omnivores.
Those other two are extremes.
Neither fits the description of what humans are, how we evolved.
If someone was restricting their omnivore designation humans carry, either way, they would have to add appropriate supplements to thrive.
The horses we have all love to go work cattle, or we would not have them for that task.
We did have one that seemed to be inconsistent.
One day he would really get into working cattle.
Another day he could care less about them.
He was super bombproof and gentle.
He was the one that would carry handicapped riders, oxigen bottle hissing and all, without ever putting a foot wrong.
When horses love to work cattle, if they become very intense at it, we have to watch that they don’t start thinking of cattle as horse toys, to the point that they may become bullies to the cattle.
Some of those horses get so bad about herding they start cutting another horse off the herd and playing keep away.
What most horses really like is routines, in buddies, food, work, being handled.
Rare is the horse that loves new things when it comes to it’s routine.
We did have one that did, but he was raised as a dogied foal.
His dam died when he was three weeks old and he was raised by humans.
He was one horse that would sull riding back to the barn, dragging feet and trying to turn and go somewhere else, anywhere else but back to his pasture with his buddies, nice as they were to him.
There is no question horses really love what they do, whatever that may be.
What are they happiest doing?
That will depend on the individual horse.
1 Like
Mine does not enjoy being a pasture puff. I gave her a month off while searching for a new saddle. I still came everyday to groom and feed her. But after 4 days, she didn’t accept just grooming and didn’t want to go back out. Within a week, she was sitting by the gate waiting for me every day. As soon as she is ridden consistently, she is not like that at all aha. I think she is the type that complains about exercise and complains when she doesn’t exercise. However, she loves trails and loves to do jumper type courses.
