Mentioning the words “chestnut mare” seems to elicit a chuckle and a verbal eye-roll on the Forum and elsewhere. Does the bad rep have any real justification, or is it just a kind of myth/joke among horse folk?
I had a chestnut mare, a pony one to boot. She lived up to the myth and the joke was on me.
She was hot, feisty and opinionated. I learned a lot from her, she was not easy. I miss her a lot.
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I have owned the best horse in the world, a chestnut mare. And the most difficult horse in the world, also a chestnut mare. I don’t give any credence to this long held myth at all. Just as the myth that white hooves are softer then dark hooves.
The real beauty of this though is that if you are ever looking for a really nice horse to purchase and it happens to be a “chestnut mare” you can usually get a good deal because there does unfortunately appear to be a prejudice against them. I just make that work in my favour though. :lol:
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The sweetest horse I ever met was a chestnut mare. She was kind, patient with kids, and tolerant.
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[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:9809425}[/ATTACH] My best horse of all time was a chestnut mare. her nickname was “the Couch” if that gives you a sense of how easy she was.
It’s an old wives’ tale, like “one white foot, buy 'em, two white feet, try em, three white feet, look well about em, four white feet, do without em” These kinds of things aren’t “true” but given the general nature of horses, they’ll correlate often enough to keep the sayings going forever. Some people believe in that stuff – but some people also believe vaccines cause autism and chocolate milk comes from brown cows.
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It’s something I’ve often heard and I’ve known one or two chestnut mares that did have a sassy streak in them. But I think it’s mostly an old wives’ tale. They were otherwise good, just had one or two quirks.
The sassiest chestnuts I have known have actually been geldings.
Even McLain Ward has had the occasional spirited conversation with an opinionated and talented chestnut gelding!
Thanks. A COTHer ends her posts with a remark (paraphrasing) “You don’t scare me, I ride a mare.” I get that part, (though many mares are wonderful and I want one for my next horse) but It didn’t make sense to me that coat color would correspond to temperament. Still, I’ve heard the “chestnut mare” referred to so often I just had to inquire.
I’ve found that some chestnuts (especially TBs) have more sensitive skin, so that might make them a bit more cranky.
It’s an old wives’ tale.
My chestnut TB mare does often live up to the stereotype though, in the sense that she is very, very smart and likes things to be done her way. :lol:
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There’s a grain of truth here around since way back when. But it centers on the fact bright chestnut color runs in families often heavier in “blood” then the more placid “cold blood” infused families where bright colors and markings are very rare, You handle a horse with more " blood" differently, regardless of color, they tend to be smarter and less tolerant of fools.
Combine that with mareish and you create a stereotype. But it’s easier to point out and blame the color/sex combination then bad training, unsuitability for current job or a pedigree full of more ambitious, smart horses with a reputation for not being warm fuzzy types at best, being difficult at worst.
Look at WBs in their varying percentages of “blood”, usually from TB, sometimes Arab sources. Look at the foundation QHs too. Not a lot of bright chesnuts with chrome.
Most difficult horse I ever owned was a bright chestnut gelding. From a pedigree of very fast, over achieving horses with a reputation for being difficult. There’s horses just like him wrapped in plain bay packages too…it’s not the color, it’s the horse inside it.
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I think it’s easier to blame the color of their fur than it is to blame the handling or quality of training.
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Yep - I good a good deal on my current chestnut mare because of this, and the fact she is 15 hands. That said, my first horse was a difficult chestnut mare, but I don’t think it was her fault - she was pretty much unhandled until she was 8. My current chestnut mare can be calm but has her very hot moments, too. I think it’s mostly just an old wives’ tale.
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Yes, it’s an old wives tale, but a very popular one.
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I also got a great deal on my chestnut mare. People would look at her but didn’t want to buy a mare (which begs the question – if you know it’s a mare when you inquire, why try if you won’t buy… but I digress).
We actually have two chestnut mares: Our 9yo medium pony mare can read her young rider’s mind and do what they meant to ask her to do, rather than what they actually did as they were fumbling around and learning. This pony has willingly balanced on two legs and a toe when multiple kids were picking her hooves.
And my 8yo A/A & derby horse. She has a lovely personality on the ground and under saddle and is a barn favorite, and after my older daughter outgrew our lovely pony and new pony came up lame, she has stepped into a new temporary role as a short stirrup horse, too.
A good horse is never a bad color!
–R
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as a kid someone told me that the “membrane around their brain is thinner.” LOL. best horse I had as a kid was a chestnut mare. My least favorite horse in the barn is also a chestnut mare. who knows.
I’ve had one really good steady chestnut TB mare, and I had a DWB/TB cross mare who was sweet as can be but a dingbat under saddle and VERY spooky.
I am a “chestnut mare” myself, so I’ve always enjoyed this myth.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with two amazing chestnut mares in the past few years, who were almost too smart and talented for their own good. They were quite confident, opinionated, and convinced that they knew more than me. 
But they humored me and let me believe that I was training them.
In all seriousness, I agree with the above posters about it being an old wives’ tale. I have ridden wonderful and difficult horses in all colors. I certainly agree that they (we!) tend to have more sensitive skin.
From my experience, I have seen higher skin sensitivity in chestnuts. I am currently working with a chestnut TB whose idea of an ideal grooming session would be me wiping him off with a baby wipe. You have to be so, so gentle with brushing his body. Hard curry combs are not an option, only soft, flexible styles. He tolerates, if not seems to enjoy a more thorough brushing/rubbing down of his face and ears.
The chestnut mare at my old boarding barn was the boss. She was mostly a benign ruler, but man o man, could she dish out the discipline if needed. All the geldings were terrified of/loved her. She barely moved an ear and they all scrambled to move away (bowing and scraping, I’m sure).
On the rare occasion, one lucky subject was allowed to stand next .gasp.to her! My OTTB, not that street smart, and young and foolish, bit her on the butt, 'just for laughs" he said. She absolutely lost her mind, screaming and making Velociraptor noises, running backwards and double-barrel kicking. She was so aghasted she couldn’t even aim well, no contact was made. He ran for his life {while smirking} and never tried that again.
Same mare also tortured her owner on a regular basis. She was sold to a young teen girl and it was love at first sight. She sashayed on to that trailer (see ya suckers, saucy tail flip) with no difficulty. Her selling owner couldn’t load her at all, for years prior to this sale.
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My big mare comes from a family my trainer has tapped into many times. I know a LOT of her sisters and brothers (both full and half). All handled the same way as foals, all trained and backed and broken the same way, by the same people. The only mare of that set of siblings that was a raging bitch was the chestnut one. (Though they are all capable of it–she just wears her temper on her sleeve.)
That said…I have known many chestnut mares who were great and only a handful that fit the stereotype.
