The NASTIEST and the nicest

[CuriosoJorge]

Woodman was a very kind, even-tempered stallion early in his career. Later in life, after going through EPM treatment and breeding a zillion mares a year, he got tougher. The worst Ashford stallion was actually Storm Bird, who required two handlers and a muzzle.

Caveats are said to be tough.

Honestly, though, much of a TB’s personality is due to handling. If you approach a Storm Cat going, “oh my god it’s a Storm Cat and it’s going to be difficult and spooky” then it probably will be. Like any other horse, firm, consistent handling will get you through many issues.

[War_Admiral]

Just curious, how has FuPeg ended up, personality-wise, now that he’s a grownup?? The video on his stallion page makes him look fairly civilized.

That question aside, I’m with CuriosoJorge to an extent, a lot of it is handling, but I do think personality traits can be passed on. It’s interesting that all the Ribots I know (including HRH Avery) are huuuuugely opinionated, and if you piss 'em off, you’d better be sure your insurance is paid up, but they are nice horses if you can get on their good side.

[maxxtrot]

i like, and look for the buckpasser/buckfinder lines in my ottb’s. i have always loved them. yes, they are tough to break and get going but when they go to work, they work. and seem to be very sound horses. my mare is a silver buck grand-daughter, well, she is mean as a snake, will kick you as quick as she will look at you when i first got her.(just bad handling seems to me) she now is very easy to handle but stay away from her backside(no-touchy)i have two that’s our buck sons. one is a 5 yr.old that i bought out of a field unbroke,unhandled at 3! wow he was hard to break and get going, but is a fancy ass hunter prospect with a “10” jump on him. tough as nails. also a 2 yr.old colt that i bred here at the farm out of the silver buck mare, he is strong,big and very smart. hoping he will be my upper level event horse at somepoint. i also have a danzig grandson here. very swwet horse, can do pretty much anything to him, but nervous(raced till he was 7) but cool horse. i am with whoever said the line about the storm cat offspring. not my kinda horse, very mean all the ones i have worked with, hard to retrain and yes spooky. but i found that most did not stay very sound, not sure if it was because they seem to be very hard on themselves. but in closing, yes there are certian lines i steer clear of in sire’s.

[ASB_Stars]

Can’t help with FuPeg…

[QUOTE=War Admiral;2618998]
Just curious, how has FuPeg ended up, personality-wise, now that he’s a grownup?? The video on his stallion page makes him look fairly civilized.

That question aside, I’m with CuriosoJorge to an extent, a lot of it is handling, but I do think personality traits can be passed on. It’s interesting that all the Ribots I know (including HRH Avery) are huuuuugely opinionated, and if you piss 'em off, you’d better be sure your insurance is paid up, but they are nice horses if you can get on their good side.[/QUOTE]

But I had a Ribot grandson, and a great grandson, and they were the nicest stallions- ever. The grandson I could put anyone on,and he was over 17 hands, and massive. The great grandson was kind and bold- the first time I took him out hacking- as a three year old, I led off of him. He was a fabulous jumper, and a sweet, sweet horse.

[War_Admiral]

[QUOTE=ASB Stars;2619161]
But I had a Ribot grandson, and a great grandson, and they were the nicest stallions- ever. The grandson I could put anyone on,and he was over 17 hands, and massive. The great grandson was kind and bold- the first time I took him out hacking- as a three year old, I led off of him. He was a fabulous jumper, and a sweet, sweet horse.[/QUOTE]

Well, but we know you know how to handle 'em, too! :yes: HRH Avery is usually like that. But BOY can he turn on a dime if he thinks he is being unfairly treated. We’re going thru a rough phase right now b/c he is sick and tired of us messing with his injured hock, and honestly I’d forgotten what a complete poison pill this horse can be when he’s angry. He plots and plans and lies in wait and then BOOM. World War IV. :rolleyes:

I still would loff to have the gossip on FuPeg if anyone has it!

[tullio]

@CuriosoJorge;2618871

Caveats are said to be tough.

I had a Caveat son who was a sweetheart, but I got to hear lots of horror stories about his father! One farrier complemented me on how nice my horse was to work with, and when we told him the horse’s history, he said that if he’d known the horse was by Caveat, he never would have agreed to work on him! So I have heard this one, but I guess I got an exception.

[CuriosoJorge]

I saw Fusaichi Pegasus the January after his first year at stud, and at that time he was still very tractable and seemed easy for his groom to walk down and back and then stand up.

[ASB_Stars]

How 'bout these guys?

I had heard that Affirmed had some quirks when he raced- did they translate into any odd stallion behaviour?

What was Northern Dancer like? I also understood that Slew was MUCH better because they worked him- was there a time that they didn’t, when they discovered this?

Was Mr. Prospector a nice horse? He is the sire who appears in the pedigrees of so many horses today- what is his infuence?

Was Count Fleet as tough in the breeding shed as he was on the track?

I have a ton of old TB books that I used to read, because I have always loved the breed, so stories are really wonderful to hear…thanks for sharing.

[Peggy]

My Buckpasser grandson (via Moneychanger, so also related to Northern Dancer) was not easy. If he liked, trusted, and respected you, things were generally OK. I pretty much rode and handled him via a series of agreements up to a point (line in the sand?). If he crossed that he was in trouble but you had to be prepared to finish the battle. Quick, athletic, too smart to be a horse, and very opinionated. Also tough and not a cheap date where sedation was concerned (not a good combo with being difficult to work on). Probably could have ended up much worse with someone that pushed him around too much. But, I think some of his issues were a result of his upbringing. When I mentioned the farm to a track farrier he said that explained a lot as the people there didn’t handle the horses much and not well when they did.

We currently have a Storm Cat grandson that seems pretty sweet. May need to re-evaluate once he has more weight, but so far, so good.

[TBCollector]

Affirmed…

He was one cool dude! Absolutely knew he was special and made you really work to get him to even come over for a peppermint. One of my fondest memories of him is during a Derby week many years ago, Affirmed was standing smack in the middle of his paddock at Calumet while 50 fans hung over the fence trying to entice him over with carrots. He would take a couple of steps toward them, then stop, yawn, chew, turn to scratch his bum, etc… Probably took him 20 minutes to make it over to them.

[Acertainsmile]

We trained a few Caveats back in the 80’s… they were a little tough, not horrible, but all seemed to have a similiar disposition… Quadratic and Quadrangle, horrible reputations, as far as the ones that I knew… Storm Cats can be tough, we have a few close relations, most are a little on the rough side. There are a few others that I know of, but having a brain freeze right now.

[GallopGal]

Rugged Lark was a Dressage horse. He was a very very kind horse. Everyone that I have talked to says his babies are also very kind. I have a grandson of his and he is such a sweetheart.

[jenarby]

I’ve had several Private Account grandbabies and they were all sweet and easy to work with.

I found I LOVE anything by Formal Dinner. What nice horses to be around, leveled headed to ride and easy to train.

Every single Beau Genius I’ve had has been difficult. Awesome, tough runners but quite the hand full!

I’ve also had several Northern Alfeets and all were sweet to be around.

Anything I’ve handled by Cryptoclearance has been hot, hot, hot. Good looking but hot.

If all Hansel babies are like my gelding, I’d take a barn full of them. Even tempered, trustworthy and athletic.

[TKR]

I had an Affirmed grandson, which I bred, out of a Key To The Kingdom (Bold Ruler) mare. He was tough, but kind and trained well. He won races in Maryland and Pennsylvania until his teens. He was not hard to handle. I also had a broodmare who was a Quadratic granddaughter and she was super intelligent and could be a handful, a bit of a Diva but a good mother and produced wonderful foals.
PennyG

[ejm]

Northern Dancer definitely had a mind of his own and a reputation for being very difficult when younger. In his 20’s he was OK for his regular groom and regular stallion barn staff and loved to ham it up for visitors, but he liked a regular routine and was never a truly easy horse to handle. Even after he retired from breeding, he had to stay in the barn when the breeding shed was open, or he’d run the fence when the vans rolled in and the other stallions went to the shed.

According to a pretty good source, his son Storm Bird had some experiences early in his career at Ashford that turned him sour against people.

Caveat was high-strung (his sire was by Bold Bidder out of a *Ribot mare) and not the easiest horse to get along with, but not mean.

I always thought many of the Damascus line horses were tough to work with, especially those by Soy Numero Uno, although one of my favorites ever was a filly by Timeless Moment.

[ravenclaw]

[QUOTE=ASB Stars;2619542]
I also understood that Slew was MUCH better because they worked him- was there a time that they didn’t, when they discovered this?[/QUOTE]
Seattle Slew used to be at Spendthrift Farm. When Spendthrift went under, he went to Three Chimneys. Three Chimneys has someone ride their stallions (what a COOL job that would be!!). So maybe there was a change in his behavior once he went to Three Chimneys and started with regular exercise. I think it’s great that their stallions are ridden. It’s gotta be good for them – both physically and mentally. If you look at pictures of the Three Chimneys stallions, they look so much better than other stallions of comparable ages that are fat and flabby, have huge cresty necks, swayed backs, etc.

When I went to Three Chimneys, Seattle Slew was there. The groom brought him out for us to see and take pictures, but we weren’t allowed to touch him. The groom said that Slew sometimes acted like he was going to bite, and they didn’t want any visitors to get bitten. Slew didn’t seem mean, but maybe a little grumpy at being taken out of his stall. He didn’t seem pleased to come out like Chief’s Crown and Slew o’ Gold did.

[Lynnwood]

Does Three Chimmneys even ride the tuff ones like Dynaformer?

[FourWands]

When we were last there, they said the only one who wasn’t ridden was St. Smarty of Philly.

(I am a HUGE Smarty fan… can you tell?)

[Toadie_s_mom]

re: Dynaformer

My favorite stallion is Lear Fan, and I really like most all of the Roberto line. I was fortunate to be able to meet Perfect Drift “up close and personal” a few months ago. As long as I was feeding him carrots he was fine, but as soon as we ran out he was a piranha!!! My trainer was given permission to take him out of his stall if we wanted to take pictures, so apparently he isn’t difficult to handle just extremely mouthy:yes: No one wanted to be responsible so we just took pics. over the stall guard :winkgrin:

[chaltagor]

[QUOTE=ASB Stars;2619542]
Was Mr. Prospector a nice horse? He is the sire who appears in the pedigrees of so many horses today- what is his infuence?[/QUOTE]

The trainer that I worked for at Phila Park ages ago had a Prospector grandson, Lil Fappi. He was the nicest and most gorgeous colt I ever knew on the track. What a handsome horse, and you’d never know he was intact. He was my favorite. Almost twenty years later, one of his sons was at my barn, and he had the same personality and good looks as his dad. He was such a sweetie, before and after gelding at age seven. He had NO retraining and was ridden on the trail by someone who was barely a novice and did well.