Horses like KC help millions of people every day. It takes a special horse to be involved with therapeutic riding. Quarter horses are one of the top breeds used for therapeutic riding. This is because of there solid frame and good nature. It is amazing to me how smart horses really are. When I first started riding KC and getting her ready for Linda to ride she was not perfect. When Linda rode her she was perfect didn’t do a single thing wrong. Horses know who is on them and just how much they can get away with. I really believe that KC knows that Linda is not quite as healthy as some people and needs to do things her own way. I had a quarter horse cross named Thunder. I love him because he was as ornery as can be it made my ride interesting. When I put people on him that didn’t know what they were doing he was perfect. He knew that I could handle him being a bit ornery, but the beginners would not have been able to. He was a really nice horse and would never do anything on purpose to get someone off his back.
Thunder was not a full quarter horse, but I think that this is the breed her resembles the most. He was short and stocky resembling more of the old type of quarter horse. He was very laid back; it took a lot to get this horse fired up about something. I rode him English dressage because that’s what I love to do, but he was not the best at it. I jumped him as well but his stocky body frame was not the best for jumping. I later sold him to a friend as a western horse. He excelled way beyond I had ever imagined. It has been researched that most Quarter horses excel in the western aspect of things rather then the English. I had a few little kids on him while I owned him and he did great. The calm personality was perfect for this. He was last on the totem pull at the barn he was at. He never got into a fright with any other horses just walked away if a horse pushed him around. However; he was living with three other mares so I’m sure that had something to do with it. He was really kind of a loner, but he was happy with that. I would never put a child on my Thoroughbred.
KC has a lot of the same characteristics a thunder. The main difference was that she was the leader of the herd of horses. I think this has to do more with personality traits rather then the breed. She is just as laid back and always has to be the one pulled out when little kids want to ride. It takes a lot for her to spook as well. KC and Thunder are my experience with quarter horse and now I will share with you some factual information about them.
Quarter horses are also very good at sprinting short distance races. The name Quarter horse actually came about because they are so fast at running a quarter of a mile or less. This breed is also known to excel at rodeos, horse shows, and working as a ranch horse. They are also commonly seen in reining, cutting, barrel racing, calf roping, and western riding. They are also shown English, but it is not as common to see them in this discipline. Quarter horses are the most popular breed of horses in the United States. There are over three million American Quarter Horses registered with the American Quarter Horse Association.
The modern Quarter horse is a lot smaller, shorter, skinner head and straighter profile. They are also a lot slimmer then some of the old types of Quarter Horses. They are still have a very muscular body and a big chest with powerful hindquarters. On average they stand anywhere between fourteen and sixteen hands high. There are two types of quarter horse the stack horse which is shorter and more compact with defined muscles. The racing hunter type is taller and muscles not as defined they look more like a thoroughbred. Quarter horses pretty much come in every color, but the most popular is a sorrel. They can also been seen as bay, black, brown, buckskin, palomino, gray, dun, red dun, grullo, red roan, blue roan, bay roan, perlino, and cremello.