Horse Temperament: The Essence of the Metal Horse

metal horseMetal is the material we turn to when we need a structure to be strong. Metal is cold and rigid. We do not generally build our houses out of metal because we want a warmer feel to where we live. Metal buildings are used for warehouses because they provide maximum protection for the contents within without regard for comfort. Metal is durable and tools and machines built with it can withstand hard use.

The Metal horse is strong and durable. You don’t get a warm, fuzzy feeling around a Metal horse. The Metal horse is all about getting a job done and done well. Just as metal is rigid so is the Metal horse. The Metal horse approaches life with a set routine and he does not like to deviate from it. He is the perfect horse for a job that needs to be done the same way day in and day out. The Metal horse is strong and athletic but not necessarily fast and agile. He does well with ranch work and showing that rewards consistency over brilliance.

Metal is not flexible but by combining multiple pieces one can use metal to create mechanisms that function through movement. Examples would be metal hinges, the moving parts of an engine or the cogs inside a wind up watch. The timing of the movement of each metal component must be perfect because if one part freezes the entire unit loses function. Metal is used to provide structure and to hold a pattern without bending. You can mold the exterior of a structure, such as different car bodies, but the frame stays the same.

The Metal horse learns best when things are presented to him one step at a time. He is not a big picture thinker. If he does not understand any aspect of a lesson or the timing of the information is confusing, he will not be able to learn. When the Metal horse does not understand, he responds by becoming rigid and bracing through his body. He presents a cold, hard demeanor that could be read as defiance but in reality is simply his self preservation pattern. When you see this behavior in the Metal horse you know you have failed in your presentation of information to him somewhere along the line. You must go back to the place where the cogs got jammed and present the information in a new way until it is understood. The Metal horse thinks in patterns and once he gets a lesson he will never forget.

Metal requires very little care but it does have a couple of weaknesses. The biggest threat to the integrity of metal is rust. Rust will change the structure of metal by eating away at the exposed surfaces. Rust will cause friction between moving metal parts. The best protection against rust is oil. Oil will protect the exposed surfaces of metal and keep metal parts moving without friction. Another threat to metal is bending forces. Metal is not meant to bend. If a metal part sustains repeated bending force it will eventually fatigue and break. This concept shows up when you lose your wire cutters and have to open the bale by grabbing where the wire is twisted and rapidly bending it back and forth. Pretty quickly the wire will break.

A healthy Metal horse will maintain with a minimum of care and a simple diet. Interestingly, the Metal horse does require more fat in his diet than other temperament types. Rice bran or flax seed works well for a working Metal horse who is not overweight. For a Metal horse that tends to be heavy the chia seeds will provide the needed fatty acids without causing weight gain. After many years of hard, repetitive work you can see the joints of the Metal horse showing signs of fatigue. To slow down this process extra antioxidants in the diet can be helpful initially and then specific joint support products as the horse ages.

The Metal horse is strong and durable. He is not warm and fuzzy so does not make the best kid or family horse. The Metal horse is best where consistent performance is required. He learns best when exercises are broken into individual segments. He likes routine and thinks in patterns. His diet can be simple but with added fat. Hard working Metal horses need extra antioxidants and joint support.

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