Knowing what horse temperament you are dealing with can help you understand where horse personality issues may come from. One of the ways to determine your horse’s five element temperament is too watch what he does in his idle time.

For example, a Fire horse does not spend much idle time. They may rest for a half hour or so but then they tend to get bored and start to wander off and graze or check out things in the pasture. Even when a Fire horse is grazing they tend to cover quite a bit of ground as they nibble one area then see a tasty something 20 feet away that they go eat then they move another 20 feet to pick up another choice morsel. Then they might come back and take another short rest then they are on the move again.

An Earth horse on the other hand will eat almost constantly if that is an option. An Earth horse will spend little time moving and will tend to graze one area until there is nothing left to eat in that area before moving to another. Any napping an Earth horse does is close to the food source and done between mouthfuls. Earth is the most laid back horse temperament of all the types.

Metal horses are not particularly big eaters. They tend to spend more time hanging out just relaxing. You will often see them in the pasture with a leg cocked not really doing much of anything. They don’t interact much with the other horses but will play some if they have a buddy they get along with.

Water horses are also not big eaters and like Fire horses they move around a good bit. Water horses are often leaders in the herd and they spend a good bit of time watching for any sign of danger. They are sometimes slow eaters and seem to get bored with eating unless the food is something tasty like alfalfa or fresh green grass. While other horses are resting you may see the Water horse standing guard.

The Wood horse temperament is perhaps the easiest to spot in the pasture. This is the horse that is pestering all the other horses or looking for something to get into. This is often the horse with the most obvious personality and presence. He wants to move the other horses and will push on them until they fight back and the Wood horse often is covered with battle scars because he does not take no for an answer.

Watching your horse in his idle time activities can give you some nice clues as to what personality issues you can expect to show up when you handle him. Madalyn