October 2016 – Mid Month Update

Holistic Horsekeeping
How to have a healthy happy horse

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In This Issue:
1. Matching horse temperaments with other horses
2. New Online Class For Horse Temperament Typing

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1. Matching horse temperaments with other horses
Cerise, my Fire horse temperament mare, has been with us in Colorado since July. She came and joined Tanq, the Earth horse we acquired here. Cerise and Tanq hit it off immediately and have continued to thrive together. Cerise is as fat and personable as I have ever seen her. Tanq is a wonderful grounding influence for Cerise and he dotes on her in the way she has always desired but did not have from her previous horse mate, Remi. Remi was a Metal/Earth (YangMing) gelding and he just wanted to do his own thing. Tanq, on the other hand, makes sure Cerise is always in his sights and well cared for. For example, Cerise hates cows and we occasionally have a stray neighborhood calf wander through our hot wire fence in with the horses. Tanq is on this immediately and chases the calf back out under Cerise’s admiring eyes.

After watching the interaction between Tanq and Cerise I am realizing how important horse to horse relationships are and how bad relationships can contribute to stress in horses. Herd dynamics are important to horses and taking them into consideration can save lots of grief for owners and horses.

Here are some good matches to look at based on Temperament type. Each Temperament type does well with his type.

Fire – Fire horses should do well with Earth horses that can be grounding for them. Fire/Water (ShaoYin) and Water/Fire (TaiYang) are also acceptable. Wood and Wood/Fire (JueYin) and Fire/Wood (ShaoYang), Metal, Metal/Earth (YangMing) and Earth/Metal (TaiYin) are not a great fit. A balanced Water horse can work but a fearful horse will fuel the natural tendency to anxiety in the Fire horse.

Earth – Earth horses get along with all types and combos with the exception of Wood and Wood combos. Wood horses can take advantage of the good nature of the Earth horse and bully him.

Metal – Metal horses do well with Metal combos, Earth and Earth combos, Wood and Wood combos. The aloof Metal horse will not be mean to Earth types and can take the rough behavior of the Wood and Wood combos. The Metal horse does not have the sensitivity to relate well to the Fire and Water types but he will not injure them.

Water – Water horses are good with Fire and Fire/Water combos. Straight Earth horses are also great.

Wood – Wood/Fire (JueYin) and Fire/Wood (ShaoYang) do well with straight Wood horses. Metal and Metal combos also get along with Wood. Straight Earth, Fire, Water, and Water combos are likely to be stressed if they have to share space with Wood horses.

Matching horse temperament types to create harmonious herd dynamics is yet another reason to type your horse. Temperament typing gives you extra understanding of your horse so you are more able to meet the needs of your horse and other horses in his herd.

Learn more about temperament typing at www.horsetemperament.com.

 
2. New Online Class For Horse Temperament Typing
The new self-paced online course is open to anyone interested in learning more about the Horse Temperament Types. It was created to share information about the eleven Horse Temperament Types as explained by Madalyn Ward, DVM. Dr. Ward has been a pioneering voice in the field of holistic horse care for over two decades and she breaks new ground with the Horse Temperament Typing system. Her cutting edge casework now extends to helping horse lovers find their perfect equine match or better understand their current equine partner. If you want to learn more about determining the temperament type of your horses, this course is the one for you. You can sign up and find more information at http://horsetemperament.com/class.html.

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