Ask An Expert: Horse Care and Riding Advice
Oct 21, 2026 · 1 hr 2 min · 15 segments
Is your horse’s personality working with your training or against it? In this episode of Ask an Expert, Grand Prix dressage rider and author Yvonne Barteau breaks down the four core horse personality…
Wow.
So will you just tell us more about dual personality type horses, and is it that they're born with one and then their experiences bring out another, or it could be they're born with both? Tell us more so we can understand that.
So that's where, um, Quebec was a social horse when you met him in the stall in his comfort zone, but he'd had baggage, and so that brought out his fearful side.
And whatever their dominant personality is, what you meet when they're at ease and when they're being themself, what I call their factory settings, wh- when the horse is, like, his regular factory settings, who is that guy? And I tell people, you know, w- I bring horses in a round pen.
When we were at the dinner theater, we would bring it in a round pen, and I would, like, put a little bit of pressure on him, like make him change direction, you know, when they maybe didn't want to, cut 'em off, and cut 'em off again.
And I would watch what they do about that, and I would watch, like, are they really quick to react, or are they a little bit worried about it? Are they looking at me with a worried face, or are they looking to me like, "Stop bossing me around"? Or are they kind of like, "Hey, what are you doing? Can I just play and hang around with you instead?" Or are they not paying attention at all, and I have to do something to be like, "Hey, listen.
And some horses, you know, they might be one way, and then when you start putting pressure on them, they don't act linear.
Don't be worried." But then if they go back to their normal comfort zone, deal with them like that, and then just know that something could trigger them to act a little bit differently.
Wow.
So will you just tell us more about dual personality type horses, and is it that they're born with one and then their experiences bring out another, or it could be they're born with both? Tell us more so we can understand that.
So that's where, um, Quebec was a social horse when you met him in the stall in his comfort zone, but he'd had baggage, and so that brought out his fearful side.
And whatever their dominant personality is, what you meet when they're at ease and when they're being themself, what I call their factory settings, wh- when the horse is, like, his regular factory settings, who is that guy? And I tell people, you know, w- I bring horses in a round pen.
When we were at the dinner theater, we would bring it in a round pen, and I would, like, put a little bit of pressure on him, like make him change direction, you know, when they maybe didn't want to, cut 'em off, and cut 'em off again.
And I would watch what they do about that, and I would watch, like, are they really quick to react, or are they a little bit worried about it? Are they looking at me with a worried face, or are they looking to me like, "Stop bossing me around"? Or are they kind of like, "Hey, what are you doing? Can I just play and hang around with you instead?" Or are they not paying attention at all, and I have to do something to be like, "Hey, listen.
And some horses, you know, they might be one way, and then when you start putting pressure on them, they don't act linear.
Don't be worried." But then if they go back to their normal comfort zone, deal with them like that, and then just know that something could trigger them to act a little bit differently.
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