08/06/2026
What Makes a ‘Good Riding Horse’? Insights Across Breeds
Domestic horses are often chosen for certain activities based on perceived breed-related behaviour traits, many of which relate to safety when riding.
This study investigated whether ridden behaviour differs between breeds using owner reports from the Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ).
From over 8,000 responses in the database, reports on 1,635 purebred horses that had been ridden within the previous six months were analysed. Fourteen behaviour traits were examined, including trainability, ease of riding and handling, boldness, willingness to load, tolerance of isolation, and repetitive behaviours.
The results showed clear behavioural differences between breeds in most of these traits, with repetitive behaviours showing the greatest variation, while ease of handling and boldness around non-human stimuli did not differ between breeds. Some traits tended to appear together, such as being safe to ride, easy to stop, and unlikely to stall, which are all important qualities for riding horses.
The findings suggest that comparing an individual horse’s behaviour with typical patterns seen in its breed may help trainers and riders adjust management and training approaches to better suit each horse.
Examples of breed patterns reported in the study:
• Icelandic horses were rated highest for several ridden traits, including being safe to ride, easy to ride, easy to stop, and confident around novel objects.
• Swedish Warmbloods and Arabians were reported as most trainable, while Thoroughbreds were rated lowest for trainability.
• Quarter Horses were reported as the boldest breed and also showed high tolerance of isolation.
• Icelandic horses were reported as the most confident around unfamiliar objects, while Arabians and Standardbreds were among the least confident.
• Welsh Cobs showed the fewest repetitive behaviours, whereas Dutch Warmbloods showed the most.
• Thoroughbreds were rated lowest for several ridden traits, including ease of riding and tolerance of isolation.
The study relied on owner-reported survey data and included only certain breeds with enough responses, meaning the results may be influenced by reporting bias and may not represent all horse populations or management contexts.
You can read this paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159125000541
