4,777 answers about horses & farm animals
Horses and farm animals run on routine — feeding schedules, hoof and health care, safe fencing and calm handling, in all weather. This page gathers the horse and farm animal library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic from daily care to travel and senior animals. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
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687 answers in Choosing & Adopting — page 25 of 29
No — a Percheron needs the same core care as any other horse, just scaled up for a very large animal: bigger feed bills, roomier stabling, sturdier fencing, and a farrier who is comfortable working on heavy draft hooves. Their calm, willing temperament makes daily handling straightforward, and most owners rely on…
No — a Paint Horse is, in build and blood, a stock horse, essentially the Quarter Horse type with a spotted coat, and its care is the ordinary care of that type: forage-based feeding, routine farriery, standard vet visits. The breed-specific fine print concerns breeding rather than keeping: two carriers of the frame…
Not medical specialist care — Mustangs are among the hardiest horses alive, selected by survival itself for sound feet, efficient digestion and toughness. What a Mustang can need, especially one recently gathered from the range, is specialist handling: gentling a wild horse takes experience, time and genuinely secure…
No — Morgans are celebrated precisely because they ask so little, being a hardy, sound, long-lived breed with efficient digestion, good feet and a willing temperament, kept perfectly well on routine care. The familiar easy-keeper caveat applies: a Morgan on rich feed and light work will gain weight, and condition…
No — the Haflinger is close to the bottom of the specialist-care league table. This Austrian mountain breed is hardy, sure-footed and famously long-lived, with strong hooves that often work unshod and a constitution that thrives on forage and fresh air. The single real management theme is weight: Haflingers are…
Day to day, no — a Friesian lives on the same feeding, farriery and routine vet care as any riding horse. The sensible extra is a vet who knows the breed's known weak points: Friesians are somewhat prone to choke and to skin trouble under their leg feather, they cope poorly with heat, and their lush mane and tail…
Not specialist in the clinical sense, but a Clydesdale is more than a scaled-up riding horse. Everything is bigger — feed quantities, shoe size, stable and trailer space — and farriery takes longer at that scale, while the heavy feathering on the legs needs genuine routine attention to keep the skin beneath it…
No — the Arabian is one of the lowest-maintenance riding breeds you can own. Bred for desert travel, Arabians have efficient digestion, dense bone and famously hard feet, and they thrive on forage-based feeding and routine care. What they ask for is not specialist medicine but thoughtful handling — a sensitive,…
Mostly no — Appaloosas are hardy, versatile horses that run on standard care, with forage feeding, routine farriery and ordinary vet visits. The one place the breed genuinely asks for extra attention is the eyes: Appaloosas develop equine recurrent uveitis, a painful recurring eye inflammation, more often than most…
No — an Andalusian asks for good ordinary horse care, forage-based feeding, regular farriery, routine vaccinations and dental checks, rather than anything specialist. The breed's two honest watch points are weight, because the Iberian metabolism is thrifty and gains condition easily, and skin checks on grey horses,…
Yes — the right Welsh Pony is one of the best children's ponies you can find, provided you choose a proven individual. Section A Mountain Ponies are the classic first ridden and lead-rein ponies, and Section Bs carry older children on. Welsh Ponies are hardy, sure-footed and full of character, so a child learns real…
A well-schooled Welsh Pony can be a lovely first mount, but the breed is not an automatic beginner's choice. Welsh Ponies are intelligent, bold and people-oriented, and an older pony with miles of riding-school or family work behind it will teach a novice a great deal. A young or green Welsh, though, has the quickness…
Yes — Welsh Ponies are classic easy keepers, shaped by generations of life on sparse Welsh mountain pasture where only a thrifty pony did well. Most sections thrive on good forage — grass and hay — with little or no hard feed, and the real management task is holding weight off rather than putting it on. Watch the…
Generally no, because a Thoroughbred combines three things a child does not need: height, speed of reaction and sensitivity to every shift of weight and rein, so a child's ordinary wobbles and surprises get large, fast answers. Children's horses need the opposite wiring — tolerance, laziness about novelty and a…
Usually not, because Thoroughbreds are sensitive, forward and athletic, bred to respond instantly, and that responsiveness amplifies a novice's unbalanced seat and unclear aids into confusion or speed the beginner did not ask for. The honest exception is the schoolmaster type: an older Thoroughbred, long retrained…
Generally no — Thoroughbreds are the classic harder keepers of the horse world. Decades of breeding for athleticism left them with fast metabolisms and often touchy appetites, and many need generous, good-quality forage plus calorie-dense feed on top to hold their weight, especially through winter or in regular work.…
For older children and teenagers, a quiet, experienced Walking Horse can be a lovely match: the smooth gait is kind to a young rider's balance and confidence, and the breed's steady trail temperament suits family riding. For small children the arithmetic is harder, because most Walking Horses stand over 15 hands, and…
Yes, they are one of the better beginner choices, and the reason is built into the breed: the running walk is a smooth, four-beat gait with no bounce, so a new rider can relax, balance and actually learn instead of being jolted around. Walking Horses also have a reputation for a calm, willing temperament and make…
Mostly, yes — Walking Horses sit in the moderate middle of the keeping scale. Bred as comfortable, efficient travelling horses, many hold their weight well on good pasture and hay with a ration balancer rather than scoops of concentrate, and they are generally hardier than a Thoroughbred type. They are not ponies,…
They can be, because the size is exactly right for small riders, but temperament varies more between individuals than the breed's cute image suggests. The Shetland who suits a child is the older, well-schooled pony with lead-rein and lesson miles, unflappable about noise and patient about being groomed by small hands.…
Only with real qualifications: a Shetland's small size looks beginner-friendly, but these ponies are strong for their height, quick-witted and famously willing to test a handler who is unsure, so a green adult can find one harder to manage than a calm full-size schoolmaster. The version that works for a beginner is an…
Yes, famously so: Shetlands evolved on sparse island grazing where feed was scarce, so their bodies extract maximum value from plain forage and they hold weight on pasture and hay that would leave many horses looking thin. The real management challenge runs the other way: rich grass is the danger, not the cure, and an…
Yes, sheep are among the most manageable first farm animals: they are smaller and calmer than cattle, need no riding or heavy handling, and a small flock fits modest acreage. The non-negotiables are that sheep are flock animals who must never live alone, they need woven-wire fencing and protection from dogs and…
Often yes, provided you choose the individual horse carefully. An older, well-schooled Quarter Horse with a steady mind can be a kind and confidence-building mount for a child who rides with an instructor, because the breed is generally patient and not easily startled. The limit is size and strength: even a calm…
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