Blog Hop Pony Personality: Earth, Fire, Wood, Water or Metal

Well spring has finally made an appearance in our area. The ponies went out naked for the first time and I cringe at what they will look like after a day on mud. I keep telling myself that it will help shed them all out.
A couple weekends ago, we went to and insulin resistance seminar put on by Joyce Harman. I hope to do a post about it if I ever receive the PowerPoint presentation. If not I will put together some of the take aways. One thing she talked about it the different personality groups our horses can fall into based on Chinese Medicines and Acupuncture. Knowing their personalities helps with monitoring and treatment. So here is the characteristic's of each of the types. Joyce sent this in one of her newsletters four years ago. I was glad I still had it.

Photo from Horse Harmony Test

A basic rundown of the types will be given below. For more detailed descriptions see Dr. Madalyn Ward's book (Horse Harmony).The five basic types are  Earth, Fire, Wood, Water and Metal.

An Earth horse is the classic, perfect school horse/beginner horse. It is totally safe, easy to work around, loves people and may have a tendency to be fat and lazy. An unbalanced Earth horse is irritable and grumpy.

A Fire horse is the typical chestnut thoroughbred mare, flighty and bouncing off the wall. These are great horses for experienced, sensitive riders, and they love people. An unbalanced Fire horse is flaky, flighty and can be very difficult.

A  Wood horse is a workaholic, loves his job, loves the challenge, and has a very strong personality. These can be difficult horses, but if you want to do high-level sports they can be great. An unbalanced Wood horse can be angry and very difficult to work with.

 A Metal horse is a good working horse that does not like to be fussed with. They want to do a good job then go out to pasture with their buddies,  but do not expect to spend a lot of time grooming them. An unbalanced Metal horse may shut down.

A Water horse  tends to come from a fearful place; they worry about everything. If you're patient with them they can work with you, but cannot be hard on them. An unbalanced Water horse  is afraid of everything.

So for the blog hop determine what best suits your horse (s). Here is a link to a site the author has to evaluate your horse and even yourself. There is a simple version and a much more involved version.
Another link to more descriptions beyond the basic five.

Here is how my horses came out:

Dottie is definitely an Earth Horse by a landslide. I would have pinned her that way just from the basic description. Her next closest trait was Metal. This makes sense because I she was very polite when we got her, even a little standoffish.

Winston is a Fire Horse. Who is surprised by that? Ha, he is definitely a challenge and sensitive. He does love to work though so it makes sense his next trait was Wood.

DaVinci is a Wood Horse, but with strong Earth traits too. I think he has changed over the years we have owned him. He probably was more Metal in the beginning and now Earth is edging out the Metal. I am really happy about where he is at mentally.

Rosemary is a Wood/ Earth/ Metal Horse. Not surprising for a Cob.  The Metal stems from her strong Herd mentality. She has Fire as the next nearest traits. The Fire probably stems from her Mare side. But first and foremost she is a workaholic.

Roscoe was tough, but I would say he is a Metal Horse. Earth and Wood were not far behind. I think being a Stallion pushes him more towards Metal, while the Cob brings out the Earth and Wood. He also had a dash of Fire probably inherited from his mother :)

What I find interesting is that Joyce labeled Sherman as a Metal Horse when she worked on him. He shares so many traits with Roscoe that I guess they should share the same personality too. Barry was definitely a Wood horse. He had a strong personality and loved to compete. I did know a Water horse. He was owned by Peggy and battled Founder for years before he had to be put down. He was a worrier though and I think that contributed to him foundering, not once but three times.

Now it's your turn to evaluate your horse and see where they fall. Have Fun!!!