What Makes a Good Event Horse?

a horse and press downward on the bridge of his nose as if you were pushing his head closer to his chest and he easily lets his nose fall towards his chest he is very submissive but might be a bit timid. Sometimes those horses make better dressage horses than eventers. If he pushes your hand away by aggressively thrusting his nose outward he is a dominant strong personality and might be on the difficult side to train. However that is often the personality that makes for a good upper level eventer. Somewhere in the middle is often best for the amateur rider. This is of course just a theory and wont be accurate in all horses.
The above qualities of bravery soundness ridablity trainability a good work ethic a forgiving nature and a natural uphill balance make for an event horse that is nice to ride. But there are a few more qualities that make for a winning event horse. The horse that is going to win events obviously has to be good at all three phases. In addition to being trainable for dressage he is a good mover that is capable of winning the dressage test. And in addition to being brave on cross country he also has to be a careful jumper to be good in the show jumping. A wise old horseman once said that a good jumper is a delicate mix of chicken and bravery. Too chicken and he wont go too brave and he just knocks everything down he doesnt care. The very best event horses actually seem to understand the differences between the different tests being asked in cross country versus stadium and are as brave as a tiger on cross country and then very careful in stadium. This type of horse is difficult to find! Most fall one way or the other either a little too brave or a little timid. To be successful those horses need to have trainers who know how to cultivate the timid horses bravery and the overly brave horses carefulness.