Is your horse showing signs of being transbred?  Or, perhaps, even more specifically, transspecied?

What do I mean?

Well, do you have a horse that looks like a certain breed and has papers to prove that breeding, but acts like another breed?  Or, acts like another species altogether?  And, it isn’t as if they are trying to act like another breed, they truly, in their hearts, think they are something else.

I call that Transbred.  And, in the case of a few of my horses, they are Transpecied.  They may look like a horse, but they think they are another animal altogether…

TRANSBRED

Meet Finn.  He is my 10 year old Tennessee Walking Horse gelding.  However, he does not see himself as a TWH at all.  Oh sure, he’ll gait when he’s excited and he does a pretty good job of it.  But, he doesn’t identify with gaiting.  Nope.  His identity is with Jeremiah Johnson’s horse or Daniel Boone’s horse.  He would like to be on the trail that no other horse has traversed before.  He is a Free Range Wild Mustang from Tennessee.

Finn sees no use in gaiting on a flat road just for the sake of a nice ride together.  Wha?  “You want me to just gait down this road, again?  Why?  This makes no sense to me.”  No joke.  He would rather zig zag, moonwalk or shift one foot outside the trail then go where he has gone before.  No, this horse is not your average cotton field, flatlands, “I’ll gait just to have a smooth ride with my owner”  Tennessee Walking Horse.  Noooooh.  Finn is a Free Range Wild Mustang!  Give me uncharted territory or give me Death.  He is a heck of a great trail horse, for sure!

ICELANDIC SHETLAND PONY

Have you ever met an Icelandic Shetland?

Me neither.  Until I birthed one here on the ranch. Her name is Violet Beauregard.  It fits.

I guess I should be clear.  VB is a full blooded Icelandic Horse.   I have her mother; she is a papered Icelandic mare.  And, although I didn’t watch her conception, I am pretty sure the sire was a well-known Icelandic stud imported from Iceland.  So I know that my little filly is actually an Icelandic Horse.

However, she thinks she is a Shetland.  This filly will turn over every bucket, unlock any door, rip open any feed bag, walk through any doorway, nibble anything, shake anything, shred anything, snake her neck and bang the gates like the best of the Shetlands (and I know because I have two Shetlands here).  VB will seek and destroy any and all things within her reach.  All the while, she will look as cute as a button and as angelic as possible.

And, she is angelic, sort-of.  She doesn’t mean to be destructive.  Its just that all things interest her for a moment until they have bored her and are no fun anymore.  Then she is “done” with that item and tosses it.  I would think she has ADD except she is always thinking about what she can destroy touch next so she is actually quite single minded.  Once someone described her as having a “high play drive”.  I almost spit up my Starbucks.  Y’think?  Understatement to me.  This girl is driven to… to… um, she’s just driven.  Period.

And, she hates to be ridden.  This is also a Shetland trait.  If you have ever ridden a Shetland, you know that their whole goal is to stop being ridden.  This is why all little girls should start with a Shetland.  If you can ride a Shetland, you can ride anything.  As a matter of fact, I put my 11 year old daughter on Violet Beauregard last week.  I kinda think they are a lot alike.  Anyway, they were both in tears by the end of it.  I’m not sure who got the best piece of the other.  I think it was a draw.  I actually heard the bell sound when they entered the arena…  ;)

Anyway, VB is Transbred.  She thinks she’s a Shetland and as many times as I’ve tried to tell her that she is an Icy, she just doesn’t “feel” it.  Sigh.

TRANSSPECIED

Huh?  What do I mean by this?  Well, I have a few here that are not sure they are horses.  They identify more with other creatures.

THE LOCH NESS MORGAN MONSTER

Wrigley thinks he is Nessie.  Do you know what I mean?

Nessie is the sea creature from the Loch Ness.  You’ve seen the photos right?  Dinosaur body which is huge but mostly submerged and then this loooong neck protruding from the dark sea.

Yup.  That’s Wrigley.  If I had a photoshop program on my blog I would have cropped in a wave just below his body here.  You can draw it in your mind…  Can you see the similarity?

Wrig is an anomaly.  He is a Morgan.  I know this because I have his Momma and I know his Sire and arranged for the quickie matrimonial insemination.  Yet, he is not like any Morgan I’ve ever seen.  He is a freak of nature, in a good way, but still very otherworldly.  He is very tall.  He is the tallest horse here and he is only 2 and a MORGAN.  As you know, Morgans are not known for their size, ahem.  He is very floaty and stealth.  And, his neck is alien.  Not only is is very long and telescopic, but he can rotate it and move in ways unnatural for a horse.

So, I think he has seen the faded, grey photos of Nessie and has decided to make the myth a reality.  He is a mythical equine sea creature of epic proportions.  He is Loch Ness Wrigley.

LURCH POSSESSION.

Remember Lurch from the Addams Family TV series?

Well, he has been reincarnated into my mustang mare, Remi.  That’s the truth.

Every time you walk into her field she comes over, like a good butler.  She stands in front of you and asks what you want.  And, as soon as you tell her, she rolls her eyes backwards and lets out a disgruntled retort.  You remember how Lurch did the exact same thing, right?

I mean, she has to feel a bit indentured since she was wild and then became caught and branded.  So, the butler sentiment comes honestly.  However, she does have the free Mustang spirit down deep so this whole servitude thing just really rubs her the wrong way.  However, she is a polite mare so she will come over to greet you and do the right thing.  Then, when you scratch her and tell her you are going to brush her or put her fly mask on, she rolls her eyes, gives a bit of Elvis lip curl and then lets out the Lurch grumbletude.

What’s weird about this grumbletude is that she actually likes to be brushed.  She likes to have her fly mask put on her face.  She likes a plethora of things that she pretends she doesn’t like.  Remi will roll her eyes and play Lurch no matter what.  And, so did Lurch.  You never saw him not being Lurch yet he stayed with the Addams’ and defended them often.  Same with Remi.  She loves it here.  It is just difficult to tell.  This is why I think she is Lurch.  After all, you never see them in the same room together…

TRANSBRED or TRANSSPECIED

So, I’m sure many of you may now begin to recognize the clinical signs of transbreeding or transspecied.  I think these syndromes are here to stay and I think we just have to, as caretakers, understand and roll with it.  If you have a mule that thinks it is a Fresian or a Percheron that thinks he is Baryshnikov, go with it.

Sometimes it is better to appreciate who they are inside instead of what they look like outside…