Twenty percent of its body weight is a substantial load for a horse to carry on long rides. Adult riders in gaited classes on appropriately sized horses make an attractive combination. Disposition and vices. Some horses, like some people, have nervous dispositions. They should be handled by experienced riders.
Some breeds are more docile than others.
Certain uses to which horses are subjected encourage nervousness. Timed events may make horses nervous, and some become hard to control. Horses with vices that might be dangerous should be avoided. These vices include kicking, running away and bucking. Fads allow many individual horses to command large prices, when in reality their usefulness is seriously limited by faulty conformation.