Setting Temperament

[Raikit]

So I know how to modify my horses from Bombproof to High Strung (as long they're able to change, a lot of mine are born and stay Bombproof) but I have yet to find a mix of foods to keep my horse at a medium temperament. I end up having to move them back and forth from the pasture to the barn to keep them near the middle. Does anyone know a good mix of foods to keep a horse at Even-Tempered?

[BlackOak2]

So I know how to modify my horses from Bombproof to High Strung (as long they're able to change, a lot of mine are born and stay Bombproof) but I have yet to find a mix of foods to keep my horse at a medium temperament. I end up having to move them back and forth from the pasture to the barn to keep them near the middle. Does anyone know a good mix of foods to keep a horse at Even-Tempered?

I've been working with moving temperaments around a little. After you get them to even-tempered, try a mix that gives you about even protein and just above sugar. Performance at 60 and weight gain at 40 might do the trick for you.
Stay away from any fiber, fiber mellows them out.

At the very least, it should take them a long time to switch from even tempered to lower or higher.

Let me know the outcome.

[Raikit]

So I know how to modify my horses from Bombproof to High Strung (as long they're able to change, a lot of mine are born and stay Bombproof) but I have yet to find a mix of foods to keep my horse at a medium temperament. I end up having to move them back and forth from the pasture to the barn to keep them near the middle. Does anyone know a good mix of foods to keep a horse at Even-Tempered?

I've been working with moving temperaments around a little. After you get them to even-tempered, try a mix that gives you about even protein and just above sugar. Performance at 60 and weight gain at 40 might do the trick for you.
Stay away from any fiber, fiber mellows them out.

At the very least, it should take them a long time to switch from even tempered to lower or higher.

Let me know the outcome.

My problem is more they get too frisky. I was trying 35% hay and 65% performance which came out to equal fiber and just above sugar and my horses will still getting up to Spirited and the like. I'll try what you've suggested and see what happens.

[BlackOak2]

My problem is more they get too frisky. I was trying 35% hay and 65% performance which came out to equal fiber and just above sugar and my horses will still getting up to Spirited and the like. I'll try what you've suggested and see what happens.

Generally (still a work in progress) what I've been seeing is:
Fiber drops temperament
Sugar raises temperament
Protein seems to do neither but it may 'tip the balance' for a difficult horse that won't move temperament (so far it's nominally acted as a balance making the climb or drop in temperament level out a bit)

You need to at least double the sugar to see much (or any sometimes) rise from bombproof and the same in the opposite direction with fiber. So doubling is the key, generally speaking.

Perhaps... the way to level out a temperament is to offer nothing but protein. I haven't gotten that far yet. And nothing we have offers that level of protein. But I have a potential counter for that also, in the works.
I'll get the project done, then post the results sometime in the future.

[Raikit]

Generally (still a work in progress) what I've been seeing is:
Fiber drops temperament
Sugar raises temperament
Protein seems to do neither but it may 'tip the balance' for a difficult horse that won't move temperament (so far it's nominally acted as a balance making the climb or drop in temperament level out a bit)

You need to at least double the sugar to see much (or any sometimes) rise from bombproof and the same in the opposite direction with fiber. So doubling is the key, generally speaking.

Perhaps... the way to level out a temperament is to offer nothing but protein. I haven't gotten that far yet. And nothing we have offers that level of protein. But I have a potential counter for that also, in the works.
I'll get the project done, then post the results sometime in the future.

Hmm. My horses rise (and rise pretty quickly - less than six months) from Bombproof to High Strung when fed nothing but Performance Mix, which is just slightly above the bar on both sugar and protein. I've never had a horse that could change temperament that needed more than that to start going up.

[Raikit]

This colt just rose from Even-Tempered to Spirited on 30% hay, 65% performance, 5% weight. Just above the line for protein, just below the line for fiber, and at the line for sugar.

[BlackOak2]

Hmm. My horses rise (and rise pretty quickly - less than six months) from Bombproof to High Strung when fed nothing but Performance Mix, which is just slightly above the bar on both sugar and protein. I've never had a horse that could change temperament that needed more than that to start going up.

Then that too, must be determined by genes. A lot of mine are slower movers, but I have all sorts born, from high strung to bombproof and just as many in between. I let them graze until bombproof (and because of foal growth), usually don't start trying any temperament experiments with them until 4 or 5 years.
The longest I've had one come off of bombproof and onto calm was about one year, than after that the longest for each tier was four months.
I've had everything from that almost two year span from bombproof to high strung to a much more acceptable 8 to 10 months.

But if yours shows easy and quick movement throughout most of your bloodline, and mine shows much longer movements throughout most of my bloodline, then the conclusion almost must be that genes handle this as well, instead of a basic set algorithm that handles it for every horse.

We have a feed for almost straight fiber (plus grass), a feed for almost straight sugar... I would like one for almost straight protein, performance just doesn't fit that bill for me.

This colt just rose from Even-Tempered to Spirited on 30% hay, 65% performance, 5% weight. Just above the line for protein, just below the line for fiber, and at the line for sugar.

Yeah... it takes a heck of a lot more to get mine to move.
http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/899664
I've had him on straight yellow corn since training began (it began at about a year and a half) with a couple months at the end of his first year back in the pasture, still on 100% corn, then barn kept. Granted he's in heavy training, but he hasn't gotten very far in all that time with his temperament. It's a shame I didn't mark what he was born with, so now I don't know exactly how far I might be able to push him.

[Bitapetrone]

I think much of this depends on the horse. At this point, all of my sub-types are able to hit the full spectrum of temperaments from bombproof and to high strung, though some are easier to tweak than others. I find that maintaining a set temperament (assuming they can hit the full spectrum) can be a real pain and will remain a bit of a pain unless further management of feed is enabled (like being able to adjust by 1% instead of 5%). I am able to raise my horses' temperament very slightly by using 70% performance and 30% alfalfa cubes (note that my horses range between 14-18 hands, and size really does make a difference with feed ratios/max feed). At this ratio each horse is barely getting above the recommended (blue line) sugar. I am able to lower my horses' temperament slightly by using 65% performance and 35& alfalfa cubes. At this ratio each horse is barely getting under the recommended sugar. Both of these ratios work best on a horse above the age of four (for my herd) simply because of how max feed works. In the past I was able to keep a few horses at even-tempered for extended periods but it was some odd mix of feed, and it only worked because their size allowed it to -- I wasn't able to accomplish this with most of my horses.

[Raikit]

Yeah... it takes a heck of a lot more to get mine to move.
http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/899664
I've had him on straight yellow corn since training began (it began at about a year and a half) with a couple months at the end of his first year back in the pasture, still on 100% corn, then barn kept. Granted he's in heavy training, but he hasn't gotten very far in all that time with his temperament. It's a shame I didn't mark what he was born with, so now I don't know exactly how far I might be able to push him.

My poor ponies wish they were on your heavy training program. My guys are almost completely done by 3 years and almost always done by 3.6. But then I usually don't train more than two horses at once. XD (I also train stamina first so I can fit in more time with each horse per day.)

This filly has been keeping pretty even. She's at 25% hay, 60% performance, and 15% weight. That's at the line for protein and sugar and just below the line for fiber. I'm going to try it with the colt and see if he stays steadier with that mix.

[BlackOak2]

My poor ponies wish they were on your heavy training program. My guys are almost completely done by 3 years and almost always done by 3.6. But then I usually don't train more than two horses at once. XD (I also train stamina first so I can fit in more time with each horse per day.)

This filly has been keeping pretty even. She's at 25% hay, 60% performance, and 15% weight. That's at the line for protein and sugar and just below the line for fiber. I'm going to try it with the colt and see if he stays steadier with that mix.

When do you start your training?
Did you move that filly to even and then change her feeding program? Or did you fix her feeding program and she moved to even and seems to be staying there? Do you also know what she started at?
(If you haven't clued in, I'm using this as further study for feeding)

...

I'm working also on that large horse versus feed requirements problem and am looking at developing or rather understanding if and how big eaters and easy keepers can happen...
For instance, these two stallions:
http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/892512
http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/892976
Have been developed for just that purpose.
The big eater/easy keeper does seem to be genetically linked and is a recessive gene (I'm also keeping in mind that this could be related to our feeding bug, however, if it is not...).