Top 10 Horse Breeds For Beginners

Everyone knows that horses are indeed one of the most beautiful animal that creation had brought to us. These elegant creatures run so beautifully, that one cannot stop but admire the sight of the horse galloping around. So, inevitably, some of you may wish to rear a horse, be it as a pet or as a farm animal. Heck, some of you may even want a horse purely for competition purposes. Whatever the reason might be, it will be advisable for you to start off with a horse that is really suited for beginners. You should always wait till you are more familiar with controlling the horse before you decide to embark on a horse that have a bigger temperament. With that, let us take a look at the Top 10 Horse Breeds For Beginners.

These horses that appear in the list of Top 10 horse breeds for beginners share a common characteristic. All of them are known to have a mild temperament. They are docile and are pretty easy to maintain. Also, the size of the horses do suit the needs of the beginners!

The Shetland Pony is one of the most popular horse breeds for beginners. As the name suggests, this horse originated in the Shetland Isles. One good way to differentiate them is the thick coat and sturdy body. As such, the body is indeed strong, and it is reported to be able to pull its entire body weight. In terms of temperament, the Shetland Pony is known to be gentle and loyal.an only manage half. They are gentle and loyal, which makes them ideal children’s pet.

The Shetland is about 46 inches tall, and hence they are extremely suitable for children too.

When it comes to competitions such as the hunger or jumper competition, we will advise you to get the Welsh Pony. Indeed, it might be extremely suitable for children up to young adults. This is largely because of the maximum size that the Welsh Pony can grow till. Optimally, it can grow up to 13.2 hands. The Welsh Pony is known to be sporty, and they are indeed docile. Henceforth, should you ever want to purchase a good horse for beginners, then you might want to consider the Welsh Pony!

Coming in third in our list of top 10 horse breeds for beginners is the Percheron. This draft horse originated from France, and they are known to be extremely intelligent. They have an excellent muscle structure, and many people have engaged these horses for agricultural purposes. That also contributes to its feasibility to be a horse for beginners. They are docile and smart, which of course are the main considerations that we have when we select the top 10 horse breeds for beginners.

The Tennessee Walking Horse also belongs to the list of top 10 horse breeds for beginners. They are well known to be very docile and gentle. What is more appealing is that the Tennessee Walking Horse is extremely tolerant of human mistakes. This includes human mishandling the horse, or the human accidentally mistreating the horse itself. Hence, this really makes it awesome for beginners. Just make sure you do not take advantage of that and treat the horse badly.

For any beginners hoping to venture into equestrian, the Morgan horse might be a suitable choice for them. Just so you know, the Morgan horse breed is commonly selected to compete in various areas, such as saddle seat events. Most of them are suitable for riding too. They can grow up to 15.1 hands, which is manageable for most people. Indeed, check out for your local association if they have any programs that are specific to riding the Morgan horse breed. I know America does have one.

How can we not select the American Quater Horse as one of the Top 10 horses for beginners? I mean, there is a reason why they are considered the most popular horse of all time? The American Quater Horse is often regarded as the best beginner horse ever. This is really because of its docile temperament as well as its well-muscled body. Do note that while having a docile temperament is good, none of them will matter if the horse is not capable of holding itself on its own, let alone with a human on it. As such, we highly recommend every beginner to get this horse first.

The Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse originates from Kentucky, and it is usually selected to be an excellent horse breed for farms. Their strength, tenacity and of course its mild natured behavior makes it a natural selection that most beginners should choose. These horses are known grow up to 14.2 hands. Their excellent body structure allows most beginners to have a good control over the horse when they are riding them.

The Cleveland Bay Horse is known to have originated from England back in the 1700s. As taken from Wikipedia, it is a well-muscled horse. The strength allows them to be employed by humans to be carriage and riding horses. Not only that, their temperament makes them extremely suitable for the said role too. However, they are on the brink of extinction. The Livestock Conservancy deems that the amount of Cleveland Bay Horse is extremely critical as of 2017.

The Irish Sport Horse is another horse that is extremely well suited for beginners. Its body structure, temperament as well as its needs are suited for beginners. This particular horse breed is specifically bred for sporting events. As such, they are known to be good at jumping events too. It is a pity that the numbers of the Irish Sport Horse are dwindling down in numbers too, as a result of extensive cross breeding of other horses.

The next selection in the list of the Top 10 Horse Breed For beginners may shock many, but the Arabian Horse seems to be a good choice too. While you may read many people claiming that the Arabian Horses are not suited for beginners, you should be mindful that there is just a handful of them who claim so. Most Arabian Horses do have a good temperament, and their excellent body, as well as muscle structure, makes them suited for beginners. As per all horse breeds, what matters most is the training for each horse.

You can read our detailed article on the Arabian Horse here.

While we might have compiled the list of top 10 horse breeds for beginners, you will always need to take into account that not all horses in the same family are the same. Meaning to say, even if another horse is docile in nature, it doesn’t mean that another horse in the same family is docile too. What matters most is actually the training of the horse itself!