This is wonderful! I guess I'm the more traditional thinking person because I had always imagined that they'd be gentle creatures (part horse) but a little shy by nature, love nature and exploring new places (they'd make great geographers) as well as bibliophilic. I'd imagine that they were a community group, but don't mind sitting (kneeling?) down alone on top of a wind carved crag to meditate their place in the world. They'd be braniacs with a spot of temper in them, and they would never say neigh (nay) to a good bushel of apples.
In Xena, most plot/story lines have centaurs in conflict with Amazons, or Xena's thug pals back when she was evil, and they're hearty, awkward warriors. A sub theme involves them being killed, their lands encroached upon, and so forth. Portrayed mostly in browns and greys, living in dusty environments and rickety wooden fences. I think in an ideal world Xena-story centaurs just want to be left alone. If you ever get the chance, there's an episode of Xena where Gabrielle is producing a play in a popular city, and a rather pretentious centaur auditions, and it's hilarious. edit: Found the episode. The centaur character's scene starts at approx 12:35, and he's in another small scene starting approx 18:20--