Are you the Mr./Ms. Fixit of Horses? Let’s hear about it!
Jun 29 2010
Today I want to talk about problem-solving. Every time a horse does something a human does not want it to do while it is being worked with on the ground or under saddle, that is a problem. It may be the horse’s problem or the human’s problem and often it’s a combination thereof, but we all want it to stop. Most of us would like our horses to refrain from bucking, pulling back when tied, balking at loading, whatever. We’d like to just have a nice, friendly working partnership where they do as we ask and, in return, we provide them with an awesome lifestyle, wither scritches and love.
I recently, about a month ago, took over caring for a new string of polo ponies. This is always interesting, because all you do the first few weeks is evaluate them. You find out who ponies, who doesn’t, who is nice to ride, who is a pain, who gets VERY scared if the pony horse’s lead rope touches their butt, that mare A can’t stand next to mare B at the trailer, who doesn’t like a certain lead, who feels sore somewhere, who doesn’t tie, and so on. This particular bunch had a very sweet Thoroughbred mare – and I mean very sweet, the kind who lays her head in your arms and just wants to be snuggled and petted all day, mare. She had two main issues. #1, she pulled back when tied at the trailer and did the whole thrashing around thing, which is not only scary for humans in the vicinity but also freaks out the other horses. #2, she threw her head while playing polo.
So after watching the pulling episode once or twice, yet knowing she was normally a very quiet mare, I figured she just did not like to feel trapped. So I started tying a loop on the trailer with an extra polo wrap, and tying her lead to that. She was already tied next to a mare she liked, so she wasn’t pulling out of fear of the horse next to her, which can be another cause. Well, that was easy. She hasn’t pulled since. The wrap has enough give that she doesn’t feel claustrophobic. Cost of solution: $0.
Second issue, the head-throwing. First of all, obviously if they pull back, they are sore in the poll because the halter is digging into their head right behind the ears while they are thrashing. The mare was playing in a gag bridle – which works on a leverage principle and puts pressure on the poll. Sore poll, bridle putting pressure on it = head shaking. I recommended that she get an adjustment which revealed that she was out in the poll (yeah, surprise surprise!) and then I recommended she go in a short shanked pelham instead.
I thought it might take a while to see results, but no. The head throwing stopped immediately. It was gone. Poof.
This mare reminded me of how often a horse is trying to tell the humans what is wrong, but the humans are just not doing a great job with problem-solving and reading what the horse is saying. I am going to guess I am nowhere NEAR the only one who has stories of horses they were “amazingly” able to fix — just by using a bit of common sense and logic!
So that is what I want to hear about today. Whether it’s a creative solution to a barn vice or a horse that you got sorted out under saddle after many others have failed, tell me YOUR best problem-solving stories! I know they will help others, and I’ll put a permanent link to this thread on the side of the blog so that everybody can find it.
255 comments to “Are you the Mr./Ms. Fixit of Horses? Let’s hear about it!”
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I would like to hear suggestions on getting a horse to not fight fly spray.
He loves to be sprayed with a hose or get a bath. how can a light misting be scary but a drenching with a hose fine?
Misting is tickly, maybe? I was giving my former show horse a shower the other day and he was OK except when I did his neck — figured out that he was reacting to the fine bits of spray tickling his ears. When I showered the same area from the front instead of the side, no issues!
Let him graze and sit there with a spray bottle full of water spritzing it over and over until he chills out about the noise and lets you mist him while he eats. If he doesn’t react to the spray bottle at all when it’s full of water, it could be that he doesn’t like how your fly spray smells–try a brand with a less strong odor. But most of the time horses that don’t fly spray well are just scared of the noise the bottle makes. So make that noise constantly for a while, until he learns to tune it out, and associate it with something yummy like grass.
That’s exactly what I did with MBG when she was small, and it worked very well. Didn’t take very long, either.
I had this problem with my mare when I first got her. I used a fly spray bottle full of water and lots of treats. Everyday I sprayed her with the water, rewarding her with cookies when she was good and gently disciplining her when she reacted inappropriately. It took about a week of this for her to figure out that being sprayed wasn’t scary at all. Now she handles it like a pro.
Ha ha ha been there, done that! It is MIST-ifying, isn’t it?? (sorry cound’t resist the dumb pun…)
BOTH my young horses came to me very shy of a spray bottle, both because they had not been sprayed much, if at all.
Anyway, start off with a spray bottle full of water, or you’ll wast a ton of fly spray!
What I did was use cookies or other small treats. I then desensitized them to the fly spray bottle just like I would to any other handheld object- in an open area or round pen, on a nice long lead rope- first rubbing all over with the bottle, then pretending to spray, then finally spraying, starting at the shoulder, and not moving to other areas till they were ok with the shoulder.
Spray, (or touch or pretend spray, whatever stage you’re at) if the horse moves away, keep him moving in a small circle so you can keep spraying, as soon as he stops, stop spraying and treat.
My horses quickly learned to associate being sprayed with getting a treat!
r u sure it is mist he’s scared of? If so, desensitize with a spray bottle filled with plain water…much cheaper. I had a horse who was very sensitive and i had to try a few sprays before she was ok with one. I think some are overly smelly and maybe even irritate the eyes and skin- i know they do to mine.
It’s not the spray it is the hissing sound. Some horses never get cured so wipe on instead. Or, desensitize by standing by the horse and spraying a towel held in your hand where the horse can see what you are doing. Reward for standing, for curiosity, for sniffing the bottle, anything positive that comes toward you, ignore the away because in that horse’s mind it “might” be a predator making that hissing sound.
Interestingly enough clipper noise isn’t what upsets some horses because they seem to know the difference between mechanical and “organic” (for lack of a betterword) noise, once they get accustomed to any noise at all. With clippers, it seems to be the vibration that annoys.
I’ve had a bunch of horses afraid of flyspray (I assume it’s a common issue) and my best guess is it’s the noise combining with the tickle of the spray that sets them off. What we have found to work is take the flyspray bottle and PRETEND like you are spraying the horse while making shpsssssshhhh sphsssshhh fly spray noises around their body. When they realize you aren’t spraying them it’s just a noise they usually settle down, then you can start spraying them (first on non sensitive areas like their neck, chest, and then their body back and legs last. Keep making the noise as you spray, and in between tell them they are good and give them pats too.
It sounds weird, but I swear it works. Of course also being firm and making the horse stand where you ask it to, if they move you move them back to where you originally stood them, til they realize that walking all over the place is not acceptable. Don’t do the whole “it’s okay it’s okay,” thing like they are scared. I’ve seen that escalate issues with flyspray and other things b/c 1) it makes the horse think there may actually be something to be scared of, and 2) People doing the it’s okay don’t be scared thing usually end up letting the horse walk all over them. You need to be firm yet gentle, and act like it’s no big deal. If you expect your horse to react it will.
I also always flyspray a brush or my hand to do the face…I can’t STAND when people flyspray a horse directly in the face. Who wants chemicals in their eyes?!
NERSI, you’re hilarious. It makes sense that you could desensitize a horse by imitating the sound. I just know if I did it, for sure the one person in the community who already thinks I’m nuts, would walk up while I was doing it and tell everyone else.
Re: Not comforting for nervousness. It’s true. Cesar Millan the dog trainer talks about this a LOT. Animals don’t respond the same way humans do to comforting. In fact, traumatized humans often don’t need comforting. Of course, you comfort a crying baby—after you’ve checked all physical reasons for pain. Sometimes crying is the only way a baby can ask for simple affection. Then they need to grow out of that tactic.
But with adults, psychologists do NOT spend time cuddling you and saying, “There there.” They just sit there and let your nervous system/brain work through the incident, or push you a bit to get past it. I have PTSD, and “there there” is mostly irritating to me. Sure, sometimes I need empathy and softness. But comforting does not help me “harden” my nervous system nor reprogram my old trauma-based thoughts.
Haha; everyone already thinks we’re nuts here, so I doubt fly spray noises will make it much worse for us…There was a raccoon in the neighborhood and the neighbors actually asked if it was one of our rescues before trying to get it out of the area (since we are known to work in horse/dog/cat rescue; most of the neighbors actually adopted their pets through our groups). Yeah, but ummmm no, no pet raccoons. lol I do find it pretty amusing that they’d think to ask
Great explanation about why not to comfort. People do more damage than good that way. Whenever we adopt a horse out I always give the talk to adopters about not feeling sorry for them and letting them get away with stuff. I’m adopting out a nice horse, and I don’t want it returned with issues darnit! Especially with foals, people feel bad and then they learn they can get away with anything. Plus if they are really scared they just get more frightened. You have to be the alpha (of course that doesn’t mean beating them when they act up either), just leading by example and being firm and consistent.
That’s really tough with volunteers too. We had a bunch of orphan nurse mare foals and I was showing a new volunteer how to handle them. I told her that if they acted up (bit or kicked) you have to let them know that it is NOT acceptable. You can’t just feel bad b/c they are babies. Well one of the fillies walked right up and nipped her on her neck, and she didn’t do a THING! She felt sorry for her and didn’t want to be “mean.” Well I’m sorry I don’t think it’s mean to correct that type of behavior as long as it’s done quickly and fairly. It’s a lot meaner to let it go on, til the horse is 1,500 lbs no longer little and cute, and hurts someone or comes back to us out of control b/c it was allowed to walk all over people. Sigh…
NERSI, you’re making me laugh even more. Rescue raccoons! Well, I did raise a litter of five newborns some moron pirated out of the woods, not understanding their parents were out hunting at night. Three died, of course. God.
Re: Neighbours. Mine did a long, drawn out spluttering fit when I walked past her while she was crushing ants. I raised an eyebrow because I couldn’t figure out what the hell she was doing, crouching and sifting dirt through her fingers. She actually followed me, going, “I was only PLAYING with the ants! What, you’ve never played with ants?”
Re: letting animals get away with it. Whenever I see a Craigslist ad where someone is advertising for a small dog and says, “I’ll treat her like a princess,” I think, “Yes, another ankle biter comes forth. I hate you.”
I always cup my hand over the eye to spray the face. Which I guess would create its own problems with a horse that minded a hand over the eye, but mine are fine with it. Anyway, yes, please no fly spray in the eyes! I have seen people be so stupid about that.
Haha that’s exactly what I do. I also move the can like I do when I actually spray them. It’s hilariously ridiculous how freaked some of them get the first time xD
Now I can use a blow dryer on my horse, though she prefers me petting her forehead while I use it.
Get a squirt bottle with water in it that can be dialed to “mist.” For the next few days, carry it with you. Feed him a small treat, and as he takes it, give a little spritz away from his face, maybe toward his feet, or if he freaks, down toward your own feet. Do that for two or three treats and repeat it over a period of days, slowly spritzing closer to him, starting from his lower front legs. Don’t do too much at one time. Also, when he jumps or evades you, tell him firmly to stand. Praise him for standing. Whatever happens, don’t turn it into a battle– make it short and matter-of-fact.
When he will stand for his legs to be spritzed, move to his lower shoulder, then sides, then lower neck, and somewhere in there, switch to bug spray. When you start on his head, put the spritz bottle very close, like right next to his skin, and give it a short quick spritz. Be REALLY careful none of it goes into his eyes or nose. Pet him and rub it into his hair with your hand. I always squeeze their ears closed before I spritz them, so that the sound/feel is not unpleasant and I use a very short quick spritz and rub it into and on the ear with my hand. Because it is such a small amount, I do it two or three times. Now mine will stay pretty still when I spritz their faces, but I always do small amounts and rub it in manually.
I have also used the roll-on bug repellant around their eyes, and I know some people use a cloth on their horse’s head and face. I am usually too lazy and want to just use the spray bottle.
I think that no matter how good they are about bug spray, you should never spray a cloud of it around them where they can breathe it in or get it in their eyes. Even if they don’t mind it, it can’t be good for them.
A lot of horses seem to dislike the sound of a spray bottle. Just spray it in his general vicinity until he starts to ignore it, then gradually move it up to his shoulder.
thanks for the suggestions. i will buy a new bottle for just water for some testing to see if its the smell. i have tried spraying while he is eating and he will stop eating his feed or treats. i have tried the roll-on and the ones that are like Frontline where you just squeeze them directly on, but I dont find that they work that well. plus, he is a big boy and i need lots of those expensive little tubes. i have tried various mist settings, like wide spray to stream, and several brands of spray without much success.
He doesnt mind SWAT and thats pretty smelly.
Thanks again.
I have a huge STB and he never liked the hose or the fly spray but he will tolerate the hose when it’s very hot AND it actually does something he likes: cools him off. But the fly spray I have found it not to be the sound as much as the smell. If it smells like insecticide he will certainly run me over trying to avoid the stuff. So, I found that the more natural sprays like Eqyss marigold spray or others that have a more pleasing scent (I find my own concoction works best: tea tree, lavender, lemon balm, and eucalyptus in a canola oil base. Recipe from a CUTHEAL product). All the others have that nasty petroleum smell and he hates it. Natural is better, anyway, albeit more pricey.
BTW~ my own stuff is actually cheap, cheap but initially cost more but you can make lots of it! and it works as well as the stuff from the store
If it is the hissing sound that he does not like, you can apply fly spray with a garden sprayer. I use one on my horse just for the convenience of it. No more finger fatigue
Plus if you are using a concentrate, it is a lot easier.
The carrot approach of course is good, but I have found that nearly every horse who dislikes the spray bottle really dislikes the SURPRISE of it. I always see people just suddenly spraying the horse and the horse jumps because he had no warning at all that a weird sound/sensation was coming. It’s easy to see how being startled like that would cause a negative association with the sprayer.
Every horse I have ever owned or handled that didn’t like the fly spray, I simply warned them it was coming by making a “spchhh spchhh” sound like the spritzer before I actually sprayed them. They figure out in a couple of days that I’m signaling them beforehand, and do seem to really appreciate the warning because they don’t jump out of their skin or fight it anymore.
My tb was a rescue and was absolutly fine about most things apart from 2 – having his left ear touched (he had aural plaques in it) and anything pulling tight on his poll. the first was fixed by lots of sweets whilst ear was being handled, we started at petting the neck around the ear which originally was enough to freak him out and gradually he accepted it as long as there were sweets on offer.
With the poll pressure he was fine to lead, bridle etc but if he was tied up, got a fright and pulled back he would panic until the string, rope or headcollar broke, all the while pulling back frantically. We solved this one (after many broken ropes) by threading the rope through the string and tying an overhand know at the end. The rope was just through with loads of length before the knot would reach the string, this meant that if he moved back, the rope would give and he didn’t panic. Eventually the knot would stick in the string but we kept an eye on it and pulled it back through every so often.
I used to care for a polo pony who was so headshy that she took 2 men to bridle before I took her over…problem fixed with carrots within 2 or 3 months time. I don’t know why people won’t just give the cookie and carrot approach a try. They have their head stuck in 1850 and want to show the horse who is boss or some such nonsense.
Fugs, are polo wraps super strong? What are they made of? Are the old school (non-VetWrap) regular bandages as strong? I’ve never used them.
I solved the same problem with a bicycle inner tube. My gelding had broken three lead ropes. I wrapped the nozzle thingie securely with layers of duct tape, then tie the attaching lead line closest to the tape.
They’re not super strong. They’d break if a horse really put up a fight, but that’s kind of the point – it’s like tying to twine with more stretchy-ness. I am not exactly sure what kind you mean with “old school” bandages?
Tube – same exact principle. Something with some give and stretch so they don’t feel trapped.
By old school bandages, I mean the ones we used for shipping or wrapping a leg wound, over cotton. I think they were a polyester/cotton mix, with elastane.
Oh yeah, we call those track bandages and we still use them for wrapping over leg quilts with liniment, but not for riding.
I get a certain amount of guff for it, but peppermints are quite reinforcing to most horses, and they can eat them with a bit in their mouth. Have used this successfully now on two mares who would move off from the mounting block too quickly. I started with a peppermint on every occasion, and gradually cut down and now they get one every 5 to 7 mountings, and aren’t (too) pissed if they don’t get one every time, though they do ask for it
My TB mare was the same. She was never raced but used as a broodmare for years and totally shy about her left ear. I am convinced she was “eared” repeatedly and just didn’t want it hurt. It took about a year (I wasn’t really focusing on the problem but was consistent) to get her to lower her head and let me rub her ears and clean out the bugs and crud. I was just patient and made it feel good. Also, I found it effective to start massages/stroking from her forehead with me a little in front, rather than at her side. Now, it doesn’t matter, she likes her ears cleaned and rubbed.
Your horse may have been treated similarly (in addition to his owies). I have seen handlers loading horses (on TVG horseracing) and earing them. At Barratt’s auction, I was looking at horses in the stables and saw grooms clipping a filly. One was earing her and the other was standing on a stepstool, clipping her bridle path. What a shame, because that lack of patience causes a lot of headaches down the road. I suspect it is very common, because it is quicker than being patient and training a horse.
I wouldn’t be suprised if he had been eared – he’d certainly been thumped (I think this might be where the tying up thing came from) as when i got him you couldn’t shout or raise your hand or anything like that. We also had the bridling issue to the point that I had to build the bridle around him to start with because of that ear. Once he was comfortable with the ear being handled he was much better about the bridle – again with sweets. They rock! We ue a thing called a ‘bribe bucket’ which is basically a big feed bucket full of chaff, a little sugar beet and fibre nuts mixed together – this has solved countless problems for us. It makes a wonderful distraction for most things.
My long-retired racehorse is still ear sensitive because he was “eared” at the track (gawd I hate that they do that, track thugs grrrrrrr). He retired 19 years ago but still remembers. Heads up to race people, get your horse thoroughly gate trained before you get your stall at the track and you won’t have to deal with abusive trackies.
Problem: Horse is extremely sensitive to bridle/bit pressure- tosses head when heavy hands are used.
Solution: Ride in a rope halter.
Fixed!
Yeah, when they’ve had their mouth abused, often there is NO solution other than going to some sort of bitless bridle. If that fixes the situation, great. Often, they can learn to give to pressure in the bitless or halter, and then you can start reintroducing the bit gradually starting with a happy mouth or rubber snaffle, if you’re going to eventually show them in a discipline where they must wear a bit.
My sweet princess Arabian, MWF Elekcja (Lexie), was perfectly okay with finally being trained to do something besides being totally cute at age 13 – except for the part about bits. She absolutely refused to accept a bit and got fiercely resentful whatever anyone tried, however kindly and patiently, to convince her that they were okay. Cure? A bitless bridle. She is perfect in every other way. I rode her Sunday morning for the first time in months, and she came happily from the field and practically buckled the saddle on herself, so eager was she to go have an adventure. She did not put a foot wrong, and carried me as if she had done that all her life. But no bits.
Had to do that with my boy. He had a pelham in his mouth with heavy-handed riders. The horse would kick out any time anyone touched his mouth. I switched him to a fat loose ring snaffle and rode on a long rein. I gradually tightened the reins and eventually he would take the bit with contact. He rides in a “D” with copper rollers and kids can ride him now!
Several years ago, I rescued a mare from a trail riding operation that would rear at any kind of contact with her mouth. Initially, I figured it was just that she had an issue with cheapo curb bits, so I tried her in a snaffle. That didn’t work, so I looked in her mouth. She had a healed scar across her tongue where some asshole had used a mule bit or other torture device on her. Bought her one of those nice short-shanked fleece-padded English hackamores and she was the most deadbroke horse you could ever want, neck rein, go through, over, or under anything. She now lives with a lady and her special needs son.
I knew a trainer that had a student (younger than me and I was 8 at the time) slice the tongue with a snaffle. The gelding got lay up and a bosel for 6 months, only lasting problem is that sometimes (only once to me in 8 months) he would put his head just too high for a kid to bridle him.
I guess there are a lot of things I’ve learned in my life. A friend (and former riding student) was laughing because she went to a Parelli clinic, and some of what they did was stuff we used to do years ago. I asked if she wanted me to start doing clinics, so we could make a lot of money.
The thing I didn’t learn until I was older, in fact something I’ve picked up on just in the last ten years, is herd dynamics. Working at a broodmare farm helped a light go on in my head. I don’t reprimand or chase my horses anymore when I’m in the paddock with them. I used to have problems with horses who would dive at each other while in the field. I’m shamed to say it took me this many years to finally realize that by taking a whip or crop out, or by diving at my own horses to tell them to behave, I’m just modeling the exact same behavior.
Okay, so then I have to consider… how DO I want them to act? I don’t want to be stepped all over in the paddock. I don’t want them running into each other. But I don’t want a wild west show, either. I settled for wanting them to give way to me– in return, I don’t put restrictions on how fast they give way. If they don’t move, I push them, physically, instead of hitting or threatening with a whip.
The difference, over a period of a few months, has been amazing. A verbal warning will ensure pricked ears and polite behavior from my crew now– even the gelding who came from a herd where the lead mare would full on attack him when she was grumpy. He carried her behavior to his new home, and originally would dive and kick at the other horses, and not share a feeder with them.
It’s such a simple solution– I take more time, I have patience to wait for a response, I use touch to guide horses out of my space, instead of whacking them for infractions. In return, my horses move more slowly, they have the confidence to think their way through situations, and best of all, 95% of the herd fighting has disappeared. My gelding even plays tag with the dominant mare now!
An added bonus is that I have very few to no new marks on my horses.
Your solutions were creative, resourceful and effective!! Good to share them with others, so thank you! Two solutions I came up with to help my horse get interested and yet calm in the arena, before we ride, don’t sound very unique but they have been effective for us. When we enter the arena, I identify two things to walk up to and investigate, and he has something (hopefully interesting to him) to focus on. Also, I use clicker training to teach him to stand still while I tighten his girth, and again when we mount. For my food-oriented horse, clicker training is effective and definitely has helped improve his behavior.
Yep- I’ve always had a passion for “fixing.” To me, its the most rewarding thing I do with horses.
Of my 3, all 3 have issues. I got my morgan gelding because he was bolting under saddle. Turns out he had a broken rib and was being ridden. Time off and many body work sessions later, he’s sound. He’s a tough ride, definitely has a lot of fear issues, but this year he’s been to his first dressage schooling show and next year he’ll be doing recognized shows.
My ottb mare I got in December was awesome to start under saddle, but presented some serious issues in the spring. Just had the vet out and it turns out my princess most likely has a tumor on her ovary. Surgery will fix it. We’ll probably have a definitive diagnosis next week once the blood and second ultrasound come back.
My gelding, you all know, Scarp, featured on this board. He’s up to weight, which was easy to do. His hooves, however are a mess, but getting better. He had swiss cheese looking holes, tons of abscesses, and xrays showed a significant amount of boneloss due to years of poor track shoeing of long toes and crushed heels- apparently this result is fairly common in OTTB’s. So, we’re doing what we can to manage it, and at least make him pasture sound. He’s fine most days, and gets meds when he has the bad ones. I really do think he would be better off in a dryer climate though, with someone who knows how to feed and handle a TB. Western WA’s moisture is hindering his health, and I would love it if someone could retire him where its dryer. But for now, he’s with me, and we’re doing what we can to get him healthy and somewhat fixed.
Would boots help him, or would they just trap moisture inside?
Scarp needs to come down here to Florida. Our soil is so sandy that it drains immediately. None of our horses need shoes. I couldn’t believe how well the grass grows here when I looked at the sandy soil.
My mare has had 2 main issues under saddle that I had to sort out. One was bridles and one was bucking/rearing and I’m talking about bronc style. This is a horse who is sweet and gentle on the ground and almost bombproof. I had her 2 years and borrowed numerous bits of all sizes and shapes before deciding that she just didn’t seem to like any bit period. With every bit her head would go straight up in the air whenever the reins were touched and of course that led to more rearing and not paying attention to where she was going. I finally bought a hackamore thinking maybe she would work better off nose pressure vs. mouth and instantly I saw results. She now drops her head low for the bridle and will tuck her head when ridden very nicely.
Problem number two, the bucking/rearing, was much more dangerous of an issue and more complicated. The root of the problem I firmly believe is that she was broke at the age of 2 and was started on barrels. I don’t think mentally she was anywhere near ready and so it “fried” her brain in a manner of speaking when it came to riding. It took me over 3 years to come up with a solution because she would only do it on property and not out trail riding which she loves. She would be an angel off property. Finally I started riding her in a tie-down I happened to have and met with success. However, a tie-down only fixes rearing but not bucking. I got lucky and it fixed both. The tie-down is loose enough so her head can raise just an inch or so above her withers if she chooses so it is not holding her head down. I don’t think she realizes that she could still buck and quite frankly she is more relaxed when ridden on property now as if a worry or stress has been removed. It’s odd but it has worked for over a year now. Also, for those of you who might wonder why I so strongly believe that her past was the reason for this issue is that 1) I saw the kind of guys who rode her before I bought her and it would have made me nutty as a horse too 2) I adjust her back regularly so it was not out of soreness 3) Her saddle is perfectly fitted to her as well and she stands still to be saddled and have the girth tightened and this is not a push button pony but a strongly opinionated mare who lets me know what is on her mind at all times. She is not a horse that puts up with very much. Also, she was perfect on trails and everything with the same tack.
Now I have a happy horse under saddle and I’m just sorry it took me awhile in both cases to reach my solution but I’m glad i did not just write her off.
My horse used to be pretty food aggressive towards whoever was feeding him. I started carrying a riding crop during feeding time and whacking him if he got too close to me while I was pouring grain or carrying hay. I would guard the grain bucket or whatever and wouldn’t let him eat until he was standing quietly. Didn’t take long for him to start politely backing away from the grain bucket when he saw me with dinner!
Now anyone can feed him without worrying about losing a finger in the feeding frenzy
My friend has a mare who does not get her grain until she responds to the command “ears forward.”
LOL, I do that with ALL the mares (why do the mares insist on the “snake face” at feeding time while the boys don’t?) except I say, “Where are your pretty ears?” Or “Pretty ears, please!”
Then one time I was being grumpy/snippy with my mom, and she stopped and looked at me and said, “Where’s your pretty ears?” ROTFL. Ironically, it worked: I wasn’t grumpy after that. I love my mom.
LMAO! Don’t feel bad. My fiance normally has a hard time getting my attention when I’m doing something because I’m so focused…so he clucks at me. It works every time.
I love this. reminds me of when we got our tb gelding off track. My daughter was 8 and he was 17 plus hands of crazy. The one thing he did learn was “show me the bucket” – that way he backed off and put his head by his bucket and didn’t crowd the 8 year old who loved him when she fed him.(ground manners were not negotiable) Now that he lives in a paddock permanently and is retired, he drives all the staff crazy by running and putting his head in the hay feeder just as they throw it in!
This made me laugh in memory of a fantastic Saddlerab (NSH) gelding belonging to my best friend. He was boarded as a young horse, and like a lot of boarded horses was in the habit of putting his ears back and making faces at feeding time — probably because in many barns, they hear other horses being fed and if they are near the end of the row, they become impatient. Mind you, he never did anything evil — he just made faces.
Well, he came to my place for awhile when we started him in harness. Now, I don’t tolerate mealtime rudeness, particularly to the person who buys the feed! So I would stand between him and the bucket until he at least relaxed his ears, and then of course he would get both his dinner and praise.
I have to point out to some who may not know that a horse’s facial expressions are connected — you don’t get soft happy eyes when the ears are pinned, for example. And this horse in particular got little wrinkles below the inside eye corners when he made his faces, so everything was very clear.
One day I went in with the bucket, and went into the usual routine — and then I realized that the ears were MOSTLY up — but they were *trembling*. The eye wrinkles, however, were in full evidence. It was the first time I’d ever seen a horse present a FAKE “smile”. It was a LOL moment.
LOL, I use the exact same command with my mare at feeding time!
My mare started to get that way when I began giving her her bucket of supplements. My solution was to bring the bucket in and free lunge her around it until she relaxed and gave me a nice soft face. Only had to do it twice I think? If you can clearly communicate what is expected and what will not be tolerated they really pick up on it fast. The biggest thing I learned (within the last couple of years actually) was that horses learn from the release of pressure, when you stop asking. Every interaction is training.
The best one for bad manners at dinner time is they lose the dinner if they are really bad – when we first got my mare she had very few manners. The first time I asked her to move over while she was eating her dinner she really kicked out, luckily missing me but would have broken bones if she’d connected. As we’d only just got her about 2 days previously she was told off but nothing further. About a week later I was putting her feed in as after that she was fed in a stable for safety. Our hores have to back off until we put the feed down and they are allowed to come forwards, she threw a strop and chucked her head around managing to crack me over the head and nearly knocking me out. I managed to lift the feed and get out the stable. The next morning she backed off until told she could have her feed with good manners. We had a similar thing with my sister’s tb youngster who objected to waiting, turned around and tried to kick (again missing). His dinner was lifted and removed (we never take out hay or forage, only the really good stuff). The next morning he was asked to back and he went as far back in the stable as possible. With both of them it only took that one time for them to get the message that manners are not negotiable. They also know they never get the feed taken without reason but we also have horses that we can do anything with them while they have feeds.
I just make all of my animals (dogs and horses) ‘Wait’
That way I can make them stand still and ‘wait’ in any potentially dangerous or excitable situation as they expect something nice to happen once they calm down and stand still
Well it isn’t ingenious but it has worked nicely…I have a 13 yr old Arabian gelding I got on the cheap with no knowledge of his history other than he was being used as a lesson horse at the trainer I bought him from (he was given to her). He is an absolute doll, sweet as can be, I have done arena work, trail, endurance races, gymkhanas, and my 10 lb chihuahua loves to ride him (he takes tiny careful steps when she is aboard). I got a gaited horse for my endurance and started using him more for gymkhana and arena playdays and though he would collect nicely in the warm up ring, once we got into the arena for the real deal he would poke his nose to the sky and just generally get SUPER excited. I ride him often in all different scenarios and do lots of lateral work so he wasn’t a case of “only run at gymkhanas” like so many horses are..anyway my friend suggested trying a tie down and I put it on loosely and took him to the latest gymkhana..his attitude adjustment was PHENOMENAL! He never actually threw his head and hit the end of the tie down, it was like he just KNEW and he went from spazzy mcspazztron at go-time to a calm, collected guy, we even cantered through some of the events that we had always trotted as he got way too fired up to canter sanely. Anyway it was a very quick fix and he seemed happier overall as well.
Back when I had time to ride more, this kind of thing was my specialty! I’ve never been able to ride at an A-show level. I struggle even just with the local circuit and I have a pesky fear of verticals… give me sturdy cross-country fences and I’ll charge right at ‘em, but a plain vertical with no flowers or box under it or anything makes my stomach do flip-flops. I probably won’t ever equitate the way someone with legs a mile long and a dancer’s posture can. I doubt I’ll ever either be brave enough or be able to afford enough horse to get around high-level jumper courses. But back when I got summers off and could spend them riding, I loved fixing problems, and I was good at it.
One of my favorites was a sweet TB who came into rescue with a reputation for being so mean that a dude ranch had been offered the horse for free and wouldn’t take him. OK, we can fix him with time and love, and if not he’ll have a peaceful companion home… well that was the idea anyway, the only problem was we couldn’t actually get him to do anything mean! He seemed perfect but there were SO MANY stories about him that there was no way it was just hyperbole. It took a few months, but I figured out his hips were out, but not so badly that they gave him trouble ALL the time–but put a badly fitting saddle on him and his hind legs went out from under him and he panicked. A properly fitting saddle kept him calm, and of course that was all I’d used on him until I got the idea that maybe I could generate the “mean” behavior by putting the kind of saddle a dude ranch would use on him. It later turned out he was also narcoleptic!
Then there was a charming little tiny Arab gelding who visually screamed “pony hunter.” Not only that but he was trained for it and jumped beautifully. If his attitude matched his looks he could have packed a 10-year-old around the local Short Stirrup division and been cute as hell. Trouble was, he ended up in rescue for HUGE dramatic spooks at anything that moved, which tended to send the pony hunter kids flying in the other direction. Beating it out of him had been tried to no effect, so he went in rescue. I didn’t have a lot of trouble staying on him once I got used to him, but figured maybe he’d be easier to handle for an adopter with a little more saddle, so I tried him under Western tack. Presto changeo no more spook-o. Never did figure that one out, but he just HATED to be ridden in English tack. With a few miles on him and an adjustment to a thick, short-shanked curb, he was a very cute Western Pleasure pony.
Or the TB mare who threw her head so hard she would occasionally throw herself all the way over backwards while being ridden. Her owner didn’t mind riding her and could keep her forward enough not to go up in the air, but she wanted to sell her and that, um, was a little difficult with that behavior still happening. I was stumped for a few days but while feeling her teeth to see if her latest float had missed anything, I realized she had the lowest palate I’ve ever felt. A plain jointed snaffle poked the roof of her mouth, which was very sensitive. I got what was labeled a “moon mouth” bit (like a French link but with the middle link crescent shaped rather than flat) and the head tossing became a rarity and only showed up when she got really worried. Her owner tried showing her to a buyer in a different bit once and she flipped and broke the bridle. After that the owner believed me about needing to sell her WITH her own bit!
When I worked at the Dude Ranch from Hell I was small, 17 years old, and game to get on anything, so I got put on all the ponies and smaller horses who liked to throw people. There was a little POA with a bucking problem–again, just a sensitive mouth. Got the curb bit out of his mouth and taught him to go in a nice thick little snaffle and built some confidence in the round pen. No more buck. Or the half-Arab colt the owner loved but everyone else hated because he liked to rear and bolt and was very head shy. The head shyness I solved with a clicker (VERY food motivated little fellow!) in one day. The rearing and bolting took a little longer, but it was just a matter of soothing him and convincing him I was staying on no matter what he did. He was too smart to throw himself over backwards, so it only took two rides to get rid of the rearing and maybe five for the bolting. He turned out to be one of the sweetest young horses on the ranch after he decompressed from his “cowboy style” start to his life as a riding horse. Unfortunately, the owner thought that meant it was time to start putting beginners on him at 4…. but I digress.
I was once given a horse that I’d ridden for the prior owner before he was sold to a family with a mom and two kids who agreed to keep him in full training after the sale. Mom called me in tears after a few months and said her trainer refused to ride him because he bucked, her kids wouldn’t ride him because he threw his head so badly he split one kid’s lip, and she could only ride him at a walk. She wanted to give him to me, but promised he could retire on pasture at her father’s farm if he couldn’t be rehabbed. He got off the trailer 200 pounds underweight. It turned out the “trainer” had starved him to try to calm him down. And done something else to him, too, because that horse did NOT leave my barn headshy, but he came back fine with a halter but running backwards at top speed the minute he saw a bridle.
Prescription: Groceries, a massage, an adjustment, clicker training to reach for the bridle instead of running from it, and some relaxation. Restarted him bareback in a halter, since he was scared of tack. He never offered to buck. I was working him bareback and bridleless (alone in an indoor arena with a helmet and body protector) at w/t/c and over cavalletti before I ever got a saddle back on him. After he finally did get used to the saddle again–I put it on him and then fed him and took it off after dinner every day for a week–he was gentle enough that I ended up giving him to an adult beginner who fell in love with him. She hadn’t started riding until she was over 50, but she could easily handle the horse so “crazy” a TRAINER had to beat him and starve him.
Man, reading this blog and commenting is bad for me! I want another rescue now! If only I had the time and money.
OMG. I love you. Thank you for realizing that if a horse so pain free and understands his job he will do it willingly. As an Arab trainer I can tell you that the single joint mouthpiece is FAR too severe for many of our horses. Narrow face, low palate, fat tongue is pretty common for our horses. If a horse is misbehaving more is needed than just “Check his teeth”. Check chiropractic, teeth, stifles, back, front legs, bitting, shoeing, etc. Pain is almost always the reason.
I’m living in northern Canada now, but I still remember all the creative problem solving we used to do when I learned to ride back in Bulgaria in the 80s as a kid. No tack (rigged stuff and Russian military saddles), no brushes (we used to cut curry combs out from hard rubber doormats and use little brooms for the brushing off of dust), and no helmets. Actually, I’m amazed I’m alive.
Anyway, I learned to ride on giant scary (though as a kid you don’t know enough to be scared) competition jumpers, probably about 16hh+. They were all mostly stabled, most of the time, so had a tendency to buck and bolt when the mood struck them and all were ridden in simple snaffles. So my trainer gave us three options — abandon ship when the speed gets too much for you, try a one rein halt and hope the horse doesn’t fall over, or aim at a jump of 1.2 m or higher and hope the horse has enough brains to slow down (I wasn’t that brave even at 10). To give him credit, this is also the trainer that lunged all beginners without stirrups until he was satisfied our seat was good, who made us jump without stirrups and who tied hands behind your back to make sure there was no mouth jerking going on. He was good to his horses. He just really wasn’t a soft, gentle kind of instructor and he’d competed at world level and ridden in Germany (insert oohs and aaahs of little Bulgarian children). Simple solution for never getting caught in stirrups — no stirrups until about six months in.
After one of the last bone-jarring halt one of the boys had, we all ganged up and devised a simple solution. We all show up at the stables an hour early (6:30 a.m.) before the trainer got there, which gave us just enough time to sneak the horses out to the arena and let them loose so they could rampage to their heart’s content without us on their back. We’d bring the horses back in before he showed up (using some creative herding techniques to catch them) and by the time he arrived, we’d be cleaning stables and getting ready to tack up. Very, very few bolts from then on. In hindsight, it’s so simple but it just wasn’t the culture and it still isn’t in Eastern Europe to give arena horses any free riderless or lungeless time at all — I mean, these poor horses were stabled 24/7, allowed in the arena for 1.5 hour a day for jumping and arena work, and occasionally lunged. No wonder they were nuts. I have so much more sympathy now that I’m an adult.
Anyway, I’ve never needed to problem solve since then since I’ve never been near that level of problem horse again. But at the time, we used the full range — molasses on the bit, and my trainer used to get off and walk the young horses past and through spooky things. I still remember him cursing quietly and wading through water, but the horse usually followed him. We also used to do massages of the withers and neck muscles before riding to relax the head-throwers, which is fairly advanced when I think of it and no other school I’ve been at has done since. He had one bomb-proof horse for the kids, so there would be a horse that would do vaulting and lunging and have a guy on his back with an accordion (Gypsy parade) and bags swinging about. That was the 17 hh, 14-year-old horse who, when kids (yours truly) lost balance and slid off would freeze all four legs, make a long suffering sigh and crane his giant neck down to look at child tangled up in the bit and reins between his front legs, snort at you a bit and lower his head so you would let go. Anyway, trainer told us that Nemtodon, the wonder horse, was trained to be fully bomb proof in about four months when he was 6. The two head trainers, in shifts, would spend up to 12 hours a day with this horse, bringing in kids, drums, taking him everywhere (beach, vineyards, roads, hard terrain, past bucking horses, past cows, past swinging gates). The trainer said you could see in the eyes this horse had a calm soul, but this was still a giant jumper who could easily do 1.30 with the right rider. With the wrong aids, he would just stop, crane his head around and stare accusingly. I MISS that horse. I got switched to something tall, gorgeous and firebreathing soon, because they needed Nemtodon for the beginners and after that we left the country, but …
My lasting memory is that you get the occasional good horseman in the middle of oceans of abuse in some areas of the world — you can bomb proof a horse, by just being there, all day, every day, sometimes on a lead line, sometimes bringing the food, sometimes riding, sometimes lungeing with kid on back. My trainer once figured out that one of our crankiest, nastiest horses hated being in the stall closest to the door because the stable maintenance guy smoked and played loud music and the smoke would drift in to that stall. Switched him to the back, and this horse was a changed soul. No biting, no turning the rump towards you when you went to his stall.
Anyway. Sorry for the ramble. I’m having a nostalgic day and that trainer is still my hero, faults and all. And thank you for this blog!! You’re helping with my five-year-plan to responsible horse ownership, finally, in my late 30s. Better late than never, right?
I fed a novice’s horse when I boarded. This mare was cranky. Pinned ears every time you went near her in her stall, paddock, pasture, etc. Acted like she hated everybody. She rode fine but was a butt until the halter was on her. Novice was scared and wanted to sell her. I asked if I could try working with her. Novice said “Sure”. I walked into her paddock twice a day with treats. If she came at me with an ugly face and chased her off by waving my arms and glaring at her. If she put her ears forward and approached, she got a treat. Two weeks later she was fine in her paddock or stall with anyone. Regular pocket pony.
My first horse threw her head the first time I tried to bridle her. I looked at the bit the previous owner gave me and it was a jaw breaker type. I bought a nice snaffle and, viola, bitting problem solved. She rode nicer, too!
My green gelding kept stopping and turning his head around on one of our first rides. Not upset but something was bugging him. I looked over his tack: saddle fit well, brand new saddle pad was the fluffy synthetic kind on the bottom and fabric on top, cinch was not rubbing or pinching. Everything looked fine but he was definitely trying to tell me something and was getting more agitated. I scratched his back just under the fluffy pad and he wiggled his lips. Aha! Fluffy saddle pads make him itch! Switched to the smooth fabric type pad and he’s been fine ever since. I also have to cut off the strings that hang down from the corners of the Navajo blankets. They tickle, don’t you know. I adore our quirky little QH.
I got a cranky, nasty TB gelding in who bit, struck, kicked, and purposely went for people and horses. He is 15 years od and his suspensories nearly touched the ground. His old owner saved him from an abusive situation on the track, only to use him up and toss him aside for the past 6 years. He hadn’t had his feet touched in 2 years because no one could get near him. He was heaving and coughing more often than not and food aggressive. Sounds like a lovely combination, right?
Week one, we wrangled him into a stall, fed him a proper ration with breathing meds mixed in and managed to get a halter on him. My sister and I harassed the living hell out of him, brushing, talking, petting, offering him treats, etc… until he gave up trying to hurt us. Week two, the farrier came by and took care of his awful feet. More harassment and treats followed. By week three, he is able to be walked, brushed, have his feet picked up, go out with other horses, and got a hug from my barn owner. He is a happy horse who now nickers to get attention.
The problem: he was sore, couldn’t catch his breath and was unsure of how to act around people. He had reverted to being half wild. I was a reckless (and accident prone) kid with asthma growing up , so I can understand how pain and not being able to breath isn’t fun. By giving him meds, correcting his feet (which brought his suspensories up), and teaching him that while we weren’t hurting him, we weren’t going to be chased off either, we turned him into a much happier, healthier, easier to work with horse.
It will be one month tomorrow and he is now well on his way to becoming a lovable pet and good companion horse.
It’s not always a riding/handling problem when a horse is trying to tell you something’s wrong. My old arab mare was giving me extremely obvious signs that she was not well, and it took me a while to figure it out- looking back I should have known she was feeling puny. She lost her alpha status and got really grouchy all the time.
It turned out she had a bad Strongyle infestation. 1 Power Pack later and she’s a new horse, back to being Alpha and not nearly so grouchy. But it took manifestation of physical symptoms to make me realize that the behavioral issues I was observing were not just a result of her old age.
Oh, I forgot! Our older rescue gelding came to us last year and during his initial vet check, we found a tumor growing in the corner of his lip, right where a bit would rest. I bought him a bosal and he loves it. Good old dude ranch horse had his mouth yanked on all those years and now, he just gets an occasional ride gentle ride with no bit. Happy old fellow. Our son will probably learn to ride on him and the bosal is a real easy on his face.
When my sister and I were teenagers we were able to fix a horse that had been traumatized by a “trainer”. Our friend down the road had a gorgeous black TB/QH gelding she said couldn’t be ridden. He was very sweet on the ground so the fact that he was unrideable didn’t make sense. I became obsessed with this horse, especially with the white marking on his forehead that looked like a question mark
I made figuring him out my mission. It turned out a “professional trainer” had forced him to gallop in a plowed field after a rainstorm. It was after this that he started refusing to move under saddle….really????? My father would have beaten our butts raw if we had abused one of our horses this way. I couldn’t believe anyone would allow this let alone PAY for it to done….WTF!!!! To this day I can ‘t imagine how this poor boy survived the ordeal without serious injury!
The “fix” was simple. I sat on him with a loose rein until he moved on his own. It took FOREVER for one tiny hesitant step. We showered him with hugs, kisses, treats, telling him he was a good boy and just loving on him. Then I sat back and waited for him to move again. This time it only took about 5 minutes for a step. More love. A few minutes later he walked into the barn clearly bored with the whole thing. We rewarded him again, took off his tack and turned him out. The following day my sister rode him in the outdoor arena with no problems. Within a few months he was trail riding and jumping like he’d been doing it all his life.
I don’t know how I knew what to do or if this would have worked with any other horse. It just felt “right” and lucky for us, it worked out
Wow, how smart you were!
“It just felt right”
Yes. THAT is it exactly. Why don’t horse people listen to that voice more? It solves so many problems. I had a sour mare come back from a trainer’s looking very much like her vicious mother. Ears back, sour… back adjustment, and a week of playing “You pick where we go” in the arena, leaving her face alone, and she was a new horse. No reason to do things that way. It just felt right.
Watch “Million Dollar Baby” – the movie with Clint Eastwood. Actually any boxing material will work, but Million Dollar Baby has a great quote in it that demonstrates how to handle many equine situations and it’s the most entertaining way to learn about boxing.
Anyway, here’s the deal… No I’m not telling anyone to punch their horse in the face.
It’s about moving into the situation rather than away from it. Take the first comment about fly spray. Common events usually progress like this:
– owner sprays (once or multiple times)
– horse shies (with relative level of commitment – head bob, whole body moves, full blown set back, etc.)
– owner stops spraying
Guess what. Your horse just learned that as long as it moves, the spraying stops.
Instead,
– Untie your horse.
– Get in the round pen (anywhere that has lots of room AND IS SAFE – You don’t know which way they will be heading.)
– Calmly start spraying. (don’t run after them, they’ll think you’re running AT them. Just move smooth enough and quick enough to keep the lead in your hand slack and stay with them. STAY CALM)
– Keep spraying. They will do what they will do, but eventually they will slow down.
– Stop Spraying. Your horse does not have to stand perfect for it the first time. Slowing from a full blown set back to simply walking backward is progress. Reward them for their progress by releasing the spraying monster from in front of their face.
– Repeat.
Any “problem” between you and your horse is just like most problems between any two people. Communication.
You spray and they set back and you quit spraying. (You’ve told them that if they set back you’ll quit)
You saddle them up and they pitch hard enough, you decide not to ride that day. (You’ve told them that a hard enough effort in the beginning will yield a day off.)
You get the idea.
In Million Dollar Baby, the whole concept is about moving into the punch rather than away from it, which is the intuitive thing to do.
**** If you aren’t comfortable enough with your horse to “move into the punch”, get help. *****
It’s not about showing your horse who’s boss. It’s about showing your horse that they can do it.
I like the way you think. There have been many times when I have been working with a horse, either under saddle or on the ground, and they are giving you that “I can’t do it, it is to hard/scary/confusing etc etc” and I just keep saying “yes you can”
I think one of the worst things you can do to a horse is get off when it throws a tantrum. I know a lovely, cute as a button Paint mare who does that. It’s been a *year* and she’s still not cured of trying to get her rider to get off if she doesn’t feel like working any more…and I swear it’s because her previous owner let her run all over them.
I unfortunately did this to my mare… I was way too green for such a green horse. Months later, I am still working with a wonderful trainer, and the mare is tons better… she still has her moments, and lately she has been spooking into full-blown bucking fits… but with my trainer’s help I am riding it out and working through it.
My trainer told me about a big quarter horse she was tuning up that always reared under a large overhead farm arch/gate before turning out onto the road. She eliminated all problems (bit, saddle, etc) and finally discovered that the horse was just a little herd sour; the previous rider was afraid of being scraped off onto the arch overhead so would usually take the horse’s “suggestion” and return home to the round pen. Go figure!
Next ride, she tucked a large, overripe beefsteak tomato from the garden into her pocket. When he reared under the arch, she smashed the big ripe tomato between his ears. The pulp rolled down his face, smeared through his mane and made a glorious mess. According to her, he fell apart and stood under the arch shivering, head hanging. She rode him a bit on the road before taking him home and cleaning him up.
That boy never reared again. She said that an old trainer who knew her grandfather taught her that trick with the tomato; the horse thinks he hit his head and could have really hurt himself. She swears by it for rearers; any soft fruit will do she says. That gelding went on to be a kid’s 4-H horse for years and was considered absolutely trustworthy with the little ones at leadline and walk trot.
This happened years and years ago, but I still think that the look on his face must have have been priceless with the tomato rolling down his face!
Elin K.
You know, I have never tried the egg/tomato/whatever with a rearer, I always thought it might be an old wives’ tale that it worked, but you know what, after reading these comments, I might just give that a try if I ever meet another rearer!
Personally I remain convinced that the egg/tomato/ water balloon IS an old wives tale or the horsey equivalent of an urban legend… no offense to the person who posted this version but it is always a second-hand story… no one ever claims to have done this personally. I have ridden some rearers, and while I consider myself a very strong and balanced rider (hence willing to work on re-training rearers), in the midst of a rear, the last thing I want to be doing is fishing around in my pocket for my egg or tomato or whatever. I want 100 per cent of my attention to be on not going over backwards and getting killed.
What I dislike is the notion that there’s a quick fix for rearing, when it’s one of the most dangerous problems a horse can have. It can be overcome but it takes going back to the basics and teaching unconditional forward – rearing is a resistance to going forward and they can’t rear if they are going forward.
Can tell you from first-hand experience the water-balloon thing works. Saw my BF use it on a gelding that had a confirmed rearing problem. He set water balloons around the ledge of a wooden breaking pen and took the horse in for it’s usual (triggering) workout. When he broke the balloon between its ears the gelding reacted just like the horse in the original post. He tried half-heartedly rearing one more time and that time a growl and a smack were enough to get him to stop. BFs theory was that the horse thinks it’s bleeding and it creates a really STRONG impression on them that rearing is bad — even though they feel no pain they get all the secondary symptoms of a severe injury.
I’ve done it many years ago (when I still bounced) with a bIg ol’ appy gelding that was known to rear when entering an arena. Not just for speed events…whenever he walked into an arena….not sure why. I was ready with a water balloon in my hand, feet kicked out of the stirrups, and when he went up I grabbed the horn with one hand, and smashed the balloon between his ears with all my might with the other. I was ready to bail but he came down hard, almost to his knees and stood there terrified to move. I dismounted, patted him and spoke calmly to him, and walked him out of the arena, remounted and asked himto enter again. He was nervous and flicking his ears, and ducked his head a bit when we entered, but he walked in and walked, trotted and loped after that nicely. The next day we did the same thing….entered with a slight hesitation (he was obviously thinking about it), then a little head bob and flicked ears, but no rearing. Sorry…this is NOT a “second hand” story….I did this.
I’ve used it, but it really isn’t convenient unless you are working with a confirmed case who rears in a specific situation. It’s just not easy to ride a horse with a smushy piece of fruit or veggie in your pocket, waiting for the right moment, then stay on the horse while cracking it over the poll with your food.
When you know how to make the rear happen, and you are ready for it, then yes, it’s a priceless lesson in keeping level when being ridden. Water Balloons also work well.
When I was a kid, I read about that method in some horse book. In the book, they used a plastic bag — maybe a small water balloon– filled with warm water. Same theory, though, that the horse thinks it is blood running down its face. I always wondered it it worked.
The last barn we boarded at, the BO’s horse had a massive eye infection, and they were given a tube of antibiotics to put directly on the eyeball. BO was not a horse person, but he thought he was. After a couple days of trying for force the 2-year-old filly to hold still, he gave up and called the vet, who recommended using a twitch. That worked for one day and the mare finally got so freaked out about the whole thing that I was wondering if they were actually getting all of the meds inside her eye…
So one day while I was out there I got a call from crazy BO asking me if I could put the medicine in the filly’s eye since he was at work, and his mom was too old/timid to do it, but she’d come down and help me. I said sure and told him to have his mom bring down lots of carrots.
We brought the filly in, and, surprise surprise, she was NOT about to let me anywhere near her eye. So I chopped the carrots into small little pieces, and started rubbing her nose. I worked my way up her face until she started looking hesitant, and then I backed off and gave her a carrot. Then went closer. And closer. Pretty soon I was able to lightly rub all around her eye, and she got a carrot for standing and letting me do it. Then we worked on letting me open her eyelid a bit, and she got carrots for that. Then I washed my hands, squired the medicine directly on my thumb, and when I was “practicing” opening her eyelid, I just rubbed the medicine inside her eyelids. She didn’t even notice. So We were done for the day. BO’s mom was amazed (she’s not that horse-savvy, either), and it only took about 20 minutes, but the filly was CALM.
The next day BO’s mom came to the barn and asked if I could help her again, because BO tried to medicate the filly later the night before, and it was a battle. So I started the routine again, but it only took me maybe 5 minutes the next time. Within a week, I could walk up to the filly loose in her pen with a carrot, rub the medicine under her eyelids, feed her a carrot, and walk out. I also taught the BOs mom how to do it.
And ironically, the barn owner got mad at me for NOT using the twitch, because he had told me to use it for safety purposes. When I asked why she needed it, he said, “because the vet said so.” Ugh. I am SO happy we’re not there anymore! I miss his mom, though. She was sweet.
I’m not really a Fix-it type so these aren’t training issues, but common health issues with solutions that may help:
My TB had issues with his nose – spring through fall, it would sunburn. During the first year I had him, the fad around my barn was to apply desitin (baby butt-rash cream) to sunburned white areas and for scratches on the legs.
My OTTB at the time did not like his nose touched, so you can imagine what a nightmare it was trying to get a heavy cream onto a sunburned nose that already he didn’t want anyone touching. Simply raising my hand to his nose with it proved to be impossible. Once I got to the point where I was hiding the cream behind my back and trying to quickly swipe his nose with it (not successful – more got on me than him), I realized that I needed to change direction with treating his burn. I eventually resorted to equine-friendly sunblock spray (Godsend!) and a fly mask that had covered the nose. Within a week, his burn was almost gone. Come to find out, his sensitive white nose was burning because of the wet grass + sun in the morning (he was kept out 24/7). I only had to keep the mask on in the morning. And eventually, after weeks of consistent desensitizing that nose, anyone could touch it.
As for scratches, the desitin sort of worked, but for my TB’s 3 white legs, I finally realized that regular washing of his legs with Dove dish soap (3-5 times a week) was the best preventative, and that petroleum jelly was the best at breaking down the scab-like scratches (I used antibiotic cream which worked well too).
I don’t really have a fix it solution but I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion on how to lighten up a horse’s mouth? We have a 4-year-old Belgian gelding who came from the Amish and rides in a French Link Snaffle. He’s primarily ridden by my beginner husband and now he’s pretty hard in the mouth. I don’t want to resort to “bitting him up” and I’d really like to keep him in a snaffle if at all possible.
Your husband may need to take some lunge lessons, when a beginner horse gets hard mouthed it’s usually the result of heavy hands.
If that’s not the problem, you might try just moving him up to a single break snaffle, then back to the French when he is soft in the single break. That way he learns that he’ll get the more comfortable bit as long as he stays soft.
The Amish in our area want their horses ‘up in the bit’, or leaning on it. Your horse most likely isn’t truly hard mouthed. It’s more likely that he was taught to lean onto the bit when riding or driving.
Spend time with him teaching him that any time you touch his mouth, it means something. Reward any response (a partial turn, a slight slowing down) with a release of all bit pressure. Change your goals for a while when riding him, and really focus on rewarding ANY response to pressure. This means life will be more about rewarding him for a partial turn or partial stop, instead of setting goals of turning ‘here’ or stopping ‘there’. Combine this type of riding exercise with some work over ground poles or cavelletti to get him lifting and balancing himself. He is very likely using his rider’s hands as a balancing tool at this point.
The value of a horse that leans is that it is much harder for such a horse to jump sideways or stop suddenly– a boon when driving your horse along a busy road, according to some people. With some time and patience, you will probably be fine in such a bit, although you might want to consider coming up with a better way to do an emergency stop than pulling on both reins– you could trigger the ‘leaning’ habit in an emergency.
Get your hubby some lessons to work on his hands. Ride the horse yourself for a tuneup. Don’t throw his head away, but stay consistent with your hands, and try to fix as much as possible from your legs. Don’t fight with him. If he isn’t doing what you want off of your leg and light hands, start squeezing your fingers on the reins so it pulses a little bit. If you’re trying to get him to turn, squeeze with your outside leg in the same rhythm. You don’t fight with him by being more heavy handed than he needs and you still win.
If he makes a turn that you don’t like, go back to it and do it correctly. You are the rider. You get to pick his track and pace, but do as little as you can to make him obey, which means you escalate pressure instead of starting out harsh and when he does something right, give. Let him carry himself for a few strides, and then pick him back up.
You *could* consider trying a flash noseband to give a bit of extra ‘power brakes’ without bitting up. It’s working very well with a horse we have who is second cousin to the 9:05 from the colliery to the steel yards…Epona can that horse pull! But if he’s ridden in a flash with light hands, he backs off it. Obviously, the goal would be to get rid of the flash, but as a training aid…it might work.
And yes, definitely look at the rider…he might need a refresher course on carrying and using his hands correctly.
Put him in a sidepull or rope halter for about 10 rides. Do some flexion exercises with him (nose to your knee) – the goal is to make his nose-yielding take a finger’s worth of pressure, rather than both hands yanking on one side of his face. Work on getting a stop with the lightest pressure possible and reward it by letting him stand stilll for a moment. Work on “back up” with easy squeezes on the reins and give the rein back even if you only get one backward step. Also, work with him on moving his hips and yielding to your legs. If he was primarily driven rather than ridden – 99.9% of what he knows is “you pull my face to whichever direction you want me to go and I drop my head into the bridle and go.”
I got an arab/paint gelding a few years ago that was holy terror to ride because every time he would act up the previous owners would put him away. Being a very lazy fellow, this worked out great for him.
I had to ride him through quite a few bucking fits, and whenever he would go at it I’d run him into the ground. He figured out pretty quickly that bucking equaled a LOT of work. After a few rides, that stopped completely.
His other issue was rearing whenever he encountered something out on the trail that scared him. I tried several things with no luck… finally an old cowboy friend of mine suggested cracking raw eggs over his head when he went up. I laughed when he told me this, but he just said “trust me, just try it”.
Well, next time out I did. HOLY CRAP… it worked. He planted all 4 feet on the ground and stood there wondering what the heck just happened. I never had to repeat either, although for the next few rides I had one handy just in case. But once was enough. He’s never reared again.
When I got my (now 7) year old gelding last year, the owner told me he had a bucking problem and needed to be “cowboyed.” When I went out to ride him he never offered to buck, he was just very nervous about everything – when I asked him to trot his entire body tensed up and he went more sideways than forward. This was a very green horse who prospective buyers had been asking way too much of and had been bucking because he was overwhelmed. When I brought him home we did a week of groundwork so he could get used to the new environment, then restarted him under saddle. First ride – get on, stand still, get petted, get off. Second ride – get on, walk forward, turn, stop, get petted, get off. Etc. It’s been almost 7 months, to date the only time he’s tried to buck has been when he get a little too excited about jumping, and we’re currently competing at Novice level eventing
I used to rehab racetrack rejects and one and all they wanted to move off the minute one foot was in the stirrup. Well, look at what they do in the paddock at the track. They are asked to move off as the jockey is being boosted up. They think that is what the humans want. From there it was happy dance (or, not so happy but still dancing) to the gate and then “off to the races” and heaven forbid if you had anything that sounded like a bell in your barn or arena after retirement from the track.
So working with a header and praising for even momentary standing, waiting for the horse to relax before putting a foot in the stirrup (relaxation shown maybe by dropping the head and chewing, sometimes if you do it the horse will too and no I am NOT a Parelli person or any other kind of NH aficionado). When that’s come around, it usually took my guys only about a week to figure out they were allowed to stand and relax to be mounted, but then we had to deal with the “let’s get outta here fassssst” idea instilled by racetrack routines.
Not sure it would work for others but for me just riding with my students and “grandstanding” while mounted on a re-learner-racehorse in center ring while directing students, it usually became clear to the horse fairly quickly that there was really no competition going on and that at any time they might be asked to go here, there, in front, behind, in the center, but no competition. Just the different things they were asked to do seemed to help them focus. Amazing how they catch on quickly and thoroughly.
Horses are SO much smarter than many people give them credit for.
But some horses have a different “learning curve” just like kids do. Some horses learn on the move just like some kids have to be “in motion” somehow to “get” stuff. Well, horses can’t sit quietly and read though I swear one of my jumpers would look over my shoulder at a printed jump course and memorize it better than I did (my really weak weak-spot). But some horses need a 24 hour process for something new. That is when you finish the introduction of something new by dropping back to something the horse has learned already, praise for that, finish the session on a good note. Often, the next day what you had struggled with will have been processed by the horse and now you have it.
One thing with horses, you’re never bored. This is a good thing!
Mine is a sad one, I think. I was at a fun show and this poor horse was constantly throwing her head and lolling her tongue. I walked over and asked how long she had been doing that and they said since they got her a few years ago. They said she didnt do it when they went and looked to buy her but has done it since. I asked if I could check out her bridle and bit and they were ok with that. She had a Tom Thumb bit that was on the bridle upside down and to top it off, the shanks were rusted in place and no longer swiveled. I pointed this out to them and they were oblivious to what I was talking about. “That’s the same bridle we ahve always used” is what they said. I went to my trailer, grabbed an egg butt snaffle, put it on their bridle and a miracle happened………the horse was better, cured, no longer shaking its head and lolling her tongue. They were amazed and I was sad. I told them to keep the snaffle and then tried to educate them a bit. Poor mare………
I didn’t do the fix but I recognized it was a mouth issue, actually a teeth issue. I have regular dental work/checkups, even had ‘bit seats’ done which has been considered a ‘good’ thing to make a bit more comfortable, but my driving horse still resisted left turns. The chiropractor would tell me the jaw was locked up and to have the dentist check the teeth and indeed the poor horse would get more teeth ground down and the incisors trimmed again. I began noticing he chewed oddly and I started comparing him to the other horses, thus began a search to find out why the horse who got the most dental attention had the most problems. Sadly that was the answer…he’s had too much power work done to his mouth. I found out that horses are actually getting loose and decayed teeth removed as a result of overzealous dental work. I’ve had work done by reputable vets and equine dentists, none identified the fact my gelding was headed for no teeth if we continued ‘fixing’ the same way. Why did I think ‘bit seats’ would work ?? Hmmm…try to get any bit back as far as that molar….this is good?? Hanging my head…..
The best fix for me was to turn my horses out 24/7. The few negatives are worth all the positives, don’t know why it took me so long to figure out. Colic is no longer an issue nor are those other confinement problems, attitudes greatly improved, both mine and the horses. Yes, I know it doesn’t work for everyone and I had stall babies for 20+ years so I’m really enjoying watching my horses be horses.
I just had my horses done by a dentist that used only hand tools. He explained that the TMJ — the mandible joint — can make a huge difference in their movement. My mare has always had an issue going to the right, she’s unusually stiff. He saw right away that she could not move her jaw correctly. After his floating/correction, wow, what a difference. Made a believer out of me! My other mare could not easily move her jaw from side to side, he fixed that as well and she no longer drags her hind feet. He hates power tools, says they don’t correct problems.
I have to blog on that soon. I’ve gone back to manual floating – WHEN I can find it anymore! – because everything I’ve read says the power floating is doing more harm than good and I’m going to agree with that.
One day I will buy another normal, with no problems horse. I swear I will. One day. There will be no kicking, biting, rearing, bucking, shying or attacking. Until that day comes, I will keep using calmness, thinking problems through, the usual suspects of making sure the horse isn’t in pain, that tack fits and the willingness to try different equipment. I used a gogue on my TB because a normally fitted running martingale caused him stress, and he had to wear something because I am fond of my teeth. It was fitted quite long and did the trick. Sadly he is now retired due to arthritis at the age of 15. Hopefully I will be able to care for and love him into his thirties.
A draft-cross gelding I recently bought has been rough handled and has trust issues on the ground. Yesterday was his first appointment with my farrier. In order to make it pleasant my farrier would do a little nip then set the hoof down. Repeat until all the nipping was done. He repeated that with the rasp for each hoof. When it was time to set the front shoes he put two nails in- one inside, one outside- then set the hoof down. Every other time he put the hoof down he petted the horse. During the second nail on one front hoof the horse pulled away from my farrier, farrier held onto the hoof & when the horse was motionless he set the hoof down and stepped back. The horse leapt away in the opposiste direction and my farrier said “He was expecting me to hit him but I’m not. I got what I wanted, what he did afterwards was his doing.” The horse stood perfectly for the rest of the work. It was facinating to watch and I’m blessed to have a good farrier who is one heck of a horseman.
I too am blessed with a farrier who wants to make the trimming process as pleasant as possible for the horse he is working on. Due to this he can show up at my place, put a halter on any of my horses, drop the rope and trim them. We are normally home but sometimes he arrives early and will just get started. One of the things he does with the weanlings is rasp a little on them while he is trimming their dam. They are standing there and very curious, so he will pick up a leg (of course this is not the first time they have had their feet handled) run the rasp lightly, put it down and go back to trimming momma. Since momma is fine with it, and he is quick and gentle, they never seem to have a problem. I have never raised a foal who had feet handling issues and my farrier has ben a great help.
With yearlings or problem/rescue horses, we have used grain to make the experience “pleasant”. A bucket or pan of grain is in front of them, as long as they stand properly for the farrier they may eat from it, if they act up it is immediately removed. As soon as they are calm and ready to start again, the grain returns. It never takes them long to figure this program out. As they get better, they get a few bites between feet. When we do this – a few things have happened first – their feet have been picked up prior, and they have been groomed, etc while eating without problems. I am sure this would not work with a food aggressive horse. I am convinced a farrier can make or break how a horse handles trimming and shoeing.
Can you plz give your farrier a hug from me lol. The farrier at my old stables would lose his temper at the slightest fidget, which wasn’t good when some of the ponies there were sale rescues who had abuse issues. Two ponies in particular, a saddle pony x clydie gelding, who got to the point where we had to go back to pick up feet basics cause the farrier had taken back like 10 steps in training and wouldn’t walk into the washbay/farrierbay, and a sweet quarter pony mare, who when she came from the sales would tremble in the back of her stable when you walked past, now she’s a kids pony, a kid that’s too nervous to work with her, so that’s where I come in. She’s petrified of the farrier, won’t walk into the washbay (only for me but I play dumb because she’s better for the farrier outside), he now refuses to do her (good!) because she’ll move away from him out of fear, so he’ll hit (big tough man gotta dominate the pony), which turns her into a trembling, freak out, mess. He is the only farrier that will come to the stables cause it’s ‘too far away’ for others, you can organise them but they won’t turn up. Fix: stable owner stands with problem horses, makes them stand and stops the farrier wacking them, works perfectly, they behave fine!
The farrier at my new stables is soooo nice with the horses. The pony mare I’m leasing requires front shoes, HATES getting her feet done and really squirms around when the nails get tapped in, that’s her being good. When I started leasing her she got grabbed off me one day for the farrier, so I thought yeah I’ll go hold her, apparently she was bad. Then the extent of her badness was explained to me, she goes completely bronco, has to be twitched, sedated (said it’s the first horse he’s ever needed to sedate), three men holding her, rears and like flips, strikes out, chucks an absolute fit. I start talking to the farrier about how much the pony likes me, we’ve kinda bonded, all that blah (she’s got other major issues, I’ve never had a problem with her, ppl tell me the stuff she’s done and I’m like wtf are you talking about), he kinda noticed that I’d kept the pony calm standing there waiting so he went and grabbed a bucket of feed and goes “she seems to like you, we’ll try this, she’s good, feed her, as soon as she’s bad, stop feeding her”, guess who stands fine for the farrier now with a bucket of feed in front of her?
The things I fix the most are issues created or worsened by rider’s hands. I see a lot of horses who toss or cock their head. I’ve fixed several horses who do this, and the issue is usually two-fold (or more): A stiffness in the horses body somewhere, fixed by chiropractics, massage therapy, and conditioning, and his riders hands! Every horse I’ve fixed with this issue had a rider that tried to make the horses head straight or stop the flipping by getting stronger in the hand, and I have gotten every one of these horses back to a point where they can be ridden comfortably, as long as the rider had polite hands. I fixed a horse once that wouldn’t go forward no matter what his rider did. In fact, he went backwards. Why? Because they were holding on to his mouth. Turned out the horse was extremely sensitive to the bit, and his rider had tactless hands.
Another horse I rode for a friend recently had a similar problem, although not quite the same. He was an Appendix Quarter Horse and had been trained to stop and back immediately. This was also done everytime he did something wrong. From what I understand (although I don’t know because I don’t ride Western), this training method is often used with stock breeds. When he was sold, his new owner would ask him to do something, and if he didn’t want to do it, or didn’t understand, the horse would just back up. It scared her. It only took him a week to learn that no one was going to hurt him, and he just needed to go forward off the leg. He’s a happy little novice event horse now.
My reining horses are trained to back a step or two when stopped (not sliding stopped) to keep their hind end underneath them. My 3-year-old backs up without being cued when she is unsure of something. I don’t know if your friend’s horse backed up because he has unsure or afraid but if they are trained to back when stopped, it should only be a few steps and they are supposed to do it on command, although sometimes they try to anticipate what you are asking.
It was definitely used as a punishment on this guy. It was not used as a simple remind. It was evident that whoever had trained him that the first thing they did when he did something wrong was halt him and haul on his mouth. Such a shame, because he’s a really easy horse to ride.
We’ve adopted the mindset at our farm that there are very few truly bad horses, its what they’re trying to tell us that we’re not listening to is most of the time the issue. When a horse arrives they get to “detox” for a few days…weeks.. months… depending on the situation, from previous experiences and our herd is so relaxed and welcoming because of the environment we created that the “new guy” usually settles right in. Then they get the full head to hoof check up, chiro, natural farrier, balanced diet specialized for the type of horse they are etc. After all that, we then take a look at what their “issue” is and work through it, using many of the solutions listed here, to get them going happily as best as they can. Owners think we’re magic- no, its listening to the horse instead of trying to be rough and tough!
There are some great ideas on here that we can all learn from. I find the cookie/carrot method is perfect for really severe cases. I had a mare that was so afraid of the clippers around her ears and bridle path that she’d slam her head into you to get you to stop. When I would offer her cookies while holding the clippers up near her ear she would eat the cookies and start to relax. Eventually I was able to clip her and give her cookies after being clipped as her reward. I’m not big on using cookies overall, but in extreme cases like that they’re a lifesaver!
One problem we have here in AZ is too many horses are fed alfalfa, and in this heat, it’s very unhealthy. The extra protein in alfalfa becomes nervous energy in horses that aren’t ridden enough out here. It varies from horse to horse, of course, and the amount of time they’re being ridden, but overall I just don’t feed alfalfa to my horses because they just don’t do well on it. I’ve had many friends ask me how to get their horse not to be so nervous on the trail. I have “fixed” several of these horses just by saying switch to a low-protein, low-sugar diet, which means grass hay and a simple supplement that helps with vitamins and minerals. Within two to three weeks, the horse is doing fine and is no longer an issue to ride.
I got my mare home after having been separated from her for about five years. She has developed a problem with fly spray and with touching her ears when she’s wearing a halter (she’s fine when she’s loose or wearing a bridle). She was never like this before, so obviously something happened to her while she was out of my care. So I’ve been using Clinton Anderson’s method, where I have a long rope on her that is loose (I don’t really need a stick for this) or I just hold onto her flymask. If she gets silly about something, I allow her to move away so she doesn’t feel trapped, but I get even sillier and move with her until she calms down. Then she gets rewarded with lots of love. Then we go again, and the time between getting silly and calming down decreases. I will also stand and rub her face and neck and then OOPS! Touched your ear. OOPS! Touched your ear again. Eventually she stops being silly. It’s taking a while, but it’s working. I just have to be patient.
I agree wholeheartedly that just sitting back and studying the problem is the way to handle these things. My first instinct is to check anything medical. Do you have sore teeth, sore back, etc. If it’s medical, then I determine whether or not it’s a good idea to ride/work with the horse until the medical problem is fixed–I check with my vet or trainer if I’m not sure. Then once I’ve determined that all medical issues are ruled out, it’s time to look at behavioral.
There are six major things I’ve learned that I always look for when helping people with their horses.
1. Improper saddle and tack fit can be the culprit for a multitude of problems. IMHO, chiropractic and dental care are essential to a horse’s overall well being. Even the horse that isn’t ridden can be helped with a little chiropractic work now and again!
2. You get out of a horse what you put into him. Therefore, what you feed, what you do to their feet, and how you vaccinate and deworm are essential to his well being. Sometimes behavioral problems can be related to how his body is digesting food, how his hormones are being regulated, whether or not he has pain in his feet.
3. Horses are the only domesticated flight animals, and therefore don’t like to be trapped or approached with a predatory attitude. If we let go of trying to force them to do things and start working with them to get things done, our horses will look to us as companions and partners and will always do what we ask simply because they’re happy to do so.
4. Stop worrying about the why. Horses don’t care why they have this issue. They are creatures that live in the moment, so they don’t think “I am scared of trailers because I once went in one and a snake was hiding in there and it bit me.” Fixing the “why” doesn’t always work. Now obviously, a bucking problem may get completely fixed because a horse’s back is out of alignment, so we know the why in that situation. But sometimes a horse will do something silly, like spooking at fly spray but nothing else. Who cares why the horse is spooking–we may never know. Just deal with the issue and move on.
5. Patience is the most important virtue we can have with our horses–rushing or forcing a horse gets you nowhere. Well, you might be able to subdue the horse for a while, but eventually he will blow. “Tough love” is fine, but there’s a fine line between tough love and unnecessary punishment or abuse. It’s best to
6. Bottom line: CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE. Don’t walk out to your horse and think okay, what are you going to try to do to me today? Walk out to your horse and say hooray! I’m going to be with my horse today! I am so lucky! Overall, a bad day with a horse is far better than any good day at the office, so remind yourself how lucky you are to have one and just accept his/her issues in stride. He is an animal, not a machine, therefore he isn’t going to perform perfectly every time. Accept him for who he is the same you would do for your child, parents, spouse, or friends. That’s what makes owning a horse so special!
“They are creatures that live in the moment, so they don’t think “I am scared of trailers because I once went in one and a snake was hiding in there and it bit me.â€
OMG this is SO TRUE! It’s like, oh, she won’t go in the wash stall because she had a fall in one when she was two. SHE’S TWELVE! She doesn’t remember eating DINNER last Monday, much less what happened in a wash stall ten years ago. It is completely possible to get her over it, it’s just that you’ve been going, oh honey, you’re traumatized, you don’t have to, for ten years.
Exactly, Fugs. That reminds me of something my trainer frined once told me that really stuck with me: every day for a horse is a new day. It’s not that they don’t remember stuff, it’s just that it doesn’t matter anymore. Like you said, they don’t remember what they ate last Monday, and it’s in the sense that they don’t recall things the way we do. Of course horses remember: otherwise they wouldn’t be trainable. But they don’t remember like we do. They don’t remember that last Saturday they bucked you off and ran off. They might figure out that bucking is a way to get out of working, but it’s not because of that once incident—it’s repetition over time. It’s when we foster the issue that they learn from it.
This can be true, but be careful of assuming the horse doesn’t remember what happened. It’s true, the horse isn’t thinking, “Gee, ten years ago I went into this one wash rack, and -0mg- I so totally slipped!!” But there is a standard rule for all animals (people included) in which a bad experience is pretty strongly imprinted on the brain. It’s a matter of survival, really. If something bad happens in a certain situation, you and your horse are both hardwired to ‘remember’ that the same situation can cause some serious harm. It then can become a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts– Horse remembers that wash stalls are bad, tenses up, scrambles, slips on the concrete… and lo and behold, it was right! This is one dangerous place, see?!
So no, the horse isn’t remembering details, but it is designed to avoid any situation that seemed scary or dangerous in the past. Without intentional and repetitive good experiences, the horse (or any animal really) will continue to fight against a repeat of the bad experience.
Case in point– a young stallion was allowed to pasture breed a palomino mare. She, unfortunately, chose exactly the WRONG time to reach forward and touch the nearby hotwire with her nose. Stallion would refuse to mount ANY palominos from then on– they had to blanket and disguise the mare’s color in order to get a palomino covered by him. He might not have details of the incident in his mind, but he remembered enough to blame the mare, or at least to decide that THAT color mare was just bad news to breed.
Okay the breeding story really isn’t funny but it made me laugh! That poor stallion!
My horse was stabbed in the chest with a pitchfork when he was young, to the day he died at 23, You could not go in a stall with one with him in it. I don’t know if it was “Oh, I was stabbed with one of those things a long time ago” or if it was “OMG THAT THING COMING AT ME MEANS PAIN!” I just know that he remembers something.
My mare HATED to be tied when I first got her back in April. She’s panic the moment she realized that she couldn’t go where she wanted, so she’d throw herself back and do the typical suicidal thing. So I bought a really smooth nylon lead, and I’d just loop it around the hitching post so that if she decided to throw herself backwards, she wasn’t going to flip herself or break the halter because the lead wouldn’t catch. Plus, she’d immediately come back to me afterwards. I’d groom her every time I’d tie her to the post…and I mean grooming like I was taking her to a show, complete with a massage and a carrot or two. Now…I don’t like using food during training because of the possibility of forming bad habits, but it worked like a charm in this case. Plus, she’s an absolutely lady when it comes to begging, except if I take took long to deliver the treat, she’ll start making fart-noises with her mouth. LOL
It took her less than a month for her to really grasp that being tied was a GOOD thing, and instead of jerking herself backwards when she’s scared, she either sidepasses a step of two to relieve the need to move her feet…or she tucks her nose under my arm for a hug.
This one is pretty obvious, but here goes: My two mares are pastured together. The dominant one is not a big eater and she eats slowly. The other is a chow hound, very food motivated and gobbles her food AND loves the company of the dominant horse. At twice-a-day feedings, the dominant mare would drive chow hound from her feeder and back a few times (just to establish who’s boss) until settling down. Then, chow hound would gobble her own food then join dominant mare to beg and steal hers. After eating for a few minutes, the dominant mare would relent and allow annoying chow hound to share, maybe after an initial warning bite. The result: bite wounds on chow hound, and dominant mare losing weight. So I added more hay and brought up dominant mare’s weight, but still had bite wounds on chow hound. Then I added a LOT MORE hay so that they can’t finish it between feedings, and bite wounds are rare now. Duh. Now, they always start off at their own feeders but end up eating next to each other.
Many other commenters have remarked on free-feeding of hay. I’m a big fan.
Some of y’all might call this a bit coarse, but it worked, and FAST. I was PT barn help at a riding school, and one of the mares was damn aggressive. Bit, struck, body-slammed, the works. Once a kid was on her back, she was absolutely bomb-proof and push-button and could take the wobbliest beginner around a little hunter course and take a ribbon, but on the ground she was a menace. Lucky for her, she was THAT good under saddle, and gorgeous to boot – blood bay, chrome in all the right places, and sound as hell. But to groom and tack her, she was double-tied super-short so she couldn’t move her head far enough in any direction to get a mouthful of kid, but she’d still throw her hooves and butt around plenty. I’d only worked there a week or so, and never with her, before I was asked to get her ready for a kid that was going to get there late for his lesson. So I went in, and the damn mare lunged at me… no surprise, really. I bellowed “GET THE HELL BACK!” at her, and made her move back, forward, left, right, back, forward, stop, back, left, etc. Never struck her, mind you, just shoved her around with extremely dominant posture and behavior. A couple of minutes in, she let out a HUGE sigh, dropped her head, and started licking her lips and half-closed her eyes. I’m not going to claim to be a genius of horse psychology, but I figure this mare needed an Alpha figure, and in the absence of one, took it upon herself to be “boss” – badly, mistaking aggression for leadership. As soon as I bossed the hell out of her, she relaxed and went sweet as pie. She was so RELIEVED to be able to relax for a change. I work at a different place these days, but while I was still there, she needed a reminder once in a while, but once she knew she didn’t have the weight of ruling the world on her back, she was a much easier beast to work with.
That isn’t coarse. That made good sense and wasn’t the least bit abusive.
That’s excellent training, is what that is. I had a similar situation with a school pony. Brilliant under saddle, hell on the ground. Similar tactics=similar result. Unfortunately, I don’t work with him too often, and watch him pushing others around. Sigh. Then I get ahold of him again, and everyone goes, “What are you DOING to him?” Nothing much, after the first, “I’m the alpha,” session. Followed by loads of affection when he’s doing right.
BTW, I hear echoes of Cesar Millan in your post. That’s great. Horses aren’t dogs, but there are SOME psychological similarities. I train both.
LOL, that reminds me of a horse on a dude string where I spent a couple summers. SOB enjoyed arms and asses of unsuspecting wranglers for breakfast and lunch. Awesome under saddle if you knew how to ride, but hellion on the ground, and I loved him anyway, LOL. I was talking to someone one day and not paying attention to the fact he’d come up to the fence right behind me. He grabbed the upper part of my arm with his teeth, and I whirled around and bit him on the top of the nose hard enough to draw blood. He never bit again. (No, my dentist probably wouldn’t like this solution and it could be REALLY bad if not timed perfectly)….but with this horse in that moment, it worked.
That story reminds me of one I heard from my parents’ friends. They worked at a stable with Friesians (drool!) and had a young stud to deal with. He was just old enough to start feeling his stallion-ness, and was starting to try to assert himself in various ways. Among other things, he started getting nippy, which they were trying to break him of before it got bad. Well, one of the ladies was in his stall mucking it and for whatever reason, he couldn’t be turned out while she did so. The stalls were pretty big, so she’d ask him to move to one side while she cleaned half, then move him to the clean side and repeat. Normally, he was a gentleman about it. But that day, he decided to come up and give her a good nip on the bum while she was bending over. She said she turned (and he was there with a playful look on his face) and bit his upper lip hard and backed him into the opposite corner. Then she went back to what she was doing, leaving him with huge saucer eyes.
Never nipped anyone again…
I’m not specifically familiar with Millian, though I’ve heard of him. I’ve done some cursory doggie psych research, though, and in retrospect I guess I was applying dog psych to the horse. As I understand it, sometimes (in dogs) aggression is caused by a dog who’s not “naturally” Alpha adopting the role and doing it badly (the converse of the premise that the solution to *some* over-submissive/timid dogs’ behavior is actually to be really bossy to them, rather than all attentive and gentle – give them a leader to trust). What I did with the mare wasn’t with that in mind specifically, though. I just wanted her to know that she may be Alpha in her mind, I was Alpha in REALITY. Really, at that moment, I just expected/anticipated grudging acquiescence to my demands while I tacked her up. The “Oh thank GOD, someone else has taken over and I can relax” response was a surprise. I actually felt really sorry for her. That “unwanted responsibility” has to be a lot of stress for a horse not psychologically suited to it…
My first horse, Candy, was a polo pony that had a LOT of issues. He was born in Argentina, imported here before his training was finished and best I can tell had his “training” completed by a guy who’s training methods amounted to beating the living daylights out of him until he did something resembling what the guy asked. Candy was one of those horses who would do absolutely anything in his power to do what you wanted – if he only knew what it was. His cues for things were sideways, upside down and backwards. I never did figure out what all the cues (if any) he was taught were. Ultimately I just gave up and taught him new ones – normal ones.
The biggest problem with him was rearing had become his default response to just about everything. If he didn’t know what you were asking him to do, he’d frantically throw out a few behaviors, then panic and stand up. There wasn’t any malicious intent behind it and he never went up high enough that I ever thought he’d flip over, but it made it impossible to use him for a lesson horse. I was told the club initially had him in a gag, but with that would go up high enough to flip over. He was in a pelham by the time I started working with him. I tried various different bits and even just rode in a halter with the same results as the pelham.
I spent the first six months I worked with him just trying to prove no matter what he did I wouldn’t beat him (he was NEVER intentionally dangerous/aggressive/hostile toward anyone and never required a physical reprimand for anything). I think that was his biggest fear of all. Sure, he had little spooks here and there, but they were mostly a small jump here and there. The problem was that he seemed to anticipate getting hit after he’d spook. When that happened, game over he wanted to run. So rather than fighting with him – I let him run. We were in an indoor arena that was big enough to play 2 on 2 polo in so he had plenty of space to freak out. I just went along for the ride. I’d let him get a lap or two in and then gently ask him to slow down. After a couple days the time it took before he calmed down started to diminish. After a few months the sheer panic after being startled went away completely and he never bolted like that again. He’d still spook occasionally, but that crazed panic afterward was gone.
The rearing never completely went away. He did it in the lineup. He did it anytime he felt trapped. He’d pop off the ground just before you took a swing if you’d broken away from the pack to the point that I learned to compensate for that pop and had a hard time hitting off “normal” ponies! He’d repeatedly pop up the whole time you were bumping or being bumped. His feet never came more than a foot or so off the ground, but it sure scared the guy you were bumping! I *mostly* got the rearing in the lineup stopped by simply ignoring the fact that he’d rear and taught him a command to “stand” instead. I was able to get him to feel less claustrophobic in most situations and the rearing diminished, but it never went away completely. I just coped with it by keeping him moving whenever I knew he’d feel compelled to rear.
He was the sweetest horse I’ve ever met and genuinely wanted to do what you asked. Trouble was, the poor guy had never truly been taught anything correctly. I spent a lot of time just re-training the basics and most of the crazy fearful responses diminished. The rearing diminished significantly, as did the random, rapid fire throwing out of behaviors if he was confused (it seemed like a panicked attempt to guess what you wanted so as to avoid a beating). He was never “normal”, but he sure did try his heart out for me.
The one completely bizarre thing he went mind meltingly crazy over was a sidepull. I rode him all the time without a bridle and probably could have played him without one if I’d really wanted to. I had found an old sidepull in the barn with a rope noseband. I figured, hey, he doesn’t really *need* a bit or a lot of headgear (though the BO said he was supposed to wear something), why not try this on him and see if he likes it. I was just going to toss it on him and then teach my lesson bareback that night. I slipped it over his nose, over his ears and he froze, got this panicked, crazed look in his eye, tore away from me and ran out of the barn (the whole farm was fenced, he wasn’t getting anywhere dangerous). I found him outside, more or less bashing his head on the fence apparently trying to remove the sidepull. I managed to get up to him and yank it off before he did any damage to himself and he calmed down shortly after it was off, but I have never seen a horse so incredibly panicked by something. I have no idea what made him so afraid of that and he died before I ever got around to tackling that one.
Argentine polo ponies, 20 years ago, were completely PSYCHOTIC. They have improved their methods a lot because I’m not seeing it anymore in the recently imported ones. They used to absolutely torture them. They were great to ride, scary to handle. I’m glad yours found a great home and had some peace and consistency in his life!
See, I was new to polo and had NO idea what I was getting into when I decided to try to rehab him. I started playing in the club at Purdue – grew up riding crazy ass ASBs and pretty much still thought I was invincible at the time. Yay being 18!
Candy was actually one of the easiest horses to handle on the ground. He was extremely polite and when he did have his little meltdowns, they were always very neatly and carefully away from any humans and he was very careful not to pull on his rope. He was about 20 when he died in 2005, but yeah, someone did something horrible to him somewhere along the line. I’m amazed he never lost his “try” or willingness to please through all that he must have gone through. He certainly had been given every reason in the world to hate and mistrust people. Show him 3 seconds of kindness though and he would have walked through fire if you’d asked him to.
We had another mare, Marisol, that god love her, was a lunatic. She actually had been treated well growing up (I knew the guy who’s uncle raised her in Argentina), but had been sold to a pro who beat the snot out of her. The guy I know (was a pro at one point) wound up basically threatening the guy within an inch of his life and more or less just took the mare back. She got passed around a bit before winding up donated to the club. She was a nasty, nasty bitch if you didn’t treat her right. Beginners did okay with her because they just clipped a lead on and went, but you got the occasional “horseman” who wanted her to do this or that perfectly THEIR way and god help them. She did NOT take kindly to being messed with. She was an awesome polo pony though – just get on, hang on and hit the ball. She actually resented too much input from the rider, but she was right virtually every time. The club still has her (she’s gotta be pushing 20 now) and she’s less of a bitch these days. She’ll never be cuddly, but she at least doesn’t hate people now. I hadn’t seen her in probably 5 years, but she came right up to me in the field (she’s NOT easy to catch normally) and acted like she recognized me and seemed pleased with seeing me again.
We had a several other Argies offered to the club and we had to turn them down. They were all too psychotically dangerous on the ground. I don’t mind handling crazy horses and can usually deal with them fine, but these things scared the crap out of me.
Can I guess who the abusive pro was? I don’t know if he’s still playing but I know there was at least one MAJOR incident with Martin Zubia in Milwaukee where he beat the crap out of a polo pony in its stall. Asshat.
I used to work this horse for Joey Casey (who was very nice to his horses, no problems there) that was a big gray Argentine gelding called Fantasma. The horse was a snap to ride, nothing spooked him, but to tack up? It would literally take ten minutes EVERY time to put the saddle pad on. Someone had given him the sacking out from hell down in Argentina. He was scared to death of his own saddle pad.
Interesting blog entry about the Argentine influence on polo. http://backhander.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/argentina-is-destroying-polo-around-the-world/
Personally I think they have made the sport a lot more dangerous and I don’t see the kind of LOVE for the ponies that I grew up with. I mean, I grew up with guys who had high ratings AND kissed their ponies on the nose, you know? It’s not like being nice to the horses makes you suck at polo or something…
Honestly I don’t know who the abusive pro was. I was hearing the pieces of the story probably 10 years after the fact from Eduardo something or other, the guy I knew who helped out the polo club. He had played pro at some point, though I don’t know exactly where or when. He did love his ponies, but if he felt they needed to be disciplined even he was close to abusive about it. I loved him to death, but he was completely nuts and had utterly no fear. He followed the rules, but he was certainly rough.
I’ve never understood how people can lose their tempers with horses to the point that its okay to get abusive. Yeah, I’ve lost my temper once or twice. I’m sure we all have at some point or another, but there’s losing your temper momentarily once in a blue moon and then there’s repeated senseless abuse that just instills crazy fear in the horse. I mean really? Is it SO difficult to show the animal that lets you play a fantastically fun game a little appreciation? Or if not appreciation, at the very least humane treatment?
“It’s not like being nice to the horses makes you suck at polo or something…”
No, but it may make them feel less “macho.” Grrrr!
If you need to be mean to animals to feel macho, I am guessing you have some shortcomings, to say the least!
Yeah, that was my point. It tends to run in certain cultures as we have discussed here before.
I think I actually remember Marisol! I played JV for a few years for Michigan State and we came down and played at Purdue my sophomore year (Spring 2005). I totally fell in love with your Malcom (at least I’m pretty sure that’s what his name was, it’s been so long now!) I still have pictures from those games somewhere around here….
We had one mare who just could. not. stay. still. She could only be played at 3 and you’d have to canter her down at the other end of the arena and then try to loop into the lineup as the ball was being thrown in. Polo ponies – either the most broke, awesome, know the game better than you critter on the planet, or completely psychotic. Doesn’t seem to be much middle ground. And that’s why we love em.
Yeah, you can really see a difference between the ones who have been with kind people and the ones who have been with jerks.
The string I work right now, there’s a mare that I will buy if she ever sells. I just love her, but you can tell she’s been beaten around the head and neck in the past. Her current owner is awesome and I will not let her go to any other home in the future – if she does not stay with him, she’s staying with me. I promised her she’s never going to another asshat.
My old mare, who is 30 now, had one issue that you couldn’t ever face her to see the ball coming or you had hi-ho Silver. Line-ups were not fun, she was always nervous about throw-ins. You could canter sideways as it was being thrown in but that was the best you could do, ha ha. What she really liked is when we had indoor practices and we just hit the ball into play.
It was likely the rope noseband that he was freaking out about and not necessarily the actual sidepull.
If the Argentinians are anything like the Columbians.. I’m almost going to guarantee that they use nosebands with tacks, nail ends.. etc to encourage the horse to be “light in the bridle.”
That was my first thought when you mentioned his reaction to that, anyway.
I know they used to use barbed wire on the reins to teach them to neck rein
Frighteningly enough, I made the mistake of I asking around how to teach my 5yo Arab how to neck rein, barbed wire/other sharp shit was one of the suggestions. With the barbed wire suggestion I was told that actually using a section of barbed wire FOR my reins was the easiest and most effective way to go about it. I was told to be sure to wear gloves and not make the section too much longer than just able to hold it so he also wouldn’t get in the habit of yanking his head down either – apparently barbed wire cures that too. Oh and “that thing” (his French link snaffle) just wouldn’t do. He needed a Tom Thumb, because those are the only “real” bits. I wasn’t even really sure how to respond to that… About 15 different horrifying scenarios ran through my head. I wanted to cry, throw up, bash my head into a wall and run away all at the same time.
Needless to say, I did not follow that “advice”. My pony still doesn’t neck rein, but somehow if that’s the ‘only’ way to do it, I’m okay with that….
This was not crazy macho Argies or other South Americans. Oh no, this was the fabulous yahoos that are born and bred right here in Indiana – though to be fair, some were also in Illinois. The vast majority of the time I love living here…then there’s something like that that just makes me want to bash my head against a wall.
Doesn’t surprise me. I’ve seen a lot of horses that came out of Puerto Rico and Colombia with scarred tongues, scarred muzzles, mental scars, dents, permanent welts etc.
Not all of them (the Columbians and Puertoricans) are assholes, but there seems to sometimes be an unhealthy excess. Add in Mexican “charro” and.. well.. Ugh.
The noseband had to have been what triggered it. I was just blown away by the fact that it scared him. It never occurred to me that it would set him off like that. I screwed around on several of the other polo ponies in it and none of them had a problem – they even seemed to welcome the break from their bits – then again none of them were batshit nuts due to abuse either…
It was one of those moments that made it abundantly clear just how poorly he’d been treated at some point in his life. I mean, he was nearly 20 at the time of the incident and I’d been working with him for 3 years. The vast majority of his loony fear responses were gone. It was a HUGE shock to get that one! He was imported when he was probably 4 or 5. He only played until he was about 10 because he got so nuts the polo players pawned him off on some old couple. From what I gathered, they actually did have a clue about horses thankfully and basically just gave him a safe place to chill the hell out for a few years and learn people weren’t so bad. I doubt they rode him or did much with him. He was donated to the club when he was about 14 along with the one eyed OTTB that he was extremely attached to (the OTTB turned out to be one of the best lesson horses of any of them!). It was just nuts how strong his memory of something that happened well over a decade prior was. He was 100% certain that that sidepull meant something very, very bad and was completely willing to do absolutely anything he had to do to get it off his face.
I had a lovely appaloosa mare who had terrible arthritis, among other age-related maladies, that her knees got to the point of no longer being able to bend. No matter how kind my farrier was, trimming her feet was torture. I came up with the idea that if I could just get her UP and let her leg dangle down, she could be trimmed. Necessity is the mother of inventiveness. I taught her to step up on a cement block that is about 6 inches tall when laying flat on the ground with one foot which would allow the other foot to dangle down. This allowed enough room for my farrier to quickly trim her foot without her having to bend her leg. We would then switch legs. My mare has since gone over the rainbow bridge, but my farrier continues to use the technique on other arthritic clients. He loves it.
I need advice about hoof cleaning. My 19-year-old mare has nice enough ground manners but a bad attitude. When I touch her fetlock and say “Pick up, please,” she will pick up her foot. Then, I start to clean it and she’s fine for about ten seconds and starts pulling her foot away. I’ve tried different things, but nothing consistently because I’m not sure what the right thing is.
I’ve tried no reaction: I let her put her foot down and then ask her for it again, and just resume cleaning.
I’ve tried talking sternly to her and telling her in a low firm voice, “Cut it out!” and smacking her with my hand.
I’ve tried holding onto her foot and telling her, “Quit!”
They have all worked, or not worked, to the same degree, and whichever reaction I have, I always persist and finish the job. She does have problems with abcesses, has had three in her hind feet in the two years I have owned her, but the farrier tells me that she is not in pain when she is doing that, that it is just because she’s naughty. And she does that snakey-faced bad attitude thing. My farrier is very patient, but one day had words with her (raised her voice and gave a jerk on the halter) and she (the horse) finally dropped the attitude and relaxed. Any advice?
If she acts up like that, press her hoof up into her elbow. She can’t get as much leverage from that angle. You’ll have to stop picking momentarily, but you don’t have to put the foot down. It doesn’t work as well for the hind end, but it can help you ‘ride out’ her bad behavior. However, you do run the risk of putting her off balance. Obviously the best thing to do is let her foot down gently and accept that this doesn’t work for you.
Also, never ‘drop’ a hoof. Lower it gently to the ground. They don’t like being surprised and having to adjust quickly.
Another thing to try is holding the hoof in a different angle. There’s a tiny pony at my barn that isn’t the greatest when it comes to hoof picking. She’s learned she can get away with it from the little kids, but she also misbehaves with me. I tried picking up her hoof like someone proportional to her size would rather than someone who is 5’10”. She was fine. I just needed to let her balance better and be firm with her at the same time. Who cares if I have to stick my ass way up in the air to do it?
I agree with the pulling the hoof up to the elbow, makes it harder for them to yank, but about the “dropping” the hoof…I’ve encountered too many horses that lean or drop a lot of weight onto the hoof you’re holding, so I reserve the right to drop it at any time when they do that. Makes them spread their balance out. However, I always say “lift up” and “down”. Every horse I’ve picked wound up figuring out after the second hoof that when I say “down” I’m about to let go, and they place their foot nicely, and often have the next hoof ready for me to pick up.
With flyspray, I whistle before I start spraying. It not only warns them that I’m coming up to them, but it disguises the hissing sound of the bottle. What’s funny is I saw a woman (who usually was good about making noise when approaching a horse) walk up to a horse that was dozing in the sun and spray it, the poor thing literally jumped a foot straight up in the air. Had the biggest WTF look on it’s face when it landed.
As for problem horses, I rode a mare that had been “cowboyed” so badly that her mouth was ripped to shit, and the muscles were bulked up on one side. (apparently they would canter her in one direction only, then haul on her face to get her to stop). What did we do? Use a bitless bridle, and LOTS of trotting, some of the most uncomfortable trotting I’ve ever felt in my life, especially in her “bad” direction. We never got her into a bit, but she learned that there was more paces than “haul ass” and “slam the brakes” and was eventually sold as a good riding horse.
I haven’t dealt with a horse that’s hardcore in terms of refusing to be cooperative, but when I get a horse that’s giving me a problem, I shake his foot. Often, that seems to make them release the tension.
FYI, for anyone in South Texas who may need to evacuate, I have info for a barn in Riesel, TX that can offer short-term emergency board for you if you are in need, and always free to post here (for anyone in a weather emergency!)
When I was a kid training our ponies I would always come up with creative ways at solving issues. Now days I’m not nearly the rider I once was, but I still enjoy that challenge of having to think “outside the stall box”
Not quite a year ago I got an email from a lady that owns a horse I bred. She said the filly had turned out to be downright dangerous and people were afraid of her, etc. I always feel a responsiblity toward the horses I breed (and besides I suspected this horse was not dangerous at all, but rather had explainable issues I could eventually resolve) so I offered to trade her a very quiet gelding I had raised and I was sure she would get along swimmingly with.
Before the trade, though, she let me know she could not possibly give up the filly so we talked through several of her issues and I told her the ideas I had. Basically the horse was too smart and her owner too novice. Some cowboy types “trying to help” told her to “beat her and show her who’s boss,” but the owner couldn’t possibly do it (thank goodness)! I told her there was a middle ground, where you don’t have to beat them into submission but you can still gain respect and keep them from walking all over you, so I showed her some things and we said she’d give it a try.
I just got an email the other day about how much their relationship has changed and now the filly is an absolute joy to be around, everyone gets along with her and life is good! The owner didn’t have to give up the horse she loves and I’m sure the filly is much happier, being in her proper place, knowing what is expected of her and being able to connect with her owner.
This was a filly that the owner was told she’d have to put down because she’s so “dangerous.” All she needed was a new way of thinking about her horse and things just took off from there–same horse, same novice owner, but a whole new way of life for them both. This next weekend I have to go pick up another colt I bred–a gelding that another person said wasn’t worth my time because “he won’t work.” He’s only barely two years old and I’ve never been one to think if they aren’t broke at two they’re “no good” as he’s been called, so I’m going to go get him, let him grow up a bit mentally, try to connect with him and start over on his training with a good note. It really irritates me that these horses are so quickly dismissed (people thing they’ve tried “everything” when they really haven’t), but at least I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to try to make their lives better.
Wish me luck!
Not so much a fix it, but just a funny story. I didn’t start lessons until I was in my 40′s – so I got the truly been there done that lesson ponies. The one I rode was probably a qh/arab x – who was very particular about some things and down right ornery about others. Picking feet – every other horse I had ever been around had been taught to give to lift the leg you ran your hand down – not Griffin. You would run your hand down his leg, kind of lean on him and he would lean back – as heavy as he could. Nothing would get the foot up. I “fixed it” with carrots – here’s the deal, for every foot I get, you get a carrot. Problem solved to the point that he got a carrot at the end of all four feet. I moved “up” and then ended up riding him one day after not for a few months. Apparently, he sort of forgot about the deal, I got right front and right rear done, but when I asked for the left rear – he leaned. So, I just went on with something else while he looked at me expecting his carrot. After a few minutes, he remembered and ended up with his treat.
The best thing he ever did was when I was putting his bridle on before a lesson. He literally clamped his teeth shut and would not open his mouth for anything. Not for a thumb, nothing. I even got somebody else to try it – maybe it was me. Nope. Finally, I got a piece of carrot and held it in front of him while the other person had the bridle at the ready. I could see the wheels just spinning – how to get the carrot without taking the bit. He finally gave up, took the bit and got the carrot. At that point, I was laughing so hard, I almost was lat for my lesson.
Love that pony! And he taught me much patience and how to think.
Heh. I was once asked to help a less experienced rider tack up a certain horse…this horse has a bit of attitude. Not a dangerous attitude, more…I would almost say ‘snarky’.
This guy did not know how to bridle.
Me: Okay. This is how you bridle a horse that’s cooperating.
Him: Okay.
I lift the bridle towards the horse’s head, and damn if he doesn’t clamp his teeth and throw his head up.
Me: …okay. This is how you bridle a horse that’s NOT cooperating.
(His ground manners are a lot better now).
My first job out of college had me managing (read: the one and only person in charge of the horses) a small breeding farm. Part of it was to regularly groom and do some halter show training with a pair of young geldings (1 & 2 years old) who were paddock-mates. Since only one at a time was brought out, it was always a challenge to keep his buddy from trying to bolt through the gate. When I would go to put them back, both would pull back and be absolute terrors trying to get them to pass through the gate. A swat on the rear led to him leaping through the gate and 10 minutes trying to get him rounded up to remove the halter and lead.
After a couple days of this – easy to take out, difficult to put in, I tried removing both and working with them through the gate one at a time. This is when I discovered the problem – THEY HAD NEVER LEARNED TO LEAD FROM THE OFFSIDE!
Continuation (it just cut me off in the middle of typing): With the direction the gate opened, I was on their left side going out, but on the right going in (while trying to maintain control of the gate to prevent #2 from ducking through). A few sessions of leading from the right, and all was well – no more shying at the gate!
My purist, German-trained ex-jumper-riding friend was horrified to learn that I will bridle, saddle, lead and mount my horses from any direction. I really think that a horse too accustomed to one-side-only handling can be troublesome. What if I hurt my shoulder again and it’s uncomfortable to mount from the left? What if I get unmounted for some reason and have to remount on a steep hillside from the right? What if? I tack up sloppily on purpose, for the same reason; so the horses won’t freak if I don’t do something exactly ‘right.’
When I got my horse, he was being ridden in a twisted wire tom thumb. I didn’t even know they made them like that.
I took him home and quickly realized he had no brakes in a plain snaffle (hence the twisted wire, they just forced him to stop with pain), he was scared to death of being punished, and he had one speed and it was GO!!
I am a re-rider, and he was my second horse after a long stent of horselessness.
The first thing I did was start teaching him to longe so we could work on voice commands. Oh my God, to watch him you would’ve thought I was burning him with hot irons at first. He was so frightened of doing the wrong thing that he fell over himself and stayed in a constant state of panic. I’ve never met a horse that’s as sensitive as him. He really did expect a whack every time he didn’t understand something. Its taken almost a year but now he knows I’m not going to senselessly slap him around, but he used to shy and roll his eyes and cower constantly on the ground. I just always lavished praise on him for doing the right thing, and kept gently working with him and coaxing him in the right direction if he was confused. He slowly started to realize I wasn’t going to beat him for not understanding something, he just had to keep trying until he got it at least part of the way right.
Next we worked on fixing the brakes. Since he now knew what “whoa” was on the ground, we applied the same word to when I asked him to stop under saddle. I also sat back and closed my knee when I asked with the reins. I wanted to make it as clear as possible for him. These things mean stop moving.
Next was the speed issue. I’m pretty sure people used to just jump on him and run, so for the first few months all I did was WALK. I made walking the most wonderful thing in the world, and if he didn’t want to walk we’d trot around and around and around and around in annoying circles until walking was a better option. If he walked, I didn’t touch his mouth at ALL. Walking was a good thing.
Because of his faulty brakes, I don’t even know how many months it took before I was confident enough to canter him in the field.
Now he’s a good boy who I’d feel confident letting other people ride, where as before he was half-wild with fear and green-ness.
I have two issues I could use some tips on:
1. On trail, stopping them from jigging on the way home. I would prefer to walk on a nice loose rein, instead of having to pull back every time they break into a jog. I often ride alone and its mostly just one of my horses, who I beleive is in a hurry to get back to their pasturemates.
2. When taking two horses to a show, how to get them to stop whinnying for each other? This only seems to happpen when we are at a public place where there are many horses. I thought this would get better over time, but its not, and one of the horses really acts up, and hes normally such a good boy. Again, I do trail ride them ALONE daily, and they dont scream for each other then, just at shows.
On the jogging going towards home issue, every time he/she starts to jog turn them around and make them head away from home for a bit. Don’t make a big issue of it, just “nope, we’re not going that way now.” The smarter ones will quickly figure out that it takes a lot longer to get home if they keep getting turned around every time. Another trick is to make them stop and stand completely every time they jog.
I once fixed one by turning him and making him back up in the direction he wanted to go. Be careful with this – do not use with a horse who is light in the front end to begin with. It did work for me on a horse that used to bolt back to the barn otherwise. Every time he started to get jiggy, I’d turn him and we’d back up slowly. He realized it was too darn much work and developed a flat footed walk in a few weeks.
I tried both of the fixes above with success and I also have tried just turning them away from the barn and making them stand quiet before letting them proceed back to the barn. I had a mare that would try to bolt back to the barn and this method worked pretty good with her although it takes a lot of patience.
And if none of those fixes work (try them first), My tried and true method for horses that insist on jigging is as follows:
Ride with a loose rein.
Every time the horse begins to jig, give a firm vocal command, “WALK.”
Wait a second, then pop the horse in the mouth with the bit. This is NOT proper riding, btw, but I do mean an actual pop or yank. Get into their mouth, and get instantly back out. Their response is going to be to toss their head up and slam their feet down in a flatfooted way.
Talk softly, repeat, “WALK”, and let the horse resume moving. The next time he jigs, repeat the above instructions. Usually at most half a dozen times of this, and the horse quickly figures out that he isn’t going to convince you to ‘hold him up’ anymore when he jigs.
****** Warning****** This is something to use on broke horses who are taking advantage of you, and you MUST know your horse. What is a hard pop to one horse might be enough to put the next horse over on top of you in a panic. Your horse will go through an adjustment period where he tries to cheat– he’ll try to jig, and toss his head up high before you ever do pop him in the mouth. Always use the voice command (and a seat command if he is trained that way) before hitting him in the face with the bridle. I have virtually never seen a jigging horse who didn’t have some contact on the bit– when you take that away from him, he will flat walk.
When your horse starts jigging, turn him around and head in the opposite direction until he walks. When he starts walking, turn him around and start heading back. This may take several times but soon he’ll realize that jigging results in going the opposite direction of where he is obviously wanting to go.
For the other two horses, I would ride them together and I take turns working each horse around the other. Then take the one horse away from the other and let him rest. This could take a few sessions but your horse will learn that being away from his buddy is not so bad!
Just some suggestions, I’m far from a horse trainer but these are some techniques I have used.
In addition to the turning around and/or backing….dismount in different places each time you ride. In other words, don’t always make the end of your ride getting off at the barn and untacking. Get off at the trail head. Get off 10 minutes out the trail, facing AWAY from home, loosen the girth, hang out for 15 minutes, then lead him home. Ride out 20 minutes from home, dismount, let him graze for 5 minutes, lead him for 10 minutes toward home, then ride the rest of the way. In other words…give him his “reward” at work ON the trail, instead of at home at the barn. We use this technique with our performance horses – always cool down, dismount, and loosen girth IN the arena after a session, rather than riding back to trailer/barn/stall, dismounting, loosening girth.
I have also tried taking different routes home where we pass the barn or the road to the barn and keep going keeping some variety in it.
We have one (recently) gelded horse that the other people in my barn have had non stop problems with. He’s a pushy prick and he bites. They’ve tried screaming at him, reefing on the shank, nose chains, lip chains, and everything else they could think of. They can’t seem to figure out why he’s such a good boy for me. When he pushes me or bites me or whatever, he gets one good hard solid thump across the chest with a lead rope. You don’t need to scream or use a nose chain or a lip chain, and you especially don’t need to get mad at him. Just one immediate good solid pop to show him the behavior is unacceptable does wonders. Slight rant here, but I hate people who nag at their horses. Don’t half heatedly throw the shank at them or jerk on the lead rope or yell at them 1000 times. That one good smack gets your point across in far less time and makes the message way more clear than 1000 little ones. I also hate people who get mad and go overboard by either screaming or hitting the horse repeatedly or holding a grudge because the horse did something bad an hour ago and you’re still mad about it. In my experience with both dogs and horses, they are more than willing to follow a leader, but they need a good strong leader they are confident in to protect/care for them. A good leader communicates clearly and sets very clear rules. They don’t let their underlings get away with something when its “cute” and then get mad at them for doing the same thing later because it caused a problem. The behavior either needs to be ok all the time or never ok period. I find anger is a particularly bad way to deal with either a horse or a dog. When you get angry, you not only look like an asshole in front of other people, but I have noticed that equine and canine alike view anger as a sign of mental instability and they will not follow a mentally unstable leader (only people do that ;D)
Also, my boss bought a new horse to use as a lead pony from a local auction. He had one of the guys that rides our race horses who is also a jockey come out to his farm and ride the horse there for a little to see how he goes. When he brought him in he said to be careful because the horse is a little crazy and throws his head a lot and can get rather stubborn and bucks a lot. The jockey said he was never getting on that crazy effing horse again and my boss should just send him back to the meat pen he came from. For one, I know that jockey has NO experience riding western and is a mouth jerker so without knowing anything else I figured that was at least probably why he was tossing his head. He brought the horse in with all his tack and low and behold he was using a fairly harsh snaffle type bit with SIX INCH SHANKS. Combine that with mouth jerking and someone who lacks the ability to ride without contact and there is the reason the horse was head tossing and getting ignorant. As far as the bucking goes, he is a fairly wide backed high withered horse but the saddle he was using was designed for a very narrow horse with no withers. Combine that with the fact that the guy totally lacks the ability to ride sitting down and I would have bucked the prick off too. After putting a D ring and a saddle that fit on the horse, turns out the bugger is a total caddi. Turns on a dime and will side pass straight sideways at a lope, do sliding stops, does flying changes (even one stride on one lead one stride on the other, I forget what that’s called), ALL with only a discreet queue, without spurs. Someone obviously put a LOT of training and time on that horse, and frankly how that horse ended up in a meat pen and bought by my boss for $800 is beyond me Jackass jockey just doesn’t have a clue how to ride a horse, and frankly he’s not even a very good jockey lol. Luckily my boss had a hunch the rider was the problem not the horse or we would have missed out on a fantastic horse.
I’m with you on the nagging handlers/owners! It annoys me and their horses!
I do a lot of Arabian sport horse in hand and some halter. I train my own horses for showing. Mine are great; give me space, watch my body for cues, always attentive, never nippy or pushy. Some of the kids and even trainers I know are always in their horses faces, and then get mad when their horse is in their face in the ring.
There’s one family who has taught their young horses to hold things in their mouths, then they wonder why their young horse grabs the lead in his mouth, or reins, or chain… It’s because they taught him to do that!
So, I often get asked why my horses are always so good, and I can only come back with this:
If it’s a behavior that will not be helpful in the show ring or a behavior that could potentially be dangerous, I correct it swiftly and assertively.
In other words, you bite me, I slap you with the lead over your neck. If the horse tries to lead me, he gets a stiff shank, or a pop across the chest with a lead rope. Usually one or two corrections and the horses get it. They stay out of my space, respect my status as the leader, and what’s nice is that these Arabs get relaxed pretty quickly. They know what the rules are, the rules are always the same, and they understand that a willful (not fearful) violation of the rules will result in a quick assertive correction.
I had a horse who had aural plaques and was earshy, hard to halter. A friend said, put his feed in his bucket but before he can put his face in, he has to be wearing the halter. What do you know, he held his head for the halter perfectly in no time!
A friend went trail riding with a ” he man” who was going to break his head tosser horse once and for all. Everytime the horse thre it’s head, he beat it over the head with a hard rubber hose. Rode in the hills all day, just a whacking away. Of course used a big shaked curb bit for that extra control that looks so impressive when you are jerking your horse around to show off to your friends. Later, when the club had a speaker come in to talk about the need to float horses’ teeth, he found out his horse had wolf teeth and sharp points. Got them taken care and no more head tossing….well, duh! Just think what that poor horse went thru because of his lack of equine education. Idiot!
I think this is the oddest one I’ve encountered.
Pony threw his head around, hated being bridled…the people had had him about a week and I have no clue where they found him. Might have been an auction. After a few more days, they realized his bars were *bleeding*. Called the vet.
ONLY animal I have ever heard of to have an allergic reaction to his bit. He was switched to a rubber covered bit with guards to keep the metal rings from coming in contact with his lips and he turned out great.
As for various problems.
I think a LOT of the time it’s tack. Even some pretty experienced people can only think they have a saddle fitted correctly.
Bitting is an art. An art not many so-called horsemen take the time to develop. I have encountered horses so sensitive in the mouth that any kind of metal bit was too harsh for them. I have encountered horses that actually prefer a bit to a bitless bridle (Might be a poll pressure issue). And I’ve bumped into the horse that hates a single jointed bit so often it’s one of the first things I think of. I’m also convinced that at least some bitting problems are caused by the horse not liking the *taste* of the bit. Far, far too many people…often otherwise good horsepeople…reach immediately for a stronger bit for any kind of control problems.
I’ve actually found that in many cases, a leaner is more readily cured by a flash noseband (and would even use a crank in such circumstances). I’ve encountered many ‘bolters’ who actually needed a MILDER bit. (One was cured only by the mildest possible rubber bit…he was trying to get away from his rider and even tactful hands did not help…but his owners wouldn’t believe he was over-bitted).
And many times, the thing to do is counter-intuitive. Dropping a bolter down to a milder bit. Using MORE leg on a horse that rushes forward (Trust me, if the animal is hollowing its back and rushing, the leg should go on, not off). Avoiding using aggressive punishment with a fear-biter.
I think the best mental approach to any problem with a horse of any kind is ‘What is this horse trying to tell me?’
I got a chunk taken out of me by a horse once who *really* wanted to bite the horse in the next stall, couldn’t get at her, so bit me instead. Her behavior greatly improved when she was moved to a different stall.
The bit about keeping your leg on a rushing horse is so true! We have a mare at the riding school who really wants to GOGOGO at a canter like you wouldn’t believe – she’s actually uncomfortable in trot, and if you’ve been trotting for 15 minutes she keeps trying to break into canter. Once she’s cantering, she just gets faster and more and more hollow. She throws her head up, and if you try to slow her down with the reins alone, there’ll be a point where she switches from ignoring it to tucking her head into her chest and barrelling onwards.
The (surprising) trick to her is to pretty much clamp your legs down and wrap them around her belly! She actually feels safe and supported that way, and slows RIGHT down. Of course, it’s a scary balancing act between not having your leg on enough, so her feeling unsupported AND thinking you want to go faster; and on the other side supporting her really well, but feeling like you can’t squeeze your legs any more to adjust when you want to!
I learned this ‘accidentally’ as a teenager doing flatwork with OTTBs for jumper people. I was thrilled as hell to get on my first OTTB, because I was too big to be a jock (my dream) & too young to legally be a gallop girl.
Out of sight of the owners, I took him for a good gallop before doing ringwork. He settled down nicely after this. He was also well warmed up for further suppling. I’m in my 40′s, and I’ve since galloped every horse I’ve sat. In my 20′s, I worked for a very successful QH trainer who wouldn’t allow his horses to do ringwork without a preliminary gallop. He’d been doing this for nearly 60 years, and said it was “virtually no fail.”
I’ve met so many people who mess with this bit and that martingale, trying to get obedience and suppleness in the ring. I’m not saying some horses don’t need the extra; I rode one that reared without his martingale. I was initially shocked to meet many people who only ever ‘hand galloped’ their horses briefly in the ring. My timid sister has been riding longer than myself, and has never galloped. Ever. I believe that given our shared horse person parentage and love of the beasts, she and I have near-equal potential. Yet she’s always had unsolvable problems with her horses. Nervous, disobedient, nipping, cunning.
That warmup gallop burns off the excess energy, and puts their minds in a willing right place. I believe the shared joy of the run forges a bond as deep or deeper than all the games natural horsemanship people play. Running in a straight line, flat out, is what’s ‘natural,’ thanks very much. After a couple of good gallops, my newest horses wait eagerly with their heads over the fence, and can barely wait for that saddle. My sense is that their obedience in the ring later is performed with a sort of amused indulgence towards me.
I shake my head at barns that have no place to gallop. I can’t imagine taking a young, energetic horse straight out of a stall and expecting obedience. Then putting him right back in, or into a small paddock. I shudder at the explosive potential that must build up in the brains of these “circle only” horses.
I saw a lot of this at an Arab investment barn. Those babies got one 20 minute session every day, and no turnout except the occasional brief paddock one, maybe once a week. And man, every time I turned one out, I feared for broken legs or a fence crash. They went NUTS.
Yep, horses were born to run.
I agree! I used to gallop my old show horse in my back hayfield the day before shows.
The VLC always gets turned out to haul butt in the arena on a regular basis. Helps a lot!
Hehehe
got to tell a similar story. On our last show, my horse was very, very edgy. Since our first class was a few hours away and I didn`t want to burn her out in the deep-footed arena just to get her to calm down, I decided to take her out on a short trail ride since this our usual warm-up routine at home. Just a few miles of trotting and a fresh gallop later, she was her old calm self. And guess who won the Western Pleasure Class that day.
I totally agree. I love taking the horse I ride out for a gallop out on this one section of trail. I’ll support her front end, and she lets me steer, but she gets to pick her speed. It’s to the top of a hill and we’ve done it enough that she’ll always stop in the same place.
My barn was an old race track 30 years ago and the old track is grassed over. Later in the season we’ll start galloping down a part of that too, but we have to ride it a few more times because there’s houses right next to it that make funny noises and baby bunnies that scurry away from right under your nose.
My instructor lets the big kids take out the beginner horses for trail rides and tells us to gallop. The look on their faces after that is priceless, and then they’re just that much more sane when they get back to the little kids. We also do overnight turnout with buddies, but they still need to know that riding isn’t all just ring work.
I had a dun mare (from Yelm auction in fact) who was originally in a remuda out of Arizona who eventually turned into a wonderful trail and kids horse, but just a real bitch to catch. I only had a pasture to board in…no small paddocks or pens, no stalls. Even shaking a bucket of feed wouldn’t work with her. We tried bribing her in any way we could, ignoring her and lavishing attention and cookies on the other horses, etc…..nothing worked. Somehow the suggestion came from somewhere (I really don’t remember if I read it, saw it on TV, watched a clinic or was told about it) to go out with a halter and lead, and ask her to be caught, and if she kept playing the catch-me-if-you-can game, then to get crazy on her and chase her til she wanted to come to you. Well one dreary, rainy day I went out to feed and check over the horses and of course couldn’t get near her. I had had enough of this little game she played and so I lashed her with my voice, ran her til she tried stopping and then kept her moving. After 3 hours of slipping through the mud and drenched to the skin, I finally stopped chasing her (I was bone-ass tired!) and turned away. Next thing I knew, she was beside me, lipping the halter! I turned slowly and haltered her, took her into the run-in shed and lavished lots of scratches, praise and cookies on her while grooming her. After a few more chasing sessions during the next week, she figured out that I wasn’t going to let up and that she wasn’t going to get saddled and ridden EVERY time. She never came around completely: she’d always start to walk or trot off when we came out with halter and lead, but a firm , “Bam you better whoa now!” usually made her rethink taking off from us and she’d stop and let us walk up and halter her. Otherwise she knew we’d run her into a sweat!
BTW this mare was purchased by my husband and I at the Yelm auction October 2, 1999. She was a bit of long-backed horse (turned swayback as she aged) lite red dun QH type mare (about 14.3 hands) with a star and stripe. Her left hind hock would pop sometimes until she warmed up, but she was never lame on it. She was a bit over in the knees. She really didn’t have much personallity when we got her, hence her being in a herd situation. She was fine with “flappy things” while you were on the ground beside her, but when mounted you didn’t dare take off your jacket or open a map! Her hip # was 498 and the seller’s name was Britten out of Oregon (I believe). Was told she had been in a rumada in Arizona for a short while. We were told she was 12 when we bought her, but our vet said she was probably more like 18 to 20. We made a deal with another buyer that if we hauled their recently purchased horse (her herdmate…I think he was a dark gelding …maybe a pinto…I cannot remember for sure) to their property we could let her stay overnight so we could bring her to our pasture during the daylight hours. She moved with us from WA to SC in 2001 and from SC to VA in 2004. We had her euthanized in April of 2008 when her knees finally gave out due to them being so bad (we had no clue when we got her at the time). If anyone remembers this horse, or have ANY info about her, PLEASE let me know as when we got her we named her (Big Ass Mare= BAM) as she didn’t come with a name or “history” and we would love to know about her past life before us. She is now buried in our pasture beside her Mustang mare friend, and her 9 years with us were happy ones clear up til she passed. THANK YOU!
I had a similar problem with my new mare and I think maybe the reasoning was different the result was the same. I couldn’t catch her in the pasture for anything so I started approaching her in the stall assertively and wrapping my arms around her neck alternating sides. She was apprehensive at first but became more and more used to it and now in the pasture I can walk right up to her, even in a hurry, and she will just stand there and let me catch her.
I’m best with the horses who have never been handled and know absolutely nothing. I love working with foals and weanlings and my current mare came off of the PMU production line. When I got her, on a good day you could get a halter actually on her on a bad day you couldn’t touch her at all. She had no idea what leading was and good luck touching her on anything other than her face or the left side of her neck. Imagine a 16 hand foal who had no communication or interpretation skills when it came to humans. Fortunately for me, she’s one of the most food-motivated animals I’ve ever encountered.
At first, she had no idea what treats were. But when she saw my old mare getting to eat something out of my hand she became curious. My old mare got a lot of treats that first month.
Once I could get a halter on her reliably. (“No, you don’t get a treat until you put your nose through the noseband.”) I started working on her leading. I would give her a treat any time she walked quietly beside me. She very quickly figured out that following me around occasionally resulted in a snack. Any invasion of my personal space was met with a “mean mare” face from me, a growl and driving her away with my body language. Within a few days, only a growl from me would have her politely stepping back out of my space.
Once I got her to where she would tie somewhat reliably, I started working on being able to touch her other than to get a halter on. I would move my hand to the edge of her comfort zone, watched for her to tense up but not push enough to make her move. I’d leave my hand in that spot until she relaxed and then tell her “goooddd” in a low voice (my version of a click from a clicker) and remove my hand. It took several weeks, but I got her to where I could put my hands on most of her without her ever freaking out.
I then started on being able to pick up her hooves. I started with asking her to pick up her hoof and rewarding any type of effort to do so, even if it was just switching her weight to the opposite leg. Once she actually picked her left front hoof up for me, it was like a lightbulb went off in her head. I moved to her other foreleg and the hoof immediately came up at my request. The hind hooves were just as easy.
I didn’t start her under saddle for 2 years after I got her, but most of that was due to an unrelated injury of mine. So here we are several years later and I’ve got one of the nicest horses on the ground. My vets have commented repeatedly on how easy she is to handle and medicate. She loves to have her ears rubbed, doesn’t invade my space or nip, seems to enjoy being bathed, lunges nicely and overall is pretty easy to handle if you have some horse-sense. She has no fear of me, but she knows that I am boss.
Oh, and she’s a dream under saddle! Her idea of a “spook” is to stop and snort at whatever is bothering her and then it is a non-issue. Bucking or bolting would be too much like work for her taste and she’s never had any reason to do either.
And to this day, she follows me around even if I’m just out walking in her field.
Given the current price of weanlings at auctions (I’ve been hearing of sales as low as $25 – $35 at some) I’m sorely tempted to go pick one up and give it a couple of years of good handling and then sell it as a young horse ready to start. Just don’t tell my husband.
I posted this back on an entry in March, and I thought I would just repost it here:
This is going to be quick, but I just thought I’d share a trick I learned for horses who can’t leave you alone when you’re on the ground. I’ve ridden a number of horses who simply don’t understand the meaning of personal space (i.e. nuzzling pockets, must always be touching you, etc!) and while yes, it’s cute to have that horse who redefines ‘in-your-pocket pony,’ it can also be dangerous sometimes and I’ve spent a great deal of time teaching horses that they can’t be searching me for treats while I’m grooming, hoof picking, etc. Absolutely you want a horse to be able to touch you – but only when you ask!
This works best in the stall – cross ties will sort of defeat the purpose. Basically, when you’re grooming, hold a body brush, bristle-side out, in the hand closest to the horse’s face. Soft brushes or special face brushes work too if your horse is especially sensitive. Essentially, while you’re grooming, hoof picking, whatever, if your horse turns to look at you, he can still see you, but he can’t touch you because the bristles will come into contact with his/her face. Don’t pay your horse any attention, just let him realize that now when he tries to get into your pockets there is now a barrier which isn’t as lovely as a treat! Use a brush so it doesn’t hurt – it doesn’t cause pain, but it does create that barrier and it’s certainly not exactly comfortable. It can take weeks, but eventually the horse will get the idea that whenever you’re working on the ground around him, he shouldn’t be trying to follow you with his nose. Patience is really the key with this one – it’s more of a prevention than a punishment, so it can take time to rub off, but I’ve used it on a number of horses and ponies, all of whom now have much nicer ground manners [:
This may be a tiny bit OT and it really isn’t a serious problem but a mystery. When I got my mare her mane had been roached b/c of ticks, I was told. It took forever for her mane to grow out, put MTG on it faithfully and it was coming in nicely and her forelock was also thickening up this spring. Now both the mane and forelock are short and spindly again–it almost looks like her mane has been roached again in some places and her forelock looks like its been chewed off or backcombed and cut with scissors. Could one of the other horses in the herd be chewing on her mane and forelock, could it be caused by flies/insects, could she be rubbing it off herself on something in the pasture? Inspected every inch of her stall, all four walls, from floor to ceiling (brought my own stepladder and a flashlight) and there weren’t any loose boards, nails etc. Also considered it might be anxiety but she is really laid back, gets a lot of turn out, not over grained. This is a horse who only turned her head when one of the barn kittens bit her on the hock one day. Anyone have an idea?
Sounds to me like she is rubbing it. Try something like Tea-Clenz if you can get that where you live.
If you’re still using the MTG, only put it on in the evening and don’t over-do it. Now that its summer and its hot outside, it could be scalding her during the day.
Sounds alot like what my old gelding has each summer…Sweet Itch. It’s an allergic reaction to the little gnats called “no-see-ums”. Some horses get it worse than others, some only in certian places. It’s not flies, but gnats so bringing them in at night helps as thats when the gnats are most active. Also, fly predators work great to keep the flies down, who will make the raw spots itch even worse by landing and biting the open wounds! My boy itches himself raw every summer on his face, neck, chest, belly, mane and tailhead and by the next spring it’s all grown back in like new, but then the cycle starts again. I’m assuming you’ve had this mare for only a year or less? Cody now has a fan in his stall 24/7, is covered head to tail with flysheet and flymask and fly leggings, is sprayed daily and gets special ointment on his itchy spots. Calm Coat works wonders here too. His turnout paddock is fenced by hotwire so there is no place for him to scratch his coat/mane/tail off on and the corners of his stall door have those soft rubber “Scratch n All” pads that don’t tear up the coat. I’ve had to roach his mane several times over the course of the years he’s had this (it started in 2001 when we moved to the East Coast…he never had it in WA!) because he’s rubbed it out so bad. And horses don’t need a nailhead, loose board or even a sharp point to itch on to rub out their manes! A tree, wood fence, feed tub, water tub, or even the ground will eventually break the hair follicals (sp?) if scratched on enough!
Then again, it could be a fellow pasture mate chewing the mane off….got a friend who has a gelding who eats all his buddie’s tails off!
Deworm with Ivermectin. Neck threadworms are spread by biting midges and can cause dermatitis along the ventral midline, crest and front legs, as well as uveitis and swollen suspensories. I have had luck with Ivermectin and Ivermetcin/ Praziquantal. Also, the sulfur in MTG can irritate some horses, particularly if used in excess.
Thanks for all the suggestions! Definitely have some things to consider and investigate. No longer using the MTG, stopped in March b/c her mane and forelock were looking good. Also I used very, very sparingly per the instructions given me by the girl who runs our local tack shop. Claire is a wealth of information and she didn’t laugh three years ago when I came in with a picture of my new horse and said “This is my horse, what do I need to keep her clean?”LOL Again thanks for all the feedback!
OT, but check out TB Friends for today. Another good one that will get to you…
http://www.tbfriends.com/
I have noticed that there are very few equine issues that can’t be solved with the proper application of treats and kindness. For the most part, anything where the horse has a ‘do not like response’ (tying, leading, spooking, feet) have grain and kind words at the ready. They will pay more attention to the grain than to their issues. Kind words and scratches replace the grain. Also, talking keeps you-the handler or rider- relaxed. I get ‘crazy person’ looks for my constant running commentary when riding.
Also, while horses may not remember the why they don’t like something, they do remember that they do not like as well as what they do like. My fugly ranch gelding (actually my son’s) has a hyper sensitive mouth. Before he was rescued the owner’s solution was to put increasingly harsh bits combined with metal tie downs (he has perm. nose bumps). He immediately way put in a bosel or a snaffle. I rode him for 2 weeks in a snaffle. On the second day I had to (for the first time ever) I put draw reins on him, only tight enough so his head couldn’t visit me when I picked up the normal reins. There was no pressure when he wasn’t tossing his head. 20 min in draw reins then only normal reins. 20 min later, total breakdown backing up, tossing his head and losing his footing. Ended with the slowest fall to the ground ever (sit then side, I stepped off). He looked so confused as he stood up. That was it. He realized that the entire situation was him not the rider. No more of that, little head shaking but that is it.
Horses are always trying to tell us something when they are misbehaving. They are totally logical creatures. There is no horsey version of “I just don’t feel like it today”. There is ALWAYS a reason. From the bottom of my heart I hate repair work because I find it frustrating that previous trainers did not listen to the horse. Training is all about pressure/ release. If there is a problem it is because either the horse is in pain or your timing is off. We do so many things that we don’t even notice, but it all means something to the horse. For example, I am a very routine oriented person and I have had babies who noticed that I always picked their feet in the same order: LF, LH, RF, RH. So then when someone tried to go out of order they wouldn’t pick up their feet. That is an example of how horses can be doing something EXACTLY the way that they have been taught, without us even realizing that we were teaching them that way.
“repair work” – PERFECT term for re-training. In fact I think we’ll add that to our vocabulary here, along with hideozygous and upgraded!
“hideozygous” my new favorite word. along with my child safe fuck wad abbreviation Fwad. “That fwad trainer tried to sell the hideozygous horse, again.”
Don’t forget “nest!” I JUST saw a CL ad for a hideozygous paint stallion for sale with the best. nest. ever. LOL. It made me giggle.
I have a deaf Paint gelding with one real issue: he freaks out when a horse “appears” behind him, particularly if one runs behind him. Since he can’t hear them coming, to him they just magically appear out of nowhere in the corner of his eye and scare the crap out of him. Just last week a horse ran behind him without warning as I was mounting up, and he reared straight up and fell backwards on top of me. A lot of the time *I* don’t hear or know another horse is coming, either, so I can’t warn him or give him something else to occupy his mind with. This is pretty much only an issue with other horses, cars and motorcycles and just about anything else don’t typically bother him.
Does anyone here have any experience with deaf horses? How can you teach them to cope with scary surprises they can’t hear coming?
Folks, see link below check out a few of the videos featuring “Lacey”, and take note how many -years- they go back. I really get the feeling this girl has tried everything, and she’s survived a lot of -very- dangerous behavior from this horse.
She’s has had some problems with the grey featured on her page as well, but that horse did have significant soundness issues, which she patiently resolved, it would seem at great expense (to be fair, at her parents’ expense). She doesn’t seem like a bad rider… certainly not bad enough to elicit this kind of behavior. Also, both horses seem like they can be fairly hot even at the best of times, but the mare “Lacey” seems to be just completely insane. Curious what people might think. Again, try to watch at least a few of the vids before finalizing an opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/user/beautifullace
Warning: LOUD MUSIC at that link. Just blasted myself as I’m wearing headphones hahaha.
The one thing that I notice in both mares is they are both doing the same kind/type of problem. I’d say there is something wrong with her bit, or her hands are not forgiving enough, saddles don’t fit, etc, etc. Two horses responding with like issues would tell me that the rider is not doing something quite right. I would recommend she start doing some intensive dressage training and see if they continue their bad behavior.
I thought it was so interesting how the mare reacted when the rider started coming off. She turned into a different horse, stopped bucking and stood, acting like she was trying to help her rider back into the saddle.
in the beginning the horse was eager to jump and has won quite a few ribbons. it seems that the gray had arthritis surgery on a hock and fetlocks and ever since the surgerys seems to be uncomfortable jumping, you notice she was fine on the flat until she realized she was being asked to jump, or, she’s just burned out on jumping, but i think its surgery related.
I’ve always got projects galloping at the racetrack. The big challenge is explaining whats wrong or different to the trainer so that it makes sense to them to make a change if necessary. Sometimes its just a matter of taking the blinkers off or adding a tongue tie. Sometimes its a shin or a sore back or a cap ready to come out. Sometimes a horse just doesn’t want to play anymore. The biggest project, however, has been my post parade pony. I’ve had him for a year and he was an absolute wing nut no matter how much he works and how much I have shown him. He spooks at anything and everything randomly no matter how many times he sees things. I took him on the trails all winter and tried to let him see as much as possible, made him jump over whatever I could safely point him at, galloped on the beach and in the forests, stood him beside trains and roads, got him to inspect everything he was afraid of and pretty much anything else possible (meds, different feed, different riders, different horse company, etc). You’d think he would get used to a RACETRACK and the world in general, but nope. This year though I decided to try ear plugs with him to deal with the loud music during night racing, and he’s a completely different horse. I don’t really understand why, but he’s much happier and I can’t feel his heart beat through his chest every time he hears a leaf rustle or sees a wheelbarrow in a different spot it was the day before. He always works in his ear plugs now. If he’s happy, I’m happy.
Sometimes those parade horses are tranq’d during parades. I know that lots of larger parades really encourage the use of ace for the horses…. Maybe yours never got to see scary things because he was out of it…. and it’s all new socialization.
Horse #1 a big paint/Wb who like to buck when you used the crop or whip. A pop in the mouth with the reins every time he bucked fixed that in about a minute flat. Didn’t I look like the Second Coming to the owner!
Once he figured out that I would not be intimidated and I would not fight him we get along great. He was used to martingales, draw reins and being pushed beyond what he was comfortable doing. Lots of dressage and confidence building later and he has come a long way. He also used to kick out on cross ties at other horses passing. I had him switched from a stall with no window that faced an interior aisle where he really had no privacy from the barn activity to an outside stall with a window on one side and a dutch door on the other. Much happier. He is a smart horse who knows he is bigger and stronger than you and is not afraid to use it against you but he does not want to be an Alpha, thank heavens! He has learned respect and is much happier.
Horse #2 was a OTTB TB who owner wanted him to be a hunter. He was a freaking lunatic, attacking other horses on the ground and under saddle and had a list of issues as long as my arm. He did not circle. At all! But was showing in the 2’6″ classes! The first training session, I waved my whip near his outside cheek to intimidate him to complete a circle. Otherwise he would switch leads, bucking, as if I was doing a figure 8. He picked up on the circle idea in a few minutes but it took him over a year to do a nice 20m circle at the canter. He was my some of the best training I had done, as far as turning a horse around. He became much more trustworthy and was able to accept and enjoy affection, instead of trying to bite your face or hand. He learned how to learn which was a big break through. It took a long time for me to trust him but once I did and he trusted me it got better quickly. He became quiet on crossties and under saddle. He learned to enjoy work. He stopped bucking unless he was at his physical limit. The owner was thrilled for well over a year until she had a meltdown while she moved and retired him. She gave me 3 days notice then a month later bought another horse with another trainer and dropped me like a dirty diaper. Don’t people suck!
I have had one rather difficult issue between my Llama, horse and dogs. My stupid “they’ll figure it out.” dad decided we should bring our bullish male Springer Spaniel out to the farm the first time and just let him loose so they could work out their pecking order. We had already brought our younger more timid personality female out and the horse and Llama were completely fine with her. He let the male dog loose and our Llama made this noise that they make when they see predators, the dog bolted towards him and started chasing him.
We had a rather comedic situation in front of us (well atleast when i think about it now, I was frieked right out when it happened) The dog chased the llama and the horse started chasing the dog down our pasture. Well the dog saw the horse behind him and circled around to try and chase her let’s just say BIG MISTAKE! The horse spun around and kicked him in the head. Fortunately he is okay and learned his lesson not to go behind the horse. But now we had a problem because the dog became aggressive towards both of them trying he would bite any time he was near and the llama was scared to death and would run around terrified anytime he was at the farm (even tied up.)
It’s starting to get better, he still tries to chase my horse when she is being lunged (that’s another story) but I worked through this issue by first tying the dog up and letting them be close to each other but not while being able to hurt each other. The next thing I did was put a leash on the dog and walk him around while I was doing chores. Then I made him lay down on the ground while the horse and llama sniffed him, which also put him in a submissive position and told him the pecking order. Now I take them for walks together and the dog will sit at my feet and be pet while the horse or llama eats some grass. It’s getting better but it just takes time I guess, I have started to give them more and more freedom together they are figuring out that horse to dog is the pecking order, not the other way around and my horse is ready to enforce this with biting if necessary.
We had an appaloosa/TB mare. We had her since she was a yearling and my dad did all her training. My older sister always rode her, typically with her friends on their horses or one of us younger ones on a pony. We knew she had gotten buddy sour, but my sis decided to use her while helping the neighbor move some cattle.
It didn’t go well. She headed away from the group to collect a cow and calf. The mare shied away then began to fight the bit. Next thing we know she reared and lost her balance. My sis ended with a broken toe and broken saddle.
Next ride my dad took her out, similar results. Rear and then lost her balance. Dad got her settled, and got back on. As soon as his butt hit the seat she threw her body over.
They took her to a professional, who thought a baseball bat would cure her. She thought grinding him into the mud under her was a better cure. So off to the pasture and forbidden to be ridden.
I had known this horse since I was 5. I was the first one to “catch” her in the field. The first one on her back. The first one under her feet. I wasn’t afraid and determined that she was safe.
We started in the corral, before round pens, bare back and with just a rope halter and scarier yet, when no one was home to stop me. When she got excited, I asked her to give me her nose and soften at the poll. I had her move her shoulder over and soften her ribs. These were exercises that we had been doing since I was small. I wasn’t allowed to “ride” her because I was young, but warm up exercises in the pens was fine before shows was fine. Once she stopped getting excited at a walk, we trotted. It took me months of covert work to get her calm and relaxed again. I finally took her out into the pastures and she never offered to rear or fight. My dad finally caught me, which wasn’t pretty. He bought me a proper hackamore to ride her with and even took her out a few times himself.
I have seen my sister haul on a horse’s mouth. This mare just needed a soft hand and a reminder of what the job was.
I once was asked to see if I could “fix” a little pony that was used for handicap riding. She had started to give little bucks/skoots. I brought her home and put her in the driving cart (she was also broke to drive by her previous owner, and I am way too big to ride her) and started off to see if the buck/skoots would happen while driving. Sure enough they happened. Every time her very long full tail wraped around her ankles! I went back to the barn and cut off 5 inches of tail and the problem was solved. After that we just had to remember to keep it trimed and pony was back to being a lovely handicap riding mount.
Horse doesn’t accept the bit? Try peanut butter or something else he might like. Or try a bitless. I don’t know why so many people are against bitless or hackamores/side pulls.
Doesn’t like to go into the wash rack? Make it a game. I once had to teach a mare that the indoor wash rack wasn’t a box that was going to eat her. If she stood there for three seconds, quietly as possible, she got a cookie. Than slowly make it longer.
Doesn’t like to hand over hoof? Get the hoof up and do what the farrier does with the hoof on the inside of the leg. Once had to fight a horse for at least 5 minutes for every leg. After a few weeks he learned I was going to hang on and there was no use in fighting me.
Horse doesn’t like a certain noise? Constantly play that noise on the barn radio, low at first and slowly crank up the noise.
Doesn’t like to be mounted? Get after them and pop the on the butt with the reins or a crop. How hard you pop them depends on the horse. And after you have ruled out health issues and tack/bridle issues. I have a pony like this, and now I just have to pop him once and he understands that isn’t acceptable.
Invading space? There’s an Anderson game that involves swinging a rope at their butt. I don’t know what it’s called, but I call is Swing the Butt. Meaning I swing the rope, they should get out of my way.
Doesn’t like being touched the something? Again another Anderson game where it involves talking the carrot stick and the string and placing it all over their body and keep going at it until they are for the most part standing still, and than keep working until they get relaxed. .
I use the “swing the butt” when I catch my mare from the field. She is a turd to catch (we’re working on it) so I started taking a nice can of grain out with me. There are about 12 other horses out with her (HUGE Pasture) . They all crowded me to get to the grain. Turns out that Saddleseat horses don’t really appreciate a nice whap on the bum with a leadrope. It only took them two days of me walking through and hitting them with the leadrope to figure out that i was the alpha, and they were anot allowed to get anywhere near me. I felt like I was parting the seas. They all just split apart and let me walk through to my mare now. Its a great method
Quite a few disciplines don’t allow bitless.
I’ve found a good, if expensive, cure for fear of being touched is a few sessions with an equine massage therapist.
Hey, anybody got any ideas on how to help a really nervous horse in the arena? I can easily trail ride him by himself, loose rein, no big deal. However, he gets tight in the arena. It’s been years since he’s been asked to do much arena work. As a young horse he was started late, and by a green trainer.
Some things to consider about him:
1) He hates being ridden with any type of contact, even on the trail he goes around with his mouth open. I would ride him in a halter, however, this horse has a few more shows before retirement. I ride him in a 3 joint link snaffle. He’s very soft, but mouths the bit excessively. It gets him docked in the ring. His mouthyness is much worse if I ride him with a cavesson, so I don’t school with one. If he is on his loose rein and he is not asked to carry a frame his mouth stays closed.
2) I know that in his beginning training he had his mouth clamped shut in a figure 8 noseband. This went on for years.
3) I have ruled out dental, chiropractic, digestive, and ill fitting tack as issues. He gets several hours of turn-out daily, plus supplements for joints and digestive support.
4) He gets lots of praise for correct efforts during training, as well as varied workouts. We practice jumping, trail obstacles, western pleasure, and dressage. He also gets to go on plenty of short and long trail rides which he thoroughly enjoys.
He’s 16, and a PB arabian, as well as he has been a successful show horse for junior riders, as well as open sport horse competition. So, any ideas on how to soothe his worries while schooling him for showing would be nice.
You need to get your horse MORE into the bridle to help him relax. Start at a walk for a few days and practice riding small circles (15-20′) with direct rein pressure on one rein only. If going left, keep steady contact with the left rein until you see his eye and he gets a bend in his neck…reward with a slight release and then take up again. Let your hand move forward and back with the walk rhythm keeping the same contact. The important thing is not to reward a high head….keep both legs on him in a squeeze and release to keep forward motion. Use your inside (right) leg up near the girth to keep his shoulders from falling in and help him arc. Bump the leg if necessary and reward the slightest give in his body by releasing contact, then go right back to it. One side will be much worse than the other, probably the right side. They learn this fast and within a few days of consistency on your part, the mouth should be softer, head lower, poll & jaw more relaxed and you’ll have more control of his shoulders.
ooops….when working on left circle use LEFT leg inside near the girth, not the right. Use the right leg slightly behind the cinch to keep forward motion.
I would say you’re dealing with a symptom of him hating the figure 8. He opened his mouth, so they put him in a figure 8, which he hated. Now, I am in favor of flash/figure 8/drop for certain situations, but some people definitely reach for them too quickly.
Inside leg to engage the hind quarters, slowly taking up rein contact as he’s willing to accept it, releasing again if he gets upset.
He might mouth less in a mullen mouth rather than a three link, just as a thought.
Well, it would take too long to list all my ‘recycles’ but I had a few really memorable ones. I have had several TB that were ‘unridable’ or too lame to be useful that ended up doing quite well. First one was a 17+h gray mare, former steeplechase horse that a lady traded to me for a pony because the mare was chasing her cows. I took the mare home, gave her a week, put a full cheek snaffle in her mouth, put her in a ditch so I could climb on and off we went. She was fabulous! Point her at anything, and she jumped it, nothing fazed her, nice manners, I loved riding her. I had her a month, loaned her to a pony clubber who bought her and she and that kid did everything. Years later we find the former owner, who told us she was ‘too dangerous to ride!!!’ and had been retired after a nasty wreck and bucking spell. I never expected her to act anything but mannerly, and she loved her pony club owner. (yes, I was much younger then, I don’t hop on strange horses anymore)
Second TB was a mare with a growth on the leg the owner just didn’t want to deal with. She was on her way to the auction when I intercepted her. I paid for the surgery to have the growth removed, did some simple refresher training, and she also went to a pony club kid.
Third was an OTTB gelding, who I was told had bad stifles. Another on the way to the auction, but when I went to see him (and met his clueless beginner rider owner) I realized this horse was a saint, and deserved a chance. I worked him for a while, and he never seemed totally happy, stiff behind, finally gave a crowhop. I had chiro and meso done on his back, presto! all lameness gone, jumps the moon, and a very happy boy. Now doing hunters with an 11 yr old girl.
I have had a few horses from the Amish, one a pretty morgan mare, 14.2 and young. Head shy, suspicious, and not respecting space. Worked with her for a while, resolved all the manners, restarted her under saddle, but while she was obedient, never saw the spark of a happy girl. one day let a kid ride her, and the more the kid rode, the happier the mare got. She loves kids! So now she is owned by the cutest 5 yr old you can imagine, and they are doing walk/trot.
I have had 2 draft crosses that had been worked by the Amish. Both had back issues which chiro fixed, but they also had intermittent lameness in the front. Vet could never find anything, and it only showed under saddle at the trot and walk, not the canter…I watched the horses move, and both were traveling retroflexed and heavy on their forehand. Worked with them to balance them, muscle up the back and hind quarters, and teach them to travel in a frame..lameness disappears.
Gaited horses – I have retrained many to go from a bike chain jawbreaker to a snaffle bit, it just takes time for their mouths and minds to heal. The main thing is to let them go. Open your front, and let them relax and gait, no matter how fast it is. once they are relaxed, you can begin to use your seat, weight and legs to slow them down and frame them.
A couple of months ago I showed up at the barn while the vet was there doing the spring shots. I walked in as she and a helper were attempting to do a big draft mare that was fighting them. As I watched them struggle, I opened my mouth and said, “cover her eyes with a bra”. Everyone looked at me like I’m nuts. I tell them that I had read an article about equine rescue and first responders and how one of the tricks they are taught is to use a bra to cover the horse’s eyes. My vet’s interest is piqued and asked where are we going to get one. Well, duh, she’s surrounded by women! Within seconds I am offering my bra (I didn’t even have to remove my shirt cause I’m that talented…). I approached the horse, let her sniff my bra, rubbed it on her face, and she quickly allowed me to put the straps over her ears, the cups over her eyes, and I latch it under her neck. Since she already knew the vet was there to “kill her” she still put up a small fight, but didn’t kick or rear. The vet really likes the idea and wants to try it on her last patient, the barn owner’s big American Cremello, Merlin, which the vet considers her worse patient ever. Usually he has to be tranquilized, which in itself is a task.
When it was time for Merlin, his owner informed me he is impossible to even put a fly mask on. With the help of another boarder, I worked with him for maybe five minutes using approach and retreat while the other boarder gave him scratches and treats. Voila…we have a big Cremello wearing a black bra The vet is able to give him two shots without much of a fight. He fought only when she pinched his skin, but he was unable to rear and kick because he couldn’t see. The vet is thrilled! The owner is thrilled! The vet assigns my BO the task of desensitizing Merlin for the next two weeks to the pinching while wearing my bra so she can come back and finish.
I taught my BO how to use approach and retreat, and she does it everyday for the next two weeks. When the vet came back Merlin is ready, wearing my bra, and happily munching on treats. The vet is done in minutes without even a twinge from Merlin.
My bra is now officially the barn bra
Barn Bra….that`s great.
Love the idea.
Note to self: always wear pretty bra to stable.
And bring an extra!
Wow. That is one of the most hilarious things ever. Good for you for having the confidence to suggest that (and then take off your bra in front of the BO and vet)!
A friend asked me for help with her morgan-arab mare who tended to be a star-gazer. She had tried a western saddle but found my dressage saddle so much more comfortable as got her own. The mare still spend her time with her head up but I took a look at her conformation. Her withers and shoulders seemed to end in the middle of her back. I suggested we try moveing the saddle back a wee bit — about an 1 and a half. Presto, mare was much more comfortable and went into a normal frame. We made great progress over the next six months and my friend decided it was time to get and ‘real’ coach. New coach took one look and freaked out. :”Saddle is too far back!” she declared and moved it forwards. Horse immediately stuck her head straight up. So the new coach introduced my friend to a ‘chambon martingale’ to get the head down. I was not terribly impressed but eventually it did learn to go in a more correct ‘frame’ without any gadgets. Or maybe my friend just eased the saddle back a wee bit again.
I’d have told that coach to screw it about the saddle…instead of letting him clearly put my horse back in PAIN.
A cut back head might be helpful.
“Professionally trained” Tennessee Walking Horses have a tendency to FREAK on first trail rides with unsuspecting owners. Why? “Professional” TWH trainers ride in INDOOR “track”-type arenas, round and round in circles. Horses are never exposed to scary plastic bags blowing in the wind, barking dogs, the neighbor’s 4-wheeler, or the cows in the next pasture over. They have to learn 2 things: slow gait and fast gait, and that’s all these type trainers teach, because they aren’t aiming the horse for a weekend enjoyable outdoor ride, they are focused on frame and gait. Solution: take 4 year old, not really “trained” gelding out of the shanked crazy TWH bit, put him in a full-cheek snaffle, and take him on lots and lots of long, slow trail rides at a walk…in his pasture, in the hayfield, along the shoulder of the road, and finally, hauling somewhere off the farm. These horses are so forgiving, it’s amazing what a little patience and time does. And guess what…you don’t have to force a frame to get a gait out of a naturally gaited horse. Some need a little help….but it’s either there, or it’s not. A bit with 8 inch shanks and shoeing with 6 inch pads isn’t going to fix something crappy breeding left behind. (off the soapbox now…)
I have one of those older “professionally trained” TWH geldings. He’ll be 30 next year, and we’ve had him for 15 or so years. He’s mellowed out a lot, but is still very stoic, afraid, and is the type to go balls-to-the-walls, or stop. We only trail ride, and do a little bit of roundpen work here and there. He’s very forgiving and sweet, but absolutely freaks out if his pasture mate is taken away. Getting him to bend is a chore, as he still doesn’t relax much and is always forward going. It’s kind of sad. Now our 8 y/o TWH gelding (got him green at 6 y/o) is like riding a piece of plywood. But, he has no baggage, so it’ll just take hours worth of my butt in the saddle to work with this blank slate and hopefully end up with a really cool and willing partner on the trails.
I have owned my first horse for about 8 months know and mine was a polo pony that was being sold for very cheap and had so many problems one which was to kick and bite other horses while in play and another main one was extreme head tossing and it was the kind of head tossing were you could feel her back drop out from under you and get hit in the face if she didn’t have a tie down on. I have known this horse for about 2 years and when she was being offered for sale the coach offered her to me for $250 because he knew that she would get a good home with me otherwise she would have ended up with a kill buyer at the auction because of all of her problems. So i decided to buy the horse knowing what kind of problems she had and that if I couldn’t fix them than my friend or a trainer could help me.
One of the first things I did when i bought her was to get her teeth floated to see if that was interfering with the bit which it was but it didn’t solve the head tossing problem. So I tried different bits. This horse had already had a mechanical hackamore, twisted bar broken bits with a small shank, Tom Thumb bit and many other kinds of bits tried on her to solve the head tossing but known of them worked. A friend of mine told me to try a loping hackamore (also known as a grass hackamore). A grass hackamore is a hackamore that has a sinew nose piece much like a bosale but the reins a like a side pull. The whole thing except the headstall is made of grass. My horse loves this thing and had learned to relax and give to pressure more easily without yanking the crap out of her mouth. We found out that her head tossing was from holding the reins to tight and to high which was bruising her soft pallet from to much bit contact. She has been out of the bit for 8 months and I have now started to work her back into a snaffle with some ground work. The head tossing is just about gone except when i ask her to stop from a lope when riding but even that is way better than it was.
I also forgot to mention that my horse is a 16 year oldish Appaloosa.
Here is a pic of the hackamore that i use on her.
http://craigcameron.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/DM_310!DENMO_9244691_300.jpg
I am a clicker trainer, and haven’t owned horses for many years. I have clicker trained many different species, and worked with two miniature horses at a zoo. One was quite easy to handle, and the other, you couldn’t get near. I won’t write much here, as it takes about a minute for whatever I type to show up, and it is VERY frustrating.
Anyway, I went from ‘couldn’t get near her’ and using a clicker and treats, to ‘put halter on, tie, lower neck/head to ground by putting one finger on back of neck, having her back up, or move to either side’, by putting one finger there. Took several months, but went very well. I also worked the Grizzly bear, monkeys, Lynx, and other exotic animals there.
Again, does anyone know why it takes a minute or more for what I write to show up?
my computer does the same thing. i have no idea why.
I had problems with my old laptop. Switching to Mozilla Firefox and using their Ad Blocker seemed to solve the problem.
Are you still running Flash 9?
I’m not Ms. Fixit. I’m only a decent rider, at best, with little training, but I understand animals, and I’m pretty good at getting them to understand me.
I was so horse-crazy I’d ride anything anywhere anytime anyone would let me. One of my mom’s friends had a temperamental little bay gelding and a big sorrel mare named Patches. The mare was maybe sixteen hands, and less tricky than the gelding, so they put me on her and mom’s friend’s daughter (hereafter known as MFD) rode the gelding.
I didn’t know a lot of things about the mare. I didn’t know that MFD and her friends took the two horses out and raced them on the dirt county road. Raced them back toward the barn, in fact. I found this out while we were walking along the road and Patches decided she’d had enough. She did a beautiful 180 degree spin over her left hind hoof and launched into a canter back toward the barn. Keep in mind that, before this ride, I’d never been above a slow trot.
I got her stopped and turned around, and MFD told me about the racing. The next time Patches tried it, I felt the hesitation before she spun. As she turned to the left, I picked up the left rein and pulled a smidge harder than I normally did. Patches kept turning, did 360 degrees, and cantered further down the road before realizing she wasn’t going where she wanted to.
A few more repetitions of that, and Patches never did it again under me. My parents wanted to buy the mare for me when Mom’s friend sold off all her livestock, but we couldn’t afford to board and we lived in an apartment. I wonder where she is now. I learned a lot from that mare, and I hope she learned at least one thing from me.
I worked with an OTTB mare for awhile that the barn owners told me cannot be tied, because she had already panicked when tied and gone up over backwards, injuring her hock. Plus, her owner (a 13 year old boy… with a 4 year old OTTB… hello parent FAIL) tended to skip over a lot of the brushing, quiet petting, affectionate side of things that this mare so obviously craved and had never had much of, and he would just (probably still does, unfortunately) throw his poorly fitting saddle on her back, the too-severe bit in her mouth, and go ride like a banshee. So of course whenever she was tied, she had fear issues (because of her previous injury) and anxiety issues, because she knew what was coming.
In just one week, I was able to tie this mare, simply by looping the lead rope through the ring and holding on to the end of it (to be able to give as much as needed if she panicked) and taking the time to burhs her, massage her aching back, and love on her. No treats necessary, just time, patience, and elbow grease.
One of the “quickest” fixes I found was with my TB who is needle-phobic and would put up a huge fuss when the vet would come to vaccinate, or if heaven forbid he needed an IV med or a Coggins test! haha It evidently wasn’t the pain of the needle, he just freaked looking at it. So we put a towel over his eyes. Bingo. He totally calmed down and didn’t even flinch when the needle touched him. So it was scratch, scratch, STICK, scratch, scratch. Done.
Also I happened upon a trick that’s not so much a “trick” as just something to try with a problem loader. Some horses simply WILL. NOT. LOAD. when you try to lead them in. These are horses that you don’t know well, or just got them, or a friend’s horse, etc. Try letting them self load. Walk them up to the trailer and throw the lead over their neck and then kick yourself when they walk right up that ramp and stick their head in the hay bag! haha If a horse has been trained that way, and you try to lead them in, they will balk and you’ll be there forever! It’s funny, but if you always load your horses by leading them in, you may not think to try self-loading when they refuse…
If you have trouble with giving paste wormers, save and clean the applicator and give them applesauce filled tubes as treats on a regular basis. They will beg for it and be only mildly upset when every couple of months the applesauce tastes “bad”.
I love that idea! I noticed mine were not so thrilled the last time I wormed them — they’ve always been super easy and I never gave it a thought — but I think I’m going to use this to maintain good worming behavior, so no bad habits develop. I’m loving this Post and learning great tips.
Another trick that helps is slide you finger (short nail necessary) into the corner of the mouth and up the cheek, palm of the hand towards cheek back of the hand towards tongue. Hold the lead line only tight enough that the horse can’t loose your finger. Let them dance around, use the lead to back horse if the head goes up. Wait until horse is finished. Praise, maybe a treat, do not remove finger (tuck it into the cheek). With finger in mouth worm horse, more praise. Remove finger and treat. Wipe off spit that has run down arm on possible spitted jeans.
Would not try this on horses that have a history of striking out, also cross ties and hard ties defeat the dancing around doesn’t make it go away purpose.
I had a problem that I fixed , and I have a problem that I dont know how to fix, maybe some of you could help. The blankets go over the head, and velcro around the belly. I give a cookie before the blanket goes over the head, and once the nose pokes out of the other end they are rewarded with another cookie. I get the blankets out and they run to me to be the first to get their rug. problem solved
New problem ( situation) when I bathe my mare and the warm water hits her dock area or tail she hunches her back like a rolly polly, and almost sits on the ground. She will do this with warm water gently from a hose or a soft sponge , pressure and amount of water makes no difference, although the sponge bath is less scary for her. she literaly shakes while getting a bath, I dont know why this is so scary for her, clips pretty well , and accepts fly spray, its just the water on her rear end. any suggestions ? I always use mild , to warm water. even tried changing bath area to outside where she can still be with her friends , and not confined to a shower room.
Yes, what is that? My mares have done the same thing, along with clamping their tail down, when I didn’t introduce the water slowly by running it up from back legs. I always thought it looked like a surprised, “Yeow! Cold water on my Privates!” or maybe some spinal sensitivity at the base of the tail. But whatever it is, it doesn’t look pleasant and I am careful to avoid it happening. Do only mares do it? All of their external sexual organs are back their, so I figured the water just unexpectedly touched some sensitive parts.
Did I really type, “back their?” I meant, “back there.”
It isn’t just mares. Both my mother’s mare and my gelding react like that. Trial and error has shown that with both of them, it’s just their dock that is sensitive- they couldn’t care less about having water sprayed under their tails, but get their dock wet and they curl up like you poured ice-water on them!
What works for me is to tackle his tail in stages. I’ll hose one side of his body, then just have a quick, light pass over his tail, then hose the other side, give the tail a second pass, then do something like wash his legs before coming back to the tail and drenching it properly. By that time, the water from the first two sprayings has apparently soaked though and it isn’t such a spine-curling shock. I’ll also use much hotter water for him than I have for any other horse, it’s nearly as warm as my shower.
krissy, does your mare like to be curried? If she does, you could try giving her a very slow bath by getting her wet with the sponge, then putting the soap on the curry and doing her coat one section at a time. My horse hates the feeling of water running down his sides, and the currying helps with that.
I am super sensitive , so I am very careful, gentile with her ( all my horses). I use a sponge and pretty warm water . She loves this area rubbed, and scratched, its like you said , a reaction to water hitting a nerve I suppose. I try not to bathe more then needed, and always start slowly , on the legs first, fly spray, show sheen , not a problem, just the direct water. It makes me feel horrible, poor little girl.
My Marsh Tacky mare does that too whenever she’s hosed. Doesn’t matter if we acclimate her by starting on her legs, chest, etc. Warm water, cold water….she clamps her tail, tucks her hinny and does the half-sit too. Never seems to bother her but she does it EVERY time. My black BS Paint mare DOESN’T do it. Neither does the leased Shetland mare we have. Now neither of those mares have foaled, and the Marsh Tacky has had 2 foals over the course of her 16 years (the last one is now a 6 year old). Could it be related to having had foals? Anyone have ANY idea about this odd behavior? I don’t consider it a problem, just odd…
My mare does it and she has never foaled. My yearling colt also does it. My other mare and yearling colt don’t. I have also tried everything and have not had much success.
I don’t remember the term, but there is a nerve back there in mares that is sometimes extremely sensitive to pressure or changes in temperature. Normally changing to warm water and avoiding a pressurized hose will solve it, but if your mare has been washed by people who didn’t accommodate her issue, she might simply be hypersensitive to any water back there at all.
The horse generally can’t control that response– it’s a bit like someone hitting your funny bone. Avoid spraying any water direction on the dock, and that will help.
Interesting. My mare doesn’t seem to have any problems being poked, prodded, etc. on her dock, or anywhere in that area, and standing out in a torrential downpour doesn’t cause a reaction (she loves rain…what a weird horse…she will graze happily during a monsoon, while the other horses crowd into the run-in, “Eeek! We don’t wanna get wet!”). Maybe it is a learned reaction and she anticipates it when hosed.
My mare does the same thing, no matter how careful I am, but with cold water. Scares the crap out of me every time because of the suddeness (is that a word?) of it, then I start laughing because she looks so funny and I feel so bad for her.
I had a 23 year old morab who was afraid of mail boxes. I stuck one up in the pasture in a tree and started by feeding carrots near the mail box. Over a period of time it went from carrots on the ground near the tree to carrots stuck way in the back of the mail boxes and he was sticking his head in the mail box to get the treats. Then, after that, when we were going down the road on any trail ride, instead of being afraid of the mail boxes, he would walk across the roads, back and forth, sticking his nose into any mail box he could, looking for a treat. I have done this with tarps, streamers, aluminum pie plates, etc. We just make sure that they aren’t so comfortable with the item that they start to eat it. And it’s not near the food source or water source so they still get to eat and drink. We just start hand feeding the treats so they know to expect it near the new source of ‘fear’ and they get over it more quickly every time we introduce something because they know there are treats hanging around somewhere.
I bought a mare from a friend of mine. Her Miracle Collar was on her so tight, that if she put her head down to graze or to eat or drink in her stall..the front stap would pull back so far that it pushed her ears back. You could see thickening of her ears where it rubbed constantly. So…we took the MC off and poor thing still pulled her ears back each time her head went down. She would drop her head into your hands while being bridled and her ears would come back..which some people would think was being aggressive. I would ask hold her grain pan, or hold the bridle still and say “where is the pretty horsie”..and her ears would come happily forward. It took several months of treats and initially, she would bring them forward, then immediately back…then back and forth LOL. It was really quite pittiful. But..withing a few months..the pretty horsie was here to stay. No more Miracle Collar for her! I really miss that mare..she was such a blast to ride and to teach anything to!
There are lots of things to learn from every horse..you just have to pay attention and listen to them!!!
I could go on about others..but this one was my favorite.
I bought my best horse for dirt cheap because he was brain-fried and no one could ride him. He would rear and would try to buck everyone off. Well, they were riding him in a twisted snaffle with a running martingale and seesawing the reins. Easiest fix ever. Put him in a fat rubber snaffle and rode on little to no contact until he learned that I wasn’t going to hurt him. Then I switched to a KK and put some dressage training into him, and now he’s awesome. Some people just have no common sense.
Boy, so very true.
and again…I really do HATE twisted wire snaffles and think they should be banned. They are abused FAR more often than they are used properly.
“Some people have no common sense.” Oh yeah. I was exercising a TB who was rushing his jumps. They put him in the same contraption.
I put him in the thickest snaffle, and took him for regular flat out gallops (as I talked about in another post). Within a week, I could road ride him on a loose rein like an old stock horse. And he was behaving on the jump course.
That’s fantastic that you fixed your horse, but while reading your post it occurred to me that trying to fix a rearer should be done by someone with a lot of horsemanship experience. As people have mentioned earlier in this thread, it’s one of the most dangerous behaviors for causing injury. Good job though!
I bought a TWH mare once who the previous owner rode in a jointed mouth curb bit. This mare didn’t misbehave under saddle really, but she made some of the worst faces I’ve ever seen! She would chomp at the bit, bare her teeth, wrinkle and twist her nose, all of that almost constantly. I tried her in a solid mouth, low port, copper mouth curb and she’s been a happy camper ever since. It’s also got loose, swivel shanks so I can use a direct rein if necessary. She didn’t neck rein when I got her. I think she likes that the bit is “quiet” in her mouth – not so much going on. The previous owner rode her in that other bit for 12 years!!! Poor horse…
A couple of years ago I bought an OTTB mare. I think I’m in the minority when I say that I tend to like the opinionated, bossy mares over the obnoxiously over-friendly geldings. Well, this one was definitely opinionated about a lot of things! We had to have a “come to Jesus” meeting the first week she was home over her baring her teeth and charging at little people (my kids) when they would walk by the outside of her stall. And I found out she was VERY touchy in her flank area and would whip me in the face with her tail (deadly aim with that tail!) anytime I would touch her there. At first I tried just gently desensitizing to me rubbing her near the flank and as soon as her tail stopped switching, I would rub her somewhere else less annoying. It took a little while (I had the face welts to prove it!) and it worked pretty well, but it was still a small issue with her.
Then I had the opportunity to have a chiropractor work on her. I thought that it might help with her canter issues (crossfiring, wrong leads, etc.). Chiro said that she was out “everywhere”. She adjusted her, then adjusted her again a few weeks later and afterward that mare could not only canter beautifully and collected, pick up both leads easily, but also her flank tenderness is completely gone now too! Who woulda thunk it!?!?
It turned out that I had jumped to conclusions with her and she wasn’t REALLY an opinionated mare, she is actually really sweet, gentle, curious and friendly. She IS still bossy though (and I still watch her with an eagle eye when the kids are around)!
I was kind of wishy-washy about chiros until I had this mare worked on. It was like a danged miracle watching her personality change when she didn’t hurt anymore. I just feel guilty I didn’t catch on sooner.
Due to computer troubles, I’m late to this posting. I haven’t read the other comments yet.
I have learned over the decades that everything the horse does is feedback. The horse is telling us something and we have to figure out what it is. That can be easy or very very difficult needing much trial and error. Sometimes the horse has to “shout” at us and sometimes, when we are paying attention, the horse only needs to “whisper” and we get it.
Horsemanship–a lifelong pursuit, and then you die.
OT
Hi everyone. I have contacts up to email / write to the state attorney, attorney general, etc. in regard to charging Doug Spink with animal cruelty. I don’t think they will unless confronted with tremendous public pressure. Please take a moment to pop over and write an email (I’ve even provided a ‘sample’ email that you can make any changes you like to – to make it quick and easy).
Thanks for any help you can provide…
Sharon
http://sharonmcleod.ca/blog/archives/758#comment-1666
I started riding an Arab a few years ago. He was about 15 when I started with him. A little history on him: He was bought form an auction as a 3 year old and rushed through breaking/training. Immediately he was used for beginner riders and teaching kids how to jump. By the time I started riding him, he would walk, trot and canter with his head straight up in the air and the tiniest stride possible. If you took him in the direction of a jump, he bolted at it, would fling himself over and gallop away bucking. If you tried to stop him, he would run faster. If you walked him towards a single pole on the ground, he would rear. Hacking was a no-go; He dumped everyone who tried to take him out and would bolt home – regardless of whether other horses were with you or not. Cantering was quite a production and the right lead was a complete write-off. Usually it meant going sideways or slamming himself into the wall or just not picking it up at all.
I watched him being used in a lesson shortly before I started riding him. The last person to ride him before everyone just stopped riding him slammed on his back every time she posted or every canter stride, and caught him in the mouth and flopped on his back going over fences. The “coach” would often get on and muscle him around a bit, force him to jump and stop dead on the other side of the fence and basically just push him around to prove that it could be done. Of course this didn’t fix him it just made him more defensive and scared. If another horse was jumping in the arena while you were riding, he would try to bolt every time the horse landed off of a fence. A few of the kids who rode him in lessons tried to take him to some schooling shows and he would bolt, buck and refuse fences. They usually fell off and came home in tears. It was just awful the whole way around.
He was very defensive about any leg or hand contact. I spent a couple of weeks with minimal contact with his mouth and just showing him that my legs won’t kill him and leg contact doesn’t mean run as fast as you can. It was just a matter of letting him realize that I wasn’t going to hurt him. He would bolt and I didn’t do anything – just sat quietly. “Let me know when you’re done.” Same with the bucking. I would just wait it out. Try to stay in the middle and balanced and not pull on his mouth. He was a smart guy. It didn’t take him long to realize that I wasn’t going to pull on him or slam into his back. Once he was going walk, trot, canter without his head in the rafters I started adding new things to the mix. I would walk him in-hand over a pole on the ground several times before and after I rode. The first few days of this he would stare at the pole with his eyes bugging out of his head as he went over it and would try to bolt, without even looking to see where I was.
Fast forward a few months – he is going walk, trot and canter (in a calm, relaxed manner) over poles on the ground (3, 4 or 5), raised trotting poles and little x’s. To me, it didn’t matter if he ever jumped again. I just wanted him to feel confident with working over jumps and poles and feel comfortable having another horse in the arena jumping. He also learned to go hacking both in a group and alone – something he had never been able to do before. I was able to take him hacking in a halter with a lead rope and bareback. He didn’t bat an eye and would go where I pointed him. He preferred having my dog along for company but it didn’t really matter either way.
I only rode in a saddle for the first 6 weeks of riding him. After that, I decided that the saddle didn’t fit him well enough so I spent the rest of the time schooling bareback with a bareback pad, for comfort.
I stopped riding him a couple of years ago. I approached his owner to see if I could purchase him and was rejected, so I bought a young OTTB instead. He actually ended up being ridden by a little girl who took him to a bunch of local dressage shows and he did quite well. I checked up on him recently and was told that he was sold a couple of months ago to a woman who was looking for a small horse for her son. She has a small barn with a couple of retired horses and now this guy.
I miss him but it sounds like he got a good home. I didn’t do anything special, I just showed him that life doesn’t have to be so tough. Once he realized that I wasn’t going to pull on him or thump on his back, he was willing to do ask I asked and tried very hard to please.
The OTTB that I bought (thankfully) didn’t come with any issues. Now it’s a matter of keeping it that way!
He didn’t come from the best farm in the world but it seems like he was handled fairly and regularly as a youngster, which is all I could ask for.
Amazing, isn’t it? You just listen to the horse and try to figure out the best way to help make the thing you want to happen actually happen. And so often it’s something simple, like a polo wrap.
Thanks for this reminder that rational and creative problem-solving is one of the more important responsibilities of the human half of the partnership!
I have a problem with my gelding that I have made better, but not solved, so I could use some advice! He likes to balk while being led. As in, he will just stop. If he’s checking something out that is scaring him, I let him look. Most of the time though he just stops and the look on his face is just pure insolence. Like “No, I don’t think I want to and I don’t think you can make me.”
I have tried backing him, circling him, walking from side to side to knock him off balance, whacking him in the butt with the lead rope, and none of these have been very successful. He has done this for the last year and a half (since I got him). So far, the best solution I have come up with is to simply continue to apply pressure on the leadrope/halter and just ignore him. I stare off into the distance like I am not concerned at all, and when he takes a step forward, I release the pressure. He seems to get bored sooner. The more I react, the worse he gets, like it’s fun!
He rarely does this under saddle and a little bump is all it takes to get him moving. He is 15 years old and knows how to lead (he trailers fine), he just gets it in his head sometimes that he does not want to leave the paddock, return to the paddock, etc. I have shown other people with the same problem my “stare into the distance and ignore the horse” method and it has worked, but I would really prefer that he not balk at all. Any thoughts?
I have another quick fix. My mare, an easy keeper, wears a grazing muzzle about nine months out of 12. Each spring when I have to reintroduce the muzzle, she quickly overcomes her resistantance to it when I pop in a couple of treats after I put it on her. After the quick reminder, she willingly puts her nose in it every time and waits for her two cookies, one at a time, and only then will she amber along to join the rest of the herd. Since I’m not at the barn every day, I can only imagine what the person turning her out must wonder. I’m sure my mare is like, “Hey, I let you put this damn thing on me, now where the hell are my cookies!”
Off-topic comment, Fugs/Cathy, please see gohorseshow.com/article.cfm?articleID=29502 — I am very disappointed with gohorseshow!
14.2hh, 5yo, welsh x thoroughbred mare
Background: Bought by a 13yo girls non horsey mum who wouldn’t wait for instructor to find a pony for her daughter and thought you know, it’s not hard buying a horse esp when you know nothing about them but think you know everything. The pony was bought for $4k, ‘jumps 1.10m courses, won XC, perfect PC pony’. They were conned. I have no doubt that pony could have jumped 1m once and it’s been exaggerated to 1.10m courses, and she’s jumps logs and pretty much anything but not a kids pony. In like the first 2 weeks the girl had her, she got legged up onto her, kicked her in the flank on the way, slammed down in the saddle (she’s not light), yanked on her mouth, pony protested and dumped her on her ass.
The girls a pretty alright rider, but she got nervous of her after that, pony was for sale the next week, moved to a paddock at a new stables the week after where board was cheaper and mum was paying a trainer to ride her. Said trainer wasn’t riding her but putting kids at the new stables on her. The girl is a spoilt brat, her parents are divorced and she plays them off against eachother to get what she wants. Horses was her dads thing (he had a 20yo TB that was perfect for her but she ‘didn’t like him’ so he sold him) and her mum thought if she bought her a pony it could be her thing with her. Now pony’s still for sale 6months later, dads bought her a 16.3hh TB who she fell off 2 wks ago, no fault of the TB, he was for sale THE NEXT DAY! Looks like he’ll be going to the sales (my friend’s offered to take him but the dad wants $$$ which he’s not going to get), the girl thinks horses are disposable and her parents indulge this.
I moved to these new stables where the pony is, it was horrendous weather, my boy was all rugged up, and she was standing shivering in her paddock. I’d heard the stories about how horrendously behaved she was (I wondered what went wrong because she wasn’t like that) I felt sorry for her so offered to ride and rug her, which has now turned into a lease.
Problem: Ridden by a different kid like everyday, said kids aren’t very experienced. They drag her out of the paddock, tie her up to the fence with the school horses on cement, shove the crap old schoolie tack on. Lunge her parelli style with that crazy yanking around, she has no idea what’s being asked, you can see it in her eyes, so she gets sick off it. They let her get away with being naughty or go over kill with the discipline, when trainer gets on she rides her really tough and harshly disciplines her (which she gets sick of so she bucks, like rodeo down the arena). She drags kids out of the arena, bolts up the driveway, his bucking fits down the side of the arena. She gets tied up with the schoolies again afterwards, sometimes for 4hrs until someone can be bothered to put her back in the paddock. Won’t float (she’s never been float trained, she was born where she was bought from, got trucked to the old stables, it took 4hrs and sedation to get her loaded to get her to the new stables). Chucks fits for the farrier, worming etc. Doesn’t like cuts being touched/treated.
Fix: I greet her in the paddock, she gets carrots, I tie her to the fence on the grass so she gets to eat, she gets a good brush, a real cuddle (she loves cuddles), I tack her up in my good dressage saddle, and my nice soft bridle and noseband (she’s great with the noseband on loosely) that actually fits her, and a nice shiney clean non rusted bit. She likes kind hands and feet. Continuously giving her mouth a jab and her side a boot everytime she tries to drift out a corner, she gets the shits, it builds up and she will try and buck you off, so would I. She’s only ever bucked once with me and we were doing halt to canter transitions, she got a bit excited, threw in a buck, I sat back, hands up, squeezed her forward, went ‘weeee’ (which got looks aha), and she continued normally. She jumps a bit excitedly, defs not a kids PC pony, but is so much fun. After we’re done she gets to eat grass, hay, carrots, brushed and rugged. I worm her my way, everyone shakes there head, it’s not ‘right’, cause I’m not dominating her, but hey it works and it’s less tramatic than twitching and sedating. I put one hand on her nose, lift the tube up near her mouth, and walk around with her until she stands still, paste her and then lots of carrots, takes less and less time each time. I hold her for the farrier and hand feed her chaff and she stands perfectly still. And omg guess how you get a horse that won’t load on a float? Float training! It works wonders. Kindness, cuddles and carrots are the way to this ponies heart.
The mum is trying to sell her for $4k as a beginners PC pony (I’m hoping she just gives her to me lol). She’s not worth that. For anyone else but me, she been known to buck (I would not let a beginner near her), bolt, rear, she’s crazy on trail rides (is not a trail plodder but I have so much fun with her, she’s more a xc pony), doesn’t load, doesn’t stand for farrier, bites when saddled, gets excited easily. I’ve never had problems with her, she really only likes me, we’ve bonded
The farrier said he’d say something to whoever was gunna buy her cause he thinks she’s down right dangerous, he said he’s never seen her behave before and she only does around me LOL
Now my TB gelding,
I lead him on to the float, he pulls/steps back, I turn at him, he knows I’m gunna ask him backwards, to he auto backs as I step towards him, I yank at the lead, he rears a few times, I lunge him around me for 5 mins, then lure him on with carrots and apples. It’s his game, you’ve gotta play it to get him on, yeah ppl don’t necessarily agree with it (oh no I’m not dominating him!) but hey it works!
Problem: doesn’t float, good trainers have failed at it. He’s 17hh, he doesn’t really fit in floats, and he bangs his head when he flicks his head in the float (he’d take hair off his head that I’ve had to cover up numerous times at shows with fake stars).
Fix: Bought him a head protector, ignored everyones advise of forcing/whipping him on to the float (his 17hh and as stubborn as a mule, if he doesn’t want to get on the float, he is not getting on the float). We have a routine, happens EVERY TIME and it works
Problem: misbehaves in arenas at shows (like ballistic rearing)
Fix: made floating more pleasureable, hogged his mane so the day before he’s not standing getting plaited up (he HATES it), at shows don’t even give him time to think about what he’s doing. He gets tacked up and ready at the float then I tie him near the arena on twine eating hay, help the kids out then when I’m on, I get on him, no warm up, get lead into the arena by my instructor, go compete and then he’s back at the float eating hay before he even realises he’s meant to be competing in the arena.
Anyone in the Collins Missouri area looking for a rescue? This little filly could sure use an upgrade. Poor filly is only 15 months old. Please try not to blast the owner for a couple days until we see if anyone is willing to take this poor girl.
http://www.dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1556800&share_this=Y
Most of the horses I’ve ever owned had issues, from training issues to basic ground problems. For the most part I was always able to fix everything, mostly with just time and repetition. Then I got a horse that started out perfect and became the most dangerous and difficult horse I’ve ever been around in my life. I don’t know what I did to ruin her, but my 15 years of never having problems all went out the window after 6 months owning this mare. Have a look at her here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuZZbRdX7Ew You can visit my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/yautjakshai …
Oh, and speaking of fix it issues – I’m not in a situation to get this mare, but she sure could use the help and she belongs up here on Fugly… This is from my blog…
http://kshai1715.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/if-your-horse-looks-like-this/
Do people not read the directions on the fly spray bottle? It says right on there not to get the spray near the nose, mouth or eyes. Yeah, yeah, I know people don’t read but using common sense tells you that something that repels insects would not be good to get in the eyes of your horse. No person sprays Off in their own face. I purchased washcloths for babies (they are soft and small to fit in box with grooming tools). Spray fly spray on washcloth and then wipe on horses ears, cheeks, under forelock and voila!
I got a beautiful bay grade QH mare from some folks through word of mouth from the saddle club I belonged to. I was told the mare was crazy, nasty, and that they couldn’t deal with her (they were soooooo not horse-people but a “horsie” for little Suzie (not the child’s real name…can’t remember it so insert “Suzie”) would be “fun”) because she bucked and generally flipped out whenever they tried riding her. It got to the point of that they couldn’t even get her saddled she would “turn mean” and rear. I went to their “farm” and discovered a half-starved wary mare in their backyard. Literally in a housing development! They wanted her GONE because they wanted to get little Suzie a “nicer” horse and were upset that this mare was “so mean” to them….they were told she was broke to ride when they got her! I worked the mare for an hour or so on the ground, and once she figured out I knew what I was doing, and wouldn’t let her get away with anything (I was in her face, getting her out of my space, waving the leadrope back and forth and lashing her with my voice to keep her from coming at me, ignoring the cries from the owners to me: “Don’t be mean to her! You’re jerking the rope, she’s backing up! Ohhh don’t hurt the dear….”) all her nastiness left although she was still wary. I figured she might be worth trying to “fix”. I went inside to finalize a “bill of sale” although the horse was being given to me and I noticed an awesome roping saddle on a saddle stand in their dining room. I asked if I could sit in it and they said sure. I climbed on and was savoring the comfortable seat and debating wether to ask if it went with the horse (it didn’t….*sigh*) when the lady gave me a funny look and said, “Um….you’re sitting in it wrong.” At first I was confused. HUH? WHAT? I asked her to repeat her statement and she smiled innocently and sweetly like I was a child and said,” The tall part goes in the back.” I was stunned! Did these folks really believe that the horn was supposed to be behind the rider? Have’t they ever seen a western on TV? It hit me what the mare’s problem might be so I asked several round-about questions and it turned out that they WERE saddling her up with the saddle on BACKWARDS! I hurried out of there, took the mare to the farm I boarded my gelding at at the time (they had an indoor arena I could use). And after a few ground sessions for a few days, I saddled her up in the arena (with someone holding her) SLOWLY and CORRECTLY, being patient while she first tried to rear and dance around. Once the saddle was on, I let her walk and trot at her leisure on a lounge line, and after a few half-hearted bucks and ALOT of flicking ears and looks behind her, she settled down and took a few deep breaths and licked and chewed. I took this as a sign I could mount and after a few sidestepping OMG-what-are-you-doing moments she settled down and let me sit on her. She kept turning her head to look at me and smell my foot and once she relaxed I asked her to walk on. Hesitently, she did and she suddenly realized the saddle DIDN’T HURT anymore! After that she went well for me, although she always seemed to despise a western saddle. I rode her bareback alot and a friend loaned me a huntseat saddle and she went like a dream in that so I decided she needed to be and english horse, not a western one. At the time, I knew little about english riding and really wasn’t interested in having a huntseat horse so I let a girl who knew english at the barn work with her a bit and she showed her once and proclaimed she was an awesome hunter prospect! She didn’t need another horse, otherwise she would have probably bought her, but I finally ended up giving her to a close friend who had just lost her 3rd level dressage horse to a terrible colic episode. She took the bay mare eagerly and trained her as far as she could then eventually sold her to a 4H home where, as far as I know, she is still happily showing in english. Why oh why do non-horse people insist on getting a horse, then don’t even attempt to learn anything? If I hadn’t taken that “crazy” mare, she probably would have either ended up hurting someone seriously or been left alone to starve then eventually ended up on a truck to a slaughter house somewhere.
I used to have the worst time with the farrier with my old OTTB, and I could never figure out how to fix it. I suspected it was back problems, but even did it when he’d been recently adjusted by the chiro.
He would stand like a rock for his front feet, but when the farrier would pick up one of his hind legs, he just didn’t know how to balance himself. He’d lean heavily on the leg that was on the ground and eventually it would end up directly underneath him, like a tripod, as opposed to off to the side in the normal position. Seriously, the leg was in this position: / … (<–that would be his off hind, if that makes any sense) It looked really uncomfortable, but he was so keen on NOT leaning any weight whatsoever on the the leg the farrier was holding up, that it always ended up like that. Eventually, he'd end up ripping his leg away from the farrier to place it back on the ground. We tried everything from hoof stands to lean on and taking repeated breaks to even (I'm embarrassed to say) lip chains at one point so we could finish nailing the shoe on him.
Without the farrier he was a perfect gentleman. I could clean his hooves just fine, when I worked with him he was just fine and would hold it up for awhile. But as soon as the farrier arrived and picked up that hind leg… that standing leg would pivot underneath him in an awkward position, he'd have balance issues, and then start ripping his leg away from the farrier.
Any suggestions on how I could have dealt with this better would be GREATLY appreciated.
I’ve had some that are ‘leaners’ over the years, as much out of laziness as anything and I know that tripod stance you described! I’ve been able to eliminate this problem by doing one of two things; either turning the horse’s head in the direction it’s leaning, thereby switching the weight to the leg bearing on the ground (and moving the ribcage out) or if the horse doesn’t rebalance I’ll take a ‘sharp’ object (thumb nail, hoof pick, spur in hand) and press into the back of the ribcage down low. Try this without a hoof in the air at various parts of the horse’s side and belly to find out which zone moves what. You can raise their backs multiple inches, it’s also a nice stretch for them! Practice moving the hips side to side with the same ‘object’ until the horse moves immediately in response to pressure. Then go to the hind feet and play farrier. If he starts to lean, put the foot down, move the hip away, lift the hoof again. (repeat, repeat, repeat and be dominant but calm and quiet) Only let go if he’s so far off balance that he may hurt you or himself and go right to it again. Giving them something to lean on makes it worse. They need to learn to be responsible for their own feet. Unless there’s a physical ailment, all horses can balance. They sure can scratch that itch on their ear with a hind foot can’t they?!
I do have a “problem fixed” story, but its a sad one , i warn you. I purchased a beautiful paint pony to learn how to ride. She was pricy, but beautiful , and so sweet. She was being used for driving , and had an accident, and then for kids to ride, and on to being bred before I got her. 3 months after I got her I noticed a lot of head tossing. I had her wolf teeth pulled, ears checked for mites, and everything else my vet could think of . Her head shaking got worse over the next few months. A trip to Davis confirmed Osteoarthritis bilaterial in her jaw ocipital area, the bones were shattered like safety glass, and waiting to either fall apart completely, or the condition to become neurological, and she would eventually collaps and need to be put down. Cause of this was a blow to the head as a foal most likely. I euthanized the pony as hard as it was to do while she was “healthy” , to save her the agony that she would eventually go through. Sometimes solving problems means having the strength and compassion to put them down . You think its hard to put down your horse when its sick or lame… try putting down a perfectly healthy looking and acting horse , my vet was awsome for suporting my decision , and telling me that by the time most owners do this in this situation , the horse is already in a suffering stage .
You were completely right with your decision, and saved her a great deal of pain and suffering. Kudos!
My horse used to be very protective of his ears. I suspect that he was eared down – something people do instead of using a twitch: grab an ear and twist it to keep them quiet. Desensitisation got him to be good about one ear and suspicous about the other. This went on for several years – I _could_ handle his ears, but never without suspicions.
Then I put it on cue. I said ‘_lend me your ear_,’ touched it, and gave him a treat. Three days of this, and he was 100% about his ears. For him, _knowing what would happen_ was the key (as with so many things. If he was about to go through any narrow space where he might knock himself, he used to rush and then of course hurt himself and be upset about it. Once I started saying ‘careful’ he had a way to judge – if I said it would be ok, it *would be*, if I told him to be careful, he might encounter something, so when he *did*, it was no longer a shock, and he could cope with that.
Once he stoppe rushing through narrow openings and things like half-opened doors, he stopped hitting himself so much, so that was positive reinforcement…
Well, I used to ride quite the devil horse in lessons. I was the only one who actually liked him, and the only one he ever behaved (sort of) for. He had a lot of issues (stemming from an intimidated owner that let him get away with whatever he wanted, and caused him to revert back to being a stubborn cow whenever she rode him, which was maybe once every couple months).
He was very, VERY stubborn about his feet when I started riding him. Not out of fear, or pain, or any of the obvious problems. It was just because his owner had never tried to make him lift his feet to be picked. If he didn’t do it, she’d just give up, so he learned to just keep his weight on that foot, and he wouldn’t be made to lift it. When I started riding him in lessons was basically the only time anyone other than his owner had ridden him, so no one knew about the problem. Took two people to get him to lift his feet, and probably took 20 minutes to get them all done. After two or three lessons like this, nothing was improving, so I took a different approach.
Praise, pats, treats, and lots of it. As soon as he lifted his foot he got the most enthousiastic “Good boy” I could muster, and when I was done, a carrot and scratch behind the ears. In 3 weeks (one lesson a week) he was lifting his feet no problem. After 5 or 6 weeks, all you had to do was stand at his leg and start to bend over, and his foot would be up in the air waiting for you.
Now, the problem I’m having with a different, fairly green horse, is not so easy a fix, so maybe someone else can help.
Not long after he was first bridled, he started tilting his head to the side and chewing on the bit (usually, but not always, to the left, and generally only when walking or trotting, with contact on the bit, but also immediately after having the bridle put on). Not good for a potential eventing/dressage horse, even worse when we figured out that he doesn’t pay attention to either the rider or his surroundings while doing this, and has nearly been in a number of collissions because of it. The “quick fix” is to kick him on and give a little twitch with the reigns to the side he’s leaning towards, and he’ll snap out of it, but then be right back at it 5 minutes later. He’s had this problem for about a year and a half now, despite very consistant corrections every time he does it. My coach has had his teeth/jaw/etc. checked for problems, we’ve tried basically every standard bit, including various rollers of various sizes so he’d be able to play with the bit without putting so much effort into it, different bridles, more contact when riding, less contact… My coach is reluctant to use a hackamore on him, as she’d rather get rid of the problem than avoid it, and doesn’t want a flash on him. It’s kind of like he’s addicted to this tilting/chewing thing. Anybody else had a similar problem and found a solution?
Has he been adjusted by a good chiropractor or not?
About two years ago, I was assigned to ride a mare that loved to run and hated to stop. She was in a Tom Thumb, so bit strength obviously wasn’t the issue. You would cue her to lope and she would go, find room, and take off. You pull back on the reins, and she just goes faster. She wouldn’t stop until she found the rail or you threw her into a tight circle (which often ended badly for you…going that fast there’s no way you can circle that small and not fall off…). Now. Everyone knew this about this mare, so anyone who would ride her would keep her on a tight rein in hopes of preventing her from taking off. I get on her, do the same thing, and she totally ignores me.
Obviously keeping a tight rein and pulling back wasn’t the way to get her to stop. Next time I rode her, I tried something backwards: keep a very loose rein until needed. I cued her to lope, and she went. When she found room, she sped up, but a light check slowed her right down. I’m guessing her issue was she was trying to run away from the pain, and when the pain stopped, she stopped. To this day, she still runs and throws her head a bunch when her rein is held tight, but she always stops for me. Usually where I want her to (although if I’m letting her run for fun, she takes a little longer to remember that when I ask to stop I do in fact mean it). She still loves to run, but with the right person, she listens. When someone else rides her (she’s a school-type horse, so lots of people ride her, but not necessarily more than once) I tell them to stay loose on the rein and the looser the more likely she is to stop. Only about two other people have actually been able to listen to this and can ride her successfully. I like to think this means she’s very picky about her riders.
She’s the best horse I’ve ever ridden, and I consider myself lucky that she lets me ride her.
I need help with getting a bit in my horse’s mouth.
His old owner (he was abandoned, I have been caring for him for over a year now) rode him in a happy mouth that had been chewed and cut up so it was sharp. I rode him in a hackamore, had his teeth floated, and slowly eased him into work with an all rubber loose ring bit. He is still very resistant about opening his mouth for a bridle. He will let you open his mouth no problem until he sees a bridle. Then he throws his head and wont take a bit. I have tried coating it in molasses, feeding with cookies and carrots, and handfuls of grain under the bit. He will not take it. Once it is in his mouth, he quiets down. When we try to get it in his mouth (it usually ends up taking more than one person) he throws his head but does not move away or pull back. Just holds his head up (he is 17 hands, and knows how high he has to hold his head to make it hard on us). We have tried standing on stools, but then he knows to move forward and we cant reach him.
Does anybody have any tips? The latest way I have tried is first putting a chain in his mouth (for some reason, he has no problem with that) then sticking the bit in when he is chewing on the chain. I hate to do that, but for some reason he likes the chain in his mouth. I just hang it in front of his mouth and he grabs it. My friend suggested that he was broke to race (he is a 7 year old tb) so he doesnt mind the chains, but I dont know what else to do. I cant ride in a hackamore forever. He is fine with a bit once it is in. He does chew on it, but he doesnt throw his head or freak out with it.
Are you sure that the bit is the trigger? He sounds earshy. Most horses are smart enough to know that the bit is the first part, and then comes passing the bridle over the ears. An earshy horse will soon refuse the bit. Try unbuckling the cheekpiece and passing the bridle around the top of his neck and then shimmying it up towards his ears to rebuckle the cheekpiece.
If it really is the bit, then you can train him to take it on his own. It is about pressure/release. Presenting the bit is the “pressure” and removing it is the “release”. The first lesson is that you bring the bit into his space and when he stops tossing his head (eventually he WILL stop) remove the bit from his space. Repeat until he no longer tosses his head. Call it a day. DO NOT attempt to put bit in mouth a this point. Next lesson is “touch the bit with your nose”. Again, present the bit… you can even help him find the correct answer by touching it to his nose. Repeat until he touches it on his own. Put him away for the day. The next lesson is “touch the bit with your lips”. Same pattern, always removing the bit before he backs out of the “pressure”. He will most likely take the bit on his own within a week or two. This is how I have taught many countless feral 3 year olds to accept being haltered and bridled. By the time I am done I simply hold the halter or bridle up and they shove their heads in. Good luck.
Well Oscar has always been scared of sprays and also of electric insect killers,just found out when they trained him at the gate in louisiana,ages ago, he was buzzed out(use of electric buzzer,battery type,illegal but being done on training centers by retarded morons).The trick with him is make sure he can’t hear it,so walkman in his ears….(he really likes country music by the way)
I remember when I lived in Tennessee briefly I put an add out for training/handling services. I knew from riding around the area in my car that there were plenty of horses just sitting in pastures, and assumed that many were not being worked/handled.
I got so many bites on my ad it was ridiculous. I was asked to halter train a (giggles) “filly colt mule that is a few months old” (filly colt? They make those?) I didn’t take this up. I had no experience with babies at the time, and my limited experience with one donkey was only successful if you deem learning how to think creatively in the face of frustration success.
One request was to gentle a formerly shown Tennessee walking horse. He was about a mile from where I was staying and I took a quick trip to see him and his owners. I asked what his history was and what the problems were that needed addressing. The owner said “I can’t put a saddle on him, and when I try barebacking he gets really bucky.” I felt his back, gently and lightly, barely any pressure. It was burning to the touch and hard/stiff enough to write on. I had the owner feel his back and asked “How would you like someone a quarter of your weight bouncing on a stiff, probably pulled muscle?” I told her to call her vet to evaluate the full extent of the injury, call her farrier to make sure his feet are sound beyond what I could see, and not to get on his back until he loosens up and the vet clears him. I went out every other week to try and work with a yearling this lady had, but the paddock was so muddy I couldn’t do anything, and I had no access to an arena. After a month of relaxation the walker would withstand a saddle, but no weight still. I also think he had psych issues from abuse. He was jumpy, and shy, and this woman could not have a lunge whip anywhere near him.
I also had a request to work a pair of quarter horses. The pair were green broke and barn sour. The couple who bought them were green themselves, and didn’t have time because the husband was deploying and the wife was newly pregnant. These horses came from the base MWR barn. They were cheap because they were “stubborn and untrainable”. They were young and green broke, and the barn was staffed by impatient inexperienced people. I worked with the horses for a few months to get them to a rideable state.
One other request dealt with another horse from the MWR barn. The owner requested me out to evaluate her little mare that was maybe 3 years old. while I was there I was asked to see if I could get this big appy to canter (he wouldn’t do anything but a slow trot for the family). I got him to canter, for quite a few strides around a paddock. I told the family he just needs more pressure and more steady commands (The MWR barn does public trail rides. Public trail ride horses are “trained” so incinsistently…)Both the mare and the appy gelding just needed more steady work and handling. (I just *love* green riders with green horses 8{). While there I also discovered the appy was sick. He had pink foam aspirating from his nose when I untacked him. I told the owners to call the vet immediately. The appy was said to “Only have a badly progressed cold”.
Had I stayed in that military town in Tennessee I could have lived out my dream of training horses and helping owners solve problems they can’t seem to think out. I love doing the simple diagnostics and seeing the faces of owners/riders as they learn the solution to the problem. I also love knowing I have the knowledge to help and can help.
Here in California I only had one bite on a similar ad, but its a different environment. I’ve been enjoying the experience on this one bite. I’ve developed a good relationship with this herd of 5 and the owner. I am having a good run of it trying to figure out each horse’s likes/dislikes, personality, and physical quirks. I’m also learning how to adjust with a young horse. 2 of the geldings are 4 and 5, I started with them when they were 3 and 4. One has physically grown so much my gear doesn’t fit him and the other has mentally grown where he is ready for different training.
With the horse I owned shortly while living in Michigan I was ms. fixit. I had to retrain a pasture pet. He was a game horse before the lady I bought him from had him, and when I bought him he had 6 years on a pasture with little to no training, just daily handling enough to turn him out or bring him in. First move was to have the farrier out and trim some very nasty looking hooves. Then I borrowed my friend’s surcingle and side reins and longed him at a walk and slowly worked him up to a trot. I did ground work with him. He recovered his faculties fast but was terribly unfit. He developed a hot spot under his saddles so I just rode him bareback. He became much more fit by the end of our relationship. But when I moved and couldn’t take him with me because of the contract the training and reconditioning went out the window.