Aggressive Pony

[Silvergheko]

hi
there is a pony at the riding school i help at, who, when you try to catch her puts her ears flat against her head and charges at you. if you dont move she either takes a big bite out of you or turns her bum at you and bucks. She tries to bite you when you go in her stable and won't let you in unless you are going in to give her attention. is there anyway to stop her charging because she has injured quite a few people.
P.S she is also crabby when being ridden unless she has an experienced adult on her as they don't need led

thanks for any help

[Wally]

IMHO this is not a pony which should be in a riding school and you should not be expected to catch her or handle her if this is what she does.

I hope these incidents of injury have been recorded in the accident book!

It would do it once at our place then be on the boat south again.

It's not your job to sort problem horses out....problem horses should not be in riding schools.

[Mossy]

Echo Wally's comment. It takes a certain amount of experience and loads of confidence to deal with a pony who behaves like that in the field! I should know. If you obey your natural instincts and back off from their behaviour you are "rewarding" it. However if you stand up to it you have to be able to read them like a book and have lightening reactions, otherwise somebody will get hurt! If I were in your shoes I would insist that the yard staff deal with him until you actually mount. You do not pay to be threatened by 1/2 a ton of stroppy pony and it can take years for a pony who has learnt to throw his weight around to stop doing it. He will be a lovely pony for somebody, but that individual somebody has to earn his respect and keep it. He has no place in a school!

[happyhorse]

i think that some horse get on well in riding schools and others don't. This mare is clearly unhappy and i believe that some horses are one person horses or need indivudaul attention that a riding school can't provide. We used to have a horse at a riding school that was very similar he was called dominic, in the end because he was so unpredictable they sold him on, a few months later he was a completely different horse, more relaxed and none of the nasty behaviour. He thrived on the indivdual attention and routine and knowing who his mum was!. My horse was quite similar but not nasty in that way, he was just not very friendly when i got him, he wasn't a riding school horse but a full livery of a riding school and his owner came down at weekends. He was never interested in people and would turn his back on you when you entered his stable and was just generally not bothered that you were there. These days with individual attention and knowing who his mum is he is really friendly and loves people, big and soppy now.

however it couib be that the mare is in some kind of pain and is lashing out because of it?

[Cheko]

Everyone is right. This pony shoudn't be in a riding school. Health and Safety regulations apply to riding schools as well. The pony's probably just reacting to being ridden by a series of indifferent riders and is generally very fed up. If this is the case, she is showing her feelings the only way ponies know how. On no account handle the pony as other people have said. If a bona fide helper is injured, the owners could be in deep ****