Problems with a new horse

[Swallow]

Hi. I have a fifteen hands high horse, Bronny (shes not actually strictly mine, but as good as!).
Now Bronny is a little tempremental- as much as I love her!- and she has unusual habits. First the habits:

1)If I tie her up to groom her, she will start scraping her foot on the floor- is this a bad sign, should I try and stop it, if so how?

2) She pulls on any post she can get near. I've heard this is bad for horses necks, but obviously I can't watch her all the time and tell her off everytime she latchs her teeth on.

Now, about being tempremental. When she being riden, as soon as I get close to the gate to go back into her field she starts cantering, and shes still in training with the bridle so its hard to make her stop. Assuming the sides of of the mouth are tender, how do you hold them back without hurting them?

As you can tell I'm still very much a novice!

[ucandoit]

Hmm, I think you are embarking on a wonderful experience! Welcome to the horse world! What fun you are going to have. There will be a lot of different answers for all these issues, everyone will have something to put in.
First, the pawing is a sign of impatience, she doesn't want to be tied up. Often what works is gently tapping their leg as soon as they do it, and then ceasing as soon as they do. Making it uncomfortable for them when they are doing something undesirable, then making it comfortable when they are doing the right thing.
When she pulls on the wood, is it wind sucking? Is she sucking in wind at the same time? This is a 'vice' that many stabled horses pick up, and recently they have discovered that horses that do that actually have stomach ulcers and are drawing in wind to relieve pain. So now it is debatable weather to stop this practice. Someone might have more on this.
good luck with everything, have you got an unstructure or trainer?

[Swallow]

Wonderful experience, yes!
I will try that leg tapping, see if it makes any difference. Also, I never checked for sucking wind, but I will see if I can tell. The habit doesn't really cause any trouble, it was just that I had heard that they can damage their necks through the constant tensing. She did seem to pick it up during the time that she was stabled, so hopefully that means she hasn't got anything ulcer like :)
I haven't actually got an instructor/trainer- I had riding lessons about eight years ago, but that faded into the background for a while. The owner of the horse is the farmer of the land and he bought the horse to let his grandchildren ride- and me and my sister and brother. He was a rider as a boy, but thats even longer ago than my eight years! Most of the horse care falls to me- there are 11 horses living on the farm altogether, and all but this one are breeding horses (sent out to graze by horse breeders)- just because I have a bit of a natural feel for farming/animal rearing etc.

Thanks for your help though :)

[JOJOBA]

My horse scratches when you leave him tied up. It's usually because he's asking for something. He still raises his foreleg when he wants something (like foals ask for milk by raising a foreleg). We thought it was ok and didnt bother to discourage it until he started raising his leg in his stable when he saw his dinner coming - and kicked through his stable wall! So depends when your horse is doing it.
He soon found out that the raised leg made even more impact when it was dragged repetitively across the ground :rolleyes: - so he started scraping.
He also does it if he wants to get put away for a wee :p, or if he thinks you should be with him.
He does respond to being told off, although usually it goes;
scrape-scrape-scrape-scrape-scrape-
'HECTOR!!'
**silence**
...
...
scrape.
scrape.
scrape-scrape-scrape-scrape...... etc
He just likes to be defiant :p
xxx

[Swallow]

Sounds like a sweet horse you've got there Jojoba :) I will see how it goes tomorrow with my naughty one! I usually tie her up outside, unless it rains and then we dash for the stable! Shes never tied up on a gate or by a stable door, I was just wondering if she was trying to tell me something by doing it.


(By the way Jojoba, I lived in Sheffield a couple of years ago- they've got great theatre there!!- don't think I ever met Hector though!)

[JOJOBA]

Perhaps you did, perhaps not. :p It would be strange if you had. Yes he is sweet. :) xxx