what do I do if....

[bobbo]

As some of you know, I ride a horse in return for some mucking out of the field and the occasional feeding duties etc etc. I am very lucky I know, but here is my dilemma -

the field that I muck out has two other horses in. One is a retired hunter who is mostly not that interested in me or my wheelbarrow!! One is a younger horse who hasn't been ridden yet and is much more mischievous. She tries to tip up my barrow and she is pretty big to be arguing with! Her owner told me that last year she went through a stage of charging at people which resulted in several of them jumping the electric fence to get out of harms way. She's never done this with me yet but she unnerves me. I can't push her away as she is pretty stubborn and sometimes I just think she knows that she scares me a bit.

A week or so ago I tried to put on her head collar (which she is used to) but couldn't get near her, eventually I got it halfway on and she went up on her hind legs (needless to say I was outta there!!)

recommendations anyone!!

 

[kaykell7]

my foal used to this and i used to carry i whip with me and when they would not back up when asked he had a gentle hit with the whip to encourage him to back up he sooo learnt he was allowed to play when i was in the field so long as he kept his distance. i know this might be hard as it is not your horse but they can be dangerous(mine certainly was) when they have a fasination with the wheelbarrow and the people mucking out the field

 

[Aly]

I agree, your safety must come first, and "pushing" the young horse away is only going to encourage him to play more.

Carry a whip and use it if you have to. I guarantee he will quickly learn to keep a distance from you when playing. Don't make him frightened of you, just respectful.

Goodluck! Aly

 

[Glenda]

Um, although I agree that your safety comes first I don't like the idea of whips. I think, although this may sound kind of stupid, maybe unstead of hitting the horse you could befriend it. If you hit a horse it will only fear you not respect you, if you befriend a horse it will respect you and love you forever.
Glenda.

 

[Aly]

ok I agree that you have to be friends with your horse, but I disagree that one should never use a whip. A horse MUST respect you in order to consider you "the boss", when the horse considers you to be his boss he will be safe, behave well and ultimately be a pleasure for you or others to own. If you pussyfoot too much around a horse, he quickly comes to realise that he can dominate or boss you. When this happens it can be extremely dangerous for you or others. Using a whip doesn't mean that you have to be cruel, mean or nasty, it is just a method of teaching your horse to understand what is right and wrong behavour. Perhaps I should have gone into more detail and said that you should tell the horse off verbally before flicking the whip at him, that way he will learn that if he doesnt respond to your voice, then the whip will follow, and he will learn to act prior to using the whip.

Unfortunately a few people seen to be using a whip have led to others believing it is cruel, however as with anything, if used in the correct hands it is a training tool rather than an instrument of torture.

Cheers! Aly

 

[Katie_85]

Glenda, as I've read you are just starting out on your "equestrian quest" I guess you could put it. There's a lot to learn, but one of the key things you need to learn is that horses, being herd animals, need to know where in the heirarchy they rank. Especially with humans. If a human lets a horse decide that he is in the alpha position, things get dangerous very quickly. It is one thing to befriend a horse, and another thing to let it pish you around. Young horses especially don't always know where the boundaries are and they need to be taught. You wouldn't let a puppy bite you, even in play. To do that would give it the idea that it is okay to bit humans and when that puppy is grown, the bite will be much more dangerous. It's essentially the same concept with horses.