Hi,
a friend on my yard has a horse who she bought a few months ago. she is having real trouble with her.
initially i dont think she was as bad but we had two new horses in the field about 5 weeks ago and she quickly bonded with one of them, then according to her owner her aggression started (although i think i remember her being generally 'nasty' (ears back, nipping) on numerous occassions towards her owner in the field before that).
Anyway it had got very dangerous, as soon as the girl goes in the field to catch her, the horse bites and tries to kick her and chases her out of the field. she doesnt appear to do it as much if i or another lady catch her (she will still have ears back but will move away rather than attack). i suppose the main difference is that me and the other lady are both into natural horsemanship (parelli mainly), so i suppose we approach her in a different way/feeling and shes not used to us catching her to then bring her in to ride her.
theres a couple of other things happening here i think - the horse used to be worked alot by the previous owner, now she is brought into be ridden pretty much everyday but doing the same old thing in the school for not very long - so is she bored? or was overworked before and is now enjoying resting in the field and therefore doesnt want to be caught?
about 2 weeks ago the owner decided to remove her out of the field and put her in a tiny paddock (with absolutely NO grass in it), true enough she was no longer nasty and came to her owner but to be fair she must have been starving so thats no suprise!
she is now back in the field as she kept escaping from the paddock. she was accepted into the herd again quickly but i would say she doesnt seem settled. i noticed this morning that she was trying to control/dominate the horse she had bonded with and the gelding, i guess this is just establishing heirachy again. she seems to walk around constantly with ears back and always seems in a mood. she doesnt do this with my horse cos my horse is boss.
anyway i was after some advice that i can give to her owner. i have told the owner to practise 'catching' her but in the way we do it - approach her, if she bites/kicks shoo her away, then approach again and move away when you have her (nice) attention. keep doing this until she accepts you. then when shes nice, leave her and dont bring her in. do you think this is right? it seems to work for me when i catch her.
i also think the owner is very nervous (i suppose i would be if my horse was attacking me all the time) and 'soft' (as in she allows herself to be bullied by the horse), but i think it has got to the stage where her owner has to change the way she is with the horse. luckily the owner is happy to talk about things and she let me do some parelli with the horse, but it really needs to come from the owner.
the horse is ok being ridden, a bit stroppy though - but to be honest i think better behaved when ridden by someone else.
also the horse refuses to walk out of the gate/into the stable with the owner, but with some simple pressure/release then she follows me almost immediately. she is generally quite 'moody' when being tacked up/handled/groomed in stable (but has now had chiropractor/shiatsu recently).
sorry, that was along message - its been playing on mind mind abit as im quite concerned for the owner/interested in understanding the horses issues!
thanks!
a friend on my yard has a horse who she bought a few months ago. she is having real trouble with her.
initially i dont think she was as bad but we had two new horses in the field about 5 weeks ago and she quickly bonded with one of them, then according to her owner her aggression started (although i think i remember her being generally 'nasty' (ears back, nipping) on numerous occassions towards her owner in the field before that).
Anyway it had got very dangerous, as soon as the girl goes in the field to catch her, the horse bites and tries to kick her and chases her out of the field. she doesnt appear to do it as much if i or another lady catch her (she will still have ears back but will move away rather than attack). i suppose the main difference is that me and the other lady are both into natural horsemanship (parelli mainly), so i suppose we approach her in a different way/feeling and shes not used to us catching her to then bring her in to ride her.
theres a couple of other things happening here i think - the horse used to be worked alot by the previous owner, now she is brought into be ridden pretty much everyday but doing the same old thing in the school for not very long - so is she bored? or was overworked before and is now enjoying resting in the field and therefore doesnt want to be caught?
about 2 weeks ago the owner decided to remove her out of the field and put her in a tiny paddock (with absolutely NO grass in it), true enough she was no longer nasty and came to her owner but to be fair she must have been starving so thats no suprise!
she is now back in the field as she kept escaping from the paddock. she was accepted into the herd again quickly but i would say she doesnt seem settled. i noticed this morning that she was trying to control/dominate the horse she had bonded with and the gelding, i guess this is just establishing heirachy again. she seems to walk around constantly with ears back and always seems in a mood. she doesnt do this with my horse cos my horse is boss.
anyway i was after some advice that i can give to her owner. i have told the owner to practise 'catching' her but in the way we do it - approach her, if she bites/kicks shoo her away, then approach again and move away when you have her (nice) attention. keep doing this until she accepts you. then when shes nice, leave her and dont bring her in. do you think this is right? it seems to work for me when i catch her.
i also think the owner is very nervous (i suppose i would be if my horse was attacking me all the time) and 'soft' (as in she allows herself to be bullied by the horse), but i think it has got to the stage where her owner has to change the way she is with the horse. luckily the owner is happy to talk about things and she let me do some parelli with the horse, but it really needs to come from the owner.
the horse is ok being ridden, a bit stroppy though - but to be honest i think better behaved when ridden by someone else.
also the horse refuses to walk out of the gate/into the stable with the owner, but with some simple pressure/release then she follows me almost immediately. she is generally quite 'moody' when being tacked up/handled/groomed in stable (but has now had chiropractor/shiatsu recently).
sorry, that was along message - its been playing on mind mind abit as im quite concerned for the owner/interested in understanding the horses issues!
thanks!