HorseChannel.com Message Board / HorseChannel.com Forums / Equine Behavior

How can i make this stop?

Equitate — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:30:08 GMT

I recently bought an AMAZING appendix QH. His only vice was that when hes cross tied, he'll stand until he feels resistance, freak out, brake the cross ties, and leave the barn. He stands for you perfectly fine, but he sometimes backs up a few steps, then when he feels resistance, he freaks out. He does the same thing if i tie him in his stall.

I really like this horse, and i would really like to fix this flaw, any methods of training that might help?

Lunging troubles

horsegirl94 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:14:26 GMT

Hi!

I own a 3 yr. old gelding..................He's a very sweet boy except when i go to lunge him. When i point the lunge whip towards his hips to make him go, he swings around to face me with his ears back....He used to lunge great until one day he started this new habit.....Hope you guys can give me some tips to help him lunge good again.

thanks

Agressive Gelding

jen_23 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:07:18 GMT

Shine, he's a 6yrs old Breeding stock paint, and I donno what his problem is. Recently he has become really agressive towards other horses in the pasture. It could be any mare, except our lead mare (Rainy) and he's even mean towards our pony (Max). I donno what is causing this behavior. My trainer and me are deciding to seperate him and put him with two mares, Diamond and Stormy because they'd be able to teach him a lesson. I have no clue why he is doing this to the horses. He has never been really agressive towards other horses before, I mean he's usually in the "top of the herd ", but we're kinda stunned. when we recently brought back two other horses who were at a friends, he repeatly beaten up on this gelding Disco, when Disco went by any of the mares Shine would attack him and did not stop. Finnally we seperated and put Disco into another pasture. Does anyone have any advice on what to do with an agressive gelding? He's not like this towards people, I have no clue. He's a sweetheart and he's really gentle , I've owned him for 2 years now and he's never been liek this. Is the sepeartion techquie work, or does anyone have any other advice on what do to with him? Please any advice I would greatly appericate it! Thanks

Evil pony...

ponylover — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:27:42 GMT

So my 4 year old pony keeps shaking his head when ever i trot him while im leading him some where... why do i trot him? i like to get to places faster...heh heh. so he shakes his head trying to be dominant how could i stop that because hes constantly doing it and i find it annoying, i dont do shaking the rope at him or slapping and i really would like some non-violent and non- parelli information, thanx!

Teaching An Ex-Racer To Lunge

jubilee2010 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:18:34 GMT

**UPDATE**

**********

So i just purchased an ex-racer and we are teaching them how to lunge. When he lunges he just goes to the left. (the "racehorse" way). Even that way he turns and faces you and doesn't want to go.

BUT...he wont even go to the right. I havn't pushed it yet. The barn owner is going to help me but hasn't gotten around to it yet.

ALSO...when he goes left. the last time i was lunging him he tried to attack the lunge whip after about 20 or 30 minutes. I have NEVER hit him with it. I only use it to tap the ground behind him. I dont even snap it, i hold on to the tail end.

Any tips?

wierd horse names

mandy3 — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:54:59 GMT

Don't you think that some horses have the wierdest names? One of our horses has a regirtered name of Shake It On Up. How do u get a cool nickname out of that? lol :)

Why is she stumbling on purpose??

horsemadness — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:20:08 GMT

i am 13 yrs old i have a quarter horse breeze and she is awesome nut we havent ridin her in awhile and i tried last friday when it wasnt wet and she was fine except when i tried to trot she stumbled but when you watch her she like kicks her back feet double times to make it where it feels like she is stumbling i need help and when i try to walk her sometinmes she will stop and stumble before she walks and it scares my grandpa to death. my horse lives with my grandparents in guthrie help me please

Horse Acting Up while Owner is Gone

CMHfarm — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:25:07 GMT

I'm the evening manager at a local stable. For the past two months, the owner has been training me to care for her horses while she's on vacation. Every day, her filly has been absolutely perfect. She's let me halter her, lead her and has done exactly as she's asked. Until the day the owner left! She won't let me put her halter on. She won't let me lead her out of her stall after feeding. She just won't move. She's started pawing at the ground and pinning her ears when I approach to lead her out.

I'm guessing it's a respect issue. She KNOWS I'm not her owner, but I have also been working with her almost daily for two months. NOW that the owner is gone, she's misbehaving.

Any suggestions?

HELP!!! what can i do??

saddleclubgirl123 — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:44:02 GMT

he is an arabian/quarter horse he is 23 he has been falling in lessons for riders so his days are coming to an end He was my first horse show buddy we took care of each other. i love this other pony i can ride after but it will be hard to let him go. What can i do?

BEST FRIENDS BEING SEpERATED

horsemadness — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:55:32 GMT

i am a 13 yr old girl and my quatrer horse breeze is to. she is bffs with my palamino sparkles. sparkles went lame after the 2 weeks we had her and we cant ride her without her limping real bad with pain. but when i ride breeze away of her sight they freak out and buck rear bolt and she has had some injuryies withy the fence. we are going to sell sparkles in an auction soon and we r worried about what breeze will do when she has left. when we ut sparkles in a different field breeze has a metal stall sorta thing where we close it so they wont eat eachothers food she made it looked deformed and broke it im afarid of riding her when we sell sparkles wat should i do HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A philosophical question about horse depression

kate4148 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:08:24 GMT

My horse is 26 and up until now has always acted like a young goofball. I've had her for 18 years.

Recently she had her first abscess in her hoof and was violently lame. I followed my vet's advice and treated it the way you would typically treat an abscess. After five days of soaking and Epsom salts and headaches, she appeared to be recovered even though we never saw the abscess come out. On the tenth day with still no change, both my vet and my farrier recommended that I stop treatment; we all assumed it had resolved itself.

Although the abscess does appear to have resolved itself, Gazelle is still acting different. There is still some residual soreness that is working itself out from the abscess, but to me that seems logical. She is flatfooted and her shoe was off for over a week--she has to walk over a short distance of gravel to get to the arena. The tenderness is most apparent when she walks across the gravel, and is improving daily.

She stands in the aisle normally, allows you to pick her other feet she will stand normally on the "bad" foot. When picking out the foot that had the abscess and poking around, she does not flinch.

When in the arena (after getting across the gravel), she is not lame. She is getting lunged regularly, and she walk/trot/canters with normal-appearing gait and freedom of movement. She even spooks normally, and sprints away bucking sometimes.

She is eating normally, which for her is always the first red flag (if she doesn't eat there is something really wrong). There have been no changes to her environment or turnout routine; the only change is she is getting worked more frequently (due to the abscess and wanting to keep bloodflow to the area).

But she's just . . . not right. Normally when she's outside, she's the troublemaker that everyone hates. She squeals and is perpetually in heat. But now she's . . . mellow.

The mellowness is what is so odd to me; it's like she's "not in the mood." Until recently, she's always been up for anything and rarin' to go. And it makes me wonder: sometimes humans go through inexplicable bouts of just "not feeling like it." And there's nothing wrong, nothing you can do. Sometimes there's more to the story, but for a lot of us we eventually just snap out of it.

So my question is: Is it the same with horses? Can a horse go through an inexplicable bout of the blues and come out on their own? Or is there always a physiological explanation?

Since I've already consulted my vet, I guess I'm just looking for opinions.

How do I correct what I consider bad behavior?

keithmkd — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:25:05 GMT

I am riding a 17.2 hands tall horse. He has some issues that I have been trying to fix but I am not having any luck. I have had him broke for about seven months and he is three years old. After I have been riding him for a while and I get off for something and try to get back home he will stand on three legs. Or he will stand with his weight on the wrong feet so when I get on him he almost falls. Another issue that is driving me crazy is that if I need him to stand still for a period of time most of the time he will but then all of a sudden he will take off. When this happens I can not just pull back on the reins and tell him woah. I end up have to pull his head all the way back to my boot in order to get him to stop. These are constant issues I am having. Any suggestion would be helpful...

Depressed horse

honeygrl — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:13:21 GMT

My mare and my nabor's gelding use to have a good relationship with each other. They use to neigh back and forth and watch each other constantly. Now the gelding was either sold or passed away (he was very old), and my mare is very depressed. She keeps looking for him nonstop and just overall not acting like her usuall self. I feel so bad for her because I do not know how to make her feel any better, and I can't bring in another horse becuase I do not have the room or the money. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can cheer my horse up and get her back to normal? Thanks in advance.

Kicking the stall before/while he eats

mybeamerboy — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:43:46 GMT

My tb gelding kicks his stall wall while I'm getting his food ready (watering it down, etc.) How can I stop this? He hasn't kicked the wall in or anything like that but I really don't like that habit.

Thanks!

Cross-Cantering

3horses3 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:17:14 GMT

My mare has always had an issue with Cross cantering, but she got out of it for a while till now. While I am lunging her in the round pen she even cross canters. When I'm practicing barrels she cross canters. I know how to get her to stop, but then she just does it again. I hate to yell at her and snap the whip again to make her stop cross firing in the round pen, cause it scares her.

Do you think it could be her back or her legs? I want to get the vet out, because she was a little swollen on her left hind leg too a while back.

What do you think?

A Biting Horse

countrygirl34 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:46:42 GMT

My son has an 19 yr old sorrel gelding. and we have been using him for playdays and roping practice. we have had him for over a year now and during the last month he has started biting at the kids ( 15 & 13). and now it is at adults. He rears up and charges at you. He does crib in stalls and is hard to get out of the sta;s. he will kick at you and come after you.

i dont want to have to put him down he is a good one usually..

any suggestions?

horse walking away

cdrake — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:06:28 GMT

I have a half quarter half draft mare, who is stubborn and will walk and pull on her lead away from me to where I have to let go or she will pull my arm out. She then got her way, what can I do to get her to stop.

Tongue

canny11 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:47:41 GMT

my horse luvs 2 stik her tongue out the left side of her mouth. we hav decided that shes just happy. she does it when we give her a carrot, groom her, or ride her. shes a very happy horse most of the time. we just dont no why she stiks her tongue out. her dam did that 2.

(u can see her tongue in the pic of the flea-bitten gray thoroughbred at the bottom)

catching horses from feilds

HorseyPerson — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:44:44 GMT

OK so there is this one school horse at my barn who is a devil in the feild. when i have to catch him he will some times just pin his ears at u but other times he will wheel, turn his butt towards u or galop down to the very farthest corner of the feild(and it is a BIG feild). he makes me nervous because he is so unpredictable, and i think he can tell. i have tried treats but usualy he just snatches them and runs away.

i'm looking for a safe and reliable way to catch him, if u have any ideas, please let me know!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS

Oh and by the way i cant work on him every day because im only at the barn a few times a week.

Help with lunging.

jubilee2010 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:12:43 GMT

My horse is an absolute baby. He is the sweetest horse you will ever meet. He loves people and he loves ALL the horses (even if they dont like him).

He is a recently retired racer. Hunter is a 16.3hh grey thoroughbred of 6 years.

I have been working on lunging him and this was a major problem but it has gotten better.

Ok. So when i lunge him he will be going around but it used to be if i snapped the whip at him or pointed it at him he would jump at the whip (i think the whip) and try to bite it. It has gotten much better and he hadn't been doing it for a while. But just yesterday i was lunging him outside (for one of the first times) and going his good way (to the left) he was perfect. He listened to my voice commands and everything. But going his bad way (to the right) he would just stare at me and when he actually started going he wouldn't go more than a trot (sometimes) then when i told him to go faster and flicked the whip he would either stop and stare or lunge at me (or the whip). He would also do this when i was asking him to move from a standstill.

What should i do to try and stop this? Is there any methods that seem to work because mine dont. And will this carry over to riding? because im going to start getting on soon.

I was thinking that maybe it was because he was outside and he gets nervous. He really likes to be by me and i think he mighta gotten upset that i keep sending him away. He is always sweet but when i send him away he gets a confused and upset look on his face and it makes him mad.

He doesn't dislike me or anyting. When i let him go in the arena he will follow me around like a dog.

What should i do?

Sorry its so long.

"Training" a weanling

sillybunny11486 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:19:22 GMT

Not quite sure were to put this topic. I was just wondering what everyone does with their young horses ground training wise.

My baby is about 6 months right now, I was just tring to get an idea of more things I can do with him. Of course Im not talking about lunging or anything like that. Ive put towles on his back, given him sponge baths (he hates the feel of a spaying hose on his skin still), let him meet things like umbrellas. This is my first baby, ive partially despooked horses but never this intensive. I was thinking about bridling him soon, since i want to try some halter classes next spring, but then ill have to buy a bunch of bits as he grows. So what kind of introduction/despooking things do you do with your young horse(s)?

Race Horses getting used to turnout

sillybunny11486 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:46:35 GMT

Im picking up a horse my friend has been given from her neighbor. He always offers her his track horses for free, if they arent fast enough or whatever. Im getting her tomorrow. Shes going to be living in a three stall barn w/ 2 horses, sheep, goats and llamas. Shes been at the track barn for quite some time. Shes had about 2-3 nites of turnout since shes been home (i guess she got back last week.) She was ok for nite turnout. She will be living outside 24/7 (with shelter) in a 2 acres or 5 acre pasture. Im guess shes been at the track since she was broke, shes now about 5-6. I also am going to talk to my friend about limiting her grass for now (so she dosent founder.)

Should we slowly introduce her to living outside or just stick her out there?

Odd fake-spooky behavior...anyone seen this before?

JLB11 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:46:35 GMT

Help! What is this horse doing?! It's a rather long story but with the background story maybe someone can help me figure this horse out.

Recently, my boyfriend Nick decided to take up riding. I was ecstatic. He even loves the smell of horse on me now (a keeper, right??). I said I would gladly teach him, and the stable manager even essentially gave him a large Missouri Fox Trotter that belongs to the stables to learn on (the large part is necessary, as Nick is a rugby player of 6'3" and 220 lbs). He had been borrowing the trail horses the barn rents out, who not surprisingly were a little shocked and less than pleased that someone was trying to legitimately ride and control them. I thought this would be a great deal. The manager told us that he loved this horse, and had done everything on him from trail rides to parades to lessons, but said some people hated him. He mentioned he was a very forward horse, and I attributed the dislike to that. I know many beginners dislike forward horses since it makes them feel less in control, but I'd seen Nick on another forward horse where he had done wonderfully, so after telling him a few things he could probably expect from this horse, I knew that wouldn't bother him.

Nick had been wanting to ride this horse since he met him about a month before he began riding him. He is kept in the same pasture where mine is, so every time I got my horse, Nick played with this horse. Through this I learned a bit about his personality: He is by far the dominant horse. Nick calls him Moses because he parts the other horses when he's near. He's very curious, even pushy. He's sort of like a dog in that he has to smell EVERYTHING. Occasionally if that's you he might nose you a bit roughly, but never bite. He's never pinned his ears to a human that I've seen. Rude, but not horrible either. He is very figety and moves around a lot when tied/tacked. He always has to see what you're doing and nose everything in reach. I also think he's very clever. He loves to try and chew on the tied lead rope when he thinks we're not looking, but it's usually the end of the rope. I think he understands that if he can just figure this rope thing out he can free himself. He tries to pull you along when walking, but responds well to voice and can be very good.

The first time Nick rode him I was dismayed at his lack of ground manners and hoped it wouldn't carry over under saddle. I didn't want to have to tell Nick we had to go back to borrowing trail horses because this one was too advanced for him. I was very pleased when he seemed relaxed and responsive in the arena, and he wasn't even very forward. He was definitely more interested in things going on outside the arena than you want to see in a school horse, but he also behaved well at first. It was early evening and there is tall undergrowth on one side of the arena. About the same time I saw the deer jump up, their heads barely sticking above the brush, so did the horse. Crap, I thought, here comes Nick's first fall. He spooked like I would expect any horse to, by jumping slightly and taking off. Nick quickly got control of him, and 5 sec later the horse seemed fine at a relaxed walk. I had Nick take him to the opposite end and calm himself and the horse down while we waited for the deer to leave. When they did we resumed walking in simple patterns and a small bit of trotting. He behaved well about 90% of this time, but then began spooking again, at seemingly nothing. Once he clipped his front leg with his back hoof. Once a horse whinnied. Once I had no idea what set him off. I had Nick keep himself and the horse as calm as possible but was confused. Between spooks, he seemed fine. He kept a nice calm pace, his tail wasn't clenched, his ears were relaxed, he wasn't looking around, and then he'd "spook" without warning. Finally we gave it up, chalking it up to not having been ridden in a while, the time of day since the deer were out, and the deer just put him on edge, and I'm sure Nick never fully relaxed since that was his first experience with spooking, and maybe the horse was very aware of that and it made him more nervous.

Since then he's ridden him three more times with the exact same results. He'll seem great, then "spook" at absolutely nothing, though occasionally a small sound will do it as well, then be calm and collected, then be very forward, then calm down, then spook again. I don't know what to make of it.

As a lifelong rider with a lot of experience in schooling barns, I've seen the range of odd horsey behavior, and have become pretty adept at knowing why horses do certain things and how to react to it. I've seen horses test riders in all sorts of ways, but never like this. I wondered if that was the case though and had Nick be sure he wasn't letting him get away with anything by "spooking", so if he was trotting when it happened don't let him go back to walking, don't let him stay off the rail, things like that. But these episodes don't happen when he asks him to do something, they happen at seemingly random times. I also can't get on him myself and see how he responds to a more experienced hand because I recently had hip surgery and can't ride for several months. Then I wondered if maybe Nick was too big for him after all. I roughly guess he's around 15.3, and I trust the barn manager, but maybe Nick's size was exacerbating a small back problem or something along those lines. However, I once rode a horse that had back problems we didn't know about until he began to misbehave, but he would buck me off, not spook at nothing. This horse doesn't try to dislodge Nick though, one of the reasons I've continued to let Nick ride him. Nick is athletic and has good balance, but any beginner could be quickly thrown by a horse that didn't want him on his back, which is what a horse in pain would want...

So, I'm at a loss. Is he just crazy? Is he actually very crafty and trying to not get ridden again? I'm going to talk to the barn manager about it when I see him, but he didn't mention anything like this when we talked to him before, so I'm led to believe this is new behavior. Nick is a little frustrated but still enjoying it a lot, even once talking about trying to buy him when we graduate (I quickly nixed that idea) and this is essentially our only option if he wants to continue to learn to ride, for the present anyway. I hate that at this early stage in Nick's development I've had to almost halt teaching him to just ride and instead teach him to maintain control of a misbehaving horse. Any ideas? Anyone seen this type of behavior before? Any advice? For the moment I just plan on continuing to do the best we can with him, maybe start lunging him before Nick gets on to release some excess energy, and other than that, hope the source of his behavior reveals itself or he magically stops doing it.

Help is greatly appreciated and I feel like you shoud get a reward just for making it ll the way through this novel. Thanks so much

crossing water and kicking

DONNA DUNAWAY — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:52:15 GMT

I HAVE A 4 YR OLD QH ,, THAT I RAISED FROM A NEW BORN ,, HE TO TAKE THE PLACE OF MY 24 YR OLD ,, I LOVE TRAIL RIDES ,, THE REPLACEMENT DOES GOOD ON THE TRAIL RIDES ,,BUT I CANT GET HIM TO CROSS CREEKS AND STREAMS WITHOUT HIM JUMPING IN THE AIR (10 MILES) TO CROSS.. ITS A DANGER TO THE PERSON IN FRONT OF ME.. WHAT METHOD CAN I USE TO BREAK THIS . SAFELY............................... ALSO HE HAS PICKED UP THE HABIT THAT IF DOESNT LIKE ANOTHER HORSE (he does this only when im riding him, he wont do it when im on the ground) THAT HE WILL BACK UP AND START TO KICK OUT AT THE OTHER HORSE .. ITS NOT A BUCK KICK ,, ITS A STRAIGHT OUT KICK .THAT IF HE HIT THE OTHER HORSE ,THAT IT WILL CAUSE DAMAGE.. SOMEBODY TOLD ME MAKE HIM BACK UP TO KEEP HIS BACK LEGS MOVING BUT HE IS BACKING UP WHILE HES KICKING

Karen Scholl Horsemanship for Women 3-day Clinics

Polojo34 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:18:56 GMT

Karen Scholl is an equine behaviorist and educator, offering DVD, equipment, clinics and courses throughout the U.S. Call 888-238-3447 or visit www.karenscholl.com for more information.

With over 15 years of teaching, Karen has emerged with her own teaching style designed to address three key areas many women are commonly challenged with horses; establishing leadership, building confidence, and gaining mutual trust.

When asked to describe her program, Karen responds, “My short answer is that I teach women that horses are NOT big puppy dogs, but without giving up our nature to nurture. To deepen our relationship with our horse, the key is in our ability to demonstrate ‘loving leadership’. This quality is what horses are naturally attracted to.”

Horse Claustrophobia

Fudge — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 18:37:48 GMT

I have a 14 year old BS paint gelding who will walk right into a trailer and walk out of a trailer calmly. The trouble is to get him to stand in the trailer because after he is in for a minute or two he becomes claustrophobic. He has tried to climb out the window in the manger of our two horse trailer. He also cannot be crossed tied. I had him at a trainer and he crossed tied him in the enclosed wash rack and five stiches in his head later we discovered he does not like to be cross tied. Does anyone know how to get a horse over this problem. I live where fires are possible and I would like to be able to get him into a trailer if there is a fire.

Moving away when I try to mount

equidae_fan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:47:34 GMT

This is a kind of embarrassing question to ask, seeing as it's so simple but I'm having a bit of trouble. Anyway, the horse that I ride tends to be a bit on the stubborn side, and whenever my trainer isn't with me when I mount, she always moves away from the mounting block. I'll be standing on the block, about to put my foot in the stirrup, when she just moves too far away or forwards so that I have to move the mounting block and try again. Eventually, someone usually comes and helps me, but it's embarrassing that I can't even get on Lucky!

I'm horribly passive and really need to get tougher when it comes to horses. One way to help my passiveness would be to make Lucky stand still for me while I mount. Any advice would be extremely appreciated. =)

opening doors

lady — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:18:10 GMT

My 6yr old gelding can grab a round door knob with his teeth and open it. We have a tiny run-in building for our horses. a gate on the front and a walk in man door on the side. when it rains we lock the horses in and my *Genius* opens the door and lets himself and the other 2 out...

Horse hates bit help!

paintlovermj — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:40:57 GMT

Hello All,

I am new to this form, and I need some advice.I bought a horse that when you bridle him hates to take the bit but will.Well when you get on him to ride him he is very light in the mouth and, is always shaking his head or poping his head up. I got the vet out to check his teeth everything is fine there so just wondering if you guys have ever had a horse to do this.i had a friend suggest using a bitless bridle but they are high hate to buy one and it not work. Thanks in advance for your help.

Horses in horrible condition

level0jumper — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:34:25 GMT

Hi, I really need some help.

My friend's aunt just started cleaning a lady's house and this lady has 2 paint horses. The lady has kindly asked my friend and I to exercise, clean and take care of them one day every other week.Apparently, these horses were last ridden about 5 years ago. But these two beautiful horses are in a bad home. They live in 10 acres of mud and poop with no grass, no barn and just a run in shelter. They hardly ever eat, almost totally neglected. They haven't gotten shoes in years, have cracked hooves in the front and some thrush in the back hooves, and are in no condition to be ridden. The lady doesn't seem to care, but has agreed to pay us for the money we spend on the horses.

My friend and I are devistated by the neglect. We are buying some grass seed and roping off a large part of the pattock to grow some grass for them to eat and buying a water bucket and some basic feed. We are going to try to help their hooves become better and ask my neighbor who was a farrier, for some help.

The horses seem very scared and frisky about our presence. They aren't friendly like most horses, because of their neglect. We don't know how to gain their trust.

So please, I need help to make these horses better and have them trust people again. Please help the two cute paints in a horrible world.

~level0jumper

i'm not sure how to dicipline school horses

HorseyPerson — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:21:02 GMT

at the barn that i take lessons at, some of the school horses are very mean and will try to bite/kick/charge/disrespect me. i am a working student so i have to get these horses from feilds, tack, groom, and feed them. i have been instructed not to hit or smack them or use a whip or crop. i'm not sure how to dicipline them because voice(which i have been told to use) usualy does not work. also, many other people handle them and it is hard to form a relationship with them because i'm only there a few times a week.

please help! i'm open to ideas!

What does you horse do to make you laugh

Horses4me — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:16:22 GMT

When Bubba gets bored and if he can he will lick my hand. For some reason it seems to calm him down as well

Catching my horse

Palomino10258 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:09:22 GMT

I'm having a real problem catching my horse out in the pasture. She is only two years old and I would like to start introducing her to the saddle. The problem is that when I go to catch her the other horses that she shares the pature with become wild and excited and start galloping and bucking. Then there is one horse that gets between me and my horse and kind've corrals her. The other horses do not belong to us. Any advice would be appreciated.

My mustang !!!

cowgirllookingforstableboy92 — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:26:22 GMT

My mustang wont run(i hate spurs dont suggest them) Ive only been the horse world for 3 yrs i started with a great qh (rip)i only sixteen and im the only horse person in my family and i dont know any one that has more experience than me ..so i got my mustang a year and a half ago shes been ride able a year this month she not really that bad compared to some horses that are 5 times her age . But i dont know what to do i stop giving her grain because too much energy and she bucks alot (shes rode 3 miles a day ) . She also doesnt want to leave the yard (she not barn sour) but when we do leave she walks really slowly shes not naturely a slow horse ive seen how she act while im gone but when im there shes like a old nag but when im gone she runs around her corral like a big speedy gonzaloes !!! im kinda wondering if shes scared for me like my first horse was .. im kinda clueless right now on whatr to do i would like some mature horsemen suggestions ill trry to get on here everyother day to check suggestions THANK YOU ALL !![:D]

Seperation

CrazyHorseGirl1773 — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:29:22 GMT

I had my first show yesterday, it was a disaster. In the show ring Chip totally freaked out, it was Showmanship, he kept pivoting in circles around me, and whinnying really loudly, he was so antsy, and he wouldn't stand still at all. Once we were out of the show ring he pretty much took off towards the trailer, then was fine when he was back with his pasture mates. So Angela (Chip's owner) and I think it was seperation anxiety, I'm going to work Chip in the front riding ring, where he can't see the other horses, to try to ween him off of them so he won't do this at future shows. We're going to take a small break from practicing Showmanship, just a week or so, because I think my head will explode if we don't.He freaked out in the stall too because he couldn't see Tuffy and Mrya. But the reason for this thread is just to hear your input, and if you guys have any advice on how to get him to stop doing this when he can't see the other horses.

Lazy Horse

Alex — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:35:21 GMT

My horse is lazy. When I give him the signal to trot he starts bucking. I've tried many different suggestions but he still bucks. If anyone has some advice (any at all) I would love to read and try it out. Thanks.

Alex

First time ever being shod.. how to go about it?

Allo — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:39:01 GMT

I just got off the phone with my farrier. He’s going to call me back this coming Sunday to set an appointment for either Monday or Tuesday to get both my 15 year old mare and my 3 year old gelding’s front hooves shod. I did talk to him, and he agreed that my gelding will probably benefit more with just front shoes instead of being shod all around since its his front hooves that give him slight problems on rocky areas and not his back and he agreed that my mare should be able to handle front shoes perfectly considering when I first got her we rode with just front shoes for a long while and she did fine.

Anyway, I’m not concerned with my mare, as she’s an old pro at shoeing... but my gelding has never been shod and the last time my farrier trimmed him was over a year ago (I’ve been doing his trimming and just having my farrier look at his hooves and instruct me on what to work on). I’ve been virtually the only person messing with his hooves. He’s perfect for me to trim and pick his hooves out... but I’ve never worked on getting him used to the sensations and vibrations that go along with shoeing.

My farrier asked me about this and when I told him that I hadn’t really worked with him a lot on the shoeing aspect of it, he told me to get a hammer or a big rock and start working with him with it... picking up his hooves and holding them up for a few long minutes and get him used to the tapping of the rock/hammer on his hoof. He also said to get one of my mares old shoes and a hammer and once he’s ok to tap his bare hoof with it, start tapping the hammer against the shoe.

What else can I do to make sure that my gelding behaves for shoeing? I adore my farrier (he’s the best one I’ve ever used, he’s funny, he gives training advice and will ride my horses to access their training, and he’s relatively cheap... according to him, it’ll be between $30 and $35 for front shoes per horse).

Obsessive Licking

livetoride — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:36:42 GMT

any time i go out to just pet our gelding give him a treat, bath, ride etc. he will not stop licking me!! if i walk away he will come after me and start chewing on my pants. its sweet but really nasty and he'll do it all day long if i let him and he gets this strange look when he does it....

kicking chains

dirtbiker13isme — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:09:34 GMT

we have a problem with one of our horses kicking (quite severly actualy) mostly when shes trying to get her food and when shes being fed. the barn manager purchased some kicking chains to put on her, but i have a question as to ware to put them.

theyre being put on her rear legs but do they go on the hind ankles right above the hoof? or above the knee?

also if u have any information on them or have used them what do u have to say about them?

if u dont no what they are ill explain what i know: theyre nylon straps that buckle together around the horses leg with cotton or some other cushion on the inside so the horse doesnt get rubbed or sores from it and it has a thin but long chain that just hangs down so when the horse kicks out she gets hit with the chain.

Delete me

bamber_0815 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:46:10 GMT

please delete