Advice please! Gain more respect from my horse?

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Emmax

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Hiya,
my new horse is getting rather a handful lately with her manners. She is extremely greedy and would trample me just to get to some food and yanks me to get the long grass on the way to the field. Also she rubs her head against me, and I am lead to believe that this is disrespectful? For example when she stands in her stable and I bring her hay net in to tie up, she tries to eat it as I tie it up which I can't do while she pulls at it. I push her away but she comes back every time not learning anything I repeat this around 10 times but still barges me to get to the hay net. In the end I just take her outside to do it.
I'm no professional, but surely she should be a bit more responsive? What else can I do to gain more respect from her?
Thanks so much
 
Basic groundwork is they key!

Have a schooling whip with you, and lead her in a bridle or dually headcollar if a normal headcollar is not enough. Work on simple movements like 'stand', 'back', 'over' and 'walk on'. You need to use an ascending scale of pressure for a disrespectful horse. Ask her to halt using voice aid and light pressure on the bridle/headcollar, if she doesn't respond immediately, tap on the chest with the whip. Same applies for the other movements. It's worth doing some transitions in hand (trot to halt etc) to get her listening, same as you would under saddle. Also try and do these around the yard, on tracks etc and not just in the arena, most horses are more attentive in the arena anyway as there is less going on/no grass to make a rush for. Don't get angry, they don't realise they're being disrespectful, they just don't know any better!

Mine doesn't have haynets, but can you just tie her up at the other side of the stable while you tie it?
 
Pigeon said:
Basic groundwork is they key!

Have a schooling whip with you, and lead her in a bridle or dually headcollar if a normal headcollar is not enough. Work on simple movements like 'stand', 'back', 'over' and 'walk on'. You need to use an ascending scale of pressure for a disrespectful horse. Ask her to halt using voice aid and light pressure on the bridle/headcollar, if she doesn't respond immediately, tap on the chest with the whip. Same applies for the other movements. It's worth doing some transitions in hand (trot to halt etc) to get her listening, same as you would under saddle. Also try and do these around the yard, on tracks etc and not just in the arena, most horses are more attentive in the arena anyway as there is less going on/no grass to make a rush for. Don't get angry, they don't realise they're being disrespectful, they just don't know any better!

Mine doesn't have haynets, but can you just tie her up at the other side of the stable while you tie it?
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Excellent advice re leading. Your horse will only do what you allow it to do, use your voice and body language to let her know what you expect. But you also need to make it easy for her to do the right thing, so don't take the haynet through the stable while she is there, get the stable ready while she is outside -preferably before you bring her up from the field. Remember to give praise and reward when the horse does what you ask.
 
There is an excellent exercise used by Mark Rashid - to begin with you need to do it as an exercise, and then do it whenever you are leading.
Think of what you regard as your personal space - for me it is as far as I can reach with outstretched arms. It needs to be consistent because your horse is going to learn not to invade it, and she needs to know where it is.
Lead her around from in front, and have the loose end of the lead rope between your two hands. Whenever you feel her getting into your "bubble" turn and face her with the rope outstretched as a barrier. If she is too close, move her back, firmly but quietly, until she is outside your boundary. Three or four times at most and she will learn not to come too close, then you will just need to top it up from time to time when you are leading - consistency is the key, you can't allow her to invade sometimes and not at others. You can give a face rub - but YOU go to HER. It is very very effective (I have used it on numerous ignorant rescues we have had here) and low key, so it doesn't provoke a response, and every horse I have ever used it on has changed into a respectful follower but one who trusts you and isn't scared enough to feel the need for self defence.
As a side effect she will know how to back up on cue - ask her to do that every time before you enter her stable, whether it is with food or haynet and she won't be able to mug you.
 
This is great thank you! �� Any tips for getting her to concentrate a little more aside from holding treats out for her all the time? She does tend to loose interest quite quickly?
 
Thanks for your help, i often tie it up before she comes to her stable, but it's just sometimes when I don't have much time that this happens and it takes me a long time just to tie a hay net up when she's pulling about at it. I am defiantly going to teach her some ground work! :)
 
I would advise getting some lessons in basic handling from an instructor. A rude horse can become dangerous and is certainly no pleasure to own.
 
Why do you give her treats? I detest bad mannered horses and they are unfortunately usually the ones that the owners give treats to. My horses get a handful of grass (or occasionally a mint if someone has given me some) when they have come out of the ring at a show, but aside from that I never give my horses food reward. The bottom line is that your horse needs discipline and routine. I would start by tying her up if you are hanging her haynet, in fact tie her up for everything you need to do so she isn't able to be 'in your face'.
 
Some great advice here and I would agree that some help from an instructor experienced in groundwork would be invaluable. For me the most important parts of training are observation and good timing - knowing exactly when to release pressure/apply more/reward/etc and having someone more knowledgeable who can demonstrate and then watch to make sure you're doing these things correctly will make everything much quicker and easier for both of you. It's interesting that you note she loses interest quite quickly as I find this often happens when a horse is not being given clear signals and so 'switches off' and loses focus on the handler.
 
Emmax said:
This is great thank you! 😃 Any tips for getting her to concentrate a little more aside from holding treats out for her all the time? She does tend to loose interest quite quickly?
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Don't give her treats, will make her worse!! If you are constantly asking things of her, she has to pay attention. Every few strides, ask her for a transition, walk to trot, trot to halt, halt to trot, trot to walk and so on and so on, or ask her to turn or yield away from you. That means she has to listen to you. If she starts to get too forward, make her stand and back up.
 
Can't comment on all of it but re head rubbing I've found was an easy one to discourage and set the golden line and thats a push/poke from a finger or elbow in the soft part of the nose (any overly sensitive types reading I'm not advocating skewering or serving a Chuck Norris styled beat down here). Scale accordingly so if you see the motion of the head start to come towards you don't just poke all guns blazing, just a firm push away the head with the palm of your hand or knuckles (just be forceful enough so it doesn't become "a game" or battle of wills - quality over quantity I guess). I'll always approach my beast and give him a rub or scratch on the nose when I'm ready to engage contact, not the other way round. Reading what the head is coming over for though I find is important - mine will stick his head over for a sniff and thats the end of the conversation which I feel is fine as there's seemingly nothing more than that behind it; but if it's "I want to use you as a scratching post" then that's not acceptable behavior to me and on the now very odd occasion he looks to consider it he's "blocked".

I don't like treats either - mine will have the odd mint but it's not a reward or following "an action" to be interpreted as a reward so I'd avoid them personally.

Will re-iterate that this is just what has worked for me so as others have said an instructor would give you clearer pointers; important bit regardless of what you're taught or find works is/was to remain consistent and do so as close to the event as possible - left too long (+2 or 3 seconds) and you'll probably just become "the bad guy who keeps poking me in the nose".
 
I tend to use treats as a last resort to gain her attention, but only to get her attention, only to give her when she has done good. I guess I worded the last comment slightly wrong :)
 
Agree with what others have said, basically just go back to basics but what I'd add is make sure you ALWAYS keep on top of the manners. Never let her off once with being slightly in your face or being rude - decide on the boundaries now and stick to them at all times. I had a Welsh D who was very pushy when I got him as a 3yo and although I managed to get him far far better (with a lot of work), I had to be very careful to never ever give him an inch as he would then take a mile!
 
It's worth getting a decent book and/or a lesson or two on the subject. You need to have a consistent system for working with the horse and clear expectations, which is quite hard to get from random advice here or there (usually from people who have a system but are so familiar with it they don't even notice and so don't think to tell you all sorts of essential pieces of information) on specific incidents. It also depends a bit on the individual horse and the situation. I could say "give her a pop with the end of the rope if she does x" but they yesterday I saw someone do just that and the horse struck her in the chest. Obviously, in the moment, it would have been easy to see what precautions needed taking but would be impossible from a description.
 
TarrSteps said:
It's worth getting a decent book and/or a lesson or two on the subject. You need to have a consistent system for working with the horse and clear expectations, which is quite hard to get from random advice here or there (usually from people who have a system but are so familiar with it they don't even notice and so don't think to tell you all sorts of essential pieces of information) on specific incidents. It also depends a bit on the individual horse and the situation. I could say "give her a pop with the end of the rope if she does x" but they yesterday I saw someone do just that and the horse struck her in the chest. Obviously, in the moment, it would have been easy to see what precautions needed taking but would be impossible from a description.
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Great advice - reading a horse is a really important skill and you need to temper or escalate what you are doing accordingly. That's why I worry about the people who advise whips etc - it is too easy for someone without that experience and ability to read the situation to either go over the top or not have the timing to do it with effect.
 
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