Angry horse

[Bonitta]

Hi
Recently got my first horse .. Irish cob, I e is her since the beginning of Feb, at first she loved me, followed Me round, rode her in the field, never had a problem getting her head collar on.. now she hates me, the only time she comes to me is if I have food, sometimes she will put her ears back, eyes wide and go to charge me.
She has got a skin condition and Hates Been messed with but I feel she really dislikes me.. it’s all on her terms, Any advice..
Started happening after I rode her for the 5th time up until them no issues with her .

 

[The Jokers Girl]

She sounds like she is in pain or frightened/worried. She is probably sore from the skin condition and associates you messing about with it as a negative experience and is being defensive. It's also possible your tack is not correctly fitting and is uncomfortable and again associates this with negative experiences when you are around so becomes defensive and aggressive. You say you've only had the pony since February, so only a few weeks, which is not enough time to bond and build trust. Horses dont feel love and hate like a human but they are conditioned to defend themselves and shy away from unpleasant experiences. I think you need to go back to basics and build trust with this horse. Start by gentle handling and try not to make all interactions with her negative. Dont always being her in to ride, don't always mess about with her sore skin and dont always bring her in. Just be with her in the field giving lots of gentle scratches and chatting to her.

 

[Bonitta]

Wow .. thank you.. that is great advice, will start from scratch again tomorrow, I did think she could only be associating me with unpleasant things, she doesn’t understand I’m trying to help her.
I stopped riding her , in case that was a issue and she was sore, she hasn’t been ridden for 2 years, so there may have been a issue I wasn’t aware of.
thank you so much for replying to my post.

 

[The Jokers Girl]

Good luck with her. Cobs do generally have the sweetest personalities and mares are my fave but unlike geldings who tend to be more discreet mares are not shy when letting you know something is wrong. I hope you win her trust soon so you can have a fab summer working with her building boundaries and establishing ground rules ready for winter x

 

[Bonitta]

Good luck with her. Cobs do generally have the sweetest personalities and mares are my fave but unlike geldings who tend to be more discreet mares are not shy when letting you know something is wrong. I hope you win her trust soon so you can have a fab summer working with her building boundaries and establishing ground rules ready for winter x

Fingers crossed for a good summer with her, hope yours is also enjoyable.. thank you x

 

[Bob notacob]

Fingers crossed for a good summer with her, hope yours is also enjoyable.. thank you x

Sorry , the most evil mare I ever encountered was called Bonitta.( But lightning never strikes twice in the same place ) OMG she was a witch.

 

[Bob notacob]

Sorry , the most evil mare I ever encountered was called Bonitta.( But lightning never strikes twice in the same place ) OMG she was a witch.

Find yourself a really experienced horse person ,someone who can read a horse. Someone who can immediately see if a horse is frightened ,in pain ,taking the piss or just confused . (the last one happens a lot0

 

[Saff2019]

Hi just thought i'd leave some tips here for you, first thing is don't give up on her or dislike her most horses have their reasons for behaving like this. As said above she may be in some pain and associates you with touching her skin or maybe riding if she is sore. I don't know what skin condition she has but maybe consider if it may bother her when being ridden not just where the saddle and bridle sit but with all movement and sweating.

Other than that build a bond go to the field to visit with no headcollar just a nice sweetie and spend some time just letting her be herself and come to you on her own terms and some days when you bring her in don't ride just fuss over her and let her back out after it or even try going for inhand walks and these can be fun and different for horses. There's loads of things you can do just have a online search of some groundwork and also keep riding if she isn't in pain but not everyday.

Hope this helps and I hope you two get a bond soon

 

[Jules111]

She could be hormonal. My wonderful mare could have a complete personality change when she was in season. Her first real season of the year (around the time the real spring grass came through) she was positively horrible. She was uncomfortable, when being ridden a squeeze of the leg could end up with an extreme reaction. Is your girl like this constantly or is she worse every couple of weeks. It's really not easy being a girl sometimes.

 

[Bonitta]

She could be hormonal. My wonderful mare could have a complete personality change when she was in season. Her first real season of the year (around the time the real spring grass came through) she was positively horrible. She was uncomfortable, when being ridden a squeeze of the leg could end up with an extreme reaction. Is your girl like this constantly or is she worse every couple of weeks. It's really not easy being a girl sometimes.

Very few weeks, so I know think it’s down to hormones.. poor girl