Angry mare!!

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el_Snowflakes

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My mare is normally placid ( will pull faces at other horses but not kick/bite) however its been reported to me on several occasions by other liveries that she has gotten very wound up in stable (bronking/kicking out at the walls etc)when horses nearby are being fed, even though she has plenty hay herself!?! Other liveries know not too feed her but have been giving her just a handful of hay which seems to calm her down. Should this behaviour be ignored? I don't like the idea of 'rewarding' her for bad behaviour, however I don't want her hurting herself......opinions please???
 
Stop the handfuls of hay as to me that is rewarding bad behaviour. It could be that she has already learnt that acting that way gets her food.
Is there no way she can be taken away when the others are fed? Take her away from the situation? If not, then maybe putting carpet around the walls will soften the kicks to the wall, and maybe ask the liveries to only give her the hay once she has calmed down? Is she on any calmer or anything? Could it be a season thing?
 
There's no way of her being moved when other horses are being given hay & I would not have other liveries taking her out of her stable. She has been carrying out this behaviour when other horses are tied next to her stable also which is unlike her. She is in season at the minute.
 
If the others are getting fed & she's not then that's why. She might have hay but in her eyes the others are getting something & she isn't. The kicking out is her way of attempting to get them away from the food so she gets it as a best guess, especially as in her stable she can't be chased of by a higher ranking horse. Same effect really as feeding treats to one or two in the field, the others kick up a fuss. I know lots of horses on diy manage fine in the same situation, but if it stresses them imo its not fair to leave them to it. If she stops with a handful of hay & the others are happy to give it, just do that, but at the same time the others are fed so she has no need to get angry.
 
Perhaps less time in her stable and more time in the field might be appropriate(if circumstances allow.) Most bad habits in the stable originate through boredom.
Also, horses are great "triers"...... if it works to their advantage they will do it again, and again.......if she must stay in for long periods give her things to amuse her, licks, trickle feed ball etc. Please see my post as suggestions, not criticism!
 
J&S she is only stabled at night & has LOTS of turnout. She is a very greedy mare & would literally push others out of the way to eat. I am restricting her diet as she is prone to weight gain & so has a grazing muzzle during day so I don't really want others feeding her anyway!!
 
Give her slightly less so she can have a handful of hay when the others are fed. From what you say she sounds like a dominant mare & has every right to get annoyed if those below her in the hierarchy get to the food & she can't. Also explains why she doesn't like others tied outside her box, dominant horses don't like others invading their space uninvited, from her pov its her territory & she hasn't given the other horse permission to come in it.
 
If it is just a case of her being greedy and getting herself into a bad habit why not try a water pistol.
A quick squirt of water the moment she starts should make her stop and think.
 
I'm not always around cambrica & I would have others squirting
Water at her ( not sure anyone else would want to spend their time at the yard doing so either!) she doesn't mind mane/tail sprays anyway so doubt it would make a difference! thanks for the suggestion though ;)
 
We have a similar one. Whenever she is in season she turns into a hormonal cow bag. Back kicks the stable, has full on paddys waiting for food etc. Chills out when she's not in season. She behaves pretty much the same way I do when I'm in season lol
 
vieshot said:
We have a similar one. Whenever she is in season she turns into a hormonal cow bag. Back kicks the stable, has full on paddys waiting for food etc. Chills out when she's not in season. She behaves pretty much the same way I do when I'm in season lol
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^^^ This! My mare is always fed in the morning in the stable next to my friends horse at the same time. The routine is never changed throughout the year and yet when mine is in season she puts her ears back and my friends mare and kicks the s**t out of her stable wall. The week after, she is fine!
 
Some horses have no problems handling life at DIY yards where everyone is on a different routine, while others become massive stressheads and act out in all sorts of ways. I know that my horse, no matter what I do, does not adapt to that situation.

Could be that everyone getting fed at different times stresses your mare out, hence the kicking.
 
Caol Ila said:
Some horses have no problems handling life at DIY yards where everyone is on a different routine, while others become massive stressheads and act out in all sorts of ways. I know that my horse, no matter what I do, does not adapt to that situation.

Could be that everyone getting fed at different times stresses your mare out, hence the kicking.
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The yard isnt DIY but it would be very hard to provide haynets to a yard of nearly 30 horses at the same time!
 
But much easier to throw a handful of hay over for a horse that isn't happy than to repair stable wall & legs after she has spent months booting it. Let alone kindest for the horse.
 
giving her hay to keep her quiet might seem like pandering to her but it will at least stop her injuring herself and going bonkers! If they give it every time and not just when she acts up it won't be rewarding the behaviour, it just might be the only way you can keep her on that sort of yard with varied routine even though it sucks!
 
Ah yes, diet rage. I have a mare which is constantly on a diet and get this behaviour. 24/7 turnout has helped with her moods but she is a handful at times. Some horses do not like other horses outside their stable. End of. Mine is one of those but since I can manage mine anyway I like it's a non issue.

My problem with the whole, "don't reward them for bad behaviour", while in theory is correct, you do risk serious injury to your horse. It's not a case of, well she just has to get over it. And just how do you propose to do that? Don't reward bad behaviour and she kicks wall and breaks a leg. What then? Have you taught her a lesson? Do you look at her and say, bet you won't do that again?

You have to manage what's happening which at a livery is difficult. When my girl is in other horses aren't milling around outside her stable. She likes her space. And since we humans are always big on this, "get out of my space" to horses, why aren't we the same to them? Putting some lining on the stables as suggested. While feeding her a handful of hay is not ideal, it also won't be the end of the world either. Horses live in the moment. She isn't going to act whack all the time in her stable, just at this time. I will admit my girl does not go mental at feed time. She does wait patiently for feed and is last fed due to where she lives. But that's because horses aren't fed at different times. You say it's full livery so why are horses getting fed at odd times? That management won't help thus why it's necessary for her to feel like she's getting something. In the context of things, it's not right, but try and understand why it does happen.

My girl can be a witch but she's 150% under saddle, she goes to shows and never puts a foot wrong, never tries kicking at anything and is quite easy to handle at home. She just likes her space when in.

Terri
 
Equilibrium Ireland said:
Ah yes, diet rage. I have a mare which is constantly on a diet and get this behaviour. 24/7 turnout has helped with her moods but she is a handful at times. Some horses do not like other horses outside their stable. End of. Mine is one of those but since I can manage mine anyway I like it's a non issue.

My problem with the whole, "don't reward them for bad behaviour", while in theory is correct, you do risk serious injury to your horse. It's not a case of, well she just has to get over it. And just how do you propose to do that? Don't reward bad behaviour and she kicks wall and breaks a leg. What then? Have you taught her a lesson? Do you look at her and say, bet you won't do that again?

You have to manage what's happening which at a livery is difficult. When my girl is in other horses aren't milling around outside her stable. She likes her space. And since we humans are always big on this, "get out of my space" to horses, why aren't we the same to them? Putting some lining on the stables as suggested. While feeding her a handful of hay is not ideal, it also won't be the end of the world either. Horses live in the moment. She isn't going to act whack all the time in her stable, just at this time. I will admit my girl does not go mental at feed time. She does wait patiently for feed and is last fed due to where she lives. But that's because horses aren't fed at different times. You say it's full livery so why are horses getting fed at odd times? That management won't help thus why it's necessary for her to feel like she's getting something. In the context of things, it's not right, but try and understand why it does happen.

My girl can be a witch but she's 150% under saddle, she goes to shows and never puts a foot wrong, never tries kicking at anything and is quite easy to handle at home. She just likes her space when in.

Terri
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She is by no means one of those horses that goes mental every time a horse goes past her stable. This is a new thing and only happens on occasion seems to be when shes in season. At no time did I say that hurting her legs would teach her a lesson? ridiculous. The reason I posted is because I am concerned that she does so and will continue to do so if rewarded for this behaviour. I dont remember saying we are on full livery as we are not! The yard is assisted DIY. Horses are given hay at different time because the yard hang haynets for some and then others hang theirs when it suits them.
 
Sorry I mainly solve problems by preventing them occurring in the first place, quite obvious that mine & others suggestions to that effect aren't to your liking so I'll bow out now & leave you to think up another way to solve it.
 
Is this a new thing or something she has done consistently for a long time? Some horses can get very aggressive at feeding time. My own mare, for instance, cannot bear to have other horses looking at her in the stable. We cover up any gaps where her neighbour could see through with rugs, because otherwise she will lunge at them, squeal, bite the partition or strike out with her front legs. She is worse if she is eating. However, her behaviour escalated a few years ago to being very aggressive in the field (she is normally very placid) so we had her scanned and she ended up being on regumate for a month, which got her back to normal.
 
littlelegs said:
Sorry I mainly solve problems by preventing them occurring in the first place, quite obvious that mine & others suggestions to that effect aren't to your liking so I'll bow out now & leave you to think up another way to solve it.
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Thanks Littlelegs,

Your suggestion was to carry out what I am already doing. I posted on here to see if anyone had any other ideas ;)
 
And sorry if she is kicking the walls when another horse is tied up outside, then they should go somewhere else. All my other horses don't mind, but I have one that does. I don't feel a broken leg teaches one a lesson. So I don't tie near her. She is fine in a horse box at a show next to another horse. That's good enough for me. My horses are not robots. They do not have to be perfect. I'm not perfect. They all have things they like and do not. I work with them instead of expecting them to be like deadhead bores.

People come on here and think every horse should be like theirs. Oh my boy doesn't do that. My mare is always super, my horse can put his tack on himself, I have such a great bond with my horse why don't you? You must not be very good if you don't have your horse behave like a robot.

It doesn't have to be that hard. People should just chill and work with the individual they have. Kicking a wall and risking an injury is not something I feel is a let them sort it out type of thing. Your mare is on full livery which says to me that you have a busy work/home life and so you aren't really the responsible one as far as management. I have client horses too. I make sure they settle in and have all the need to be happy too. But I'm quite sure if willy nilly feeding happened at odd times then they'd get some bad habits too.

Try not to take everything as a personal attack. I'm not perfect and it really doesn't bother me.

Terri
 
OP I think you're taking comments meant generally far too literally. People have tried to offer assistance but your responses come across as shouting at others when you try to correct their misunderstanding of posts that weren't particularly clear in the first place. You said the yard isn't diy so people assumed it was full livery, now you say it's assisted diy in a fairly aggressive manner. I'm not entirely sure what you expected to gain from posting?

For what it's worth I'd agree with those who say the handful of hay is the lesser of two evils, but I would try to make sure she gets it before she starts getting angry so she isn't rewarded for bad behaviour.
 
And with you on not being perfect or expecting it from horses either. My pony is as close to perfect as they come, but won't turn out alone. Small paddocks with a horse over the fence that can't go far from her she'll tolerate, otherwise she jumps out. I figure if she doesn't like it that much, why should she have to?
 
A small handful of unmollassed chaff in a bucket at the same time the others are fed would no doubt stop the behaviour without rewarding it, and would not cause her to put on weight.
 
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