Argh, rant rant rant!!!

SophieLouBee

SophieLouBee

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I discipline my horses when they are badly behaved, and priase them when they are good. Why do people seem to think that 1 tonne of horse trampling you to death is ok?!!!!

If your horse is just plain old being a douche-bag. Tell him no for christ sakes.

Horses with REAL behavioural issues, should be delt with in the correct manner, in a sensitive way. But your ripe 4yo that thinks it's ok to rear up at you and have it's feet in your mouth, should be shown that this is not acceptable. Right? Or is this just me. There is a time and a place for it, but people don't seem to realise when it's that time!

My big horse would be dangerous if he knew that I wasn't in charge. He's bolshy and full of it, combined with the fact he's very, very thick. And if I didn't yell at him and smack him across his chest when he barges and pratts about, he'd have killed me by now (i'm only small, he's 16.2 and shirex).

The same with my mare, she had an utter tantrum when she was taken away from the feild the other day, and she didn't want to be. When you are trying to groom and almost being kicked in the head, that is the time to say thats enough? No? So she had a sharp thwack across the arse and a good shouting at.
Then what did she do? Got a bloomin grip and stood still for me to pick out her feet. Then we went out on a lovely hack, she got loads of fuss and praise for being so good.

Shock horror, my horses all love me to near death, and follow me about like the pied piper in hope of a fuss or a scratch.

MY GOD. I'm so sorry guys. But it frightens me to see some people around their horses. What do people think happens in a herd, the lead mare says 'No petunia, mommy doesn't like that, please stop'?! She gives 'petunia' a bloody good kick and reminds her of her manners.


Feel free to tell me I'm an awful bully and that horses should be minced around and wrapped up in cotton wool.:mad:

All of you can have some cider and a hunk of toblerone. The nannynag state has gone mad.
 
^ amen to that.

mine will get a crack if shes being silly (rarely).... but follows me round the stable constantly as she always wants to be near me lol. so yeah absolutely battered mine is :D lol....

a couple of horses i know of need putting in their place, but theowners are frightened of them - imo if your scared of putting yout horse in its place you shouldnt have them as they are too big to pi55 about with!
 
I have a large horse who occasionally needs putting in his place. I dont mean beating.....rather a well timed and controlled slap.

I have a livery in the stable next to me who thinks this is completely unacceptable.....and yes she does say 'No, mommy doesn't like that, please stop'?!

We are constantly being told by natural horsemanship to think like the horse - but when that comes to discipline as a horse would - its frowned upon.
 
I agree! My old boy wouldn't dream of being a pain in the butt, he is a true gentleman, but our homebred rising four filly was born strong willed and in your face, she isn't nasty, but needs boundaries. She must have a thick hide as a wallop makes no difference at all, but voice does the trick - her dam was just the same, used to muck about for the farrier, stood like a lamb after a b******ing!
 
spot the risk... i agree with the shouting too - mine has an "oi" if she carries on its followed with a neck slap



although last week i said to her "do that again and i will *****ing chin you".........

didnt go down well with certain yard folk :D haha
(she was trying to take a chunk out of my head as she was in a bad mood lol!)
 
Glad that some people finally agree!

I agree totally about the natural horsemanship thing!

It's the same with children and dogs though, my mom works in a preschool, and some of the stories she has. You just think how did it get that bad?
 
its a double edged sword, I have a horse in that due to a quick slap can be unhandleable turning out through fear, and will rear to get away from you. At 17hh plus rearing in fear a quick slap he may well just put you in hospital to run through you to get away from you.

Being calm, consistant and having the same goal posts each and every day most horses learn what is acceptable and what is not, a well timed raised voice calmly saying no can stop the problem before it happens. Screaming at them and hitting them especially in a highly strung horse will just escalate the problem.

All of my horses are well behaved, they lead, stand without being tied up, stand still to be mounted, dont walk off until told and not one has had to be screamed at or had a slap.

Each to their own, but horses like leaders they can trust, obey and follow hitting a horse from a ground rarely if ever cures a problem just creates more imo.
 
I've had my boy since he was 6 mths, and have purposely not beaten him for stuff he might do, but he's been slapped for every bad behaviour. I think it's people that go over board with disipline that are wrong. I shout at him too, when he's misbehaving. He was a very pampered 3 year old, I stabled him at night from the day I got him during the winters, and he was fed, etc... he was a real **** when I broke him, as in, he would spin round the stable when he saw a bridle, but shouting at him, whilst hanging on to his mane, worked, so now, he stands quietly when being tacked. He just didnt understand why he was being worked, after having all the treatments without the work. I was nearly killed in a horsebox 2 years ago, by a mare that was 20 yeas old, but had never being given manners. If she had shoes on, I wouldnt be here. (Not my mare) . After loading her, she started plunging in the box, and kicked me in the head, back and shoulders over 25 times, before someone dropped the ramp and let her out. I'm terrified of loading since!! If spmeone had taught her manners at some point, I would never have been in the situation in the first place!!
Go you!!! keep it up, and your horse will respect you!!
 
Totally agree and I love my horses to bits! It is not safe for us or them if they are allowed to do what the hell they like. Both my horses respond very quickly to voice and rarely do I have to resort to anything else. Like children once they know who is boss and accept that, you shouldn't need to resort to strong arm tactics which can often make matters worse. I made the mistake of buying a large 6yo Dutch Warmblood and didn't find out until I had bought him that he had quite obviously been in a "fight" with a human and won! He KNEW he was big and powerful, consequently he was a nightmare to deal with. It was only after a master farrier told me in no uncertain terms that the horse was a danger to him and us that we reluctantly gave up on the horse after a year of trying loads of tlc and every tactic in the book It's the only horse we have ever given up on. If only he'd been taught the right way (firm but fair) when young he would have had a much happier life. It drives me mad too when I see people allowing their horses to do all sorts of things and then belt them for something minor, and these sort think they are being kind to let their horses walk all over them, but they are not.
 
Scally, totally agree with you.

But the people who fail to say no in the first place, are the ones that have problems. Especially with young horses.

I work with problem horses, and I know how they can react. I'd never raise my voice to a horse that obviously is frightened. Alot of it is owners not understanding the difference between scared and naughty.

Fair but firm.

If you tried speaking calmy to my lad when he is playing up, you'd have just about got the N out before you got trampled....

All my horses stand in the stable with the doors open in the morning whilst I do their rugs! Once the boundries have been set, it is very rare that they will cross it!

I don't stand for messing. They know this. It's all good. I usualy just have to grumble a no and they get the picture, but when they take the utter pee, they get told!
 
I love natural horsemanship but today I took to whapping the stable door to scare her out of kicking the door and scrapping the metal top of the door with her teeth. She lept back like I had cracked on the head personally and promptly stopped all attention seeking behaviour. Solved.
My farrier is of the same ilk and the grumpy gelding (almost) respects him for it. Totally agree. Horses are like children, they NEED boundries!
 
scally said:
horses like leaders they can trust, obey and follow hitting a horse from a ground rarely if ever cures a problem just creates more imo.
Click to expand...

What a load of waffle, Take my 14.3hh 18yo connie cross for a week and see how far you get, My sharer has recently had to stop sharing because she refused to even raise her voice, it was all 'he is scared of this and he doesn't like that' when really he was just taking the piss, had she let him know who was boss from day one like i told her too then the whole refusing to be tied up, napping when trying to hack and refusing to walk to the school with her would never had happened and we would be plodding along nicely!!
 
I agree with you! Mine don't usually need any more than a sharp 'NO' or a jab of the lead rope but there are times, like tonight, when it's blowing a gale and trying to lead one in and letting the other follow...... well for a few secs until she overtook at high speed trying to get to her stable & feed at the speed of light. Cue the one I'm leading, my 16.1 TB gelding trying to follow her & rearing up AT me & shaking his head to try to get away from me & catch up with her! Luckily the stables are only short walk from the field and a jab and a NO did the trick.

The problem with horses in that 'irrational' mindset is that they become dangerous to both themselves and us and without discipline things can very quickly escalate. Sometimes a quick slap to the neck can bring them out of that trance like state they seem to enter when in that mood.
 
I have to agree . I find it amazing the number of bolshy ill-mannered horses I come across on a weekly basis. So many of the owners refuse to discipline their animals. I have rarely had to slap a horse for misbehaviour as I find after the first time they tend to respond to a calm firm raised voice. If my mare I had last year barged (I was teaching her to lead as she had not been handled) then we would stop, back up 2 steps and walk on correctly. I never did slap her as she was the worrying type but she was very responsive to the voice - a well timed "NO!" usually did the trick.
Unfortunately my job means that I meet far too many ill-behaved horses. A lot of horses are wary of vets, but the well disciplined ones will settle as long as their owner is near. The ones who are allowed to get away with everything can be downright dangerous.
 
Completely agree. There comes a time when "disciplining" your horse seems to be completely forgotten because of the worry of how it will look. Well I would rather be safe than be trampled!

I have to say though a couple of years ago my mum did a charity ride and I was on a bike and we came to a ford.

There was a woman stood at the edge, the horse was refusing to go but it wasn't doing anything just standing there half asleep the rider was going

"Come on Flower, you know you can do. Do it for Mummy. Walk through the water and you can have a nice carrot for tea"
The onlookers did struggle not to laugh...!
 
scally said:
its a double edged sword, I have a horse in that due to a quick slap can be unhandleable turning out through fear, and will rear to get away from you. At 17hh plus rearing in fear a quick slap he may well just put you in hospital to run through you to get away from you.

Being calm, consistant and having the same goal posts each and every day most horses learn what is acceptable and what is not, a well timed raised voice calmly saying no can stop the problem before it happens. Screaming at them and hitting them especially in a highly strung horse will just escalate the problem.

All of my horses are well behaved, they lead, stand without being tied up, stand still to be mounted, dont walk off until told and not one has had to be screamed at or had a slap.

Each to their own, but horses like leaders they can trust, obey and follow hitting a horse from a ground rarely if ever cures a problem just creates more imo.
Click to expand...

Agree with this. Not saying I don't agree with OP aswell just I have started working on a yard recently and this one horse bites a lot - he is obviously scared he will get smacked because every time he goes to bite, he tenses all up and moves away. I don't know his history, but it could just have been a bad habit, quick slap and now it has esculated. If you go to slap him, he just bites you back (properly), tries to corner you in the stable with his back end, strikes his front leg at you and does mini rears, which certainly isn't safe. I think he is kind of getting the message that I won't hit him now, even after he bites. Just stay calm. Last time I groomed him he was much better, acctually allowed me to get near him with the brush. But this is slightly different, so yes, I do agree with previous posts about basic discipline but also that a slap is not always the answer.
 
couldnt agree more! I have the enviable task of sorting out a very thick, bolshy 4 year old cob x gelding who thinks it can walk over anyone! it doesnt belong to me! but after it as got rid of one blacksmith by rearing up and boxing with his front feet! while the owner stood there and laughed at him! saying "he doesnt mean it" then giving him treats! oh yeah thanks for trying to box my head in...

So now we have a new blacksmith and only I am allowed to hold him for the blacksmith! twitch and firm consistant handling! and no bloody food in sight for him! he gets praise after!
 
You know, they do say mumsnet is like this forum.A group of people get together to tell the world how wonderful they are at parenting, and what fools everyone else is.
 
Like most things one response does not fit all! It entirely depends on the horse and on the slap. On the slap side at 5 foot nothing and 7 stone I don't think I can cause a horse permanent or significant pain by slapping it with my hand, so I do use a slap, mainly as shock tactics. I have one horse this works wonders with, an early slap saves a lot of later trouble. Then again I have a horse that loses the plot further from the over stimulation of slapping, and does a lot better if you distract his attention and give him a pat.
 
my horse always gets reprimanded when he's taking the piss. i dont see the point in telling him off if he's misbehaving because he's genuinely scared of something - all it does is give him a reason to think that he should be scared of it and it makes my job of making it seem nice and friendly even harder.
saying that, its very rare that he acts up.

theres a mare a few boxes down from my boy that needs some serious discipline - it has absolutely no manners and no respect for anyone. she's dumped her owner, tried to shove me into a wall and yesterday she kicked someone in the head - considering that her owner is only 12, its only a matter of time before this pony does something and it seriously hurts someone.
 
Discpline a horse - of course - absolutely essential. But shouting at them? What does that achieve? Makes them wary of loud and sudden noises?

You rarely hear a raised voice at our yard, and believe me, it is not a yard full of easy to handle docile ponies - there are some very difficult horses which need careful and professional handling. And yes - they are disciplined, but shouting is not something that we find to be helpful. Not only does it make the person shouting even more wound up, it upsets the horse and all the other horses in the vicinity.

Shouting at children doesn't work - why should an animal be any different?

In my experience, people who shout at their horse tend to be those who are most frightened and are trying to cover it up.

Try a growl and a slap rather than a scream or a shout. It works far better long term.


Edited to add - timing is everything. It is usually obvious a few seconds before a horse explodes - be aware of your horse and act proactively to prevent problems rather than reactively wherever possible.
 
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SophieLouBee said:
They know this. It's all good. I usualy just have to grumble a no and they get the picture, but when they take the utter pee, they get told!
Click to expand...

Agree with this my 2yo is very sensitive to a raised voice it usually takes a "oi" and rarely gets past "no" In the last year he has been "tapped" on his chest once when he was pratting about the rest of the time a deep "oi" is enough for him he knows what he is and isnt allowed to do. He respects my space I respect his.

If he needs teeling he gets told but when he knows (and understands) the boundaries he rarely needs telling with force.
 
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