At What Age Did Your Youngsters Turn Into Stroppy Teenagers?

legyield

legyield

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Tia is 21 months old now and she's very much going through the "Kevins".
Gone are the days where she was the easiest pony in existance! I haven't seen her in over a month now as I'm away at uni, but she's turned away into a 40 acre field with a companion, where she's been since October, and my mum checks on her regularly.

Although my mum's not horsey Tia has always been perfect for her, and always been very easy to handle. I had a phone call off my mum earlier and she was telling me that she's turning into such a stroppy, stubborn thing.
Some days she'll refuse to be caught, whereas other days she'll come galloping up the field to see you. Some times she won't be caught and when my mum finally gives in and turns around to leave Tia will just happily follow her up the field, giving her a nudge with her head as if to say "hold on, I thought you were trying to catch me?"
She's also starting to nip quite a bit. She's started moulting and her rug has been taken off and when my mum tries brushing her she swings her head around to nip. Apparently she never does it maliciously and my mum's not at all scared of her (thankfully). It's even got to the point where she rears and bucks when she's being lead. She's shooting up and my mum reckons she's grown again, and she was 13.2hh when I left so if she's grown to 13.3hh-14hh I can only imagine she's going to be bigger than the 14.2hh that was predicted.
When I finally finish uni in May I intend on moving her back to the yard for the summer as I want to do some showing with her but it looks like we're going to have to relearn all those manners again.

Somebody tell me it's A) just spring B) it won't last long or C) somebody has taken my pony and replaced it with the devil's filly!
 
It was about 18 months old with mine, gone was that sweet little baby. Instead he was awful, stroppy, opinionated, bolshy, just a total "Kevin"

He's now touching 3 and is lovely, and has been lovely for a few months now.

The periods of being nice coblet got longer and evil coblet phases got shorter but I still don't completely trust him, he may just be lulling me into a false sense of security before throwing the mother of all temper tantrums. ;)
 
My filly was 2 when she got a bit bolshy. A lot of it was my fault as I treated her like a baby for too long, and she turned into a brat! Once I established firm boundaries things got much better. She is 5 now and mostly fabulous :D still has her 'devil spawn' moments but that's what gives her her character and I wouldn't change that. :)
 
At about 20 months he was dreadful for a month or so - cue professional help and lots of ground work again. Then again at 3 and a half (where we are now) he is trying it on again at times. He is to be backed in the early summer so again we are having some serious help and advice to make sure we nip it in the bud again early:D some days he is briliant and other days he is the devil incarnate:D I do not think he is nasty at all but he is big and bolshy so he cannot be allowed to behave as he likes. Good luck:)
 
Thanks for the reponse. It's definitely the terrible 2's! I think it also doesn't help that my mum's not horsey and she's really soft with her and lets her get away with a lot of things, so it's gonna make things harder for me when I get home. She's also not been in a proper herd situation, and was on her own with horses just over the fence, so there's been no older horses to tell her off. She's in with just one horse now so maybe it'll help?
 
My first youngster was a saint until she was 4 - then turned into the biggest, bolshiest drama queen in the world. Fortunately, she got over it! I'm waiting to see what my current one will do. She's just turned 3 and hasn't started work yet, so I fear it may come late too. Then again, if I'm lucky, she got her nonsense out during her time as paddock decoration! They do get over it; just grin and bear it!
 
My Saffy was about 18 months old when she started turning her bum towards me which was promptly smacked each time and she stopped doing it.

Now she's 3 and going through a bit of a nippy phase but nothing too awful. She's pleasant 95% of the time.

Beau, on the other hand, has always been grumpy, obstinate and wilfull. And he's 5 now.
 
ROTFLMAO!!! I thought you meant humans!!! I was going to say 18/19 when they left home!!! That's one of the good things of having home bred Arabians.....when they turn their bum to you it's to ask for a scratch!!!!
 
Ahhhh they a nightmare my new unhandled filly is 21 months i have only had her 6 days and gradualy building up to getting a leadrope on her but she definatley a hormonal teenager as well and is currently approx 15.2hh lol. At least if your horse knows basic handling to start off with you have a base to start from again. He probably been loving having so much freedom as that is quite a large field to be in. Maybe when you get home you can make a smaller acre or two and start from the beginning again Im sure he will be fine. Good Luck x
 
Yeah sometimes they can go a bit ferral when left to their own devices! If the basics are there then she won't have forgotten them and it won't take long to sort her out.
 
Interesting replies :)
She was a model citizen as a yearling haha! Did everything you could think of for a filly her age. She's either very intelligent, very trusting or very thick!
I think she has gone a bit feral to be fair, but with a bit of food I can more or less tempt her to do anything so hopefully shouldn't be too difficult to sort.
 
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