Dislike of particular people by horses? Am I crazy?

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MoodleCob

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Hello all!

Not sure how to put this but here goes....!

My horse seems to really dislike one of the stable hands at my yard, my mare is really sweet and stands to let you do anything, she falls asleep being groomed but if this one particular adult goes in, well, the ears go back and she swings her backside round, she hasnt tried to kick out but I think she would at this particular person. I have seen another horse very jumpy around this person and there is a third one which is quiet but has bucked them off and lamed itself another time when it tried to kick out at her and slipped....

My question is, do these horses know something I don't? Am I crazy in even wondering at their judgement of character? My non horsey OH says I shouldn't think anything of it but I'm wondering.... What would you think?
 
^ I've seen them handle horses and they seem very caring- not at all heavy handed or rough- from what I have seen while I have been there :s
 
^That's what I think! Also one of the horses is a childrens pony and the other 2 are quiet novice types, you don't know what goes on when you're not there, do you!?
 
If there are 3 horses that are all normally quiet but react differently just to this one person then I would listen to them – they are trying to tell you something.

Horses may not have much common sense but they are very intelligent :)
 
I knew a mare who would not be handled by men, full stop. Even the farrier couldn't go and get her out of her stable. She had been a brood mare all her life and I think most stud workers are men. No doubt she had had one of more bad experience at their hands and distrusted all men as a result. Poor girl.
 
I think I'd also be a bit suspicious about how the person was handling the horses when you're not there. Especially if this is uncharacteristic behaviour - horses don't behave like that for no reason.
 
How peculiar! It would really worry me to be frank. Unless she wears some kind of fragrance that they are reacting to, I would suspect some nastiness going on.
 
Agree, they are trying to tell you something!!
My mare can be very picky with certain people and you know when she doesn't like someone :rolleyes:
 
Agree with what others have said about the horses trying to tell you something. If it was just one I'd say it could be linked to a previous experience with someone with similarities, but not 3. My daughters pony took an insane dislike to a woman on our yard, to the point she would charge her if she went in the field. I then discovered the woman had problems catching her youngster when it was busy playing with pony, & had been chasing pony away with a lunge whip while she tried to catch hers with a bucket of feed.
 
I had a pony many years ago who reacted like this with one particular livery!! She was loud and I'm fairly quiet so assumed it was this!!

Then I found out that before he was mine she was helping his old owner clip him where se was seen to kick him in the stomache more than once when he wouldn't stand still!!!

There is definately a reason the horses are acting like this IMO.
 
We have a livery here whose owner left her previous yard because he was becoming increasingly unhappy. Also, he had reared up and boxed at the YO. From the day he arrived I have never had any trouble from him and he's really happy. The owner has since found out that the YO at his old yard would make him wait til last to go out and then chase him with a schooling whip to the back of his stable before allowing him to go out!
 
Horses can read people far better than we can, and notice things that are incredibly subtle. Our two geldings react adversely to certain people that come onto our yard, namely my Dad and my sharer's mum - both are quite abrupt people and are very jumpy around the horses, making sudden movements etc. Other people like my mum who, although non-horsey, are very calm, get treated very differently by the horses... Maybe there is something in this girl's manner that the horses do not like?
 
amymay said:
I suspect the horses are trying to tell you something.......
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Agree, I caught a supposedly quite sweet stable girl kicking my horse in the stomach bringing him in from the yard, he had done nothing wrong other than put his head down to eat while she was faffing getting a doddery old horse through the gate, she was leading too many. I suspect the handling is different when you aren't there
 
Years ago a young girl brought a new horse to the yard I was on and it hated me! I couldn't go into a field if it was in there as it would chase me. I really disliked it too and luckily never had to have too much to do wth it. Anyway about 6 months later the owner was contacted by someone who used to ride the horse and was really pleased he had a good home as his previous owner was cruel and had beaten him alot. This person came to visit the horse and saw me, apparently she was gobsmacked at the similarity between me and the previous owner of this horse.

so we could only think that the horse thought I was the horrible person who used to own him.
 
Mine can be very anti-certain people.

One of my projects is very anti-me, when I do anything with him you can see him tense and wrinkle his nose. However, he was very nervous when we first had him and I managed to fall over and into him which is why I assume he's not keen on me. :o

Fudge isn't very good at taking a telling off from some people and literally walks all over them but I don't know if you'd call that dislike?

Merl tries to bully people, using body langauage, teeth and legs but has only ever taken real exception to one person, although he likes her now - I have no clue why though, unless she reminded him of someone else (he was abused as a youngster).

The small ginger one dislikes anyone that isn't a sympathetic rider and a few have eaten sand when she demonstrates what happens to riders who sock her in the teeth and kick her in the ribs- which I think is fair enough :D

I think if horses have a really strong agressive reaction to someone there is usually a reason behind it, whether it's because they are reacting to previous agressive behaviour towards them or really submissive behaviour towards them or even smell.
 
Ohhh listen to the horses! They only have body cues to go on so are incredibly proficient at reading them.

I bought a horse with my now x-boyfriend (thankfully). She was supposed to be a totally novice ride but she was very marish with him. Once when he was trying to catch her in the field she tried to double barrel him and I could see that she really hated him. This was just as a started to discover what a total bar ...steward he really was. Since his departure she's the sweetest thing. Will whinney and run over to me and I've seen pictures of her at her previous home with kids clambering all over her. Horses are generally pretty good judges of character. ;):D
 
It could just be they dont like that one person, not that that person has done something nasty to them?!

I knew a gelding who was a sweetheart, just a lovely person for anyone to handle. One day entering his stable with one of the girls on my course and he stood in the corner shaking, he was TERRIFIED of her ( he had never seen her before in his life) she was upset that he was upset....we still have no idea why he reacted that way, the only thing we think may have upset him was she had ferrets and probably stank a bit??!!
 
I was selling a homebred 2 y.o arabian filly (a bit flighty, but not nasty or nervous, never been badly handled, used to men etc) and someone came to see her.

My dogs hated him for a start, my noisy, but not brave GSD had his hackles up and was snarling fit to bust a gut at the mere sight of this man. My normally friendly "Come in, I'll show you where they keep everything" farm dog ran away and hid (he's never done that before or since) .

Isabella was in a stall and attacked (I mean, ears pinned, teeth bared and front feet flailing) him over the wall, she really did not like him. I was stunned, when I went in and he started to come in she put herself between me and him, didn't want him anywhere near me. So, were they protecting me, or themselves and I just happened to be there? Discount Rip dog, he goes by the 'every dog for himself' code of conduct.

I felt threatened (perhaps overwhelmed is a better word) by him, I am sure he was a nice person really, but he was loud, large, very large, very tall, a veritable giant, had a big beard and seemed to have no concept of personal space. Talking to me he would be 6" from me and I'd be backing away from him.

The dog never acts like that unless he feels that I am threatened, and the filly had certainly never done anything like it before.

I can't explain it to this day, but they certainly did not like him.

So, I think, yes, horses can take a dislike to people for reasons we may not perceive.
 
MoodleCob said:
Hello all!

Not sure how to put this but here goes....!

My horse seems to really dislike one of the stable hands at my yard, my mare is really sweet and stands to let you do anything, she falls asleep being groomed but if this one particular adult goes in, well, the ears go back and she swings her backside round, she hasnt tried to kick out but I think she would at this particular person. I have seen another horse very jumpy around this person and there is a third one which is quiet but has bucked them off and lamed itself another time when it tried to kick out at her and slipped....

My question is, do these horses know something I don't? Am I crazy in even wondering at their judgement of character? My non horsey OH says I shouldn't think anything of it but I'm wondering.... What would you think?
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You definitely are not crazy. Your horse will (I bet) have a reason. If another horse is jumpy around this person as well that just confirms my suspicions. :(

Horses have excellent memories, I know of one who associates peaked caps with something unpleasant and will threaten the wearer especially as it's usually men wearing them, so visitors are advised to remove them.
 
Before I bought my first horse, I used to ride at the local stables each week, there was one horse there that took an instant dislike to me, really don't know why as I am quiet and calm, always spoke quietly to them, tacked up gently etc. One day whilst finishing our lesson, we were lined up, slackening girths etc when this horse stood next to me, double barrelled me for no reason in the back then trampled on me on the way out!
It also bit me on numerous occasions and in the four times I did ride it, it had me off three times!
He was a real favourite on the yard and it was only me he disliked, never found out why:o
 
nic85 said:
It could just be they dont like that one person, not that that person has done something nasty to them?!

I knew a gelding who was a sweetheart, just a lovely person for anyone to handle. One day entering his stable with one of the girls on my course and he stood in the corner shaking, he was TERRIFIED of her ( he had never seen her before in his life) she was upset that he was upset....we still have no idea why he reacted that way, the only thing we think may have upset him was she had ferrets and probably stank a bit??!!
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Yes...but this isn't just one horse?
 
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Some really interesting comments, thank you! It is nice to know I am not crazy, it sounds daft but I do try to 'listen'? To what my horse tells me, my gut says something isn't quite right TBH I have had other niggly
issues at the yard... maybe after all I'm not over reacting!
 
roanwitch said:
Before I bought my first horse, I used to ride at the local stables each week, there was one horse there that took an instant dislike to me, really don't know why as I am quiet and calm, always spoke quietly to them, tacked up gently etc. One day whilst finishing our lesson, we were lined up, slackening girths etc when this horse stood next to me, double barrelled me for no reason in the back then trampled on me on the way out!
It also bit me on numerous occasions and in the four times I did ride it, it had me off three times!
He was a real favourite on the yard and it was only me he disliked, never found out why:o
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You obviously reminded it of someone else that had treated it badly I suppose. It would be more worrying if none of the horses liked you. But it must have felt really hurtful.
 
I have met one pony that really really disliked me!

I didn't treat her differently to any of the other horses or ponies, in fact, I was always extra careful around her because of her history (before she had been rescued, someone had beaten her and broken her jaw!!) but she just seemed like she didn't like me and would try bite me or go for me.

I once told some people who came to ride at the yard of her dislike of me, they laughed and said I was overreacting... pony was standing being tacked up by another lady, I walked past to get to another pony and her ears went flat back and she gnashed her teeth, once I was past she reverted back to perky happy pony! The ladies were really shocked!

The only thing we could think of was something about me reminded her of her past, so she would get mad at me for that.

It was a massive shame because I loved to ride her and she got better later on into my work, but she never was fully happy and comfortable around me. My boss knew that I didn't treat the pony any different to the others, none of which had a problem with me it just seemed to be a personality clash on the floor.
 
I too would take note. I am sure that they picl up cues that we miss, they are highly social animals and need to be sure of the intentions of those around them.
 
I think they can tell not only when someone is a threat to them, but also when something is not quite right with someone. The books on using horses for therapy all seem to say that horses are less at ease if something isnt congruent, so maybe a person is trying to look happy but is desperately sad inside. But to have this strength of reaction, plus your gut instinct, well don't ignore it.
 
nic85 said:
It could just be they dont like that one person, not that that person has done something nasty to them?!
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I agree. My sister is seemingly disliked by the entire animal kingdom, and shes never done anything nasty :)

(shes been attacked by a rabbit, tortoise, and budgie, amongst other things, as well as the usual dogs and horses :D)


Keep a close eye on things if you are suspicious OP.
 
Interesting that some of these horses seem to go by visuals rather than scent. I mean, obvious when you think of how horses have evolved, but interesting that they distinguish between humans in that way.
 
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