Do you make excuses for your horses behaviour?

lottiepony

lottiepony

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A friend of mine recently had a nasty fall and luckily got away very lightly! I was speaking to her at the weekend when she came out with the line "it wasn't his fault" Maybe I should of held my tongue but I said there was no excuse for how her horse had behaved end of. It frustrates me that so many people excuse bad behaviour in horses IMO there is no excuse for it. What do you lot think?
 
I would be embarised by bad behaviour as IMHO it reflects badly on me - very few are naturally bad so it reflects my management and care standards.

I get a lot of 'aren't you so lucky to have them all so well behaved' - Yep pure luck every time!
Even the one that was given to me as 'dangerous' - lucky he just decided to turn nice within a few months of being with me!

Falling off is difficult to judge, it's easily possible I would do something daft and fall off and it genuinely would be 100% my fault, even if the pony hadn't put a foot wrong.
 
Depends on the situation i guess, most falls are the result of rider error.. and bad behaviour is just testament to the owners horsemanship skills. So in that case it isn't the horses fault. I had a horrid fall off my horse last april, he bolted and chucked me out the side door. Not his fault, i had given him a loose rein and was talking to OH, he got spooked by a tractor starting up in the field next to the arena and ran off.
 
Er..yes! The most usual one being 'He's still a baby' which is okay at four, they can get away with it at five but when they are still using it at ten then there's something not quite right :D
 
lottiepony said:
A friend of mine recently had a nasty fall and luckily got away very lightly! I was speaking to her at the weekend when she came out with the line "it wasn't his fault" Maybe I should of held my tongue but I said there was no excuse for how her horse had behaved end of. It frustrates me that so many people excuse bad behaviour in horses IMO there is no excuse for it. What do you lot think?
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On the flip side if she lets him get away with bad behaviour, hasn't taught him not to do it and constantly makes excuses for the horse, at some point it won't be his fault, it will be hers for not teaching him how to behave.
 
Polos Mum said:
I would be embarised by bad behaviour as IMHO it reflects badly on me - very few are naturally bad so it reflects my management and care standards.
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Totally agree. Won't go into details on the fall but rider wasn't to blame in this instance as I know situations can cause things etc
 
I do - because I honestly dont ever think its his 'fault.' There must be a reason for 'naughty' behaviour I reckon- very few horses are just bad for the sake of it.
 
It really weird how all my horses never bite me, never kick me, go on the lorry/trailer, stand on the lorry/trailer without fuss, hack out alone, tie up, don't barge out of the stable, etc etc.

I must just have got lucky ;)
 
I excuse his good behaviour all the time. "It's nothing to do with me, he's just a nice pony"... And yet I take full responsibilty for his "bad" behaviour (he doesn't really do bad, tbf). "he wasn't very off the leg? Yes that's my fault he's not very confident with other riders, so doesn't offer as much and I haven't fixed that issue yet..."

Not "put your bleedin' leg on properly then" which is what I'm thinking :o

:cool:
 
I agree it depends on the circumstances. If its naughty behaviour that could easily be corrected being the reason there isn't any excuse. If the horse genuinely didn't do anything wrong for example being jumped off - happened to me before :rolleyes: and it wasn't my horses fault, his talent completely outshone my ability and the eject button was hit :D no excuse there other than I need to up my game and buy more glue!
 
I think quite often bad behavior is the handlers/riders fault. Even if its just a side effect of being too soft, lacking the confidence or experience for that particular horse etc. Mine has earnt some privileges I wouldn't give another horse because she's old & well behaved. Eg she doesn't like mud or puddles, so unless actually asked to go in, she's welcome to dodge round it or jump it. And allowed to behave like a prat in some places when I am hacking. But, I don't make excuses, I simply state it as a fact I am happy to allow her certain liberties, which suit us both & have no impact on anyone else. Daughters pony used to be a nightmare & dangerous at first. But, when she was she had extremely good reason to behave so, so it wasn't a case of excusing her, just bluntly stating the facts. It does wind me up a bit when 5yrs down the line people are excusing awful basic problems still without good reason, but still, on the whole I prefer people to blame themselves rather than immediately assume the horse is just misbehaving for the hell of it.
 
Depends what!

Jumping out the field, I just have no excuses!! I thoroughly hate the walk of shame when I go and get him, but unless we put 7ft high fencing in, I simply don't know what to do! The odd thing is, he doesn't jump to get to food or company, I've seen him jump into an empty starvation field! I think he just likes jumping!

Shoving - He's getting better, but I just tell people he's a work in progress and that's something I'm working on!

Rearing/napping - He's still learning...promise!
 
With regards to riding - I would rather admit that it was a rider error on my part, than blame it on the horses, who 9 times out of 10 haven't done anything wrong. I think it makes people rather foolish when they blame what blatenty look like bad riding on their horse.
 
Our old pony used to kick people, with both front and hind legs. We made sure no one but us delt with him. We learnt to know when he didn't want us near him by the looks he have us.......the reason for this behaviour is because he was beaten before we got him, he was hit round the head so hard he had a displaced retina so was blind in one eye. His view was "I will get them before they get me!" Which once I had told people thy understood. If there is a solid reason for that behaviour then its not a problem but if its an excuse then no it's on me.
 
slightlyconfused said:
Our old pony used to kick people, with both front and hind legs. We made sure no one but us delt with him. We learnt to know when he didn't want us near him by the looks he have us.......the reason for this behaviour is because he was beaten before we got him, he was hit round the head so hard he had a displaced retina so was blind in one eye. His view was "I will get them before they get me!" Which once I had told people thy understood. If there is a solid reason for that behaviour then its not a problem but if its an excuse then no it's on me.
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Agree absoulutly - sometimes yes the owner/rider is just making excuses and needs to man up and have a 'conversation' with said horse about manners but a lot of the time there is a genuine reason for a horse's behaviour even if it's not obvious. My mare has, on occasions, looked like she's being an obnoxious brat when we are schooling but I have never yet had her behave like that and not later find something properly wrong so now I listen to her and when she behaves like that I stop and work out why. For example she put a rather large hole in her tendon - the first sign of it was she wouldn't go forward under saddle. She was only very mildly lame when trotted up on a hard surface so not enough to notice otherwise.
 
Luckily I'm not on a livery yard so bad behaviour is dealt with without hanging my head in shame!
The three welshies are young enough to be put in their place BUT the two old ladies get away with blue murder... Well you wouldn't punish your grandma would you?
 
Recent conversation on hack.
Q. T.. Why are BB's ears back.?
A.. Oh, that's because he's listening to me:p

30 seconds later he makes a liar of me by trying to bite The Precious One :rolleyes: in his defence he gets a bit irritable having a jumpy Arab youngster with a whip happy rider near him.
 
I do tend to make excuses for welshie but only because he is the perfect gentleman to handle and has lovely manners but he is a very nervous horse whilst out and about and anything can set him of from a leaf falling from a tree to a cat having a stretch. I really don't know why he is like this and I have had him now for five years and although the reactions are less severe he does still react. He is so well behaved to handle from the ground, for the farrier, vet or dentist and they all say they wish every horse they dealt with were so well mannered but to ride he's a different animal. I really don't think he will ever change and he is genuinely afraid and not just messing about so the answer is yes I do make excuses for him I am afraid. As for the other four they are all pretty steady, well behaved animals and I never make excuses for them if they misbehave the behaviour is dealt with.
 
Archie no as he's a pillock, it's all his fault :D
Monty yes as he's a saint and if it goes wrong especially jumping (it rarely does bless him) it's always my fault.:(
 
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