Do your horses do weird stuff to amuse themselves?

kellybee

kellybee

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Mine keep opening the barn door and dragging a bale of hay out into the paddock. I have no idea why! It's not like they dont have hay out every morning and night (with big feeds too!).

The other thing they do is rear up to pull the branches down from a big holly tree in the field. They never eat any part of the tree, they just seem to like the branches pinging back into place. Often they jump a mile when the branches flip back up but they always go back to do it again.

Sometimes I really wonder what goes on in their heads.
 
kellybee said:
The other thing they do is rear up to pull the branches down from a big holly tree in the field. They never eat any part of the tree, they just seem to like the branches pinging back into place. Often they jump a mile when the branches flip back up but they always go back to do it again.

Sometimes I really wonder what goes on in their heads.
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:D:D i would love to see that!!! lol .. am giggling at the images!!! lol x
 
mine nods his head to flap his lips but my favourite is him nodding really fast when he has his headcollar on so the ring attached to the lead rope jingles lol! Nutter!!
 
I love watching boys play :D we've only two and they spend the whole time mucking around being led into trouble by the girls and then told off by the broodies! It's like they've been sat in the field with sherbert or something, can't sit still.
Giant boy tried to get in the pickup to see what it was all about when we were moving things round. Head went into back followed by a leg going the same way. Horn and shouting got a baffled look and ignored. Apparently wipers are dead scary though ;)
 
Mine will spend ages opening the gate from any field, & unless padlocked can open any & is very pleased with herself for escaping. Yet, she can easily jump out but doesn't bother. Also I've turned her out with fencing she could either walk over or through, but she won't bother. One occasion years ago she was in a paddock with electric fencing, about 3' high, switched off & with flimsy plastic posts. Instead of jumping or barging out, she cheerfully pulled up a few posts, then picked her way out over the fallen fence. Same for stable doors, every am while I'm doing her rug she opens her door, yet never walks out till I ask her. I've also seen her loads of times popping jumps left in the field, & not just when they happen to be in her direct path.
The other amuses herself constantly by picking stuff up & generally messing. Tips wheelbarrows, water buckets, grooming kit etc. Then dribbles them round with her hooves.
 
My girlie like to rub her head along floor in the mud before rolling its quite a odd sight so the mud is from poll to muzzle...shes quite disgusting really!
 
my mare likes to rub her nose up and down the bar that she has across her stable when being tacked up.....bit like shes wiping her nose :/

the boy has this thing about pinging ANYTHING with elastic..... bungey things on coats, hoods/vests left in the stable.....always frightens himself when they ping back but always goes back for more
he also enjoys picking up a poo scoop, placing it back down, picking it up etc...... hes a little freaky....

both like pushing open door back and forth when they're blowing in the wind....
 
Mine likes to play with zips on my coat.. And has broken a few!! And also licks EVERYTHING! She's not special... Honest!
 
Baby used to dig holes in the field and play football with the dog as she had a jolly ball. It was the funniest thing ever, she was a bit of a fouler.
The horses decided to ice skate when the water trough sprung a leak during freezing weather.
They also discovered how interesting they were by looking at themselves in the side mirrors on the Defender.

Cob boy loved unloading the digger that was clearing trees in his field. He pulled the branches out of the bucket before it was fully lowered. (That was his best day ever !)
 
ummm let me think about that one for a minute...................



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Yes :D:D:D
 
My cob is literally obssessed with rubbing his hocks on anything he can find. I initially thought he had an itchy rash on them, but no, he just loves it. He stands there, rubbing his hocks, head up in the air, with his lips curled back. I wish I had some photos of it, but havent been quick enough. He also likes to rub his bum on the yard fence, but only on the yard fence. He has worked out that he can just about get his bum to the yard fence outside of his stable, when he is tied up outside.
 
One of mine likes to play with the chain on her door (door gaurd) she rattles it like mad when she is bored and drives the other liveries crazy lol!
When I user medium tug trugs for her water bucket she also saw it as a personal challenge to turn it inside out by the morning! I've watched her do it.... First she scratches one leg up and down it to empty most of water out and then she uses her hind legs to roll it around and squish it! Weirdo! Lol
My other one slides her teeth up the metal bars (internal stables with bars so they can speak to each other) when she is after attention and she also ALWAYS turns right when you put her in the stable. Even if you turn her around to face the door.... (Haynet tied next to door) she will still do a right hand 360 to get to the Haynet! Lol
 
My boys old fieldmate had a rug with detachable tail guard, he used to always pull it off & spend ages throwing it around the field.
I've also found him before tied up next to his old man friend with the old ones lead rope in his mouth pulling it from side to side & up & down so poor old'un had to go where he pulled.
 
Klix said:
Mine likes to play with zips on my coat.. And has broken a few!! And also licks EVERYTHING! She's not special... Honest!
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My youngster does this, pulls the zip up & down by its' toggle, especially while being shod & he is bored. He gets frustrated if the zip toggle is very small & chews the coat collar instead.:)
 
Iv see mine play what I can only describe as pass the parcel with the otherws but with a tree branch. Also likes to scrape teeth down the metal edge of door & sliding stable door open & slamming it shut! :D
 
Zips..!!! My boy is obsessed with zips, will carefully take hold of your zipper on jacket and run it up and down till you get bored and tell him to get off lol
 
I was running late once and decided to jog through their field to get the job done quicker, the little one saw me and decided to join me-cantering at my side. Since then we do it quite often, she'll run around the field with me for as long as I can keep it up!
 
Previous pony always did a full stretch when you took his rugs off, he put his front feet out and leaned down til his elbows were almost on the floor!

Jay, our 4 yr old loves to stand in buckets. If there is one nearby when he's tied up he will move himself until he can reach it with his back feet, and then end up standing in it usually with one leg, quite happy to stand there. made hot tubbing his abscess very easy! Thankfully he doesn't do it with his water bucket in the stable.

Haflinger on our yard likes to grab the headcollar of his fieldmate and lead him around. So if you turn your horse out with the Haffie, leave the headcollar off!
 
My youngster shoves her head right inside an empty water barrel and then kicks it with her front leg - think she likes the noise! Special or what? I've spoilt her fun and moved it as I was scared she would damage her hearing!
 
One of mine used to be calmly in the field with his friends grazing, head up and dive through the fencing.

He wasn't bullied, lonely, hungry, thirsty, getting a draught, cold, etc, yet he'd insist on going into the other paddocks. Often they had little grass in, no water buckets, colder, breezier, less shade, no company, bigger horses that bullied him, mares who'd try to kick him..

Yet he'd put himself in there, the second you went in to catch him, he'd barge his way through the fencing to go back to the other paddock.

Never did figure it out, he's still a pain to this day. In fact other day put himself in one of the summer paddocks for a whole 2 minutes after going through 3 fields, only to trash the lot to put himself back again. :confused:
 
Murphy always manages to take the lid off the waste bin and topple it over-"mummy can clean up the mess...". When he lived at home, we'd go out on a hack and he'd ALWAYS stop at the same beech tree on the way and reach his head straight up so it was vertical in front of me to eat the leaves.

Ike loves zips too, and if you're near his stable, he reaches his nose out to touch you on the shoulder or arm and then look away like "it wasn't me".

Another horse bangs his teeth together if you're making up a feed, horrendous noise!

Pickles the shettie sneaks up on other horses, picks on them, starts a fight and the minute his victim turns round to see what's going on he squeals and runs away, even if they've not touched him. Then if he's not quick enough to get away, he tries to bite thier neck. He's going to get thrown across the field one day. This is when he's not trying to undo the field gates.

There's another who scrapes his teeth up the wood covered wall on the outside of his stable or the metal frame round the door.

One of the mares lifts a front leg when she's eating, alternating it every couple of seconds-she gets too excited for feed and can't contain it.

The last weirdness is another one of the horses pulls down every rug he can see just to make a mess. Big ostrich-neck reaches out, throws them to the floor and moves on to the next. Same with broom handles, mucking out forks, whips...
 
One of the horses i rode as a teenager was often turned out in the small home paddock during the day and in the summer there was always a course of showjumps left up. Monarch would happily run round and neatly jump the entire course for fun several times through out the day he really loved to jump lol
 
Getting as muddy as possible to make sure he has a long groom every time he comes in (or maybe he's part Hippo)

And pulling rugs off the rug rack in his stable. Not a clue why he finds that amusing but he does it all the time and then buries them in his bedding :rolleyes:
 
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