Getting seriously fed up with being bitten now!!

Ellietotz said:
I know she wouldn't have been something I'd have chosen but my original thread when she came into the picture explained how I don't have field rent or hay to pay no matter how much I insist so I took the opportunity. Seeing her progress is something I find extremely rewarding too and to be honest, tonight, I took the advice from here about being the leader, being firm and calm, she was good as gold and we spent a good half an hour grooming each other in the field after. She followed me around, didn't give me looks, so I think she can improve as well as improving myself, I think she knows I'm weak and tests me. Income is not a problem either, I don't care whether she's on loan or my own, she's an animal I care about, I would willingly spend money on an animal I didn't even know if it helped them.
Click to expand...

Wow....just wow....when people talk about babying and spoiling a horse, this is the sort of human-horse interaction they're on about....I do hope you realize that
 
Queenbee said:
There is actually a very small part of me wondering if this is a prolonged troll attack
Click to expand...

I'm so glad thou wrote that first!

I've been wondering pretty much ever since this poster joined the forum, but her posts have stayed just this side of credible.

To be honest, I now hope it's trolling, otherwise, it's sheer stupidity :(
 
cundlegreen said:
Trust me, if you HAD been bitten properly, you'd know all about it, and it sounds like it's only a matter of time. I took on a very troubled hackney gelding several years ago. Badly brought up, never socialised with any horse except his dam, kept as a stallion until 4, and locked away in box for most of the day. He had extreme "fight" rather than flight tendencies, and bit me twice, despite my best efforts. he was like a striking snake, and got appropriate extreme measures back. (the elbow is a good one!) He actually turned out a nice little horse, but I couldn't trust him for over a year. In the end, he respected me, and I rewarded him for that. He was however, very volatile, and had to be fed carefully. I sold him with full disclosure to an experienced hackney home, and they were very successful with him, until they decided to change his feed to something calmer. The result was that he savaged their old pony, and they were on the verge of putting him down. until they changed back the feed, and he reverted back to a managable horse.
Click to expand...

I heard of a stallion like that, it had been imported from the USA at a fancy price, but had a big biting problem. It was going to be PTS but someone heard about it and took it on. It would just try and grab people and really hurt them. I think there was a bit of use of an electric fence system, but it was cured of the habit and turned out to be a very successful competition horse and stallion. The thing was, it was never a person who punished it, it was done remotely. No idea how it got into being such a problem, but luckily it found the right owner inthe end.
 
Ok. I've tried to give 2 constructive responses both based on the fact that I am currently managing a horse that bites and kicks. You quoted my posts, but I'm not sure you really read them . Mutual grooming is not asserting yourself and has the potential to get you hurt.

I wish you the best of luck.
 
Wow... one minute I'm being told a few of you had an aggressive horse worse than this that you stuck with for years but I should walk away, then I'm told to scratch her, keep her in her happy place so I'm not always associated with things she doesn't like and then I'm told I shouldn't do that! What is it? Do I not scratch her or get along with her at all? Do I tell her off for wanting to nuzzle me back? Shall I just treat her like an object, bring in, feed, put back with no personality at all and no interaction? It's all very contradicting and confusing.
 
Last edited:
Ellietotz said:
Wow... one minute I'm being told a few of you had an aggressive horse worse than this that you stuck with for years but I should walk away, then I'm told to scratch her, keep her in her happy place so I'm not always associated with things she doesn't like and then I'm told I shouldn't do that! What is it? Do I not scratch her or get along with her at all? Do I tell her off for wanting to nuzzle me back? Shall I just treat her like an object, bring in, feed, put back with no personality at all and no interaction? It's all very contradicting and confusing.
Click to expand...

Listen young lady - you are being willfully ignorant and selective in your reading and interpretation.

I said, you do not have the skills, experience or even gut instinct for a horse like this. You have had it for 6 months and still have not had the vet out - if you really care about this horse -shame on you for that.

I also said, If it were mine and I chose to keep on with it - WHICH I SPECIFICALLY SAID YOU SHOULD NOT DO - then before anything else - I would have the vet out and all manner of tests and checks run.

ONLY when it was cleared would I - someone who HAS worked with this kind of horse numerous times, start forging forward... NO GOD DAMNED way would I walk into a field and go all fuzzy wuzzy mutual groom with a dangerous horse.

You are clearly off your rocker, do you scratch her? NO... Do you get along with her at all? NO!! Do you tell her off for wanting to nuzzle you back? (IF you had any understanding at all you would know the answer to this - the horse is invading your space and clearly at the moment that should be a NO!!! - its not about no interaction, it is about the right interaction - something you are completely clueless about...

what should you do? You have been told so many times, no god damned contradiction there - give her back to the owner and take your inexperienced behind away from the situation where you are out of harm and can't confuse this poor horse any further but you clearly need to go to spec savers as you seem to have missed that very clear message throughout this and all the other threads.

Clearly you are a lost cause -
 
Ellietotz said:
Wow... one minute I'm being told a few of you had an aggressive horse worse than this that you stuck with for years but I should walk away, then I'm told to scratch her, keep her in her happy place so I'm not always associated with things she doesn't like and then I'm told I shouldn't do that! What is it? Do I not scratch her or get along with her at all? Do I tell her off for wanting to nuzzle me back? Shall I just treat her like an object, bring in, feed, put back with no personality at all and no interaction? It's all very contradicting and confusing.
Click to expand...

Yes, treat her like an object if that's how you see it....see to her daily needs, keep all interaction formal, then leave her alone.
 
Queenbee said:
Listen young lady - you are being willfully ignorant and selective in your reading and interpretation.

I said, you do not have the skills, experience or even gut instinct for a horse like this. You have had it for 6 months and still have not had the vet out - if you really care about this horse -shame on you for that.

I also said, If it were mine and I chose to keep on with it - WHICH I SPECIFICALLY SAID YOU SHOULD NOT DO - then before anything else - I would have the vet out and all manner of tests and checks run.

ONLY when it was cleared would I - someone who HAS worked with this kind of horse numerous times, start forging forward... NO GOD DAMNED way would I walk into a field and go all fuzzy wuzzy mutual groom with a dangerous horse.

You are clearly off your rocker, do you scratch her? NO... Do you get along with her at all? NO!! Do you tell her off for wanting to nuzzle you back? (IF you had any understanding at all you would know the answer to this - the horse is invading your space and clearly at the moment that should be a NO!!! - its not about no interaction, it is about the right interaction - something you are completely clueless about...

what should you do? You have been told so many times, no god damned contradiction there - give her back to the owner and take your inexperienced behind away from the situation where you are out of harm and can't confuse this poor horse any further but you clearly need to go to spec savers as you seem to have missed that very clear message throughout this and all the other threads.

Clearly you are a lost cause -
Click to expand...

You just said everything with bells on.
 
Ellietotz said:
Wow... one minute I'm being told a few of you had an aggressive horse worse than this that you stuck with for years but I should walk away, then I'm told to scratch her, keep her in her happy place so I'm not always associated with things she doesn't like and then I'm told I shouldn't do that! What is it? Do I not scratch her or get along with her at all? Do I tell her off for wanting to nuzzle me back? Shall I just treat her like an object, bring in, feed, put back with no personality at all and no interaction? It's all very contradicting and confusing.
Click to expand...

And that's where experience comes in, which isn't something that happens overnight and is hard to gain when you have no confidence after being chewed on by half a ton of stroppy nag.

I didn't know quite how bad my horse was, as he had been living out unhandled for some time (should have smelt a rat, but you live and learn...) and seemed ok in the field. I also had experience with 'difficult' horses, so once I found out just how bad he was, I knew I could probably deal with it.

I gave him a chance because he did something for me.

He will never be sold, loaned out or shared, as I don't want the risk of someone getting hurt and for the most part these days he is pretty chilled.

Would I have taken him on if I had known how bad he was? Absolutely not! I used to cry myself to sleep some nights, he caused me huge amounts of stress and there were times in the early days when I just wanted him gone.

I like friendly horses, I'm not a pro, I do it for fun and hanging out with problems just isn't fun. Git features isn't exactly friendly, but he tolerates me and we muddle along fine (like I said - consequences and consistency), but I never want to go through all that stress and pain again. I have friendly horses now, including a big, silly mare, who comes up to me in the field for a fuss and never tries to bite or kick me. Ever. And it is brilliant!
 
Have to agree with other posters. I have 3 horses , all mares. One is very friendly and cuddly, one is slightly aloof and likes you near her but not touching her and the other is territorial of her space and handy with her teeth and hooves (she was a rescue). I treat each one differently and just spend less time with the one who dislikes too much human interaction. She gets minimal grooming as she dislikes it (physical checks were done) and I don't fuss or cuddle her. We have to respect them and have them respect us.
 
Oh Ellie, I really want to give you the benefit of the doubt but you're just not listening (/reading).

The advice isnt all that contradicting... The people who have said they've had horses like yours and kept at them have all pointed out that they had previous experience with other problem horses, which gave them the experience to deal with a horse like yours. They are telling you to walk away because you are NOT experienced enough to know how to deal with this mares issues. They also OWNED the horse, so unless they wanted to attempt to sell a problem horse (not easy) they had to stick it out. You don't. This mare is on loan to you and you can turn around to the owner and say this is too much if you need to.

A poster also advised they would try and keep the mare in her 'happy place' by hacking. This doesn't mean letting her mutual groom you. You said she was bad in the school, and on the ground. So you were advised to not try and solve all problems at once and work on your ground and just hack (the happy place = hacking while you work on ground work). Once she respects you on the ground, then tackle ridden problems.

I'm sorry, lots of people have told you that this mare needs strict boundaries and firm handling.. This may seem impersonal to you, but as so many have pointed out, this isn't a horse to cuddle and fuss. Some you can have grooming sessions with like you want, some (like this mare who comes at you with her mouth open to bite) shouldn't be allowed to do that.

I also think you're being a little confusing in your posts.... you say in your title that you're sick of being bitten and that she's very threatening on the ground (which is why people are concerned about you getting hurt!). Then you go on to say she's never actually bitten and it's not all the time.. Either you're downplaying it or made it seem more extreme in the first place??

I'm not having a go, just showing that some of your posts seem a little contradicting too.

You've had lots of good advice here. Give up the horse being No.1. If you refuse to do this, get her checked by the vet. You said monies no object, and you care about her, so if you really want to continue working with her and the owner won't cough up... Get her checked over. And use a different vet to the one that tries to diagnose over the phone... THEN get a behaviourist who can actually see how extreme this mare is to tell you how to handle her and what you should and shouldn't be allowing her to do.
 
Last edited:
Nudibranch said:
I don't think this can be a genuine post. I hope it's not for the sake of the OP and the horse.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, but it's one of the good ones that has recorded a lot of very good advice for anyone else who finds themselves in the same situation, thankfully.
 
As previously advised, but in a nutshell ....

1) Thorough vet examination to rule out any possible pain causing aggressive behavior. If all ok ....
2) Seek Professional help re aggressive behavior. If not resolved/manageable/improving ...
3) Return to owner.

It really is as simple as that. Do what's right for both you & the horse. Good luck.
 
I don't normally do this but I had a look at some of your old posts.

OP in 2014 you started this thread: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?669478-Help!-My-pony-won-t-stand-still!
I'm not sure if it's the same horse but it seems like you had very similar problems with this horse that you're having now... I'd advise that if you haven't learnt how to deal with these horses in 3 years then you need to look for easier to handle horses...


The first time you seem to ask about the horse you have now (if it's different to the above horse) is over a year ago... http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...-Possible-psychological-issues!-Advice-please
On that post you were advised that this may not be the horse for you, and to get a vet out to scope and do a proper work up (not just a once over). It seems that it's been a year and you or the owner still haven't done this. You're getting the same advice that you got a year ago and are still no further down the line with this horse (it seems).

If this horse is real, please get a vet out or give her up and find yourself something more suitable...
 
Amye said:
I don't normally do this but I had a look at some of your old posts.

OP in 2014 you started this thread: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?669478-Help!-My-pony-won-t-stand-still!
I'm not sure if it's the same horse but it seems like you had very similar problems with this horse that you're having now... I'd advise that if you haven't learnt how to deal with these horses in 3 years then you need to look for easier to handle horses...


The first time you seem to ask about the horse you have now (if it's different to the above horse) is over a year ago... http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...-Possible-psychological-issues!-Advice-please
On that post you were advised that this may not be the horse for you, and to get a vet out to scope and do a proper work up (not just a once over). It seems that it's been a year and you or the owner still haven't done this. You're getting the same advice that you got a year ago and are still no further down the line with this horse (it seems).

If this horse is real, please get a vet out or give her up and find yourself something more suitable...
Click to expand...

Different horse in the first post, it was when I got back into riding after a few years away. Other posts where I have said 'i have this mare' etc is because if I said she wasn't mine, I wouldn't get proper advice most likely.
 
Ellietotz said:
Different horse in the first post, it was when I got back into riding after a few years away. Other posts where I have said 'i have this mare' etc is because if I said she wasn't mine, I wouldn't get proper advice most likely.
Click to expand...

You most certainly have had proper advice from experienced people on here but you are not taking any notice of it.
 
Queenbee said:
Listen young lady - you are being willfully ignorant and selective in your reading and interpretation.

I said, you do not have the skills, experience or even gut instinct for a horse like this. You have had it for 6 months and still have not had the vet out - if you really care about this horse -shame on you for that.

I also said, If it were mine and I chose to keep on with it - WHICH I SPECIFICALLY SAID YOU SHOULD NOT DO - then before anything else - I would have the vet out and all manner of tests and checks run.

ONLY when it was cleared would I - someone who HAS worked with this kind of horse numerous times, start forging forward... NO GOD DAMNED way would I walk into a field and go all fuzzy wuzzy mutual groom with a dangerous horse.

You are clearly off your rocker, do you scratch her? NO... Do you get along with her at all? NO!! Do you tell her off for wanting to nuzzle you back? (IF you had any understanding at all you would know the answer to this - the horse is invading your space and clearly at the moment that should be a NO!!! - its not about no interaction, it is about the right interaction - something you are completely clueless about...

what should you do? You have been told so many times, no god damned contradiction there - give her back to the owner and take your inexperienced behind away from the situation where you are out of harm and can't confuse this poor horse any further but you clearly need to go to spec savers as you seem to have missed that very clear message throughout this and all the other threads.

Clearly you are a lost cause -
Click to expand...

This

OP have you actually read any of the advise given by much more experienced people.

I personally think you are a troll as there was a prolonged post about how your boyfriend was nasty to you and all you wanted was to be loved and you did not know what to do. This is a repeat thread using a horse as the topic.

Oh and I have read the whole thread and sadly you do contradict yourself.............
 
A little scenario for you...

Dog keeps walking face first into the glass patio door, trying to get to the garden.
Owner repeatedly takes the dog by the collar and walks it through the open patio one foot to the left.
Dog continues to walk into closed door = the dog is dumb.
Owner continues to expect the dog to learn about the other, open door after repeated failed attempts to teach it = owner dumb.

A clever dog would quickly choose the open door.
A clever owner would quickly just open the door the dog keeps going to.
Neither should let the headbutting of the closed door carry on, but they do.

That's my take on this thread.
OP has proven she won't learn from the excellent advice given.
People keep trying.
Thread goes nowhere.

Get off the train people, troll or not, this is just stupid. Why waste your time giving advice that you know will be ignored and why waste your time asking for advice you pay no attention to.

This has to be up there on the ridiculous threads list!
 
This popped up on Facebook and I thought it appropriate to share.

Yet op let's her mare groom her then wonders why she gets bitten.....

 
_GG_ said:
A little scenario for you...


Get off the train people, troll or not, this is just stupid. Why waste your time giving advice that you know will be ignored and why waste your time asking for advice you pay no attention to.

This has to be up there on the ridiculous threads list!
Click to expand...

I agree.... I firstly wanted to help and was worried about the OP. But after reading the most recent posts where they don't seem to be taking any notice of what anyone is saying and looking back at old posts they've had the same advice over and over again and not done any of it...

Troll or just ignoring advice as they're not hearing what they want to.

I'm done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top