Have you ever lost your temper with a horse

RuthnMeg

RuthnMeg

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and if so, what did you do?
Me, the one major incedent that springs to mind was the chestnut gelding from college (12 years ago). I'd never ridden him before and he napped very badly walking up the slope to the arena. He spun at lightening speed. I stayed on the first time, and turned him to go in 'my direction'. My friend 'E' was with me riding a coloured cob. Second attempt he added broncs after his spin and on the third bronc I came off. Landed on my knees, still holding the reins and my riding crop. He was as surprised as I was that we were still connected as Iam sure he wanted to piss off back to the yard. I lost it, and whipped him so hard on his bum, shoulder and neck. 'E' was telling me to stop, but I was so so cross. I stunned the horse into a silent stand off, still at the end of the riens, then walked to him, and led him up the slope where I got back on, and he was a good boy.
Yes, I regret 'beating' the horse - I did hit him hard after all, but I did what I did as a reaction to his naughty behaviour.
So, anyone else 'lose it' with a trusty steed?
 
I think everyone has lost it at times!

Particularly difficult when you've just fallen off/been hurt because the shock makes you react even more badly!

Have screamed before when I normally wouldnt have done, and when I've been riding i've given them much more of a smack and a growl than i would normally have done.

xxxxx
 
Yes twice. Ashamed to say
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One of my ponies trod on me soo hard he ripped one of my toenails off, and I kicked him sooo hard
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, I still cry about my disgusting behavoiur.

And the other was last week, when a friends horse, trampled me and then jumped on my legs and back, if I had not hit her I am not sure she would have stopped. I am ashamed though though that when I got my self together, I threw a big stick at her, and it hit her head. At the time though, she was lucky that is all she got. A very scarey moment
 
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I have shouted, screamed and sworn at my horse, but I have never hit him repeatedly in an out of control manner.

I don't think there is any place to lose your temper in this way around animals.
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Yes often, anyone that doesnt isn't normal, and if you think thats 'beating' OP then you've got a long way to go. every horse that misbehaves needs to be told off for it, its when they've done nothing wrong and they get a pasting that its not on. I know of pony that came from a well known showjumping family that had been hung from the stable roof with chains, beaten and left. that behavior is discusting. the pony was rescued by a friend of mine and the family reported. not sure what happened after that though.
 
Yes I have lost my temper and I do feel ashamed to say it as it is not the way to behave. I do not excuse myself in any way when I have lost my temper as I have regretted it afterwards and wished I had done something different.

Usually me losing my temper is shouting at my horse, pushing her and dragging her along because she is napping badly. Its totally the wrong way to deal with it, without a doubt, being calm is the best way, but I am guilty of losing my rag and not proud at all
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They are frustating animals not paragons of virtue. We are humans not saints. Yes I've lost it on more than one occasion, but have never repeatedly struck a horse in a rage - I'm more of a verbal kind of person !!
 
not in an uncontrolled rage type of manner, but my old horse who was sooooooooo nappy, sometimes was so frustrated prob lost my temper with her more than i should, not that it made a difference. i'm probably worse for screaming and shouting like some old wifey!! remember once, tried the old sit it out and wait tactic with the napping. 2 hours later in the pouring rain i lost my temper and started screaming/swearing/yelling/smacking. made no differnce apart from i made a tit out of myself!!!
 
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Yes often, anyone that doesnt isn't normal, and if you think thats 'beating' OP then you've got a long way to go. every horse that misbehaves needs to be told off for it, its when they've done nothing wrong and they get a pasting that its not on. I know of pony that came from a well known showjumping family that had been hung from the stable roof with chains, beaten and left. that behavior is discusting. the pony was rescued by a friend of mine and the family reported. not sure what happened after that though.

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Disgusting!!!!!, I bet the pony really knew what it had done wrong. Some things really do begger belieif
 
yep - although it is rare for me I have done it in the past and most recently when my filly double barrelled me she got the shavings fork accross her butt along with a scream and yell - although to be fair it done the trick she has not done it at all since, but I did feel a bit guilty for a while after as each time I walked near her - especially if I had the fork in my hand - she quacked which made me feel like a horse batterer.
 
I,m glad my horse isn't in the care of pocketrocket!

I swear at my horse if she annoys me but never do more than that. Horses don't do wrong it's their humans who do!
 
Gails - as far as we know, it had bucked said showjumpers kid off, he was a lovely pony and after a long hard slog came right again, started jumping on the circuit and doing well, then the girl we sold him to fell off, and he went backwards and was unrideable, he has a lovely life now at my vets house as a field companion to his old hunter.
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Yep Walk away kick myself up the arse, do 10 mins of heavy breathing and go back smiling and if that doesn't work give up for the day, go home have a glass of wine go through my head about what happened and go back next morning on a clean sheet.
 
I have not hit a horse in temper but there was an incident many moons ago when I will admit that I was heavy handed. My chap was acting up on a quiet country lane. there had been some rainfall and the road we were on had ditches either side. The ditches were flooded and quite wide. As he started rearing and reversing Iam ashamed to say I gave him a right few whacks.
I know its not justified but if he had gone backwards we would have ended up in quite deep ditches with goodness knows what injuries so it was the lesser of two evils.
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Yep and it still makes me feel guilty when i know that i should count to 10 and be calm rather than give a wallop as i know i should have dealt with it better. I've never gone mad though. my horses are old enough and i've had them long enough for them to know the rules so i dont feel there was any confusion on their part. i hate it when people seem to think their horse should psychically know what they are meant to do.
 
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Gails - as far as we know, it had bucked said showjumpers kid off, he was a lovely pony and after a long hard slog came right again, started jumping on the circuit and doing well, then the girl we sold him to fell off, and he went backwards and was unrideable, he has a lovely life now at my vets house as a field companion to his old hunter.
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, glad things went ok for him in the end
 
I have foun that I have verbally lost my temper and have "whacked" horses in the past, but as I never carry a whip it has been with the flat of my hand and I'm convinced that it hurts me more than them.

Generally I am more of the "burst into tears, count as high as I need to to regain self control, then pretend I was never upset and carry on" types.
 
Yep, when i was about 15 my pony just bolted with me and just steamed full pelt back to the yard, he missed crushing my leg against a concrete pole by mm's and it scared the crap out of me. When he got back in his stable (me still on him!) i'm afraid to say i got off and just booted him one in the belly
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I then rode him all the way back to where he had bolted from and made him walk back. That would have been enough without the horrible kick from me.
 
I have to admit I so felt like it the other week.

I could feel myself getting angrier and angier and had a bit of a "EURGH" moment, but I just left the school , gave him a loose rein and gave him a pat. He had known I was worked up in the school and that was more than enough for his fragile brain
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He did get a few PC kicks for being nappy though , and of a smack for threatening to rear. Swine.
 
Oh dear - yes! One example that springs to mind wasn't even my horse!!!
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The owner had lost all of her confidence as the mare had got a bit big for her boots. When the owner went in her field she use to go for her. If she managed to catch her, she couldn't get her out of the field.
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One day she had the farrier, and her owner asked me to help her as the fields were across a busy rode from the stables and she needed some help. I managed to catch the mare, get her out of her field, through the other paddocks. Stopped the busy traffic and got across the road.
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Easy peasey... until... the witch decide to drag me backwards across the road in front of a load of traffic that had to do emergency stops!!!
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I lost it! Belted her one with the lead rope and booted her in the stomach.
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I was so mad! We could have been killed. I know I should have let go as I was at risk getting hit by the cars, but it was just instinct to hang on!
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As it goes, it squared the mare up. She walked nicely across the road, and from there on in! I apologised to her owner, I was so embarrassed at my behaviour, not my horse, and in front of the public eye! Luckily the owner thought the mare deserved it!
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An incident with my own Sammi, was when I was at a show, putting in his studs in his back end and in temper he slammed his foot down on mine! Fortunately his stud missed my foot. I was desparately trying to get him off me to no avail!
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What is it when they stand on you, they don't get off, and the more you push, they push even harder down on you!!! I couldn't get him off and so I drop kicked his bum voicing a few choice words at him!!
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I got a few funny looks off other competitors I must say!!
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xx
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I am sorry to say that in Motor's youth I did lose it as he was such a fizzy and forward going horse, who would not know when to stop and I got fed up after one ride of many hours, when he just would not calm down and hit him with my stick and the stick broke
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I threw the stick away and I have never taken one with me on him again .....

Needless to say that he can do anything now and I would just cuddle him instead, as he is the love of my life, after nearly 19 years
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He did get a few PC kicks for being nappy though , and of a smack for threatening to rear. Swine.

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In my mind there's a vast difference between a few meaningful boots in the side for being nappy, or a well-timed slap with a stick, and totally losing it and beating up a horse though.
 
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He did get a few PC kicks for being nappy though , and of a smack for threatening to rear. Swine.

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In my mind there's a vast difference between a few meaningful boots in the side for being nappy, or a well-timed slap with a stick, and totally losing it and beating up a horse though.

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Absolutely. I will smack my horse if he is being a git, but this is a reprimand. To 'lose it' with a horse where someone else actually has to tell you to stop IMO is unacceptable.

(and, for the record I am not a fluffy bunny type - I just think that losing your temper like that is totally counterproductive and wrong.)
 
I wouldn't class myself as a fluffy bunny either
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My husband's old horse was always handled (by us) with a whip in one hand; he was a 17.2 shire x ID who had been allowed to trample people for 20 years. It didn't take long for him to understand that you don't gain the upper hand by barging!

Porridge is a sweet and lovely mare but when she's rude or silly, she will get a dig with a spur or a flick with a whip. I would like to think I'd never, ever lose my rag with her though.
 
Agree with you both (above.)

Darcy will quite often get a smack or a bit of a dig with the spurs if he's being nappy or such. But likewise if I were to 'lose it,' with him , he would only retaliate back with worse.

Would rather reprimand him than get into a battle!
 
Sorry but there is never an excuse to lose your temper with a horse or any other animal for that matter! Cappy has been abused physically in the past, beaten, starved you name it.If he does wrong he gets a tap on his shoulder or a stern "no" , that suffices. It was heartbreaking to see him cringe away when a hand was raised around him, now he is a lot more confident, but will never be all the horse he could be and that is because people lost their tempers with him and thought that violence was the answer.

And for the record I am not a bunny hugger, just someone who has seen, and had to try to mend, the damage a person who is not willing to control their temper has inflicted on a horse.
 
Yes...ish, but not for a long time.

There have been a couple of times in the past that one of my horses has been so naughty that I have walloped them out of frustration. That's not to say it wasn't deserved, but I don't think its good to let your personal feelings affect your actions at all.

Once my horse bit me when I was doing up his rug, really hard on my ribs. It hurt so much and I was so mad I brandished a shavings fork at him and really shouted at him. Mind you he didn't do it again.

I've never beaten a horse or really lost control though, and nowadays I am much calmer generally. If I can feel myself getting frustrated and angry, I take a deep breath, stop, and do something else for a bit.
 
My old loan was similar - a 17.3hh nf x id who knew he was a big horse and had been allowed to get away with blue murder. One day I turned him out like normal and the entrance to our field had deep tyre tracks going into it - I slipped down into the ditch the tractor had made and he thought I had stamped at him,he flew over the fence at me grabbed my arm and bit down hard (had a perfect set of upper and lower jaw prints ) . He would not let go and I still had his lead rope (one of the chain ones) so I launched the chain end of the leadrope at him ,clocked him ont he side of the head and he let go. Another time I had put him into his stable and he has a bar at about collar bone height which as I had turned him around I had began to put up but he tried to bolt back out and got me between the bar and him and he carried on pushing breaking two ribs in the process. He got several hard smacks with the whip for that as it was totally unprovoked . Thankfully he gradually calmed down and realised I was some little ragdoll to have some fun with and we had 6 relatively uneventful years after these run ins.
 
No, but I have lost my temper with myself instead, after disastrous rides. I'd be so mad at myself if I lost control around an animal.
 
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