Have you ever lost your temper with a horse

Years ago I kept a pony at a riding school with shared grazing. There was a very nasty, horrible tempred exmoor gelding in the field that would attack you and your horse as you tried to leave the field, it would spot you making for the gate and belt over kicking and biting.....one day it's kick got me, right on the knee, shock and rage kicked in and as it was about to bite my mare I booted it really hard right up it's backside (how stupid was that??!!) It was sooo surprised by the sudden attack it ran off - with me after it!!! It never came for me again.....To be brutally honest it was what it needed and it was nothing a more dominant horse wouldn't have done, my pony was very submissive - a damn sight harder!!
 
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my reaction is usually to swear... and alot of it.
If a horse nips it gets a tap on the nose, if it is bargy when being lead i give it a good yank on the leadrope..
Yesterday i had my finger broken by a big bugger playing up on his way to the field, he got a smack on the nose and was made to stand untill someone else could grab him.... I was in alot of pain but did not feel the need to beat him
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He was told several times throughout the day that he was a horrible bugger and that I didnt like him anymore though
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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.

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perfect answer.... and so like what I had to do today when farm machinery backwards and forwars the window and entrance to my stable continued to spook my mare so much, tacking up was impossible and had become too dangerous to her to continue.
 
i no longer carry a whip with me since i wacked my fantstic pony on the shoulder for stopping right in front of a jump after charging at it..just one of those moments where fustration gets the better of u!
i dont trust myself with a whip so i dont use it. the most i do now is a good old fashioned pony club kick
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Hmm yes - horse I was working with over the summer that couldn't be caught/turned out without trying to kill you (somebody had traumatised him) His fear had turned agressive though and he was dangerous to handle.

I spent ages leading and working with him softly to get his confidence back and we progressed really well to being able to lead out with other horses etc

Then one day out of the blue (weeks of leadin calmly and mannerly) he lost the plot when I was leading out to turn out, we were walking through one empty field to get to another.

He spun off bucking and narrowly missed my head and left my struggling to hold the other two horses - I was holding the leadrope safely but when it pulled through my hand it caught my nail and quicked me really badly.

So I left him on his own, leadrope dangling in the empty field and took the other two horses away with me.

I know horses don't realise when they are being 'punished', but he goes out into the same field with the herd everyday and has to stand calmly until his headcollar is taken off, so I thought there was a small chance of him making some connection, with bolting off into a strange field = being left on my own and headcollar and rope still on = jerking myself everytime I walk around.

He came running to me the following day to be caught.
 
I have screamed my head off at my mare & yanked her leadrope/lunge SO hard when she's bolted on the end of it a few times - almost pulled my arm out of the socket; she doesn't do it anymore but I did cry myself to sleep the worst night and got her poll checked after. I feel I didn't have another option though at the time.

i have had a proper tantrum but just burst into tears and got off the horse, though - was feeling fragile anyway and a chesnut mare was determined to battle with me, being so backwards, napping like a pro and ignoring my leg aids while grabbing at the bit and yanking and i just couldn't be dealing with it. Funny thing is, the mare was very apologetic and tender in her manner afterwards...made me cry more because I wish I'd had the determination to push through it.
 
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I have screamed my head off at my mare & yanked her leadrope/lunge SO hard when she's bolted on the end of it a few times - almost pulled my arm out of the socket; she doesn't do it anymore but I did cry myself to sleep the worst night and got her poll checked after. I feel I didn't have another option though at the time.

i have had a proper tantrum but just burst into tears and got off the horse, though - was feeling fragile anyway and a chesnut mare was determined to battle with me, being so backwards, napping like a pro and ignoring my leg aids while grabbing at the bit and yanking and i just couldn't be dealing with it. Funny thing is, the mare was very apologetic and tender in her manner afterwards...made me cry more because I wish I'd had the determination to push through it.

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know the feeling well
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I've shouted at them and gone a bit OTT with my voice...blood boiling red in the face kinda thing lol but never taken my temper out on them with a whip or anything like that.

I admit that is a weakness of mine in some cases, I shouldnt be too soft, but there is a difference between loosing it and giving them a crack when there are being naughty and putting you or themselves in a dangerous position and them having to learn right from wrong.

I think young adults can be more headed when your a teenager, but you learn with experiance that it doesnt get you anywhere and you learn to take a few breaths, bite your tongue, shake your head...or bang it against a brick wall
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and laugh it off.

Like the saying goes:- There is only room for two emotions in the saddle, a GSOH and patience.
 
Yes I have.Not very often and usually, but not always, felt ashamed of myself afterwards.However I have NEVER even wanted to hang a pony up in chains and beat it!Sadly, I believe it though, having seen some of the things I have seen in the back, and sometimes front, of shows, when I had a good showjumping pony.Know what I saw in the yard sometimes as well.Also saw children beaten for making mistakes in the ring.The only thing that gives me hope is Youtube.Somewhere, you little slimeballs, is a camera near you.Think on.
 
I used to be terrible as a teenager. Not being a brat but out of nerves when I was competing. I used to throw complete tantrums at the people who where helping me and anyone who cut me up in the warm up etc. I never used to lay into the horses and beat them but of course it unnerved them and the whole thing would spiral then would do the whole intense schooling session thing.

Looking back on it riding was the one thing I was really good at and I was competing at quite a high level and I could never admit when I was nervous or feeling sick out of pride I guess, but one day my boyfriend walked off and left the show and me stranded and from that day to this I changed completely and I am the other extreme I don't think there is a thing a horse could do to make me lose it now. I have found so many ways to work round things and I just don't have the temper there anymore.....still have the sick nerves though lol
 
hmmmm, guess it depends on your defination of *loosing your temper*......iv never ever beaten a horse to the point of fear and iv never done anything deliberately painful to one either.

sure iv maybe whacked one a bit harder or once more than necessary (flat of hand) but only when they have needed reprimanding anyway.

most recently one sat down in a neat levade and then starting taking pot shots with her front legs at me, because she didnt want her ears trimming(horse has had her ears trimmed up every week in previous home) so rope went over nose and she got a good few yanks-im happy to take my time with a fearful horse but this was an agressive GET LOST.

shetland pulled away from me turning out a few weeks ago, wrenched my shoulder and refused to be recaptured and barged through all the electric fence. so instead of ten minutes it took me a hour to sort that out.
when i bought them in in the eve i left him out on his own until it was dark and funnily enough he was perfect to catch.im sure it taught him nothing, but it didnt harm him either and it made me feel marginally less grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
 
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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.)

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I agree-and not just in relation to horses.

If I am loosing my temper with a horse,I will get off.At that point,nothing constructive is going to be achived and staying on simply to sve face is pointless.
There is always another day to get it right.

To the lady who said horses dont do wrong,that is BS.
Horses,wonderfull as they are,are still animals that re perfectly capable of doing the wrong thing should they choose to.
Have seen plenty of older horses who should know better getting a boot from the boss of the field for being "bad"-just because for the most part they want to do the right thing does not mean they dont have days when they wake up in a foul mood wanting to pi55 the world off just like we do
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Never lost my temper with a horse or any animal. Sure i have been frustrated and may have been a bit more grumpy like, but considering the angry me isn't even remotely 'angry like' I doubt my mare even noticed when I was mad. I suppose for those few moments I stopped smothering her with kisses.. lol

I haven't thank god seen anyone else lose their temper either really. But I do remember reading a book by some natural horsemanship people, who said they dealt with someone with anger management - who took it out on their horse and one time, even though the horse was fine they couldn't help but go and stub their ciggy out on the horse! Horrible.

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Once with my old pony but I didn't hit him....
He was such a little B*gger to wash... I was giving him a bath the day before a show and he wouldn't stand still... just endless stamping and trotting/walking around... kicking buckets over, standing on me etc...
I did lost it a bit and screamed at him which scared him silly
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I would never beat a horse like that though
 
Yes, and I think most people have
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Last time was a few months ago, was taking Dylan to the field, he was really wound up and pratting about. He jumped forward when I opened the gate, landing right on top of my foot, and he wouldn't get off. I tried talking to him, pushing his shoulder, and smacking him with the leadrope, at which point he tried to push me over. So I swore at him and booted him in the ribs. I'm not proud of it, but there wasn't much else I could do to get him off me.
 
I rarely do these days and if I feel my temper rising will walk away but I have done occasionally in the past when I was younger. I did stamp my foot and swear the other day when my pony ran off for NO REASON other than he is a silly spooky monster but I was back in control before I went to catch him again!!

When I was a working pupil, we had a pony who was just the laziest most obnoxious thing. He would walk so slowly it was painful to watch him put one foot in front of the othe,r and knew exactly how far away from you he needed to be so you (as the instructor) couldn't reach him with the schooling whip then he would stop and refuse to move until you walked up to him again. One afternoon I was tired and stressed out and he was being particularly awkward with a very sweet child and I just got so annoyed I grabbed his bridle and fetched him such a whack across the bum with my schooling whip he lept into the air and bucked. There was a raised mark left afterwards.
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To this day I've never forgiven myself for losing my temper with him - being a riding school pony is hard enough without the instructors adding to the trauma
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I shouted 'horrible F-ing pony!' at my boy when he dumped me on a jump at a show - if that counts!!

I'd never lose my temper though - I'm more likely to cry lol. I'm a teacher so have learnt how not to lose your temper - in a school its totally ineffective and the kids just find it funny ... and with animals its also totally ineffective in a ifferent way and does nothing for your animal!
 
I have to confess I have, and have screamed all manner of expletives in said horses direction, and then shoved it back in the field and walked away. And then cried!

One thing I've learnt as I've gotten older, is if its not working (be that schooling, trying to clip, whatever), sometimes its best to end on a relative positive and try again later or the next day, and not just carry on until you are both mad with each other.

I saw someone lay into their horse once with the end of the lead rein - she had tied it up right next to another horse it didn't know, and had then kicked out, so she dragged it off and started laying into it. Completely out of order and achieved nothing.
 
Ages ago when I had my old horse Rocky, he was very bad to load and over the course of a few weeks I used to give him his breakfast in the lorry, he was happily walking up the ramp eating his food then coming out again.
One morning I went to do this as usual and he refused to go in, an hour later he was still refusing to go in, and at this point getting quite dangerous and rearing up at people. He knocked my friend over and was walking along on his hind legs boxing at anyone who came near him, she had to crawl under the lorry to get away from him.
In the end we got a lunge whip and wacked him with it everytime he reared up and I'm afraid to say that I did rather lose my temper with him at one point especially when he was actually trying to injure people and had to put him back in his stable while I calmed down.

He went in after about 3 hours, and funnily enough was never bad to load ever again...
 
I am cringing as I write this, but I have never lost my temper with my current girl, sure she has had the odd raised word or a shove but she's never naughty!!!!

But, I shouldn't chuckle but it does make me smile, my gorgeous little welshie that I sold 18 months ago....when he was about 1 year old he went through the most awful nippy youngster stage and he caught my hand and broke the skin and I happened to have a plastic curry comb in my hand at the time so I rammed it onto his muzzle and shouted "You f*cking little sh*t", just as the lady who I purchased my first ever horse from appeared mid dog walk! I must have looked a fine example!!!!
 
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