Help ! Pony climbing door at dinner

[Lauren1993]

Hi all.
advise wanted for our cheeky 11hh Shetland x mare who likes to jump up her stable door at dinner time.
she can just about see over the door & she can see through the hinge gap too but when she knows her dinner is around she climbs up it in anticipation for her food.
we have to tell her no firmly & push her down like a dog but as soon as you walk away she jumps up again.
weve tried ignoring her but she just stands there with her legs up & we’re worried she will hurt her legs !
she has half wall internal stables so a grill / top door is not an option.
her door is metal & we can’t adapt it as yard owner does not want it messed with.
if we got her a smaller door will she jump it ?!
I want to nip the behaviour in the bud as she is a kids pony & it’s not very safe.
does anyone have and suggestions to stop her doing so ?
she is a very fidgety / impatient pony in general so I think it’s just another level to her ??‍
Photo of her door

 

[twiggy2]

If she cannot see out what do you expect her to do?
Just speak to the yard owner and attach a 2nd lower door so the pony can see beyond its 4 walls.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I wouldn't put in her that position,tbh. If at all possible, put her bucket in the stable while she is somewhere else. Atm does she have hay to eat while waiting for the bucket?

 

[Lauren1993]

She can see over her door, she did the exact same in a different stable with a smaller door. She paws the ground when there is food around, fidgets about when you’re walking around the yard wanting food.
she ALWAYS has a hat net, one hay & 1 haylege net & never runs out !
it is definitely a behaviour thing.
Our yard is an old cow farm & the owner is a typical cow farm man, he has no interest or knowledge about the horses.. nor does he car tbh. Just want his rent so he will not do anything to the door.
she has a tiny handful of happy hoof in the evening … doesn’t matter what time she has it, how we feed it etc.

I want to resolve the behaviour not adapt the stable.

 

[TheMule]

She doesn’t need ‘dinner' so I'd just stop feeding it. If you feel she must have it then just leave her bucket in the stable for when she comes in from the field

 

[twiggy2]

She can see over her door, she did the exact same in a different stable with a smaller door. She paws the ground when there is food around, fidgets about when you’re walking around the yard wanting food.
she ALWAYS has a hat net, one hay & 1 haylege net & never runs out !
it is definitely a behaviour thing.
Our yard is an old cow farm & the owner is a typical cow farm man, he has no interest or knowledge about the horses.. nor does he car tbh. Just want his rent so he will not do anything to the door.
she has a tiny handful of happy hoof in the evening … doesn’t matter what time she has it, how we feed it etc.

I want to resolve the behaviour not adapt the stable.

You said she can just about see over the door, if she is peering over craning her neck it's not going to be comfortable and she may not actually be able to see what she wants too.
You so asked if she would jump a smaller door, that sort of suggest you haven't tried her with with smaller door.
Why should the farmer do the door? You ask if you can put a lower door in or get it done.
If its only a tiny bit of happy hoof causing a big problem stop giving her a bucket feed.
I would be cautious with having feed on the stable for when she walks I have found with some ponies all manners go out of the window when you do that.
You asked for suggestions mine was put a door in that she can see over, I think a lot of horses would climb the door at feed time if the doors were designed for much taller animals.

 

[Lauren1993]

I agree but all of the other horses have dinner so she will do the same whenever there is food about regardless !
which is why we want to fix the behaviour as we can’t control everything around us.
even if she has been fed (bucket left in her stable) she will jump her door when the other horses are fed.
we are a diy livery & I cannot control other people feed times.

 

[Lauren1993]

No we haven’t tried a smaller door as it’s an old cow farm & each door is slightly different. So it’s not just a swap job, a whole new door will need to be made & welded etc.
she is very cheeky & I know it’s a behaviour we need to fix.
how can I expect my daughter to be able to go to her door if she is doing this x

 

[Carlosmum]

Can you leave the door open and fix a door guard/chain so she can see out when people are on the yard, Her door could be closed when everyone goes home

 

[dottylottie]

my only idea would be to practice on her backing up, waiting patiently once the door is opened before she gets anything, and then hopefully the behaviour will transfer to when the door is shut. practice with treats etc as long as this isn’t likely to make her nippy.

if you put a stable chain up and opened her door would she barge through it? in an ideal word she’d have a shorter door but i understand this isn’t an option, and without addressing the behaviour she’ll just kick the living daylight out of the new door instead of climbing the old one.
i feel your pain though, i’ve had a door-kicker and a door-climber and as soon as you’ve told one to stop the other has started again lol.

 

[fiwen30]

How about a box for her to stand on? Genuine suggestion - it worked on a yard with a tiny show pony who would get stressed about not being able to see over the door. Just a simple, sturdy wooden box that he could put his front feet up on, and he was happy as a clam.

 

[Glitter's fun]

Can you change things so she can have 24/7 turnout? Surely a Shetland doesn't need stable/rugs/feed?

Do you have other horses at the same place yourself? If not it might be easier all round to move her to where she can be with other live-out ponies. She sounds frustrated.

 

[twiggy2]

I agree but all of the other horses have dinner so she will do the same whenever there is food about regardless !
which is why we want to fix the behaviour as we can’t control everything around us.
even if she has been fed (bucket left in her stable) she will jump her door when the other horses are fed.
we are a diy livery & I cannot control other people feed times.

No one else has to stop feeding their horses for you to stop feeding yours, my last mare was terrible door kicking at feed times, she was in a block of 8 and all the horses were fed by the first person in in the mornings, I stopped leaving a feed out for her (I fed her myself) and the door kicking at the first person in the block stopped very quickly. A lot of people love to give a bucket feed though though that's up to you.
Add one hinge to the door frame at a lower height and just put a shorter wooden door in. It doesn't have to be metal it's really not a big job.
Changing a thing in her environment is likely to make this issue go away and both your daughter and the pony safer.
It must be really frustrating and possibly stressful for the pony to not be able to see what is going on around her adequately, you may find she is less impatient and pushy all round because she becomes more relaxed

 

[meleeka]

How about a box for her to stand on? Genuine suggestion - it worked on a yard with a tiny show pony who would get stressed about not being able to see over the door. Just a simple, sturdy wooden box that he could put his front feet up on, and he was happy as a clam.

We did the same for a shetland at a yard I was at. It wasn’t big enough to get his back legs on. He used to stand with front legs on and was very happy. It had carpet tiles on the top to stop him slipping and I vaguely remember it being 2 tiles wide and 1 tile deep.

 

[Lauren1993]

Problem solved, been up this evening & the farmers son; Mark has made me a door ????
Thank god for Mark !
she stood happily looking out while I made her dinner ?
I could have cried when he came out holding the hood ready to put on for me !

 

[Lauren1993]

It won’t let me post a photo ?

 

[twiggy2]

Deleted

 

[Sealine]

We have a Shetland and a miniature at the yard and they both have a small bottom door with the original top door closed. They can see out but the top door stops them climbing or jumping out.