Hitting Horses - Poll

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Tia

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Having read the very long post further down and been left wondering about a number of things and of course having my own opinions on the situation in particular.......I thought I would rig up a little poll to see what you all think. Not really relating directly from the previous post but blatantly stealing the scenario as it is one which is very relevant to me and others on here.

As you know, I own a boarding stables where I have full care of all the weanlings, yearlings and the rest of the youngsters.....some belong to me and the rest are long distance liveries who can only make it to see their babies once in a while.

If an excitable foal/yearling were to rear up at you in the field, regardless of whether it belonged to you or not, what would you do?
 
I'd growl and chase it away much as the others would do to it in the herd.
if it continued to do it a clump of mud aimed at it's rump would swiftly follow!
I rarely need to raise a hand to most horses unless they attempt to bite me, then retribution is instant.
 
Never been in the situation, but im very aware when I am working with younger horses, I would tap my mare on the nose if she did anything rude, she knows better, and at 26 she knows what a smack means- dont do it again.
Being the owner of a horse that has been beaten from a baby made me even more cautious about what I do in way of youngsters, usually just hiss at them and a sharp noise makes them think whoa. Not sure if this would be any use in this scenario- I have been fortunate enough to avoid it.
 
To be honest I'd probably growl at in, then run in the opposite direction lol, youngsters rearing in my face scare me!! Thats presuming that there is someone with more experienced to deal with it. If I was the only one who looked after it, then I would take action. This is presicely why I wouldn't get a youngster, I have no idea of the correct way to deal with them! If it was biting, barging, kicking then I would give a shove or a slap, with a threatening growl, providing I had been given permission to.
 
I think the automatic response to a scenario like this is to shout or wave your arms to ward off waving legs in self preservation, especially if you are not expecting it. In hindsight one might do things differently but I daresay if it was me I'd wave my arms at them, a loud "Oi!" (you ********) can stop some in their tracks if they are just being playful. With youngsters I would generally expect this sort of thing once in a while, especially with a whole bunch of them, high spirits and all that.

On the other hand I have been attacked in a field by a horse that intended to do damage and I was throwing things with intent then just to be able to back to the fence to escape, it killed a dog and attacked several other people too. In that situation I would have used whatever was to hand at the time. It turned out that that particular horse had a tumour in the brain.
 
Unfortunately I had posted this poll before I realised that I mean't to give you all as many options as possible and not just the one.
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For me, if a youngster (and I have some pretty big youngsters here) came up to me and threatened me with a rear, I'm afraid I would do a number of the things in the poll....and stop at whatever worked! And if that mean't ending up throwing something at it, or hitting it, then so beit.

My whole livelihood revolves around the horses and I just cannot risk being out of action even for just a couple of days. Often when I have new youngsters arrive, they are a bit OTT and they often push the boundaries. I am very kind and patient with all of the horses here however biting, kicking and rearing at a person is not acceptable here, so is dealt with using appropriate action.

Within a few weeks the horses all settle and know what is good manners and what is not tolerated. Threatening at a human at my farm is NOT tolerated; all horses here are treated exactly the same regardless of whom owns the registry papers. All are loved, all are cared for, all are given patience and understanding and all are also taught manners.

I REALLY really wanted to ask in that locked thread whether the feed scoop was plastic or metal
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......not that it would make much difference though, LOL!!
 
Make myself as big as possible, give a good "oh!" and as soon as he was down (if he was my horse) smack on the nose. If it was another persons horse and I didn't know the horse I would throw something handy at the same time as a shout but keep away.
 
I would Shout and wave arms at first then if it continued i would throw stuff!!
i would do whatever necessary to stop it from causing damage..a youngster that like to rear should be dealt with accordingly not just 'ahh its only a baby'ed! as adults who rear are no longer funny or cute!
 
Second reply because having glanced at the enormous response to the post further down I now realise what you're getting at!
The majority of horse handling problems if not all are caused by one thing only, bad human handling.
In a herd structure yougsters learn exactly how to behave and inter-act and it's only when us humans start giving them confusing signals that problems occur.
Had that yearling been in a herd and eating, it would have either stood it's ground and defended it's food (as it did), or bowed down to a bossier horse and walked away.
As it is the interpretation of it's behaviour sounds as if the poor devil did something dreadful, which it didn't! It showed normal "equine" behaviour and although I can see the YO being a bit unsettled, her action should have been immediate and not afterwards, neither does a whack on the bum when the incident is over do much..
I had to laugh at the posts where they suggest perhaps the yearling may end up traumatised, for goodness sake, has tree hugging crept into this forum?
I bet like me there are occasions Tia is surrounded by bolshy hungry horses who need a growl at to make them back off and give her room and safety.
Under the circumstances when your own safety might be at risk, you do have to take some action though I prefer my clump of mud to a feedscoop...
Boy did I laugh at some of the answers on that post
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stand tall and face onto it then move forward into its space usually does the trick, i dont hit my horses at all no matter what as it only encourages headshyness (if hit around the head), nerviousness of humans (in general).
ps before you all think im a goody two shoes it is only my opinion, but a smack is abuse in any form.
and throwing things encourages spookiness, so don't start whining when they jump around all over because they see something out of the corner of there eye.
 
I certainly have been surrounded by bolshy youngsters in the past so I know exactly how vulnerable us piddly little humans are when in a herd of babies.

I planned all my fields so that there is a long fence-line for all fields. The feeds are scooped into their rubber skip buckets and put through the fence at 15 ft intervals, so I no longer have to take my life in my hands every day.

The odd thing about the previous post that I picked up on, was that I just cannot imagine any of my youngsters who have been here for longer than a few weeks doing this
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. They just don't. Some of them have during their first days here because they are not sure how the drill goes, but never after that time period. They're all very respectful guys.......but I NEVER turn my back on them when I am in the herd with them LOL!!! I have way too much self-preservation to ever trust them implicitly.
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Who knows without being there - some situations smacking is in order, just aslong as you do not loose your temper can't see anything wrong with it.
 
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then move forward into its space usually does the trick

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Under careering and out of control legs?
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throwing things encourages spookiness

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Hmm this has proven to be the contrary in my experience....throwing things about, rattling things, bouncing around and making lots of noise teaches my horses NOT to spook. Odd.
 
Shocked people throw things at animals? I dont hurt a horse with anything but with my hands if he say bites me to keep his respect to me and just a smack *not on head don't need a headshy horse*. I don't see it fair to be using other things. At the end of the day you need to think why the foal reared? I've been reared on by youngsters my own and others and it tends to be discomfort or because foals will be foals and do not understand rearing, like the would play with other foals is not acceptable with humans. It is important foals learn the pecking order and your higher. Using body lanuage like anouther horse works best. Eye contact works a treat. My methods always worked for me and my horses have had good mannors to me which they didn't start off with!
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i agree with you tia about introduing things, but not actually throwing things at them.
you know as well as i do if you keep doing things the sameway they eventually get used to them. (may even expect it)
i have no problem with what all of you have said but im just used to doing things quitely and safely around my youngsters i never take my eyes off them too so can manage to see something arising before it happens so dont get hurt.

i just hope the inexperinced dont think because some of you have said hit or throw things at them. (i know you only do it when needed)
but they may think its alright to do this every time there young horse puts a foot wrong and moves an inch it is this i find wrong.

ps i dont use a whip either, but mainly because i buy hot horses.
as i said before its only my opinion, everyone reacts differently as do horses.
 
my girl, who is 5 got over excited in the feild when there was snow and i was in there filming, she came up to me and started rearing right infront of me! they were small and she was being playful, so i laughed joined in, stroking her neck and we had a fun time! rearing is normal behaviour and isnt really a sign of agression, just over excitement, so i would calm it down with some strokes, it's either being playful or it's scared!
 
I would say something thrown unless heavy or with a lot of force is not a big deal. A feed bucket, for example if hits on the rump is not gonna do much harm. neither is a clump of mud! (or feed -my preferred weapon when being bombarded by beasties!)
 
Hmm perhaps you haven't been totally surrounded by a herd of 10 exuberant 2 year olds then, LOL!! If you had been then you would not be shocked at people throwing things at them when they start bouncing around you......
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Actually this was probably a silly poll as there are so many people here who have no comprehension of being in a situation like this with a whole herd of unpredictable youngsters. Many are using their own horses as examples and of course how many on here actually have herds of youngsters.....not too many.

It's a bit like asking what you would do if you found a burglar in your home......well you could never really know how you would react until it happens.
 
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It's a bit like asking what you would do if you found a burglar in your home......well you could never really know how you would react until it happens

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I do, I got the hell out of there
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i completely agree with F_M_N they do it in the feild with other horses, and, if they are being dominant or agressive, you need to use the dominant horses behaviour to counter it not a method where the horse doesnt understand, like hitting, horse dont hit eachother with things but will bit or charge, and yes if a horse was rearing i would definately go towards them, quickly and as big as possible, you dont leave there space. and if you go off to find somthing to hit them with, the ordeal is already over and htey wont understand why you are hitting them.
 
But that isn't what we are talking about - we are talking about a highly dangerous situation - one where the human could be killed instantly.

I don't hit my horses either in training - I don't even own a whip and to date I've never had to hit any rearing horses......the point is if they hadn't stopped then yes I would have! I have very firmly pushed horses who have been bargy, I will shoo them away with my arms, I will shout at them but I will also reserve the right to hit them if they did not stop at all of those previous measures.

Hitting horses for the sake of it goes totally against the grain for me, however I have no issue with others hitting their horses.

Rearing, kicking and biting are not acceptable and if a horse does any of these things to me then it is in jeopardy of being dealt with in exactly the same manner as another horse would deal with them.
 
We have 4 youngsters and 2 broodmares in one field. The 2 broodmares and one of the babies come in for feed everyday the others stay out as we don't have enough stables for them. They are still handled everyday though.
The all have fantastic manners and know better than to rear at me but for safety I carry a stick, used it once or twice in the year I've been there, but its mainly to stop them getting too close to me and to remind them not to kick out at each other.
I would whack them on the chest if they were to rear up at me, if I didn't have the stick I would wave my arms at them to get them away from me. Safety first for me.
 
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