Horse mis-behaving for livery workers, what to do?!

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Tayto

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My girl has recently come in overnight for winter. It is assisted livery so she gets turned out in the morning and taken into stable in evening.

When I am in the stable with her, her manners are fine. She steps back when asked, moves over and around for me to muck out the bed around her etc and is only ever a bit bolshy when I go in with her dinner but I make her step back before I put the bucket down.

However, I have been told tonight that she keeps pinning the stable worker up against the door in the morning resulting in her giving her a "thump"which I can say I am happy about but if he was pinned up against the door he obviously felt he had no other option. I don't understand what the problem is as she doesn't do this with me - what can I do to teach her respect for not just me but all that work with her?

I feel bad, I hate horses with bad manners and I am mortified that mine seems to be one of theses horses!
 
Well, No. 1 tell them to tie the horse up.

No. 2 ask them to consider the order in which they turn out.

No. 3 what time are they turning out?

No. 4 how experienced arw the yard staff?
 
Hmmm... sounds more likely to be defensive behaviour to me. She's fine with you, she's reacting to an individual who handles her when you're not around. She pinned him against the door and his first reaction was to thump her. Well, if she was having a real go at him that might have been the emergency reaction required, but who knows?
How has she been in the past when handled by other people?
I'd suspect someone has been heavy handed with her to be honest. I'd probably try to stop thinking in terms of manners as well and wonder more about what might be the reason for this change in behaviour.
 
Where does it say anything about mucking out? I'm assuming she's reacting when he goes in to turn her out?

Op said she can muck out around her mare.
 
I think I may have to chat to the YO and if the problem persists I will just turn her out myself in case the problem isn't her and is the man handling her. I haven't witnessed him handling her so I can't comment on his manner towards her but he has worked at the yard for many many years and is well regarded with other liveries apparently. I am new to the yard so this is my first winter with assisted livery.

In the morning she is usually ok with me, sometimes she is more eager to go out than others but usually waits patiently while I change her rug.
 
IME horses react to the handler at that time. If the horse is genuinely well-mannered for you (not just that you are prepared to put up with bad behaviour), the fault lies with the yard staff member. If I were you, I'd ask to watch him deal with her, so that you can see what is happening and why she is behaving so differently for him.
 
I agree that you should talk to YO and perhaps ask them if they would watch the next morning and see what's going on .
Some horses who are used to one person are rude with strangers .
 
My mare does similar things...... With a confident and leader type person she knows she must do as asked of her

However you let something who doesn't show leader ship qualities and she will take the p**s to the extreme! For example the other week on the yard I am at there was a lad practicing for stage 1.... He was asked to bring my mare in (yes all 17.3 of her!!!) and so he brought her up to her stable and she stopped outside the stable door... Of course he tried pulling, pushing, turning around..... In the end he kept going around the car park as every time he presented her to the door she stopped!!!!! Head girl got hold of her lead rope and my mare just followed her in the stable...

Sometimes it's the vibes you give off. I'd try to be there one day to see exactly what they are doing!
 
I think you should probably try and witness this for yourself. I had similar with my horse but another livery advised me to go to the yard early morning. The stable hand had to tie my boy up to enter stable and was getting pinned against the wall, but when I actually saw the situation myself the stable hand was very heavy handed and took a stick to him so his behaviour was reactive. Not saying this is what's happening but you do need to see for yourself especially if he's behaving well for you.
 
Could she just be fidgeting because she is anticipating being turned out? Maybe it would help if they turned her out as one of the first ones if this is the case - I have known some get very stressed whilst they are waiting to be turned out and learnt that by getting them out first, they were better and calmer.
 
My mare misbehaves for new people. We recently moved and I was told she was dragging the yard girl down to the field and barging through the gate. She walks perfectly for me and my 10yr old stepdaughter but we spent ages showing her she isn't allowed to behave like that but I know she is clever enough to see if she can get away with it with other people.
Your horses behaviour does sound a bit defensive though I would want to witness how they were handling her and show them how you would handle the situation so her manners are dealt with consistently.
 
Until it's sort out though I'd be leaving her turnout rug on over night. How does the yard do the turn out routine, is it all the horses rugs are changed in one go, or each one is changed then turned straight out? It could be that she just does not want to wait, or has learnt that the others going out first means she will be soon be out so works herself up. Then when you do her it could be a slightly different routine, your up earlier or there is no waiting?
 
I think it would be a good idea to witness what is going on for yourself. It would be interesting to see this chap handling her first thing in the morning AND when she comes back in from the field. This will give you more of an idea whether the problem is due to the man himself or the time of day he is working with your horse.
 
My lad hates men with a passion other than ones he knows like my OH. His response is to barge and be flighty, which makes the situation worse if you do not know how to handle him. Most people react by getting aggressive with him and this just raises his worry levels and makes him more bolshy. I think as others have said, you need to see what is happening to get a view on it.
 
I had this years back. Was mortified that my horse was turning her bum on the groom every morning. Went down at the same time as the groom did, turned her out. Did it again the next morning, and the next... Suggested the groom tried the next day and hovered. Groom opened door and bellowed "BACK!" in angry tones. My responsive little Arab spun round to face the back of the stable and presented her arse with a bit of attitude. Mystery solved. No need to shout a them verbally, or even with your energy if they don't need it. My horse was a good little thing, you opened the door, she would stand facing it nicely, give you a nuzzle and let you put her headcollar on. I think she was pretty upset (some might even say offended but that's too human for me) by the aggressive and unnecessary approach.
 
If my horse was displaying uncharacteristic behavior when being handled by a stranger, I would be concerned about what sort of handling she was experiencing. My horses started to get very edgy and hyped when I brought them in or out, shortly after we hired a new groom. Then one day I found my lunging whip lying in the field. Turns out, he was too lazy to walk each horse in or out so he would just open the gate and chase them all out, or open all the stable doors and chase them with the whip into the paddock. Other than the obvious potential for accident, it took me ages to break the habit of bulldozing to and from the paddock- seriously dangerous habit.
 
I used to just laugh, my girl used to "terrorise" the yard staff by bouncing across the yard threatening to "bolt" apparently, scared yard hand let go of her and she just stopped and stared at her :)

Most horses I know test the people around them, I would say that an unexperienced yard worker was asked to do your horse and couldn't deal with her.
Perhaps speak to YM to see if someone else can do your horse?
 
mines the same with other folk. Although I used to work with horses many moons ago im not the most experienced horsewoman. He is calm and relaxed around people he knows who can do what they want with him and he s a dope on a rope.
I ve been told by various people handling him in my absence that he is the devil incarnate...a side of him I saw when I first got him...but I have long forgotten that horse.
He is fine with experienced calm people but totally freaked by folk who are scared of him..its like a whole roundabout thing.
If I was faced with your situation I would show the yard staff how you treat your horse and try to help them deal with her..it sounds more like a person problem than a horse problem!
 
Thanks for all the feedback - defo think I need to witness what is going on and take it from there. She is on assisted livery for 6 months of the year so would hate for this behaviour to spiral out of control as I have worked consistently with her in the 7 months I have had her to ensure she knows manners.
 
Tie horse up is the simple answer.

But as to why, is horse hungry?
Has is rub out of hay?
Is it bored?
What time is horse turned out?
How experienced is handler?
Is horse just taking the per!
 
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