Horse puts his ears back.

[gable]

Had a few problems with new horse (8 year old cobxtb) Have owned him for 4 months now. He had absolutely no manners when he first came home, but with a bit of patience and consistency we are finally getting somewhere apart from one thing.

He now moves back before I enter his stable, and is happy for me to be in there with him apart from when I enter with his feed bucket.
He stands back but always with his ears back - not pinned back, but back and snakes his head looking rather impatient.
I don't give him his feed until he stands still and puts his ears forward and stops pulling faces.

I'm guessing that's his way of saying 'Give it to me now!'

Am I doing the right thing, as I have been doing this for a while now and he doesn't seem to be getting the message.

Any other ideas peeps?

Thanks in advance.

 

[PingPongPony]

My horse does exactly the same thing, and i do what you do with the addition of the word 'face!' i just walk in, hold the bucket next to me so she can't grab it and say to her 'oi, face!' and then wait, say it again and then she puts her ears forward and nudges me looking very cute then i give her the bucket. each time it takes shorter for her to put her ears forwards so i guess we're getting somewhere but i have been doing this for almost a year now

 

[badgerdog]

To be honest I don't think you can stop him pulling faces! If he was barging into you and knocking you over I would be advising you to do something about it, but other than the faces he doesn't appear to be doing anything wrong. At least he has the manners to stand back. Some horses pull faces more than others, he's just wanting his dinner.

 

[Fun Foals]

My horse always puts his ears back when i take him his food but he moves back for me to put it in so i dont mind. He has never done anything nasty, you can do anything with him while he eats it is only pullying faces when food comes. As long as he moves back and doesnt try to bit, barge or do anything nasty pullying faces doesnt bother me at all.

 

[Jazzy B]

my old mare was the biggest face puller ever but never put a foot wrong think that was just her way used to really annoy me when I first had her but when had her PTS that was one of the things I missed about the old baggage and in fact have a picture of her pulling a revolting face on my desk at work!

 

[gable]

I see it as bad manners and if not checked it could turn into something bigger and nastier.

 

[QueenOfCadence]

my horse is a chronic face puller and he has been for the 17 years of his life . He doesn't bite or kick though (and never has) it's just his way of communication (you get people that constantly frown and just look sour, but aren't necessarily how they appear, and you get horses like that). Honestly, as long as he is JUST pulling a face - there is not too much you can do about it and I don't believe it should be punished, he should have the freedom of expression and all that

 

[be positive]

He is a horse he does not understand that if he puts his ears forward and looks pretty you will feed him more quickly, if you had more than one to deal with at feeding time you would be happy to let him step back then feed him before going to the next horse.
I have some that pull horrid faces when waiting for their buckets, they never go beyond the face pulling but if I waited for them to put their ears forward I think they might get very cross and more impatient, not to mention what the ones further down the queue would be doing.

 

[FoxTrotx]

My mare is a face puller and was very bargy/food agressive when I got her. Now I know she'll only pull a face at me I stand in the way of her bucket until she lowers her head and stops threatening. Most days she'll look the opposite way to her bucket as soon as I put it down, much more preferable to being yanked or flattened.
I personally think you're doing the right thing

 

[Merry Crisis]

I would have thought the last thing you should do is tease him, put the food down for gods sake! He is just wanting his grub. I also never mess about with my horse whilst he is eating, it is his time.

 

[Merry Crisis]

I see it as bad manners and if not checked it could turn into something bigger and nastier.

What a load of codswallop.

 

[gable]

This horse was very bad mannered when I got him: he would barge, threaten to bite, try to push the handler around and wouldn't let anyone else other than me in his stable.

He has come on leaps and bounds - this is one final hurdle to him being a trusting well mannered horse.

He does put his ears forward and stand still after a few seconds, so I do believe he knows what is acceptable.

 

[FoxTrotx]

Sounds alot like my girl Gable. Mine actually whipped round and kicked me once, luckily I was close enough to her for it not to have done any lasting damage.
Patience, persistance and consistancy work wonders ime.