Horses that irritate you....

Enfys

Enfys

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Have you ever had, or known, a horse that, try as you might, rationalise your feelings as you may, you simply do not like at all?

I have never felt like this about a horse before and feel quite guilty, but I guess we can't like all of them all of the time.
I have one mare here, a Boarder, that irritates the heck out of me. She's sweet enough to handle (her only redeeming feature) but it is her attitude with other horses that drives me crazy. She is forever moving them on, bullying them, chasing them from hay (I can put out 10 piles and she'll still want them all) water and out of shelters, and then just stands there guarding, regardless of whether she wants it or not.
I understand herd politics and that she is just a dominant type, but even so it just bugs me so much
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I can't separate her as she will just go through fences, I can't ask for her to be taken away either for certain, boring reasons.
 
Yes, I had Dollar's half brother, Taragon, a stunning cremello Welsh 7yo stallion that had never been handled. He was a freebie, but boy did I regret having him. One day I could handle him, lead him, groom him and even put a rug on, then next day it would be like he'd never seen me in his life before! Ok, it wasn't his fault, it was stupid owner's but he really really grated on me. I thanked god when I found a new home for him! I even got £200 for him, I thought I would have to pay someone to have him at one point
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Yep. I have one boarding here and try as I might I just do not like her. She is the most arrogant, aggressive horse who has been thoroughly spoiled and been allowed to get away with everything. She's barely handled, attacks people and kicks out when she doesn't like something. She has a bad attitude and I can see why her owner never ever has anything to do with her. Funnily enough her mother, who also boards here, is a lovely mare.....and her owner does things with her.....

After this one attacked me and a handful of other people and horses, I drew together a nice little plan; I put my whole herd of witches in with her......she's FAR better behaved now!
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yes, there was a mare at the livery yard i was at years ago. the only horse i've ever known who could be grazing peacefully as was everything else in the field, would look up, think about it, and then go and actually attack something that was minding its own business eating, half a field away. i witnessed this a number of times. a totally nasty bi*** who broke a lovely sweet gelding's leg one day. i had to hold him to be shot.
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she was called Annie and if ever a horse needed a bullet, it was that one.
i had a homebred that would deliberately rip every other horse's turnout rugs. he wasn't my favourite.
sounds as if that mare needs an even more dominant mare putting in there to sort her out tbh. being that dominant and selfish is not nice for every other horse.
 
a loan horse i had many years back, Rosie, used to irritate me like crazy. she was a nice enough mare, and to be fair to her i think she's had a hard time in life, but i just couldnt love her as i did the others. its awful to say this, but when we took her back to her owner after our contracted year, i did a little dance as i shut the gate! that said, if i hadnt had rosie, i certainly wouldnt be able to handle a horse like Ellie; Rosie taught me all i know about sitting a buck, keeping heels down etc!
 
pet hate is anything that charges stable door with ears back and teeth bared and tries to attack/bite humans as they go past

have been stabled on yards too often over the years with these and the owners who won't let their horses be put behind full grilles.

you may know on a normal day that you detour round the teeth but when you've got something on your mind like colic or a horse with a bad injury your concentration wanders to the problem and you end up getting too close to the teeth in question - and why is it that these always seem to be stabled right in the busiest part of the yard instead of at the end of the line ??

quite often not the horses fault - made bad by circumstances - but biters can hurt - particularly in summer when you aren't wearing layers of 'body armour' to keep warm.
 
I can think of a couple. At my old yard there was a very spoilt arab x mare who used to try and cow kick you when you were anywhere within range. Her owner just used to say she didn't mean it - like I didn't mean it when my whip connected with her bum when she tried it with me.
The other one was a friends horse and to be fair it wasn't probably her fault. We just got fed up hearing what a fantastic horse she was and how she was so much more talented, more valuable, more everything than anyone else's horse.
 
It's funny that most of these are mares!

There are a couple on my yard that used to annoy me, especially when we were in a mixed herd, as some of the geldings were seriously lacking group social skills, and wouldn't let me catch Megan.

Chloe irritates most people, she's dominant and doesn't really like change, so every new horse in the field gets bullied, and chased away from Megan/water/hay/other horses until it's been in the field for a month, by which time she's forgotten about it. She's an odd horse
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I had an ex racehorse on loan once; she was the least likeable horse I've ever had. She had absolutely no personality, she was always sullen, used to boxwalk, weave, and fidget when tied up. She even looked irritating. I gave her back fairly quickly!!
 
reynold, a friend told me of a horse that snaked out like that as owner (breeder actually, a very knowledgeable and kind horsewoman) was walking past his box, he grabbed her top lip somehow and tore it completely off. so after hearing that i don't heed the "he doesn't mean it" people... he doesn't HAVE to mean it for it to be very painful... or worse.
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i don't give horses kisses on the muzzle any more, after hearing that...
 
[ QUOTE ]
reynold, a friend told me of a horse that snaked out like that as owner (breeder actually, a very knowledgeable and kind horsewoman) was walking past his box, he grabbed her top lip somehow and tore it completely off. so after hearing that i don't heed the "he doesn't mean it" people... he doesn't HAVE to mean it for it to be very painful... or worse.
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i don't give horses kisses on the muzzle any more, after hearing that...

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Ouch!!!
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I've not known many that I didn't like. My friends horse tried his best to make me hate him (and did a pretty good job!) by trashing my field, trashing my fencing - electric & post a rail and then kicking my new horse (who had arrived the day before) and fracturing his splint bone! I can't say I was his biggest fan!

I didn't like my last horse much in the end, either. She was bolshy, used to buck every time I sat on her - I got bucked off big time on the roads - and was pretty bloody awkward! Needless to say, I sold her!
 
interesting

the snakehead biters I've known have all been geldings (perhaps hangover from when colts ?) and the bolshy horses have all been mares
 
Yes a couple.

There's one on my yard at the moment. The owner gives it barely any hay over night (by that I mean probably a small haynet a quarter full), it's in by 4pm every evening, goes out at about 10am and that's all it has to eat. I know it's the owner's fault because she doesn't feed it but I fed up of the damn thing pulling faces at my horse through the bars, trying to fight with the gelding the other side of it (because they've both got food and hay), lunging at anyone who walks past and kicking hell out of the stable constantly because it's hungry.

I knew someone a few years ago who had a horrible horse. It was only 4 but looked pure evil and acted it. Would try to kill anyone who attempted to take their horse out of the field it was in, would guard every hay pile and wee all over them so the other horses couldn't eat it, and nearly killed the owner's little boy by kicking him in the head. Horrible animal.
 
Yes we have a couple, one of the broodmares, who will bite and kick you if you even look at her, but boy does she produce the sweetest of foals, thank god they never pick up mum's obnoxious temprament. Oh and I just know she is going to kill me (and I am sure she would agree with me) but the 17hh+ orange thing of XXXXXX on the forum! it is bolshy, bites (bit her arse yesterday and she now has the most enormous of bruises), lifts a leg at you, has to be sedated to be clipped and has absolutely no respect for your personal space. Oh the joy of brining up all of our horses from foals, at least they learn to respect your personal space.
 
Yup - when i was managing the yards i met a couple i simply could not get on with - mares and geldings - totally irrational dislike - but i disliked them anyway!

generally were either very in your face, stoopid or down right akward!
 
I know the horse isn't being given anywhere enough hay. Last winter the rest of us ended giving it at least one more haynet every night before going home. YO doesn't like to get involved in things although if he starts to get nasty again hopefully she will have a word with the owner.

I did try to say something to the owner and she just said he was overweight so he needed to diet. If she rode the damn thing more than once a fortnight it wouldn't need to be on a diet
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He is totally miserable I know that but aside from ending up doing someone else's horse for them every night then there's very little we can do. Someone else complained last night about her because she brought the horse in over the weekend, soaking wet (torrential rain), then just chucked a fleece on him and left him all night. No attempt to scrape him, dry him off, actually get a decent rug on to dry him.
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my mare can drive me absolutely crazy at times, using various methods! I hate her banging the door and scraping her foot, it drives me absolutely crazy! If you're having a bad day she just knows and winds you up until you're actually crying, then she looks all pleased with herself and marches off.

A cremello mare at my old yard was the spawn of satan I swear, I really despised the animal! She was the nastiest, grumpiest most useless horse ever, if she didn't want to do something she'd buck and rear and spin until she got you off, then bite you or kick you when you were on the floor. She'd randomly run over to horses or people in the field and double barrel them, lunge at you over the stable door
 
Yes, we have a livery horse at work that drives me insane. He is spoilt by his owner but she doesn't have to deal with him like I do. So I get the nasty, biting, kicking, barging rude horse. He has to be led to the walker etc with a chiffney as he will stand on his hind legs and then bolt. He is aggressive to fed, both hay and food. If you don't let him grab a mouthful as you go in, which I don't I hate horses snatching hay before I've hung it up, he rears, kicks out, spins and goes for you.
 
I don't like horses that are inclined to be dominant with people even when you handle them correctly. You know the type where you have to have 'the discussion' about just who is in charge every day. Because every day is a new day and its worth a try. I like the type of horse where once its eastablished, simply squaring your shoulders etc is enough to remind them should they forget themselves. I don't like having to be repeatedly 'loud' with horses and I just can't like, or be bothered with, the type of horse that makes that necassary.
 
Well until just recently I wouldn't have said there wasn't a horse in the world that I couldn't get on with - until we got New Pony and my God what a difficult horse he was to handle. He totally defeated us because he was too dangerous around children and I dreaded people staying in the holiday cottage who wanted to walk round the fields as they would be attacked viciously by said pony. Such a shame as he was fantastic to ride and had a magnificent jump - but what is the point of having a pony if the children are too frightened to be around him?
 
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