Horses training us.

[blitznbobs]

I brought everyone in this afternoon - as they all need worm counting - any hoo i thought id take the opportunity to give the 2 year olds a bit of a pamper session. Anyway i was combing her mane with a detangling brush and she started to lean into for a scratch … i duly scratched as ordered… she then proceeded to point with her nose at her girth area… i brushed there…she then pointed at her chest which i ignored on purpose to see if she really did mean for me to scratch there… she pointed again and then touched my hand holding the brush… i scratched her chest… she proceeded to point out all Her itchy bits and I worked around them all with the tangle brush … once she was satisfied she went back to eating her hay…

a good session of human training under her belt! Training goes two ways on our yard.

picture of her eating her tea cos shes the best looking 2 year old ive ever seen (and yes i am biased!)

 

[Red-1]

BH has trained me so well for scratches too. Every morning, he comes out onto the yard, has a pause and a stretch, then indicates where I am to scratch. He, like yours, runs through a range of places before we tie up and formally groom.

At one point, he actually got that so persistent that I have had to cut this routine down somewhat. It was becoming intrusive to the day!

 

[Peglo]

Peggy Sue will stand on my poop scoop bucket so I can’t get on with any work until she gets a scratch. She’s very vocal until she gets her own way. And she usually does.

 

[DizzyDoughnut]

Mine does similar, he points out where he wants to be scratched, I just stand still scratching and he moves round me putting his itchy bits in front of me. He really likes the inside of his back legs scratching and will stand with his back leg waving out to the side to give me a not so subtle hint, alternatively he will reverse up me and then adopt a pose similar to being patted down at the airport security. He has me very well trained!

 

[Birker2020]

I brought everyone in this afternoon - as they all need worm counting - any hoo i thought id take the opportunity to give the 2 year olds a bit of a pamper session. Anyway i was combing her mane with a detangling brush and she started to lean into for a scratch … i duly scratched as ordered… she then proceeded to point with her nose at her girth area… i brushed there…she then pointed at her chest which i ignored on purpose to see if she really did mean for me to scratch there… she pointed again and then touched my hand holding the brush… i scratched her chest… she proceeded to point out all Her itchy bits and I worked around them all with the tangle brush … once she was satisfied she went back to eating her hay…

a good session of human training under her belt! Training goes two ways on our yard.

picture of her eating her tea cos shes the best looking 2 year old ive ever seen (and yes i am biased!)

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Bailey used to fo that too!

 

[catkin]

One of mine did it to everyone she had encounters with regularly, and her human pals played along.
With the physio it was 'hello, do me there.... and there...and then there'

 

[smolmaus]

She is a clever baby, what a good communicator! ?

We have one at the sanctuary we have to warn people about because he will try and ask you to scratch his special spot (inside the back legs) but he's stupid so he will occasionally just knock you over by swinging his arse into you.

 

[Annagain]

Pointing is very polite. Archie just shoves the relevant body part in my face.

 

[Wizpop]

Pointing is very polite. Archie just shoves the relevant body part in my face.

??
mine too! and it’s a bum scratch he wants- horses are amazing teachers in so many ways?

 

[Bernster]

Yep, Finn has me well trained to give him scratches in all his favourite places. Bertie has me trained to deliver treats when he wuffles at me when I’m near the treat box ? (but I only do it at the start and end of the day so I’m not completely trained on that as he will wuffle whenever I’m in the vicinity!).

 

[McFluff]

Glad I’m not the only one who has been trained to attend to scratching duties by their horse!

 

[Caol Ila]

I've been explaining to Hermosa that backing into you when she wants you to scratch her tail is not acceptable behaviour.

Foinavon has trained me into bribing him to accept various bits of tack.

 

[smolmaus]

Foinavon has trained me into bribing him to accept various bits of tack.

Recalling the look on Sadies face when someone else put her bridle on one day and didn't give her a treat ?

She started doing carrot stretches herself in the field to try and get an extra couple out of me yesterday. Turned herself into a little pony pretzel. Embarrassing.

 

[Pippity]

My old share horse would stand with his hind leg lifted, like a dog having a wee, so I could get right in and scratch inside his thigh. People who didn't know him thought it was a threat when he lifted his hind leg and waved it, but it was just him begging from scratches.

He'd also start randomly doing carrot stretches when he wanted a treat.

If Blue wants a treat, she lifts each of her legs in turn, becoming increasingly emphatic each time. I used clicker-training to get her better with having her legs handled, and some parts of it have stuck very firmly!

 

[MrsMozartleto]

Y'up - this lot will ask for scratches in certain spots, as do the dogs, and the horses have me trained to move the fence line when we're strip grazing - if I don't do it when told to then they'll do it for me

That is indeed one seriously nice looking horse lass.

 

[Prancerpoos]

Like @DizzyDoughnut , I had a mare that loved the inside of her hind legs being scritched and would wave her leg around in the air. If I was poo picking, she would often come over and get right in my face with little half rears and whickers and then whip round to lift her hind leg for a scratch. If she had ever done that to someone who didn’t know her they would have fled in horror. She was a full up 16.2 ?

 

[Surbie]

Mine points too - inside his elbows, along his midline and inside his back legs are favourites. If you ignore the pleading face and the waving legs, he has been known to shunt you to the right spot with his head. Or swing round and present his bottom with a hopefully raised tail.

On the plus side the hock flexions and hold he can manage when itchy are really very impressive.

 

[Caol Ila]

Recalling the look on Sadies face when someone else put her bridle on one day and didn't give her a treat ?

She started doing carrot stretches herself in the field to try and get an extra couple out of me yesterday. Turned herself into a little pony pretzel. Embarrassing.

When I got him, he would dance around with the saddle and back away from the reins as you flung them over his head. For an easy life, I started giving him a handful of pony nuts with the saddle, and a treat after putting the reins over his head. Problems solved. Since I started using bitless bridles, he almost puts them on himself.

 

[smolmaus]

When I got him, he would dance around with the saddle and back away from the reins as you flung them over his head. For an easy life, I started giving him a handful of pony nuts with the saddle, and a treat after putting the reins over his head. Problems solved. Since I started using bitless bridles, he almost puts them on himself.

Easy life is exactly it. Self bridles, doesn't fight with me over picking her feet up, let's me do all the sprays and lotions, even stood for the warm shower for the first time yesterday despite the boiler making nosies that honestly scared me and all down to fair pay (probably the cheapest treats on the market) for fair work (not hitting me with her head) ?

 

[Caol Ila]

I bribed him with a lick to accept hosing during the heatwave. Why fight when you don't have to?

Hermosa learned to accept being tacked up after I learned that scratches are a stronger +R than treats.