Horses with weird habits

Hmm, let's see...

1. Has to find a piece of metal to lick after being given mints - this could be the zip of your coat, the stable chain, buckles on a headcollar or any thing else convenient

2. Cannot resist playing with the light switch if tied up outside the stable, not fun in winter. Would muck out whilst in the stable but ...

3. Feels the need to remove all rugs from the rail in the stable, but only when you're in the there with him

4. Stands on 3 legs if he's eating something that he really enjoys

5. does some extravagant stretches in the morning when you go to pick out his hind feet so you have to wait for him to hand his feet back to you

6. Is not shy at expressing his displeasure with theatrical sighs if he feels a task is beneath him

... but I do love him really!:inlove:
 
I know quite a few horses that like to dunk their hay/haylage. Mine will get hold of her feed bowl when she's finished eating and scrape it back and forth on the ground, but only on the yard though, doesn't do it if fed in the field. Then she'll hold it up and look at me for a minute. She will only pee on grass and will hold it until it's actually trickling out of her. She will always take her first mouthful of water, shake her head in the water bucket/trough, then dribble the water onto the ground. Rinsing her mouth out maybe?
 
My friend had a horse that when she had a drink put her head into the water almost up to her eyes. Most odd.
 
I worked with a horse for six seasons and he had a number of strange habits; he wouldn't pee anywhere except his stable, so we'd come back from a day at the races and he would bolt into his stable and groan with relief, he wouldn't travel alone on the lorry or in the horsebox and if he travelled with others he had to be on the back of the lorry (even if there was only one other horse on the lorry - there'd be one at the front, two empty partitions and then him at the back), he wouldn't eat away from home (which meant we had to travel early in the morning instead of staying over anywhere) and he would always blow his stomach out when I did the girth up (I had to develop a new technique for tricking him on that one).

And yet he was the easiest horse to work, the best racehorse in my time as a groom and a perfect gentleman to handle. Just odd, and very set in his ways.
 
My mare always does a big yawn (or two) whenever I take her bridle off. It doesn't matter whether she's only been ridden for 15 minutes or 3 hours, she always does a huge yawn to show how utterly exhausted she is by it all!
 
I think they all have their little quirks and odd habits! When I muck out at night, horse can have a half full (clean) water bucket left over from the night before. He will have been out all day and been happy to drink from the slightly murky water in the field. He won't drink water in the stable, however, until I have changed it, and he will only drink it from the bucket I carry into the stable, not the bucket I fill up. He also HAS to find something to lick once he has had a drink, be that a salt lick, my hand, my glove, or the wall... When I am mucking out he HAS to be involved, if he is in the stable. Can't just eat his hay (our stables are huge, so it's not like I am in his way!). No, he has to stand with his head on my shoulder (his head which is heavy!) whilst I muck out.

My last horse would only drink away from home if I held up the water bucket from him. Current one will drink from dirty puddles, anything, but the last one wouldn't. He wouldn't drink from the bucket if I put it on the floor, only if I was holding it. Current one has to have a wee as soon as he goes back on the trailer to come home from somewhere. Always.
 
Mine does that with the water too! Won't touch it if it's been there all night, has to be fresh. He also enjoys knocking over my shavings fork and running his teeth along the metal so you get some strange noises!
 
holeymoley said:
Mine does that with the water too! Won't touch it if it's been there all night, has to be fresh. He also enjoys knocking over my shavings fork and running his teeth along the metal so you get some strange noises!
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Yep, mine loves the shavings fork for some reason! One of the forks has duct tape all over the end and he just loves to chew that. Also likes to pull my gloves OFF my hands, then fling them around the stable, picking them up, chewing them, and flinging them again. It is like having a great big puppy, not a horse. He will also do up (and undo) zips on your coat if he is particularly bored.
 
My old horse wouldn't wee if anyone could see him. If you accidentally looked over the stable door while he was going, he'd stop and stare pleadingly at you until you turned around, then he'd finish! :D
 
My daughters horse spends ages sucking his teeth, and tongue after he has his feed or a treat, carrot etc, not hay, haylage or grass. Is very strange, the vet hadn't seen anything like it before
 
chestnut cob said:
Yep, mine loves the shavings fork for some reason! One of the forks has duct tape all over the end and he just loves to chew that. Also likes to pull my gloves OFF my hands, then fling them around the stable, picking them up, chewing them, and flinging them again. It is like having a great big puppy, not a horse. He will also do up (and undo) zips on your coat if he is particularly bored.
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Haha! Yes we do zips too.... And a favourite if really bored is grabbing toggles on your jacket and pinging them back at you !
 
my appy washes his mouth out.....he takes a big gulp of water, swishes it round his mouth then spits it out over the stable door! then repeats :/ he has soaked quite a few people lol
 
My old man holds his tomgue out after having a drink, sometimes for ages infact last year it got flippin sun burnt the daft devil!

My young cob scoops his water up in his bottom lip and then drops it back out then on the third or fourth time he holds the water in his mouth, he looks so funny with his lips pursed so it doesnt drip ;) He also likes to hold the end of the muck fork while i muck out which makes life rather difficult but he is to cute to say no to haha!
 
Okay this is very weird, i still told our vet about it and he couldnt come up with an answer, the cob, my bestest boy oneday i found him licking the blood off another horses leg that was cast under the fence and the leg was in my cobs portion of the field, it was a big cut but it was clean and the owner didnt have to put anything on it and it healed up quickly. Now my cob isnt a fighter and when meeting new horses in the field he licks them esp their mouths. Then yesterday i was trimming the shetlands feet and rasped my finger which resulted in a lot of blood from a little prick, i ignored the bleeding as was busy and it dried up anyway a few minutes later i had the cob head hanging over my shoulder searching out my bloodied hand, i am sure he would have licked it if i had let him.

Any ideas folks or is he predator instead of a herbivore
 
One of mine had a button fetish, he would molest people wearing coats and in a not so delicate manner rip the buttons off, savour them for a few moments and then spit them out. His favourite were duffle coats and on more than one occasion he lifted people into the air if they had particularly secure buttons. It was awkward when it came to judging and prize giving at shows.

Another one used to enter the arena at A, do a beautifully square halt at X and then pee for 5 hours. He did this a LOT but only ever at a competition.
 
My first pony used to refuse to drink anything if we were away from home, say at a competition. We tried everything and even tried taking his own water bucket from his stable but there was no way he was drinking until he was home!
 
My cob starts eating his dinner, goes for a quick roll in his bed, eats some more then has another role. Sometimes he goes for a third one. It's a pain as I have to keep levelling his bed but it is cute. He'll also untie himself if he gets bored.
 
Harley's trick is to take a massive drink from the water feeding, keep it in his mouth and then open his mouth over you (usually whilst you're mucking his stable out). I've had a hood full of water a couple of times now!

He also likes to ping jumper strings and play with zips.

He's a chronic "messer" can't leave anything alone! I think it's a boy thing!!!
 
I must have dull horses as the only thing that pops to mind is my retired very first pony - had him about 20 years and when he rolls, he will roll one way then get up turn round and roll that way. Does it without fail. I did have a horse who did a lot with his front legs - he'd hold a front leg up for attention which was cute.
 
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