How do you react to a very naughty horse?

Dogbetty141

Dogbetty141

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We have a horse on our farm that is very very naughty as in will bite drag kick barge etc and I find it infuriating that they do nothing about it, for instance a young girl took it down to the field yesterday and it dragged her until she had to let go so I told her to leave it and go and get the owner(I was holding 2 horses myself) so she did and the owner got hold of it and that was it no shouting or letting it know what it has done was wrong. Now i know this was a few minutes after it had done it and im not into not giving it its t because it was naughty or anything but my horse respects me and wouldnt dream of doing anything like he does. My horse stands at his door and wont come out of his stable unless I lead him out so i know he is a lot more well behaved than others but it really annoys me that horses are not taught manners and owners are under the control of their horses.

Rant over anyway does anybody agree or do they think I am totally wrong?
 
I agree totally. I can't stand rude, bad mannered horses. They are an accident waiting to happen.
We had one on my yard & owner was very soft with it. Infact he was quite a nice horse in himself, but just had no respect & hadn't been taught any.
He wouldn't move over in the stable, would try & barge past if you opened his door & wouldn't stand to be mounted. He would also jump out of his field any time he fancied.
The sad thing is that when I taught him some when he was on full keep, he was a quick learner, & it wouldn't have taken much to improve him, but obviously he would have needed consistent handling, which he didn't get.

Now you've got me ranting!
 
There is no point at all in shouting at the horse a couple of minutes later when the owner as been fetched. The horse won't know what its done. I didn't get Daisy until she was 9 so unfortunately she had some very bad habits from previous owners. If she is being evil to catch or pulls off when being led she gets told off when loose but rewarded when caught again. If I smack her when I get her back its just going to take even longer to catch her next time.
 
yes I understand there was no point in shouting at it then but even when it does something naughty she just lets it get away with it, and I also understand your situation but i think it is a little different from what I am talking about. A horse that cannot be caught or not hard to catch shout not be shouted out etc as it will stop them from coming to you in future but if a horse is misbehaving whilst being handled it is a different matter.
 
Why was the girl turning the horse out and not the owner?
If the horse is bad mannered let the owners do everything with it. If someone else does have to turn it out etc stick a chifney in its mouth so it can't drag them about. The owners will soon do something about it if they have to deal with it on their own.
 
I understand how it should be dealt wih I was just asking basically if anyone disagrees with a horse being taught manners and basically how each individual lets their horse know they have done wrong. Sid knows when I shout he is in the wrong and will stop i rarely have to smack him but do people agree with all this or they tell their horse off in a different way?
 
Yelling, smacking, severe bits, ropes - no wonder they're badly behaved!!!

Spin it - round and round as sharp as possible every time it steps out of line - belive me - it works!

I had to resort to 17 stone of hubby to anchor mine while it barged to the stable, flattened me in gateways etc - now she leads on a slack rope off a normal headcollar.
 
I think before you discipline a horse for bad behaviour, you should ensure that you train it good behaviour with praise and reward.
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Yelling, smacking, severe bits, ropes - no wonder they're badly behaved!!!

Spin it - round and round as sharp as possible every time it steps out of line - belive me - it works!



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You're quite welcome to come and try that with Daisy if you have good life insurance.
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To me giving a smack is no different to horses giving each other a nip in the field if the youngsters are being cheeky to the older horses in the herd. Where does spinning come into a horses' natural behaviour?
 
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I think before you discipline a horse for bad behaviour, you should ensure that you train it good behaviour with praise and reward.
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Very true - a horse that has no manners needs to know what is right and wrong, not just what is wrong.

If a horse that's difficult to handle stands still when rugging, walks on when it's supposed to and stands still when asked, then praise it at each of these points.

Horses are most comfortable knowing their boundaries.
 
Spinning sharply on a concrete yard, not something I would ever try but then all my horses have impeccable manners.
I have to deal with other people's bad mannered horses on a daily basis.
One I have to do is horrible to bring in from the field, for my own safety I use a chifney. Not sure what the owner would say if I started to spin her dressage horse on the concrete yard.
 
My horse had no manners when I first had him, he was used to living out and is the type to try it on and take a mile given an inch
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He was uber bargy and would literally walk all over you given half a chance.

These days his manners are great 99.9% of the time as he still attempts to push his luck on the odd occassion.
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What worked fo me was consistency, patience and correct use of a be-nice halter when leading became really difficult. I think my assertiveness and body language also played a part.

Horses that are nasty are completely different, usually a sharpe 'no' at the right moment works or a single smack as a horse kicks out at you or makes contact with your clothing works wonders.

What works for one person when handling naughty or rude horses may not work for another
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Some naughty and nasty horse behaviour is pain or mis-management related and I can honestly say I've only ever met one dangerous horse.

I do think that this horses behaviour needs to be nipped in the bud as he obviously has no respect for the people handling him.
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I cant stand rude horses and i think they should be taught a lesson or two until they learn to have respect for the handler, i cant stand bad mannered horses.

My mare has been naughty just lately and when she is recovered from her lameness i shall be doing some work with her to remind her who is boss and how she should behave!
I personally think horses are potentially too big and dangerous to think that they are higher up the pecking order than us humans, i think they need to be dominated really as this helps activate the more advanced part of their tiny brains, otherwise their instincts can take over more and that's when they become more dangerous
When they are listening its nice to have a soft approach but as soon as i think they start not listening they need to be reminded you are there

*gets off soapbox*

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My mare used to be an absolute moose. Still some days she can be as good as gold, others she will try to barge, kick and bite.

It has nothing to do with her training or upbringing or pain, she is just purely a difficult animal sometimes.

My friend bought her at 4 months old and she was never allowed to get away with anything vaguely naughty, even as a foal. However, as she has grown up, she realised her own strength and it got more and more of a problem.

She is a 4yr old Welsh D, who acts before she thinks. She has squashed severally people with her barging, nearly kicked me in the head on numerous occasions etc.

Telling her off is less effective than just ignoring her to be perfectly honest. If she barges now we just push her back and carry on rather than shouting, if she goes to kick her head gets turned towards me calmly. She soon gets very bored of me ignoring her and stops misbehaving.

Everyone has different ideas of teaching manners. If the owner is doing absolutely nothing about it then perhaps have a word saying that no one else will handle it until it has basic manners, that you would expect in any horse. But perhaps she knows the horse slightly better and deals with its quirks in her own way.

Sorry it's so long. Big glass of wine if you managed to read this all!
 
I think the spinning them round is for teaching them that actually you are higher up the pecking order by moving them rather than them moving you. I can't stand it when a horse has no respect for personal space, its not even difficult to teach them it. When I worked on a livery yard I found the horses that barge you about are normally the ones that are more bulshy to ride too. owners lol who'd have em!
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Sophie - I agree with the reasoning behind the spinning, I forgot to mention that works with my monster, but have only ever done it on grass, don't think i'd ever do it on concrete though.

Also yes, she is very true to her breed, typical stroppy mare! Hence my user name...she's the welsh monster not me!
 
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