Is it bad to dislike a horse?

Enfys

Enfys

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I mean, really, really, dislike a horse?

Anyone else know a horse that puts their hackles up?
 
I've met one or two over the years.:o

I can cope with a grumpy horse in the stable if it is honest when you're onboard, and a bit the other way round too, but one that is always awkward and hardwork24/7 gets on my nerves (dentist calls them bullish!). To be fair, the ones I've met were mostly like that because of the owner's and how they handled them.
 
Nope, normal as far as I'm concerned.
There is a horse at the yard I work/stable at and I cannot stand him.

If he was a human he would be an arrogant, pompous a*se with no regard for others. Just thinking about him is annoying me! How ridiculous.
 
We have one that drives me mad. Other horse is really grumpy to skip out and it doesn't bother me, but if he stands too close to me I get annoyed
 
Yes. I absolutely hated a mare belonging to a friend of mine. She viciously attacked me clamping onto my upper arm like a vice. Even in the depth of winter and through about five layers of clothing, my arm was black and blue from elbow to shoulder and I still can feel lumps in the muscle ten years later. She ruptured my trainers spleen when she approached her with the clippers, and finally broke my friends sternum striking out at her in the field. She was a jumping machine though and was sold for £10 k despite her problems. But personally, I would have PTS and sod the money.
 
At my last yard there was a huge black gelding about 17.2hh. He was a horrible horse. No manners, would charge at you in the field, knock you over when you tried to bring other horses in, barge through fences, reared when lead, you get the picture. The owner always came up to the yard late so her horse was last out and would be brought in for her. I refused as it was dangerous. Hated that beast :mad:
 
I owned a horse, the first one i bought actually. got on alright ridden however we just did not click at all in any way on the ground. for some reason i really really disliked the horse dont get me wrong he was an absolute stunner but just really really didnt get along. So I sold him to a lovely lady 6 years ago who loves him to peices and wouldnt part with him ever. I then bought my boy who i love to peices and said horse is happy which is all i wanted really would never have sold him on to someone who was going to part with him didnt want him being passed round. Wasnt nasty, just didnt gel!
 
No not at all. Sadly the one horse who I could never get on with/like was our one and only homebred.
He didn't like me and I didn't like him, so this year, after 5 1/2 years of getting nothing out of owning a horse he has gone out on loan to someone who loves him, and who he loves too.
It wasn't just a case of not liking him though, he was extremely aggressive towards me, would ask for a fight on everything. He was just plain difficult on the ground and whilst being ridden. plus he was 18h so an argument was just dangerous! It really was a miserable situation especially in winter and to be honest it has put me off riding completely and I am now taking a break!
The lesson I have learnt is if you don't click, get rid!!!
 
Have had to work with a few horses that i have not been able to stand, one was just a little sod and would bite or kick you if he got the chance- just a bad tempered ******.
The other was downright dangerous and when lunging would think nothing of running straight at you and over you.
 
I've only ever really hated one.

It had been box rested for a very long time and gone mental. It was a very stocky cob who knew how to use his weight. He was viscous and am amazed that as of yet he hasn't killed himself or another horse. He was known to have taken out (well built) stables previously and 3 gates in one year, going on to attack another horse a couple of fields away with gate attached :eek: This was all apparently just geldings and lived 24/7 in a herd of mares, completely separated when I knew him and didn't know his full history 'til we stopped looking after him.

He calmed down a bit and was fine for the year I was working with him (although could turn in a second you could keep him in line and I avoided contact except for shoeing) we then took one of his field mates away and he turned vile again resulting in me legging it out the field with another horse in tow (who had been settled with him for years but he'd turned and started attacking) fully expecting one of us to end up dead. Thankfully the only kick that connected was to horses rump and pushed the skin down with a slice about 2 inches deep.

We have nothing to do with it any more but only one person will allow their horse in with him now.

He is the only horse I have ever thought that it was the end of me and that the horse meant it. Friend was stood the other side of the gate trying to keep his attention while moving other horse and had him charge the gate. Horrible animal.
 
Don't think its bad, its normal! Just like you come across people you don't like. Horses have characters too and some you get on better with than others.

I think horses are suited to people like partners, sometimes, my horse makes a better OH than my real OH!!! Hahaha. Jokes. But he doesn't answer back, which is nice :rolleyes: :p
 
Although I didn't wish him any harm, I used to really dislike a horse that belonged to an old bosses client. It ended up staying for a few weeks when she was away, & it drove me potty. It was homebred & had spent the previous 6yrs getting its own way. If darling boy didn't want to move over while you mucked out, darling boy didn't have to. If darling boy wanted to stop & graze being turned out, he could. If darling boy wouldn't stand still & barged into you, or stood on your foot, it was a sign darling boy wanted to do something else. No malice in him, just spoilt rotten & bad mannered. It worked fine at home as the owner organized her day & life round his whims. On a big busy yard, he was a pita, because everything took twice as long. If he was resting a leg, the owner would wait till he stopped to pick out the other foot, that's what he was used to. I did know it wasn't his fault, but he really irritated the hell out of me. One day I was tacking him up & he wouldn't stand still, barged me into the wall & then stood on my foot & wouldn't move. He wasn't being aggressive or dominant, when I would have been justified in being dominant back. He was no doubt just confused by the fact I hadn't taken his milder hints he didn't want his saddle on just now. I ended up punching him in the shoulder to get off my foot, then chasing him across the stable till he moved. In complete anger, not to serve a purpose. And the look on his face made me so ashamed, cos he genuinely didn't understand what he'd done wrong, in his eyes he was behaving. He was going home again soon, so it wasn't as though it was a case of being cruel to be kind. It was the equivalent of me punching & chasing my mare for standing still, when that's what I've taught her. Since then, I've never been irritated by any horse, no matter what, I focus my irritation/dislike on the owner.
 
monkeybum13 said:
There's quite a few horses I dislike! To be fair its ill mannered and in your face horses that I don't like so I guess its the owners inability to teach their horse manners that I dislike.
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There's another one I didn't get on with who wasn't ill-mannered. She just... wasn't interested in me. At all.

She was reasonably well-mannered on the ground, although easily bored. When I was riding, she spent the first five minutes or so testing me, but then settled down.

For the previous six months, she'd spent pretty much all day, every day, with her owner, and I suspect a lot of it was that she'd bonded quite intensely. I wasn't her owner (I just had her on loan for over winter) and she simply wasn't interested.

Her owner had been hoping I'd want to take her on permanently, but I was relieved to hand her back.
 
Short answer - No.

I meet a lot of different horses through my part time job and always treat them fairly and equally. I ignore everything I am told about them when they arrive, and I form my own opinion of them based on their behaviour towards me. Regardless of how we get along, they receive the same treatment regarding grooming/mucking out/harnessing up.

99% of the time I either love them, like them, or we rub along fairly amicably. There has, however, been one horse in the five and half years I've been doing the job that I really disliked. I tried the nicely nicely approach, I tried the firm authoritative approach, I tried the begging approach. Nothing worked; she was evil. The fact that it took two people and a long pole to pin her rear end to the side of the stable just to catch her gives you some idea of how vicious she could be. Suffice it to say I was glad to see the back of her...

(I don't feel bad for disliking her, the feeling was mutual)
 
Hmm, I can't recall any horses that I really hated, but there are plenty that I thought were ugly / smelly / slow-witted / <insert derogatory adjective here>. I tend to feel sorry for and want to reform the aggressive ones.
 
YES .. BUT for gods sake dont tell the yard gossip idiot because she then goes on to tell the owner and all hell breaks lose over a very trivial thing! :o
 
Yep, to be fair I do generally see the nice points olin most horses. There are a lot that I'm pretty 'meh' about.
I have actively hated one. It was rude, bolshy, hideous attitude, trashed fields, bullied horses, was pig ugly to look at & had the most god awful action.
I was so pleased when it left my yard, even though I adored the owner who was a brilliant livery.
 
I've disliked a few, felt fairy ambivalent about other but only properly hated one. She was a nasty, twisted little witch and the only animal I have ever come across who was actually spiteful and I always thought animals couldn't do spite.

Funnily enough, she was a perfect match character-wise with her owner. Says it all really.
 
nope perfectly normal..... well I hope it is normal as I have been in the same situation. Some I like, most I feet ambivalent about and then there is the rare one that I cannot stand (and only really ( like the others have said) because it was a nasty, nasty horse)
 
Charlie Bucket said:
Nope, normal as far as I'm concerned.
There is a horse at the yard I work/stable at and I cannot stand him.

If he was a human he would be an arrogant, pompous a*se with no regard for others. Just thinking about him is annoying me! How ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Haha, This could have been written by me about a horse at my work! weirdly everyone else just comments how stunning he is??? A*se is in fact his nickname privately!
 
I did know one who was a complete pig and never greeted you nicely, but then I couldnt bring myself to hate him, he would barge and bite and run at you, but occasionally you'd see his softer side and feel somehow like you were special not to be his target that day!

Horses I don't like it is usually because they just seem dumb and soulless to me, I get this more with geldings, I just feel that there's nothing behind the eyes sometimes. It does make me feel a bit bad saying that though, I'm sure plenty of people like these uncomplicated types!
 
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