Is your horse paticular over who it lets around it?

[HaffiesRock]

Sorry if the title doesnt make sense!

My new boy has more than likely been abused in the past and is a little nervous. He tends to like you or he doesn't. He likes me and my OH, trots over to us in the filed, now lets me pick up all for feet and is gaining trust towards us. However, there is a girl on my yard that he just wont allow her to be around him. As soon as she enters the field hes off like a shot. Yesterday he was tied up and she walked over to him to give him a pat and he just kept moving away. He wouldn't even take a treat off her and he is a right greedy guts!
I doubt very much she has done anything to him before anyone suggests it. Shes a lovely girl who wouldn't hurt a fly! My YO is the same, she walked past him in the field the other day and he hot footed it off, only to come to call to me 5 minutes later.
My dad came up to meet him last night and my pony took to him straight away.

So I was just wondering if anyone else had a horse like mine who is picky about people? x

 

[whisp&willow]

My mare can be picky about people.

she is most definately MY baby!

although she is fine with most people i actually thought she was going to kill one person when they went into her stable while she had a foal at foot. (bearing in mind the foal had been handled since birth by me, a friend, my mum, farrier, vet etc...) I always knew she was not overly keen on this person, but i have NEVER seen her react like that before, or since!

 

[Toffee44]

My mare is particular over who does what to her, she may back off some people. My old mare hates my OH even when he puts hay down she won't go near him, the cobby boy loves every one !!

 

[HaffiesRock]

Oh dear!

I assume they are just like people in their opinions of others? I could understand if the girl he doesn't like was horrible, but she is lovely!

 

[loulabelle]

mines the same he was definately abused at some point, he has a massive scar accross his tounge like twine has been tied in there at some point and is generally nervous, it took 4 months af daily handling from me before he began to trust me, my husband he is still wary of 10 months later, neither of us have done a thing to hurt him....his just so wary of everyone

 

[Enfys]

No, none of mine care who comes around them.

My GSD bitch on the other hand .... she's 4 now and still won't even look at anyone but my husband and daughter, and then not even them if I am there.

I have had horses in the past who didn't like certain people, not for any reason that I could ever pin down, I have no idea what the reasoning is, perhaps just the way they move, or smell, or sound. Difficult to know for sure when you don't know the background of a horse. Does your horse only act like this when you, or people he favours, are around?

I had one filly that was born here, so I know for sure she was never mistreated, she was handled by all sorts of people and although a bit sharp she was never, ever nasty, never even nipped. Someone came to see her and she lunged at him across the stable wall, not just a nip, but ears pinned, mouth open and front feet flailing, I have only ever seen a handful of horses do that in 30 years. Oddly enough my soft as muck male GSD hated him too, he plastered himself to my leg and every hair on his body stood up and I have no doubt that if the man had taken steps towards me the dog would have had him. I felt vaguely uneasy with this man too, which is why I had Boston out with me, perhaps they picked up on that.

 

[HaffiesRock]

I am finding with mine, the more "scary" things I subject him too, the more trusting he becomes towards me. I guess he realises that it was scary, but he survived it, therefore I must be OK?

 

[LaurenBay]

I used to think no. She is easy for anyone to handle and behaves the same torwards people.

However the other day she was laying flat out in the field for a good long while. Various liveries text me to say Ruby was laying flat out and not moving so she went to check her and she suddenly suprised them by jumping up before they could get too close. I had about 4 texts all from different liveries (I guess she was so tired, she kept going back down once people were out the field) I went up and she lifted her head as I approached, saw me and layed her head back down. She allowed me to sit with her and she put her head on my leg and closed her eyes. So she obviously trusts me to be with her whilst shes vunrable but knowone else!

 

[HaffiesRock]

Hes funny about if I am there or not. I worry as she is looking after him for me while I am on holiday and if she cant even get near him...

 

[ihatework]

One of mine is quite suspicious about being caught by people he doesn't know.
As soon as they bribe him with food a few times he is usually okay and they get added to the 'not scarey' list

 

[monkeybum13]

My horse is fine with other people but she is always better behaved for men but that's because she's a tart!

 

[Littlelegs]

I've had ones who at first can be, but as its not really in their interests to distrust humans its a habit I try to break. Daughters is very finely tuned to anyone with body language that can be even remotely suggestive of aggression or dominance, & does bear grudges. That said, its only with adults, been to primary school, parties etc & generally mauled by screaming kids happily. Mine had a huge hatred of my ex husband. She's like a first pony to handle, & has happily been caught, loaded, & taken out by people she doesn't know without issue, & is ultra confident & content. Very easy to do & safe. But she hated him. Wouldn't let him near her, & if he tried going in her box would fly at him. And even if he walked past her, she would threaten to kick. Very out of character. But with hindsight, I think she picked up the man he was under the charming outer facade, for me its just proof they will always be so much better at body language than us, no matter how much we try.

 

[Montyforever]

My mare is very picky! She either likes you or she doesn't, no amount of trying will get you anywhere if she doesn't like you

 

[POLLDARK]

My New Forest doesn't like men. Given the choice between having his feed & letting a man touch him he would leave his feed & he is a greedy little devil too. Once he has been caught he is fine with them, no bother, for me he comes as soon as he sees me, no need to call.

 

[zaminda]

My older mare is very strange. I dumped one boyfriend on her say so, as she is generally right. She won't eat if someone she doesn't know feeds her, and can be very odd with people. Generally she is lovely, but one lady caught her for me, and as soon as she put her hand on the headcollar, she was lifted off the floor and flung across the field. She was right about her though, she turned out to be a snake in the grass. When we were on livery, the YM could never get near her, and had to leave them out when we were away. Now I always trust her instincts on people.

 

[Mariposa]

My TB mare is a one-man-horse. She puts up with me, she likes my mum to a point, doesn't like our groom from what I can see, but adores, loves and worships at the feet of one our friends. Its actually rather annoying but she's a one-man-horse! She goes beautifully for him, and goes up bambi-eyed when he's around. She's basically in love with hmi!

 

[Spyda]

My Ardross filly used to attack men. I bought her as a 3 year old and didn't know her history but she was very quirky. When I first brought her I had her tied up outside her box whilst I mucked out and she literally pulled herself free by running backwards to double barrel a fellow male livery who was quietly walking past her. It then became apparent that men wearing hats were little tolerated by her. She was a big 18 hand mare with attitude and I am a small 5'1" woman but she quickly learned I wasn't to be messed with and in the end we formed a strong and loyal bond and she was wonderful for me and would even tolerate hatted men if I were with her. Goodness knows what her problem was but she wasn't taking any prisoners where hatted men were concerned. She meant serious business and was really quite dangerous in her adversion. Presumably certain types of person remind a horse of things that have happened in its past, making some of them seem to react 'oddly' around certain people?

 

[Twinkle Twinkle]

My mare hates stranger looking over her stable door she will go for them with her ears flat back. She has only just allowed my oh into her paddock and thats after 2 years. I think she was badly treated before l had her but with hard work she is improving .

 

[StormyMoments]

taz is fine with people who are confident around him... his size does intimidate people and the fact that hes a bit of a dope and doesnt always take much notice where you are can frighten people. he doesnt like my step dad or my step sister and he had a huge hatred for my last yard owner. he can be funny around non horsey people as they are usually frightened by his sheer size unsuprisingly but my step dad, step sister and old yard owner are all intimidated by him and they all appear to be the kind of people who get aggressive when frightened so maybe thats what he notices but he gets really het up around them

 

[Starbucks]

Badger only seems to like me, my mum and caffrey. He will tolerate other people and some horses ( some he's just mean to), but is generally just a bit grumpy and doesn't bother behaving with people he doesn't like if he doesn't feel like it!

 

[Goldenstar]

My six year old TB came with a bit of a reputation for being difficult to handle for every person who thought he was nasty there was another who loved him ( he had been on a lot of pro yards in quick succession ) he's been lovely for me and my groom since the day he arrived he endured awful stuff being done to his mouth all summer and was a sweety but took an unaccountable dislike to a strange vet who had done nothing too him walking into the stable. He also disliked my weekend groom who had done nothing to warrant it at all ,it seemed with her once he had decided he did like her that was that.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

Mine has probably had a not very nice past, he especially doesn't like men.

He is also very particular about who he let's catch him in the stable and will sometimes spin around the stable.

He is even worse to catch in the field.

However its a fine line as if people are too wet and mollycoddle him it winds him up and he will do the same.

The more someone handles him usually he gets more accepting of them.

I don't let anyone else ride him but that is my personal choice.

As with some of the prev posters he seems to have a scary and non scary list although he has a tendancy to change his mind some days!

He is very intelligent and also typical Welsh D which prob exagerrates his worries!

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

Must add he isn't ever being nasty when he does it it is down to fear which must have been due to bad past experience before my old yo had him.

He is almost autistic as he likes routine and hates change.

 

[juliette]

I keep my horse at a friends and annoyingly my horse is very wary of her. She has never done anything awful to him. It can make life a bit awkward as he generally won't let her catch him. So, if i am running late, she can't get him in for me. However, he will let anyone else catch him!!!! He will let her turn him out.........? He's so easy normally so i have no idea why he is like this. It's such a pain.

 

[TandD]

i find my gelding dislikes men....possible finds them a little intimdating as only ever been ridden/handled by women.....hes such a wimp..... tolerates my dad handling but wont be caught by any men!

my mare loves men.... she likes others to take the lead and will follow men around, never take the micky and generally behaves perfectly! then a woman takes over and she can be such a naughty girl......

but yet even coming from professionals she loves children, looks after them and never do anything to hurt them..... same with the gelding to... always seem to know that small people = standing like a statue!

 

[spike123]

my horse has definitely made it quite clear about who he likes and dislikes. He is generally good to handle providing he knows the person handling him and he trusts them. In the stable if I'm around he's ok with people near him but aparantly when I'm not there people are warned not to go too close as he does have a tendancy to try to take a chunk out of them if they get too close. He is normally pretty tolerant of my hubby and will happily allow him to fuss him to a point. Tonight however while walking in from the field hubby and I were chatting with horse idly following behind and I mentioned my lesson in the morning and hubby made a remark loudly of disgust. My horse lunged forward to take a chunk out of him. Hubby is definitely wary of him as my horse has shown jealous tendancies towards him before but I actually think my horse was looking out for me tonight and didn't like hubby's attitude lol.

 

[fjordhorsefan]

My horse will not even acknowledge people he doesn't like. He won't do anything nasty, just blank them completely. There are very few people he truly likes and trusts, but thankfully me and my YO are in there so all is good!

 

[Oldenburg27]

Yeah Larry is a total pain in the ass.

He will only let me go in his stable to put his head collar on and take his rugs off etc.

But he is my baby