Jealous mare?

[erica]

I have had my 12 year old TB / ID mare for about 3 years now. While we were slow to bond, we are now very close.
My problem is that, while she is very sweet-natured with me, whenever I have a friend or my boyfriend with me, she snakes her head at them and tries to bite them. This is becoming very anti-social, as I keep her on a large livery yard and there are lots of people coming and going. It has got to the stage now where my boyfriend doesn't like coming up to see her (and who can blame the guy?) The problem seems to just be related to her stable, and me in particular. If I'm not around, she's fine. Also, when she's not in the stable, she's everyone's friend.
She had a hard life before her previous owner got her and we think she was ill-treated a bit, which is why she's so defensive in the stable.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should deal with her to keep the bond we've got, but also keep my friends and boyfriend??!

 

[evsj]

I know exactly what you mean. Mine is a stroppy 10 yo ID x TB with a stable bound attitude problem. I've had her 5 years now and have tried various feed supps, diet changes, natural horsemanship techniques etc and seen a small improvement. My mare is also only like this in her stable - she is a lovely horse under the saddle. I tended to think she had a hard life before I owned her and I bought her as a 5 yo over in Ireland from the breeder. Having seen the way some horses are kept on farms over there I think it has as much to do with their environment. Often kept inside in communes with competition for feed and hay, i.e. barn type shelters.
She obviously feels threatened and may associate the presence of you both with some bad experience in the past. My boyfriend is scared of horses anyway and says my mare is the spawn of satan but I have managed to persuade him to hold her at shows and she's always been angelic! When my parents come to see her I have to remind them about horsey psycology and tell them not to hang around in front of her stable door. She is much sweeter when she is tied outside and people just stand facing away from her head (in a non-threatening stance).
Maybe get your boyfriend to handle her a bit more with you at a distance. Mine is not fond of men (another clue from her past) but the yo husband brings her in every night to help get her used to him and she's been very good. I think jealousy does come into it to - the bond we have with our girls is very strong and if it looks to be under threat, they are going to react in a mareish way! Don't worry about it too much. don't wast your money on supplements and concentrate on what is going on in her head. you probably can't cure this 'problem' but you can understand and live with it. It shows she's got some spark anyway!!

 

[Lucys]

We have a kind of similar problem with our pony. She just gets attached to people she can trust. Thats basically me, my mum and my sister. She doesnt like my brother or my dad...

Its something we have to accept really with her. Although, my brother kept coming up for a while and used to feed her and she did get a bit better with him.

Its odd though really. I wouldnt say its a thing with her disliking men because shes fine with the farrier.

Horses are odd sometimes!