Just Curious - Does your horse do this?

Nope. I tack up loose in the field shelter. I know it's a terrible habit! We're often mid-tacking up when he wanders to the trough for a drink or decides the pile of haylage next door is better. šŸ¤­
I agree with poiuytrewq that it would worry me if my horse did that. He's only run from the saddle once (really did run!) and that was after building works had occurred right next to the shelter. Never did find out the exact reason, but he was very jumpy there in general, so I'm confident it wasn't the saddle in that instance, although we did have that day off!
 
Mine is like a dog seeing a lead when he sees his saddle and he gets very excited when he sees me putting my hat on. If he wasn't looking happy to go out, we wouldn't go out.
 
Oldie comes running to the front if she sees tack! The cob, honestly, I wouldnā€™t be too worried if she did - sheā€™s quite grumpy and tries every trick in the book to get out of work. If it was regular though, I think Iā€™d definitely look into whyā€¦ at the moment she just stands there looking cross šŸ˜‚
 
At home, Amber is rarely enthusiastic, occasionally with dramatic sighs, but she doesn't act angry or uncomfortable. She has turned her butt to me on a couple of occasions but they've been during long camps and clinics when she's tired. Then I back off, and if we do the next session, we take it easy. Oddly, she does tend to be enthusiastic about tacking up when we're at shows. To be honest, I think she's just keen to get out and have a nosey at everything going on.
 
cold_feet said:
Whether I am getting him from the field or taking tack to his stable, my boy turns away, poos, then turns back to me. I always assumed he was readying himself for work.
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Mine does that too. He then dives into his head collar when I present it to him.
 
Sometimes. I find it's a really useful indication that there's something I should check!

With my previous project, he started being absolutely impossible to get the bridle on - fine for grooming loose in his stall, saddle, but turned into a spinning giraffe when he saw the bridle. I put the bridle away until his teeth got done, which solved it.

Grooming & tacking up loose has been a really great tool with my current project. He seems to have been abused in the past, and did NOT trust that the thing you're going to do to won't hurt. I couldn't get more than a quarter of him brushed before he'd trot halfway across the paddock to take a break. I'd wait for him to come back to his haynet, and gently start again. He slowly learned that he wasn't going to be forced to do anything awful, I wasn't going to hurt him, and sometimes even what I was doing was nice. Now we can get all the way through grooming & tacking up and he doesn't bat an eye (usually - he does still have "I'd rather not" moments, like yesterday when it was 30C, but he's got distinctly different body language vs the fear he had before).
 
I get an "I'd rather not" from time to time with mine being on the lazier side of lazy as well. This is usually when I've said hello to him, maybe groomed him, and gone off somewhere to come back and can see he is standing with his bum towards the stable door, in what I'm presuming is him hoping I can't see him if he can't see me. I will usually revise plans and do something lighter so he still gets a bit of exercise but there are times where, once tacked up and despite preferring an "I'd rather not do work" response, he will butt his way out of his stable and rarely does he come back even from a light walk without a spark in his eye with the feel-good endorphins running. He reminds me of me sometimes - can be extremely lazy but feels good once having been out and moving around.

The day he dives into his halter will be the day I die, especially when in the field....he normally looks at me at the gate and then just goes back to eating, probably hoping that I'll leave him alone with his friends. Has always been this way though.
 
Nope. Mine normally blows at the saddle or gives a side eye as in... 'seriously!' or 'what!'. Can always tell when he's keen as he opens his mouth for the bit. If I need to open it for him, he usually can't be bothered.
 
cold_feet said:
Whether I am getting him from the field or taking tack to his stable, my boy turns away, poos, then turns back to me. I always assumed he was readying himself for work.
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Ooh I forgot the pony always peed first and the cob poos.
Also she is usually v reluctant going away from home, but she is just super when and adores riding with others. And she is enthusiastic the ride after meeting someone, then sheā€™s like, hey, thereā€™s no one here and goes back to being reluctant.
 
I believe it can be a red flag if your horse doesnt do it then starts to but mine always has done it from day 1 of groundwork & I see it as a sign of no Id rather not thank you as he's a sensitive soul that hasnt quite figured out the fun aspect of being ridden!
For me its when a behaviour is out of the ordinary for the horse not when its out of ordinary compared to everybody elses horse because they are all individuals as are we.
 
As most know I have a 'non-ridden' companion who we decided was not rideable - he's had some pretty bad experiences with saddles. When he see's tack coming out of the tack room he gulps and disappears to the far side of the field. We've learnt to bring in the pony you want to ride in before getting everything out ready as otherwise you have a fair walk to catch them as Ben will take the others with him.
 
Mine is fine to tack but once the saddle is on he goes to the back of the stable and has a snooze. it's like he thinks he needs a power nap to cope with having to do some work šŸ˜‚ Then when I come to collect him and bring him out his ears are forward and he's easy to put the bridle on, so I don't regard it as a red flag. My old horse used to have a wee once you'd put the saddle on.
 
I really think it's highly contextual and dependent on the horse's own quirks/personality. Likewise, my horse will react the same way when he feels overly creaky or has some pain issues vs he doesn't want to move past his friends in the field we are trying to ride past. I've learned to tell the difference though and it is very subtle....
 
There is one here who is retired. I wanted to take some pics of his saddle, on the pony, for a sale post, as he will never be ridden again. He took one look at me carrying it out and scarpered up the field. I put the saddle on the fence for the pics instead.
He wasn't always my pony, and for many years was only ever caught to work, or for the farrier. He can be difficult to catch if out. But he has been retired now for some years and I think he is finally starting to realise that I will never make him carry anything, as he is getting easier to halter out in the field now.
 
ycbm said:
They never did unless there was an issue. Turning away from tack was often the first sign of something wrong. It's one reason why I never tied up a horse to tack it up if I could avoid it.
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Actually that is a good point, as I have never tacked up loose in the stable, my horse is always tied up outside to tack up and muck out.
However, I used to watch both Bailey and Lari's attitude to the tack coming towards them and can say hand on heart neither of them did
 
Yes, and I was very young and never took it as the sign I should have. If she ever comes back into work now I'd want to get it sorted.
 
Rowreach said:
Mine would put her own tack on if she had fingers.
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Mine is the same! Never blows out for the girth and strides to the mounting block. She has an obsessive little brain and is inherently nosey, so loves going out to see more of the world.

The problem is I think she'd still do that even if she were in pain or discomfort.
 
Mine doesn't bother about being tacked up but always gets excited when he sees me putting my hi Vis on because it means going out rather than in the school.
 
Home bred who has always led a very easy life, now in the teens. Never looked enthusiastic about being tacked up, but marches to the mounting block and is jolly when we are out. If I appear with tack will disappear if we are in the yard and has an escape route. Physio, vet checked and all fine, feet good and tack simple, snaffle with plain noseband and saddle fits very well. I do sometimes feel mean, but the end result is a nice jolly that we both enjoy. Who knows? Prefers to be a field ornament?
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
So I'm quite surprised by how many people at my yard have mentioned that their horse will walk to the back of the stable when they see their saddle/tack. It was one of the red flags to me that something wasn't right when Dex started doing it, but it seems more common than I thought..

Does your horse do it?

(no judgement from me either way, on here or the people from my yard, horses are funny beasts - just an idle musing...)
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Doesnā€™t back away but I had a mare who I sold before leaving for uni, and then luckily bought back when I completed my degree. She had never ever been girthy but when I got her back she would try to bite you and would run around the stable when doing the girth. Instant red flag, had her scoped for ulcers, saddle checked, physio - you name it!! All was okay but basically found out through someone that the last owners had not been the gentlest when doing the girth, and at one stage she even had girth galls and they still rode her šŸ™ˆ

While she was all healed up when I got her back it took a lot of in hand work, rebuilding of trust, and baby steps to get her back to normal. She can still sometimes be hesitant but I take it very slowly on her. Really shows they never forget. Poor thing.
 
Pepsi is another one that always goes to the back to have a poo, then comes the front to say hello.

He usually doesnā€™t disappear to the back at the sight of tack anymore (unless he hasnā€™t already done his poo!). Always tacked up loose in the stable.

Heā€™s a bit complicated though because heā€™s got an on-off relationship with bridles/headcollars (some past trauma with those or ear touching we assume) and while heā€™s usually pretty good with them if he knows you, occasionally if you accidentally get it wrong and something upsets him he can be funny about them again for a few days. And he associates the saddle with the bridle, so if heā€™s in a funny phase occasionally heā€™ll be a bit suspicious of that too. I try to be super careful, but things happen sometimes. Not helped by him needing 5 stitches above one eye last year, even sedated he was a nightmare!

Although I will say that when his saddle had got a bit wide and making him sore, he was increasingly and consistently bad to put a bridle on, it was one of the things that made me get it checked. It was different to his ā€œnormalā€ protest behaviour.

Heā€™s a sensitive soul and definitely doesnā€™t forget, when I first got him we had to leave a headcollar on him in the field because if someone ā€œstrangeā€ tried to put his headcollar on he wouldnā€™t let anyone catch him easily for days. If they didnā€™t have to put a headcollar on? No problem
 
cold_feet said:
Whether I am getting him from the field or taking tack to his stable, my boy turns away, poos, then turns back to me. I always assumed he was readying himself for work.
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This! My mare does this sometimes, always to poo, then turns back to me and waits patiently/ready.
I'm another who doesn't tie up, when handling in the stable at all, I want her to be able to communicate with me, & I don't want her to have to shout.
 
Birker2020 said:
Actually that is a good point, as I have never tacked up loose in the stable, my horse is always tied up outside to tack up and muck out.
However, I used to watch both Bailey and Lari's attitude to the tack coming towards them and can say hand on heart neither of them did
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There's an odd thing that happens just from having a headcollar on, though. I've seen it often and even written about it on the forum, and it was common. I used to pick out feet without tying up. If I ever had a problem with that I used to put a headcollar on and lie the rope over the neck. The horse was still not tied up and knew it, but it never failed to sort out the problem with picking out a foot (on a horse which knew about foot picking). Horses are very good at accepting what they have learned is the inevitable.
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ycbm said:
There's an odd thing that happens just from having a headcollar on, though. I've seen it often and even written about it on the forum, and it was common. I used to pick out feet without tying up. If I ever had a problem with that I used to put a headcollar on and lie the rope over the neck. The horse was still not tied up and knew it, but it never failed to sort out the problem with picking out a foot (on a horse which knew about foot picking). Horses are very good at accepting what they have learned is the inevitable.
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I always pop a headcollar on if I'm going to be doing anything with her in the stable. It's just a signal that, okay, you've got to listen to me now. Without it, she's welcome to ignore me because I'm just cleaning her waterer or skipping out or something. With it, it means I need her attention. She's well aware of the difference.
 
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