Leading a yearling

[BeckyFlowers]

OP it may be a good idea to ask for professional help with your beastie. Do you know any local trainers or instructors that you would be happy using? It does need to be nipped in the bud, and there's no shame in asking for help.

 

[Dave's Mam]

When having issues, I am a big fan of getting good knowledgeable help in.

My pony was a sod & went over the top of me once. He stood on my legs & my kidneys (Most of you will remember this). I got help. Good help. He was turned round into a very lovely pony in no time.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Aside from the to and fro bickering about who is right and who is wrong in their approach to commenting...OP you need to get on top of your yearling now before he gets much bigger and stronger.

My new addition arrived Saturday, a 4 year old 17hh TB mare...who has about all the manners of a bullock at the moment. She has been in a racing yard for training and I can only assume they forgot that she needed basic manners! She will walk straight through you if she wants to and I am adopting the zero tolerance approach from the word go - who on earth wants a horse that size smashing through you whenever it chooses?!

I highly doubt any racing yard will have let her walk all over them! When you are dealing with such expensive animals and are around expensive animals that are not your own there is no way any of them would be allowed to be mannerless thugs! You said in another post she has been stuck in a stable for weeks - that would drive any horse crazy! Give her a few days to settle down and you will probably find she is a lamb to deal with! They also aren't used to doing much by themselves so taking them out for walks in hand on their own probably will resort to them being keen to get home to their mates!

 

[ycbm]

Well it’s a shame that there are the ‘few’ people that ruin this forum for others isn’t it

They don't. You need to lighten up. Take what's good and let the rest go. Nobody has ruined your thread unless you let them. Yes EKW has sniped on this thread, but if you bother to look up what else she posts about you'll find she is very entertaining and informative about life in a top class NH training yard. And we all have off days, and this is beginning to look as if it's one of yours.

 

[kimberleigh]

I highly doubt any racing yard will have let her walk all over them! When you are dealing with such expensive animals and are around expensive animals that are not your own there is no way any of them would be allowed to be mannerless thugs! You said in another post she has been stuck in a stable for weeks - that would drive any horse crazy! Give her a few days to settle down and you will probably find she is a lamb to deal with! They also aren't used to doing much by themselves so taking them out for walks in hand on their own probably will resort to them being keen to get home to their mates!

Having spoken to the trainer he informs me that she wasnt one of the easiest to deal with, and when it became apparent she wasnt going to make the grade she wasnt top of their priority list so conceded she had been let go a bit in terms of manners!

She has no problems with the in hand walks, yes she has gotten a little strong on way home but its around the yard that she has no manners and in the stable. Which I dont blame her for in the slightest as, like you say, she wont be used to doing things alone at a racing yard...but she has spent 6 weeks on a livery yard since so should have learned something in that time! She had no turnout as far as I'm aware but that doesnt mean she was in the stable 24/7...though again, I get the impression they were a little intimidated by her.

For a young TB she is very good! But there is never any excuse for bad manners unless you are bringing in a completely unhandled animal to work with and then you expect a challenge

 

[Tiddlypom]

I agree with all the others who say that you must nip this behaviour in the bud.

I got the the late chestnut git as a remedial 10 month old colt (yes, really). He had been bought by a nice young girl who didn't have a clue how to handle him once he grew from a cuddly foal to a little thug. He had already broken the owner's dad's nose by rearing up and clouting him on the face.

I soon put him in his place, with a fair bit of growling and blue pipe treatment. However, for the remainder of the 24 years for which I owned him he always was looking for me to drop my guard, say if I was feeling unwell, so he could act up though latterly it was just for show.

 

[AdorableAlice]

For a young TB she is very good! But there is never any excuse for bad manners unless you are bringing in a completely unhandled animal to work with and then you expect a challenge

You are wrong with that thought pattern. The vast majority of TB's bred to race will be well handled as foals and produced to be sold at the various auction houses. They will spend their formative and most important years in the hands of professionals.

A completely unhandled horse won't be a bad mannered challenge. He will be fearful and look to his handler for comfort. It is people who make horses bad mannered and a challenge by not giving the young horse clear goal posts, not giving consistent handling in a fair and firm way through the foal to 4 year old stage. It is a skill to raise a young horse.

 

[kimberleigh]

You are wrong with that thought pattern. The vast majority of TB's bred to race will be well handled as foals and produced to be sold at the various auction houses. They will spend their formative and most important years in the hands of professionals.

A completely unhandled horse won't be a bad mannered challenge. He will be fearful and look to his handler for comfort. It is people who make horses bad mannered and a challenge by not giving the young horse clear goal posts, not giving consistent handling in a fair and firm way through the foal to 4 year old stage. It is a skill to raise a young horse.

Perhaps I should have put "bad mannered" - had plenty to do with the totally feral sort since being over here and yes, their behaviour is mainly because they are fearful...,but I would disagree that they look to handlers for 'comfort'. Those I have met do not want comfort from humans, they want to be left the hell alone and if that means lashing out with teeth/hooves to get their point across then thats what they will do. Those things to me are "bad manners" that require correcting/training the horse how to repond in a different way.

I do however agree that many young horses are ruined by lack of correct handling by humans.

Here, and I am generalizing massively here, but horses are not treated the same way as in England. A huge number of novice owners have them to breed from, solely for monetary gain - regardless of breed or type. I know a large number of people who breed and sell TBs all destined for the racetrack...and they barely know one end of the horse from the other let alone the 'right' way to raise a foal. These are foals which sell for very high prices, by stallions with very high stud fees...so just because they're TBs doesnt mean they're necessarily owned by experienced horsemen (or women)