Nickles1973
Well-Known Member
My 11 year old daughter has a pet (30") miniature *****land which we bought at the end of last summer. He came to us quite underweight and weak from being kept in unsuitable conditions. He was aged by the vet and dentist as definately no more than 2 yet he behaved like he was in his old age. Perfect for giving my daughter her confidence around horses back but obviously a concern.
Slowly he had begun to improve once we'd addressed his diet and by turning him out with a couple of friends he'd started to act like you'd expect a young pony to behave.
The thing is he's suddenly turned into a nightmare pony. He's gone from giving the occaisional nip (like all young geldings) to turning on you like a pirahna when you approach him. He's getting difficult to catch and when you do get to him he is turning on you and taking an aggresive stance ears pinned teeth bared (you get the idea)
My daughter can no longer lead him to and from the field as he just drags her all over the yard.
He's currently fed a handful of chaff with speedy beet am and pm and a couple of equibites for his vits and minerals. He get's a section of hay divided into two nets. One larger for night and one smaller for morning. We've also been putting extra in the field since the snow last weekend. I would usually be soaking the hay to reduce it's sugars but because of the freezing weather I've had to stop.
I started off by giving him a quick check on his headcollar when he turned his teeth on me and telling him no firmly. When I'm leading if he does it I swing the loose end of the leadrope in his direction and tell him off firmly.
I'm really looking for ideas for how to deal with this kind of behaviour or if there might be something in his diet or management that might be causing it?
Any ideas will be gratefully recieved.
Slowly he had begun to improve once we'd addressed his diet and by turning him out with a couple of friends he'd started to act like you'd expect a young pony to behave.
The thing is he's suddenly turned into a nightmare pony. He's gone from giving the occaisional nip (like all young geldings) to turning on you like a pirahna when you approach him. He's getting difficult to catch and when you do get to him he is turning on you and taking an aggresive stance ears pinned teeth bared (you get the idea)
My daughter can no longer lead him to and from the field as he just drags her all over the yard.
He's currently fed a handful of chaff with speedy beet am and pm and a couple of equibites for his vits and minerals. He get's a section of hay divided into two nets. One larger for night and one smaller for morning. We've also been putting extra in the field since the snow last weekend. I would usually be soaking the hay to reduce it's sugars but because of the freezing weather I've had to stop.
I started off by giving him a quick check on his headcollar when he turned his teeth on me and telling him no firmly. When I'm leading if he does it I swing the loose end of the leadrope in his direction and tell him off firmly.
I'm really looking for ideas for how to deal with this kind of behaviour or if there might be something in his diet or management that might be causing it?
Any ideas will be gratefully recieved.
