New horse - how to back them off out of your space?

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Crazydancer

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New mare arrived 3 weeks ago. I let her chill, as she's young (rising 5 in Sept) so she's been in a field with plenty of grass, extra haylage, out 24/7, next to several other horses, but in her own field for now. Will go in with my other (gelding) once he's lost some weight and she's put some on.
She seems pretty affectionate, will come to the gate as soon as she sees you and loves being groomed. The problem seems to be she has no respect for your space, and has now tried 'playing' with me when I'm poo picking, which involves trotting up to me and waving hooves in the air - nothing as scary as a full-on rear, but still not comfortable. I have tried backing her off, but no amount of body language stuff, or even anything more forceful seems to work - she just stands there. And if you do get pushy - she swings her bum around. I've been taking her headcollar with me and giving her a bit of whack to move her away, but she is pretty thick skinned to be honest!
Leading in hand she will walk on ahead, I have been stopping her and making her back up, then walking on again, but she doesn't seem to be getting the message, we spend more time walking backwards than forwards.
And also I have noticed when I'm grooming, and want to move her over, she doesn't respond to the usual 'poking' and will just ignore you, even when you get insistent she just pulls faces and at takes quite a lot to shift her!
Now I don't want to 'scare' her, or become overly dominant by force, but I don't seem to be getting any improvement with other methods - any ideas folks?
(I've just read another thread about a new mare testing the owner, so will take info from there too)
 
My mare does the same...4 yr old...she is out with other horses so not bored or lonely...just loves to be around me and always tries to play with me too.

Stay the other side of the wheel barrow, keep an eye on her but ignore her, they get fed up of it and wander off, to her if she is in a playful mood chasing her off will be playing back.
Keep the wheel barrow between the two of you so legs waving around don't catch you keep your back to her but be aware of where she is.

Good Luck
 
CBFan said:
Sorry to sound so blunt but she sounds bored and lonely. Stick her in with your gelding - at least for some of the time and I'm sure she will be less 'in yer face'.
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Thanks! I am planning to do that this afternoon. Vet due for her jabs, then putting them together. She was very lean when she arrived, so trying to get a bit of a covering on her, which she has got now. Gelding is positively porky unfortunately, but hoping if they play together it will burn some calories for him :D
 
Crazydancer said:
Thanks! I am planning to do that this afternoon. Vet due for her jabs, then putting them together. She was very lean when she arrived, so trying to get a bit of a covering on her, which she has got now. Gelding is positively porky unfortunately, but hoping if they play together it will burn some calories for him :D
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Yeah, it's not just playing though... he will re-teach her social etiquette and 'just be there' it makes such a difference.

My young gelding was terrible on his own in terms of his behaviour towards me but in company he is so much more respectful.

There are always exceptions but I think it should do the trick. also make sure you set asside plenty of time each day where you do give her attention, then when you turn her out she should be happy to get on with her own thing.

As for the weight... don't panic about it... can you give her a bucket feed with a decent amount of oil in? even if you just give her a bucket of chaff with oil added it should help her keep her weight...
 
Thanks all. Both horses out together, but I do think she's going to be quite a dominant character!!! They spent a good while mutually grooming, which was nice to see..... then the next thing they were hooning around the field, mare chasing my old gelding, and she is quite a handful - squealing, rearing, bucking, biting, kicking out and generally harassing him!! this went on and off for an half an hour until they both got really hot, but they were grazing calmly when I left, although he had a right old lump on his back where she'd bitten him, poor lad!!!
Amd to think I bought this mare as she seemed so easy, calm and laid back.... :rolleyes:
 
My yearling is out 24/7 with my other gelding but still ambles over to annoy me when I'm poo picking or ragworting. I've found that if he charges up to me that chasing him off like a mental woman usually works however if he just ambles over to cause trouble nothing seems to work, I can ignore him, back him up , give him some fuss but he still wants a piece of the action. in the end I end up walking away down the field and shouting him to me. He usually comes over and once he is away from the barrow and back with the other gelding he goes off and leaves me to it.

We also went through the phase of him charging me in the field and rearing and bucking close to me. He seems to have stopped this since I started chasing him off with the poo picker!!! Tell you they are like naughty children always trying to push your buttons:-)
 
lottie940 said:
My yearling is out 24/7 with my other gelding but still ambles over to annoy me when I'm poo picking or ragworting. I've found that if he charges up to me that chasing him off like a mental woman usually works however if he just ambles over to cause trouble nothing seems to work, I can ignore him, back him up , give him some fuss but he still wants a piece of the action. in the end I end up walking away down the field and shouting him to me. He usually comes over and once he is away from the barrow and back with the other gelding he goes off and leaves me to it.

We also went through the phase of him charging me in the field and rearing and bucking close to me. He seems to have stopped this since I started chasing him off with the poo picker!!! Tell you they are like naughty children always trying to push your buttons:-)
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Thats youngsters for you!
 
Crazydancer said:
New mare arrived 3 weeks ago. I let her chill, as she's young (rising 5 in Sept) so she's been in a field with plenty of grass, extra haylage, out 24/7, next to several other horses, but in her own field for now. Will go in with my other (gelding) once he's lost some weight and she's put some on.
She seems pretty affectionate, will come to the gate as soon as she sees you and loves being groomed. The problem seems to be she has no respect for your space, and has now tried 'playing' with me when I'm poo picking, which involves trotting up to me and waving hooves in the air - nothing as scary as a full-on rear, but still not comfortable. I have tried backing her off, but no amount of body language stuff, or even anything more forceful seems to work - she just stands there. And if you do get pushy - she swings her bum around. I've been taking her headcollar with me and giving her a bit of whack to move her away, but she is pretty thick skinned to be honest!
Leading in hand she will walk on ahead, I have been stopping her and making her back up, then walking on again, but she doesn't seem to be getting the message, we spend more time walking backwards than forwards.
And also I have noticed when I'm grooming, and want to move her over, she doesn't respond to the usual 'poking' and will just ignore you, even when you get insistent she just pulls faces and at takes quite a lot to shift her!
Now I don't want to 'scare' her, or become overly dominant by force, but I don't seem to be getting any improvement with other methods - any ideas folks?
(I've just read another thread about a new mare testing the owner, so will take info from there too)
Click to expand...

I was 'trained' by an ex colour sargeant from the Household Cavalry... Always found throwing one arm up in the air effective.. I'm sure there'll be lots of people who disagree, and I don't mean throw it in her face or hit her just make yourself bigger :D
 
Crazydancer said:
Thanks all. Both horses out together, but I do think she's going to be quite a dominant character!!! They spent a good while mutually grooming, which was nice to see..... then the next thing they were hooning around the field, mare chasing my old gelding, and she is quite a handful - squealing, rearing, bucking, biting, kicking out and generally harassing him!! this went on and off for an half an hour until they both got really hot, but they were grazing calmly when I left, although he had a right old lump on his back where she'd bitten him, poor lad!!!
Amd to think I bought this mare as she seemed so easy, calm and laid back.... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

He'll soon get fed up with her and he'll tell her what for! naughty girl!

let us know how she behaves with you from now on too!... just a thought, could it be that her previous owner encouraged this behaviour by giving her fuss and attention when she came over? If so, it could take a while of persistent ingnoring her to get her to stop!
 
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He's such a good boy, he picked both his hinds up to double barrel her a few times, but only as a threat, he didn't follow it though....

TBH it's more than just the playing in the field, I've been reading another thread about 'new mare testing the boundaries' and MrsM posted about the Dizz, and she sounds similar. She will move YOU rather than you move HER.... and to stay on top of the situation you have to make sure you don't let that happen! It's all early days and a learning curve as she is so different to my old lad, but I do like the fact she loves a fuss, and will stand for ages to be brushed and stroked!!
 
*UPDATE*
Moved new mare and my old gelding in together last week, and they are already firm friends. Grazing and snoozing together, it has been lovely to watch. She did run him around for the first few days, he does seem to have dropped off some weight. She has been far more chilled in the field, and even my totally un-horsey OH groomed her in the field without a headcollar yesterday, she does love a fuss! We have been doing little things, like moving her back when she pushes into our space, and she seems to have taken that on board. I have this week off work, so going to start doing a bit of lunging, and hopefully get a saddle sorted.
Now I've sorted out a photobucket account, here's a couple of piccies of them grooming each other! She's the bright chestnut, my older gelding is the liver chestnut, still trying to shed his winter woolies!

P3280805.jpg

P3280809.jpg

P3280810.jpg
 
very often young horses will test you because they cannot test another horse. I am sure you will find once she is out in company this improves a lot. Especially if you can find a horse that she will be lower in the pecking order with.

Both my last two young ish horses have tried this on, but as soon as not in quarantine any more it stops!
 
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