Normal 2yr old behaviour....?

B

Beatrice5

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 November 2009
Messages
1,276
Location
Somerset
Visit site
Today I had an irate text from the owner of the other mare in our field as when he patted my 2 yr old filly on the bum she kicked out at him. He accused her of trying to hurt him and being rude and disrespectful and he doesn't expect to be in fear of his life when walking his horse through his field.

No my reaction is firstly if she was in his way firstly he should have clicked his tounge and verbally asked her to walk on - she is well handled and this is what I do to move her and failing that I would have placed my hand on her bum and nudged her over whilst asking her to either walk on or move over. I think her reaction was that of suprise to be patted on the bum when she wasn't expecting it and without verbal warning and from someone she has only met once or twice before as he is away at uni so I am looking after his horse as well as mine.

He is now very off with me and told me he doesn't expect to have to deal with such behaviour and is making out my filly is unusual in her attitude and a problem to him. Not helped by the fact one of my little herd had detected the battery low and gone through the elec tape the night before and his mare was quite excited by all this so bouncing up and down.

Sorry for the rant but I am cheesed my filly is now labelled a problem with a bad attitude. Advice at how to respond appreciated. I don't want to cause offence but had he been more considerate with his handling of her I don't feel she would have reacted in such a way. She is a very placid and laid back girl who I accuse most of the time of being a complete donkey.
 
Imo, he needs to learn not to take horses' behaviour for granted - they are not machines. I wouldn't say that was extreme or unusual behaviour, especially for a 2yo, and "rude and disrespectful" is just a form of words to put a human interpretation on what a horse thinks when it does what it does. I wouldn't read too much into it. I expect your filly was surprised by the pat.

How you handle the owner is another matter. In your place I'd probably try to smooth things over, but also keep an eye on him in case he does other slightly foolish things.
 
I don't like the texting thing, but your response should be that these things happen, horses are unpredictable and she may have got a fright. I assume he is not texting from A&E or he would have mentioned it.
I would not be walking up to any horse in a field and patting it on the bum, what was he thinking?
Any approach should be from the front. and if it he got kicked, well he will learn not to do it again, you could say something like, it is best not to get too close to horse in a field, if they come too close, just wave them away.
 
I felt her reaction was one of suprise too.

He is very inexperienced having only owned 2 elderly horses in his young years. I did say I felt her behaviour was normal youngster and in future could he please be a bit more calm and tactful if near her. He still felt she had in in for him :( He also commented he had met cattle with more respect which I felt unnecessary.

AArrrgggghhhh some people :(
 
He's saying he only "patted" her on the bum - what are the odds he actually gave her a slap and made her jump?
 
No he wasn't in A&E he was off hunting for the day so perfectly fit and well.

My fear is if he does something as silly again I will get the blame and law suit :( How do you protect your horse from other peoples ignorance?

This is the chap who horse nearly died in a ditch but he excuse was she's never fallen into the ditch in the previous 2 years she has lived in the field....:(
 
Beatrice5 said:
I felt her reaction was one of suprise too.

He is very inexperienced having only owned 2 elderly horses in his young years. I did say I felt her behaviour was normal youngster and in future could he please be a bit more calm and tactful if near her. He still felt she had in in for him :( He also commented he had met cattle with more respect which I felt unnecessary.

AArrrgggghhhh some people :(
Click to expand...
He is obviously pretty stupid, but I don't think it will help pointing that out.
Horses don't have aggression toward humans, they are flight animals.
I think he has never met the bull which once tossed me and nearly killed me, it showed me no respect whatever!
 
Last edited:
fburton said:
Imo, he needs to learn not to take horses' behaviour for granted - they are not machines.]

I, also, think he shouldn't have taken the experience so personally. She's a 2 year old, a baby. Perhaps he hasn't had much contact with youngsters. My rising 3 years old geldings, my breeding, have taught me as much, if not more, as I am attempting to teach them. I'd keep an eye on him.
Click to expand...
 
I would say he needs to go back and read the basics of being around horses. What is the fiest thing you are taught as a kid? Never approacha horse from behind and also to give a lot of space between you an a horse if you do walk round the back of them. Horses are unpredictable - ANY horse but especially witn a youngster i would be especially careful as they may not yet understand the difference between horse and human.

My youngster is similar - he's a bit of a bolshy get though. I got him at 15 mths and to be fair he was pretty damn good as to what he cpuld do BUT his manners left a little to be desired. He would turn his bum on you int the field if you were trying to get him to move away. We taught/are teaching him this is not acceptable. However, he loves his bum being scratched so he seems to sort if use this as a reason to turn his bum and reverse into you. If though he does this in reaction to us asking him to move away (say from another horse's feed) he will get chased away.


On the odd occasion he has kicked out but by has he learnt then that's not right (ie lots of growling/noise/being chased away more). They need to learn though. They don't know the boundaries automatically, we need to teach them. I think your field companion needs to understand that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top