Odd things your horse does.....

[Shantara]

I don't think I could list all the odd things about Ned.

I can throw a beach ball at his face, cover him in tarpaulin and wave a bag on a stick at him...but a cat on a car bonnet, or a squirrel running across the road? "OMG MUMMY HELP!!!!!"

He goes between pacing and trotting for no apparent reason. He's getting better, but it's really weird! He can also do canter/trot!

My mother is his very best friend.

I'm sure there's much much more!

 

[tiga71]

Mine pees like a dog when we go out for a hack, mainly because I let him eat while he pees. So he spots a good patch of grass, sidles over and gets in peeing position. Then doesn't pee, just eats, so I tell him to get on, he walks a couple of steps, assumes peeing position again and squeezes a little one out while eating.

He does this about 6 times on a 3 hour hack. Have had him checked and no problem with the the weeing, just wees a lot and has learnt it is a good way to have a sneaky snack.

 

[Bright_Spark]

Where do I start with my lot?

Amber likes to have her tail scratched- to the point she'll reverse into you to get you to do it (first time she did that to me in the stable, I thought she was going to kill me ).

Blossom, has to follow me around when poo-picking, and checks every pile that goes in the wheelbarrow. Oh she also adores my dog and will lick/groom him constantly.

Binky likes to chew his leadrope when tied up, picks up brushes and throws them around and when stabled likes to splash his feet in the water bucket! He also 'talks' to you constantly when being groomed/ fussed over.

 

[mturnbull]

Oh i love these, brightening up my morning for sure! Haha
well my boy likes to chew/carry his leadrope when you bring him in despite being 15 yrs old! He loves getting his face rubbed when you take his bridle off but he wont rub off you, you have to do it to him while he stands to enjoy! If the lorry ramp is down and hes ready but im standing bleather he simply pulls to trot up the ramp (i cant complain because a few years ago loading was stressful!)
As for the foalie she has to touch everything with her nose or lick it ranging from a car to a cat to a plastic bag and to stones, anything will do! She also loads up a ramp perfectly although would prefer not to come down so gets about half way and takes a leap of faith to the bottom!

 

[BellaBee]

Don't think my mare is as weird as I thought, but:
she has to stand with one front leg in the air when she eats food she "approves" of. Almost like how a dog begs. She also does this when she's had enough of me picking out her feet because she knows that I can't make her balance on just two legs
After every ride she has to use me as a scratching post until I fall over, and if I'm scratching her face (her favourite) over the stable door, she waits till I'm not expecting it then crushes my arm between stable and her huge head!
And the final of her oddities that I can think of is that she eats through her haynets and leadropes, and will also untie herself, but never escape. Just stands there with it untied and leadrope in mouth as if to say "I could have b*ggered off if I'd wanted to"

 

[fatpiggy]

Lord, I could write a book about how strange my horse is. Here's a few though... takes hold of the noseband of her headcollar and shakes it 3 times before I am allowed to put it over her nose, chews and lifts up the foodbucket when she has finished a really tasty meal, tugs (always 3 times again) on my coat if she wants something, gets hold of my wrist in her mouth if I'm clearly being a mean mummy, prefers a good scratch to eating her feed, used to have a total aversion to a particular blue flowering plant which grew on a hacking route (any other plants with blue flowers were fine), would notice a new pebble on the side of the road and would stop and stare at it and the really weird but totally sweet thing - she actually goes over to new horses when they arrive and is thoroughly nice to them. Unfortunately she has been kicked for her troubles numerous times

 

[Snowysadude]

Some of these are hilarious! My boy likes to cross his jaw, tilt his head and stick his tongue out at me.... I call it his sexy face. He is a very odd character really bless him, he does allsorts from filing his teeth on the metal strip on his door (doesnt do it on wood, just rubs his teeth on the metal), "begging" (aka holding his foot up instead of scraping) and staring at me constantly. He screams when he wants something, its not just a whinny people have come out of the house before on the yard to see what the noise was - he wanted to go out - and said it sounded like he was being murdered!

 

[horsemadelsie]

All our animals are weird! Irish horse gets itchy round his sheath and up inside his back legs in the summer, and every time I groom him he'll nudge me and lift up his back leg for a scratch- looks a bit like a dog cocking its leg, he can lift it really high! And every time you offer him a drink of water in a bucket at a show or something, he'll turn the bucket upside down over my head, and then do flehmen so it looks like he's laughing at me. Oh, also he wee's on command in a bucket
The shetland (only 2yo) doesn't really know he's a horse, was teaching him how to wear a rug in the arena, and after I took it off he started chasing the straps across the floor trying to pounce on them, in the end I was running round dragging the rug and he was trotting after me, completely loose!

Oh, and irish one used to suck my thumb- he'd hold it really gently in his teeth and kind of lick and suck on it- wouldn't have let any other horse try but I trust him!

 

[margaretb]

When I go to catch Poppy up she rushes off to have a poo, then comes up happily to be caught!

 

[charlene88]

My boy loves to have his tongue scratched he will stick it rite out to get a good scratch and when i dont do it quick enough he flings it all around the place until i do it better. ive had him for nearly five years and it never fails to make me laugh.

 

[LaurenBay]

My Horse waves her front leg around when shes eating. If you are late to the yard she will throw her headcollar at you. My old share Horse will smile before you put a bridle on her. If you don't let her smile she really gets the hump. My Horse always goes to sleep when I trim her facial hair!

 

[Sophstar]

My cob completely freaked out the first steps he took after i had clipped off his feathers for the first time...as if to say 'where did the fresh air come from?!' If you scratch his back legs his whole bum sways side to side He finds the coloured oil marks on the road after rain, the scariest thing EVER.

My little one LOVES mobile phones...many a time i thought he was sniffing out treats but he actually attempts to eat my mobile and he loves my friends gold ring (?!) When he wees a front leg gets lifted in a superman pose. Once he's finished his feed, he thinks if he kicks and throws around his bucket as much as possible, more food will magically appear. His new favourite thing is his stable toy ball. It's like an addiction and will ignore his feed and hay until he's had the ball and kicked it round his stable for a good 10 mins

 

[madeleine1]

she can see carrots from the other end of her 2 acres.

she wont drink out of a pink bucket but will eat out of it and drink out of all the other buckets

even if the fence has fallen down and the wire is on the floor she wont walk out of her field to escape and i dont get why she doesnt jump the fence that is at her knee hight when i know she can jump 1.30.

sits on you when in season

 

[nikicb]

Wow! What a lot of unique horses there are!!!

Other than my new boy, I have a 13.2 Arab x and a Sec A. The 13.2 is completely food oriented so most of his quirks are around eating. Because I strip graze the ponies, every morning he is turned out he charges flat out to the other end of the field to see whether there is any new grass. If there isn't he charges all the way back up to me as if to say come on, where is it?! If I accidentally put too much water in his feed he picks the bowl up and tips it upside down in disgust.

The sec A is very chatty. He whinnies whenever he sees me. Even if I've only popped back indoors to get something. He even does it when there is someone else on the yard, so it's definitely me he's talking to! He's very good also at teaching children stickability. He does always let me know before he throws them off by giving me the evil eye and a little squeal. The trouble is there's never enough time to warn them!

And my old girl was very individual. My friend who looked after her for the last 17 years wrote me a lovely card with lots of little memories in it, so it's not just me that thought she was unique. She hated being tied up, so she never was, but never went anywhere even when being clipped, bathed or if you went off to go and get something. She loose schooled herself doing perfect circles and figures of eight - that was great when I was pregnant, I just sat in the corner and watched! She'd carry on even if you left her to get on with it. She was a great school mistress to many people because she wouldn't do something unless you asked her absolutely correctly. And submission was only 99% if she had the hump - she would give you her all, except pinning her right ear back. Her funny ways will be much missed by many people.

Keep them coming though - there are some really funny ones here!!

 

[milesjess]

Mine likes to stand in his bucket once he's eaten from it. Doesn't do anything else to it, literally just stands in it! Odd

 

[Oddjob's Wife]

This is great and as someone else said, mine seems a bit less odd than I thought. Anyway, here are a few that always make me laugh...

Insists on drinking from the hosepipe, loves water up his nose
Tries to take my trousers down when doing his front feet
When trousers won't come down, puts his head between his legs and grins at me
Drinks from the trough in the field, but won't go near one out hacking
If the field gateway is very muddy, will grab by sleeve, yank my arm right up and pull me through fast (I'll get you through, Mum, stick with me)
If I'm too long before doing his feet in the morning, selects the hoofpick from grooming kit and throws it at me
MUST find my OH on the way from stable to field in the morning to say good morning - tantrum if he's not there
Yawns until the bit goes in when bridling
Would REALLY like to see what is in the back of any trailer that passes us on the road - even if it means going in the opposite way
If traffic doesn't slow down enough, shakes head and strikes a front leg at it as it disappears

Bless, he's gorgeous!

 

[brighteyes]

Our SJ mare is careful as a cat and hates touching a pole - VERY sharp to ride and in general BUT, leave an empty mucking out skip or her empty feed bucket on the floor and she slowly and deliberately manoeuvres it round each leg to stand in it. She likes to get both hinds in and seems to go trance-like when she does. Same for the wheelbarrow She has had it tipped up and a hind leg resting in it and once tipped one over when it was full of skips. Ordinarily, she'd jump a silly mile, but not if it's her who has done the tipping? Seeing her tangled up in the handles freaks me out but she seems perfectly calm and aware of what she is doing.

 

[julie111]

My boy loves pigs, at our previous yard they kept them and he would often go in and groom the big mummy pig, she would stand there grunting and lapping it up!

 

[sychnant]

Leo sucks sweeties, never crunches them.

He likes to hold something in his mouth if I take him out for a walk in hand - he will pick up a stick and carry it for ages, not chewing, he just carries it! Or the leadrope if no sticks available.

And also when out for a walk - if I stop to talk to someone and he thinks I'm taking too long, he will gently get hold of the front of my clothes and start walking.

 

[_Rach_]

this thread is funny.
Twizzy bites the leadrope when you tie her up until she has undone it, but then just stands there.....

She runs her teeth along the top of her metal door when she is bored of waiting.

She licks any part of your back when your picking front feet up.

When im doing her noseband up she pulls my hoodie straps, or pulls zips up and down.

She jumps slow signs on the road.

She loves the cats on the yard.

she winnies to everybody that comes round the corner.

she just fab

 

[PandorasJar]

Mine learned how to walk backwards a while back. Was watching her in the field and she took a few steps, then looked amazed, few more and amazed again. Spent a while worrying about what it could be until she noticed me, looked all embarrassed and stopped!
She bows when you ask her for a hoof to pick and used to stop dead with feet up if you asked her to stand
She's very literal!
Pan
Pan

 

[chappers1990]

Where do I start, the day he does something normal will be odd!

He throws his food bucket at you without fail after he finishes his meal
He seeks out zips/buttons/velcro grabs them with his teeth and undoes everything!
He threw a pitch fork at me the other day!
He'll tip over a wheel barrow if it's full -obviously not as fun if it's empty!
He does the funniest stretches all the time, when picking out his back feet he'll stretch and point his toes i need a picture of this one day because it's very cute

Basically he's just a cheeky little pony who loves to be a nuisance wouldn't have him any other way though!!

 

[PingPongPony]

not my horses but i either shared or loan/ed them..
Big 16.2hh ISH
yawns for ages before you put the bridle on.
really enjoys having her nose wiped with a wet sponge
blows her nose if i put a tissue to it and tell her 'blow your nose'
she stands with front feet normally and back feet turned in and her body sort of twisted so it looks as if there was an invisible pole that she was going round next to her, physio said that there's nothing wrong, she just enjoys standing like that
loves her dock being scratched
dawdles coming in from the field, when asked to go faster she'll stretch her neck and head out but not actualy go any faster
likes to drink coke and sprite straight out of the can
likes any crisps apart from salt and vinegar ones
loves chips with cheese but withouth ketchup or vinegar
will always choose the apple flavoured treat if given the choice between apple and mint. would only ever choose the mint one first if she has had a real apple that day
gets annoyed at the treat balls, picks it up and start chucking it against the wall
is a master at taking her under rug off without undoing the top rug (she can even take off the full lycra rugs!)
Will happily plough through any puddle but would snort at and not go near a wet patch on the road that was once a puddle

18.2 mongrel thing
he loves the hose pipe, will drink from it but once he's had enough he'll bite the end of it and play tug of war with you, then let go at just the right time so the water went all over you
if you were close when he drinks he'll look as if he's done drinking and when you come up to him he'll spit it all down your top
if he can't be bothered to work he'll pretend to be lame, this can either be 30min in or 5min in, if you push him through it he'll forget that he's supposed to be lame then suddenly rememeber again but can't remember which leg it was so the leg he's lame on will change second you get off and untack he will be sound and gallop off happily (had him checked by vet, farrier, saddler and back lady on numerous occassions, nothing wrong, he's just being a sod)
if he doesn't like his new shoes, he'll walk up to the fence and pull his shoes off against the posts
despite being 18.2hh he somehow manages to crawl out of his field under the bottom rail of the fence! (we've watched him do it!) so the fence now has rails diagonally too
he can undo any lock, then lets everyone else out or their stables, opens up the big door and everyone goes into the field
if he doesn't like you he'll circle you in trot in the field and not let you catch him even if you try to bribe him

15.3hh spottie
she will judge wether she likes you or not within the first 20seconds of meeting you, if she doesn't like you she screws up her nose in disgust
she HAS to sniff every jump before she jumps it
she also HAS to sniff then lick every scary thing we come across
she drinks fruit tea with my mum, but only if its warm and only straight out of the mug
in the field she can't quite work out canter to trot transition, her front go nicely into trot while her back legs spread apart and trot like that for a couple of strides (under saddle she is fine )
she doesn't get a pole 2 strides then a jump combination but she gets a jump, 2 strides and a pole
she chases birds out of her field
stands on 3 legs if you let her eat grass under saddle
doesn't undrestand the concept of letting go of the bit, well she does but she doesn't understand gravity, she opens her mouth and puts her head up

 

[Spotsrock]

This weekend my little coblet stopped for a wee on a hill. The wee trickled down the hill between his front legs and she leaped up in the air and ran away! Icey can still scratch her ear with her back foot despite being 6. Lottie trumps like a motorbike engine rumbling when she thinks she's worked hard.

 

[jaijai]

These are great.

Our boy likes garlic in his feed but will not touch the granules - it has to be powdered and only one particular brand because that is a 'sand' textured powder - wont touch the 'flour' textured powder.

He loves to drink from the hose and will put it into his mouth like a straw.

He is quite inquisitive and has to touch everything. He will carry his empty feed bucket across the yard and loves to push the broom by the handle.

My favourite moment is when he was tied up near the hose which is draped across a hook when not in use. He managed to turn it on full blast ( bit like a jet wash), the hose whipped about like a writhing snake and he scared himself silly and broke off. Has he learned not to touch....... what do you think?

 

[Broccoli]

Licks my faces and steals hats.

 

[Broccoli]

Face

 

[violethillx]

She's scared of lambs of all things! Also scratches behind her ears with her back leg like a dog which I've never seen another horse do. x

 

[SuseP]

Beano was once snoozing whilst tied up on yard, then farted with such a noise that he jumped out his skin. Men.

 

[Ginger Bear]

Mine holds on to my hood & shakes it up & down when I walk him to his field & then when I turn round to look at him he lets go & looks the other way like he wasn't doing it & he is a big 16'1 but he loved playing with the tiny welsh ponies in his field & goes on & on at them to get them to play..