Pawing pony

[Groom Mum]

My youngster who is coming up for three years old has a bad habit of pawing, especially around food.

He paws his bucket so much when he's eating it he knocks it over and ends up eating it off the floor.
But, today I was coming through the fence, his feed (covered) was the other side of the fence, ready for me to bring through. I bent down to pick it off the floor through the fence and the little sew and sew pawed ME !! luckily he doesn't have shoes on but it caught my shoulder and it hurt !!

I gave him a good telling off and made him back off, but it could have been worse if it was my head.

Anyone got any tips on how to stop him doing this? he just gets really bolshy and over excited when his food is coming.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[lindsay1993]

It's an awful habit! The 3 horse I ride all do it and it drives me insane! They are all much older and much more experienced. From what I can tell it's just impatience with them. I have came so close to being struck many times. I think because the owners have 'allowed' it, rather than do anything to stop it, they all have it as an in-grained habit, particularly when tied up or around feeding time.

I can't really add anything helpful I'm afraid.

I'm interested in any ideas anyone else may have.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Put the bucket in an old car tyre so it can't be kicked over. Wear a riding hat in case its your head next time. You did the right thing telling him off and making him back up. Don't just do that when he strikes you, but any time he paws or invades your personal space even if it's without pawing.Another thing is to never give the feed until he's standing still otherwise you're effectively rewarding him for pawing. Step away while he's eating and leave him to it even if he's pawing. Trying to discipline him whilst he's eating is unlikely to be successful. Just don't let him ever paw near you because as you've seen, it can be dangerous.

Walking into a field holding a feed bucket is always best avoided if possible. Much better to bring the horse out of the field to eat, in this case putting him into a stable so you're not close to any pawing.

Lots of people do things with horses which are less than ideal and they get away with it and all is well. When you're dealing with a nervous unhandled youngster its best not to take unnecessary risks.

 

[WandaMare]

I have had some success by trying to distract the horse with something else while getting the food ready and bringing it over to them. I do things like, put the horse in a stable with a haynet so they can pick at that while the bucket feed is being prepared, rather than let them stand without anything, waiting for you to turn up with the bucket. I even chuck a few handfuls of hay or a couple of carrots to the back of the stable and let them search for them while I am putting out the bucket feeds. Anything really which distracts them at the time they would normally paw in an attempt to break the ingrained habit. Obviously you can't do this while they are in the field with others though because of the risk of fighting but if they are turned out individually or can be fed in a stable it does help if you do it consistently.