pawing the ground

[ibot]

hello

as it says at the top really my horse paws the ground. now he only does it at feed time and if i am not paying him enough attention

Now my question is how can i stop him doing it i have told him off yelled at him i have even growled at him ( he just looked at me oddly lol)

so please give me some advice as he is starting to effect him hooves.

thank you

Nicky

 

[rdavies]

I read in a book that horses tend to paw in frustration at something.

In your case it may just be that he is frustrated that you aren't bringing his tea quick enough!

My horse was once in a trailer on his own and we were nearly ready to go and we could see him waggling his leg which was an attention thing as if to say Hurry up, I'm being really good and I'm ready to go home.

He has also waggled his leg and stamped it when he wanted to canter somewhere out on a hack and I wouldn't let him shoot off so he stopped and pawed the ground until he realised he wasn't actually going anywhere buy pawing and gave up.

I think the only thing you can do which is just positive reinforcement and keep going over and saying No when he's waggling and nudge him slightly so he has to put the leg down square again

 

[tasel]

Mine does the same thing... I'm just told to ignore it (but it's very difficult).

 

[Dubsie]

Ours does when we load him - can't wait to set off, so we have to make sure everything but the horse is ready, then load him, shut the ramp and drive off. Strangely (or not) he doesn't do it loading for going home (which just goes to show he loves his outings), until we get back to our field then neighs like mad (sure the neighbour must wonder what we're doing to him)and he paws again because he wants to get out and play with his buddy

 

[Brandy]

Ignore it. Food wise its apparently a natural behaviour - like when they paw through the snow to get the grass - they paw to get the food quicker! My little pony used to do it only at feed times and it didn't bother me. Another of my horses does it if I leave him tied up for too long before turning out - get them out of stable to change rugs etc and will also do it ridden if we stop to stand out on a hack for what he considers too long! I just tend not to leave tied up for too long. He doesn;t do it after being turned out though

 

[BBP]

My old girl did this and at 30 years old there was no way she was going to stop until she got her own way, telling her off just got her the attention she wanted. So with my new boy, who did it manically all the time when i got him last year, I just totally ignored him. If it was attention he was wanting I would just turn my back on him, be absolutely quiet and ignore him completely, then the second he stopped I would go back to him, give him a rub and carry on with whatever I was doing. If it was food, I only put it down for him once he was standing quietly (even if it was only for a second!) Now he only does it when mega excited or really hungry, and I still ignore it, so he quits quickly. It only took a month or so to get to that point, but everyone on the yard has to do the same, quit talking to him, don't even growl and walk away until he stops, then give him lots of attention.

 

[Storminateacup]

If your horses moves backwards when you ask him too (if not teach him) then when he paws the ground ask him to move backwards. Stops the pawing, and tells them whos boss at the same time. Works with my four year old.

 

[Jonnyjumper]

It's a terribly annoying habit and takes a bit of patience to tackle it.
If you find you're getting nowhere, it might be worth getting a rubber mat for his doorway (assuming he does it with his head over the door). This'll ensure minimal damage to his feet. It'll also make it a bit more bearable for you as you wont have that scraping of shoe on concrete.

On the treatment side, we had a horse at our yard who used to do it constantly until we started closing the top half of his door for 15-20 mins every time he started up. Only took a few days for him to get the message.

 

[ibot]

wow thank you so much i like the idea of rewarding him standing quietly i shall start tomorrow sadly i am no longer there when he is fed so can not control that but i will say something to the yard manager. when i was at my last yard i always use to feed and i would make him wait and also stand back as he was starting to get bolshy and a large bolshy friesian is not good for anyone lol

 

[FanyDuChamp]

I think it is to do with impatience or boredom. Cappy does it when he is bored, I would ignore it.

 

[Angelbones]

Mine does a similar thing - he doesn't paw the ground but he points his front leg out in front and waves it up and down. This isn't a problem in the stable but he does it when I approach him in the field to bring him in for breakfast, and sometimes hes at the gate and has in the past got his hoof stuck in the 5 bar gate so now we've filled in the spaces on the gates with smaller wooden slats to prevent this. I'd like to stop him doing it, but as he can do it mid field when he hears me pull up in the car I can't really be there quick enough to reprimand him and, (hesitates to admit this) I find it quite endearing! Its his little quirk so I indulge him!

 

[Katiesmum]

If your horses moves backwards when you ask him too (if not teach him) then when he paws the ground ask him to move backwards. Stops the pawing, and tells them whos boss at the same time. Works with my four year old.

I know this is an old post, I have a 2 year old who is doing the most basic ground work, leading and backing up and everytime I ask her to back up she paws the ground aggressively, I almost feel she's challenging my leadship, do you have any tips ?