Pawing when tacking up.

[leanne1988]

Hi guys,

When im tacking up my mare she paws at the ground and stable door, only when putting the saddle on thought. is this just excitement or do you think there could be something else wrong? could she been in pain?

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[hellybelly6]

Might be worth having her saddle and back checked.

 

[RubelAndRoe]

my horse does that but she also does it when she wants attention

 

[Burnttoast]

Has she just started doing this? It is just pawing or is there ears-back tail-swishing that-hurts kinda stuff going on as well? Has her way of going changed? It could be either, but it'd probably be worth getting her checked out, particularly if she hasn't been checked for a while.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Pawing the ground is a displacement activity, ie something the horse does when it can't do what it really wants to do! So some horses paw the ground or their feed buckets when eating - this is probably because in the wild, horses move (their legs) as they eat. When I bring some of the livery horses in at tea time in the depths of winter, they start licking their lips and salivating as we are walking to the stable. They want to be eating their tea NOW, not in 30 seconds time! Rutting stags will thrash shrubs and small trees with their antlers - no prizes for guessing who they really want to thrash! My disgusting cat will sit on the window sill and watch tiny fluttery birds outside and his whole jaw will tremble with lust as he wishes he could be sinking his teeth into them NOW. In the absence of any other symptoms, I would guess that your horse pawing the ground when you tack up is she's raring to go!

 

[swellhillcottage]

Mine does it when stressed ...

Sharonxx