Puzzle has done 3 things to **** me off today - anyone help with any of them?

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Cedars

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Evening.

Will be short and sweet.

1. She ate an Uncle Jimmys Sugar Free ball. In 3 days. £17 a pop. Any recommendations for cheaper ones, or where I can get these particular ones cheaper? Or recipes for make your own....

2. She's started kicking the door for attention. Am ignoring it/smacking the door with a whip. The other two horses on yard have learnt that kick = whip. Puzzle has not. Any ideas/will it do her any harm?

3. Two hella huge plaits in her mane. We're talking, thought I was going to have to rip them out type plaits. Can't really bath her til the winter is out, any suggestions? And there is a poster on here who has mane bags in her horses mane in her picture - where can I get my mitts on some of them?

Thanks all. Won't say anything else or I'll rant!!!
 
Re door problem often the noise seems to amuse them so if you eliminate the noise helps. Have heard you can do this with a piece of old carpet attached to the door or a hessian sack with straw in. Or if it is only when you are around you could try a stall guard?
 
1, why does your horse need sugar?? We know of a horse that can do a suspended lickit in less than 3 minutes!! Sweede/turnip or something like then drill a hole through and thread rope, tie a knot at the bottom, hey presto cheap and much much more healthy!!

2 kicking the door won't go away with a carpet, try suspending some holly in a net (like a carrot bag) and see if the horse continues - would suggest they aren't so keen then!

3, mud and dirt stick in hair due to it being dry, condition hair to a level where it doesn't want to absorb the moisture from the mud - there is a conditioner which is called mane'n tail, its sold usually to work on human afro hair and jennifer aniston is meant to use it?? You can splodge it on and leave it on, it works wonders on our palominos, shame is introduced the shampoo and conditioner to husband who now commandeers my supply (its not cheap!
 
The treat ball is sugar free (likits send her loopy) but she just loves the taste of them and although she likes swedes etc she just isn't interested in them as much.

I will try the bag of holly thats a really good idea lol. The carpet would work if she didn't chew EVERYTHING in sight atm (she is only 19months tbf) and I'd worry about her eating huge chunks of carpet.

Thank you, everyone so far! xxxx
 
For help with the kicking door problem - I saw something called QuitKick which is a box that goes on the front of the door and sprays a jet of water when the door is kicked. I think the website is quitkick.com
 
For the kicking the door problem, you could try a bale of shavings infront of the door. That 'should' put a stop to it. If not, then a well timed water pistol can do the trick.
 
I tied a tyre with water in it (if you imagine fill the bottom to the lip) and when the horse kicked the door the water splashed on his leg - he was not amused ;) - it didn't take long for him to stop and he never did it again once the tyre was gone!
 
Personally I wouldn't use the holly one as if one of the sharp bit got stuck in her leg it could cause and infection and knowing my luck unlikely as it may be that is what would happen to mine

May not work for yours but my stroppy WC used to do it and I ignored him BUT was very quick to say goodboy (even if the other end the block) when he stopped. Then when he stopped and I was nearby I would repeat the goodboy with a treat.

Took about 3 days for him to cotton on and about 3 wks for it to stop completely.

Also never ever feed him anything within 5 seconds of him kicking the door.

Always make him back away from the door when you feed him.

The other thing I found is that they often anticipate feeding and they don't really know when tea is coming. So now I always shout 'Micah Tea time' therefore he knows that unless I say it, then it is NOT tea time as a lot of it is down to them ''knowing' what is what
Like I said takes time but it worked for me with 2 horses

Friend uses water pistol personally I think that unless you have one that reaches from the farthest point of the stables then it won't work as you cannot be consistent so then they just learn to do it when you are too far away
 
LOL that quitkick box has given me such a laugh, what a totally fab idea! Too expensive atm at £200 (considering I've just spent £600 redoing her box......!!!) but I will definitely keep the idea in mind when my bank has recovered! xxx
 
Canter mane and tail spray works wonders ie lovely and silky . i go through bottles of the stuff .

A snack ball with high fibre cubes in it will entertain your horse for a while longer in the stable .

Ignore door kicking and place a bale of shavings behind the stable door .
 
leave her in the field with ad lib hay! she cant kick the door, has no need for human induced tricks/balls/lickits, and should learn to live like a horse should. OUTSIDE.
 
Mane bags - tailgator don't do them anymore :( and I can't find anyone else in the UK that do. There's a place in the US that do them but obviously it's the postage that gets you...
 
Actually ANY attention you give your horse for kicking the door whether it is a shout or a whack with the whip will only encourage them to do it more. You will need time and patients to rid this problem not gimmicks!


You must wait untill she STOPS banging the door and then give the horse attention be it food or whatever you do. The kicking must be totally ignored by everyone, however annoying and the reward comes when she STOPS!
 
Well at the moment, ofcourseyoucsn, she'd break a leg getting to the field as we are literally knee deep in mud. It must be wonderful to live in your perfect world but we don't have safe turnout at the moment. She is in a large fenced area at the moment with ad lib hay that she chooses not to eat when she gets full.
 
How frustrating about mane bags bi wonder how hard they would be to make??

I will ignore now and reward when she stops. Reward just by then giving a head rub ye? Xxxx
 
unless she's on prolonged periods of box rest she doesnt need snack balls, hanging sweets or anything else, which i would say is shovelling treats down her-your complaining she ate it too quickly.....dont give her another one?! part of the door kicking is undoubtedly demanding food and the other half-attention. stop the former except hay and bucket feed and only give the latter when she stands quietly,job done.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
unless she's on prolonged periods of box rest she doesnt need snack balls, hanging sweets or anything else, which i would say is shovelling treats down her-your complaining she ate it too quickly.....dont give her another one?! part of the door kicking is undoubtedly demanding food and the other half-attention. stop the former except hay and bucket feed and only give the latter when she stands quietly,job done.
Click to expand...

I agree with this :)
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
unless she's on prolonged periods of box rest she doesnt need snack balls, hanging sweets or anything else, which i would say is shovelling treats down her-your complaining she ate it too quickly.....dont give her another one?! part of the door kicking is undoubtedly demanding food and the other half-attention. stop the former except hay and bucket feed and only give the latter when she stands quietly,job done.
Click to expand...
Perfect answer. :)
 
We nailed a door mat (old fashioned brown prickly thing) to the inside of the door, cheap and solved the problem.

Have also used a water pistol with success, but you have to be there so not so good on a livery yard when horse wants other peoples attention too
 
She has treat balls because in the space of about 3 months, she did 500 odd pounds worth of damage eating every single corner, edge and ledge of wood in her box. Previous to this she ate 18 entire rails in her field. So although her teeth were bothering her, I don't have that money to spend every 30secs and treat balls/swedes etc placate her enough to stop her ripping her box apart. Both the vet and the dentist and the charity she came from are v happy with her care, so if you don't mind I'll carry on as I am on that front. Unless anyone wants to post me a cheque for 600 in 3 months time, oh and will pay me for a new field and another horse to be her companion.

I already take happy pills.
 
Oh and how can you possibly say that she is 'undoubtably demanding food'?!? She never ever EVER gets food from the tack room (apart from when she's in her field over the road) and she never gets food from other horses boxes so I think it unlikely that she's demanding food. Attention, definitely, but then she is also a rising 2 year old testing and pushing boundaries.
 
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