Rescued pony and slapping horse flies

Box_Of_Frogs

Box_Of_Frogs

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Just a quickie - little Molly is a 16yr old, 9hh rescued Shetland mare - she was the Christmas Day rescue from an emergency appeal on the Forum. When she first arrived, all she would do was hide at the back of her stable. Once she had a head collar on though. she was resigned to not being able to hide, but she would stare hard at the ground with a desperate look in her eyes, hoping whatever was happening would be over soon. Well, she's a different little lady now - calls to me, will come to me from the far side of her field, grumbles if her dinner (half a daisy) is late, rolls 30 seconds after a bath...all the usual things that an owner shares with her horse or pony. But here's the thing, without thinking the other day, I slapped her shoulder to squish a huge horse fly feasting there and Molly leapt out of her skin, squealed at me in horror and backed away to the end of the lead rope. She is starting to look at me in a worried way every time I turn round to her now, thinking I suppose that I might attack her for no reason again.

Anyone got any ideas how to help her realise I'm not attacking her but just helping with horse flies???
 
Just seen this after my post about the little suckers. I'm sorry, i have no ideas... maybe a scratch in her favourite spot after slapping a fly? Or hide her in your house until winter comes and kills them all? :p ;)
 
Don't slap the flies, pinch them. Takes a bit more accuracy and is a bit gross but won't upset Molly.
 
Dubsie said:
Definitely pinching them - am contemplating a scoring system for accuracy and amount of blood squirted on death of fly.
Click to expand...

Great idea! My score was 6/1 on my hack yesterday- horseflies only got one as it flew INTO MY EYE when I was cantering.

On a serious note, I doubt you'd even be able to explain to her that random happy slappings are a good thing. I'd just brush them off or leave them to it. Is she happy for you to pat/slap her all over normally?
 
My lad was like this when we first got him. I used to pat him quite hard whilest giving him a carrot or something he liked to eat now I can slap the flies without him thinking I'm going to kill him. Or you could pinch them, like others have said.
 
My baby is like this (also rescue but never mistreated (born at sancturary). I just flick them off I'm afraid, or if i hit them with a brush she doesnt seem to mind!
 
My 4 yr old got a terrible fright if you patted his neck. But by patting him when he was being fed and patting him when he was good, he is fine now. When horse fly season started, I used my crop to shove them off. The 1st time he got a bit of a fright (did this all the time with his mammy & forgot that he hadn't experienced it before) but now, he will stop and keep trying to point out where the fly is for me to get rid of it. I can now rub my crop all over him while riding him and he doesn't bat an eyelid.

Poor Molly - she really must have had such a terrible time. It will just take time for her to realise that being slapped by you is not the start of the bad days again.. Poor lady.

And big thanks to you for taking her on. At last she knows what being a horse and being loved is all about!!
 
Oh dear, I know what you mean. I scared a friends horse half to death when I scored a sharp direct hit on a horse fly on it without thinking. My mare brings her horse flies to me to kill (smart girl!)and I can whack away freely. You could try gradually getting a bit "rougher" with this little mare when you groom her. Scratch her vigorously and hopefully she will learn that you can be trusted all the time. When I got my mare she had clearly been knocked about and one of her ears was a total no-go area. These days I blow raspberries down it and spray fly repellent right into it and she doesn't bat an eyelid.
 
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