Satan pony at my livery yard!

Shellby27

Shellby27

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I have owned my draft mare since November and she is on DIY livery at a local friendly farm. The field at the farm is very muddy at the mo so over xmas I moved her to the bigger field (approx 30 acres) that belongs to the farmer aswell. There must be at least 25 horses (well mainly ponies) in this field. Well to cut a long story short I am moving my mare back to the farm today as in the last week I have been attacked by this evil chestnut gelding three times! It has a major attitude problem and comes galloping over and flattens me! Boxing day it ran up to me and my mare stood in front of me and took the full force of its teeth and back feet! She is now covered in cuts and is very nervous around the smaller ponies. She is 16hh and this little sh*t is about 13hh. It's owner even witnessed this the other day and gave me a dirty look because I wacked it with my lead rope to try and get away from it! I am not frightened of this gelding, but very concerned for the other horses and anyone in that field! I didn't say anything to the lady because I was so mad I could have punched her...so I walked away. I want to complain, but I am worried about upsetting the farmer (he is elderly) or anyone at the yard. I really don't want to be kicked out. Apparently people have complained about this pony before and then moved yards as nothing was done. It also rips all the other ponies rugs and knocks over the elderly ones!!!!
Any advice...apart from putting the git out of its misery?
 
I would be carrying a lunge whip and giving the little git a full swing with it as hard as I could - something that the owner should have done ages ago. If she complains tell her you will defend yourself and your horse if it attacks but if left alone it will not be hit.

It may be that someone really giving it what for, will teach it some manners. I have done this on several occasions with agressive horses in the field and they soon learnt to not go for me and my horse or I would give them what for.

I think it might be worth mentioning to the YO why you are doing this and why others have left the yard. I would also suggest that other owners take some means of defending themselves against the pony and maybe see if it could be seperated with just another pony in the yard to avoid trouble.
 
Agreed - that pony's needing bopped.

Stick him in with a stallion to take him down a peg or two
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There was a pony like this on a yard I was on years ago. It was major pain in the ass getting in or out of the field. Then one day when I had done my horse, just turned her out and started to walk back to yard when heard thud. Looked back and my mare was lying in the mud and couldn't get back up, devil pony next to her. Vet called, she had been kicked, which had broken her leg and had to be pts there in the field
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Strangely I am now really funny about who my horses are turned out with, I know accidents can happen, but would rather try and minimise the risk !!
 
If that pony is double barrelling her, move her away from that field pronto.

As above a 13hh pony has a strong kick and is perfectly capable of breaking anothers legs or doing a serious injury.
 
I completely agree with the person who said carry a lunge whip and wallop the little sod ! its horrible for your poor mare to be out with such a nasty pony, but it is even worse that the pony is aggressive towards people. If someone smaller or less confident that you goes in that field to fetch their horse out, he could really hurt them and / or their horse.

My Moose used to be out in a huge field with three other mares and one suspiciously riggy gelding. He's a lovely, lovely boy on his own, but in conjunction with these mares he was an absolute pig - and he was 17hh and built like a brick outhouse, so MUCH too big to be allowed to behave like that. It was taking me hours to catch the mare because the gelding would herd them all away from me, then prance around pretending he was a stallion and trying to double-barrel me.

He stopped after I hit him HARD with the headcollar i was carrying and shouted at him a lot (he decided I wasn't worth the trouble). After he tried to DB another livery who was simialrly out in the field trying to catch his own mare, he ended up in a "naughty paddock " on his own and turned back into a much nicer horse.

So my advice is a good wallop and major complaints to the YO.
 
Thanks for the advice! I have told some of the girls down the yard who have said I should go to the YO and tell him and they will back me up! I showed them my poor mare that has 19 bites (including 3 small open wounds) on a thorough going over today. Her whole coat looks moth eaten due to the bites. She has become very nervous around the other horses now and even started to shake when I went to groom her. I am sooooo mad! She is staying at the farm now and I have kept her stabled tonight with a huge comy straw bed and haynet. I am grateful that she hasn't come off worse after reading the above posts. As I left the field today I counted 3 horses which were sporting "skinned" rugs right back to the stuffing! My mare isn't rugged up and thats obviously why she has so much damage done!
 
I know this will sound a bit odd but it works really well. Carry a small umbrella with you. As the pony charges open it up out in front of you - ideally you'd like to do this as slowly as poss so as not to give it a huge fright, but if that doesn't work, open it out quickly and keep flapping until the pony backs off. If you get a small fold down umbrella its easy to carry and you can pop it in your pocket when not needed. This way you can't be accused of causing any physical harm to the pony and hopefully it will only take a couple of goes for it to get the idea its not welcome.
 
Do make sure YO knows - the pony needs a separate turnout field to avoid injury to other horses or their owners.
 
Move your horse Pronto !!
it wont bother you anymore and if the owners of the other horses are putting up with it let them !!!
as for taking a lunge whip to someone else's horse that's way out of order don't do it !!!!
someone did it do my already abused horse because they were scared of him which resulted in me not being able to catch him for weeks during this time he'd injured himself and i couldn't catch him to treat it.
it had previously taken me ages to win the trust of this poor horse.
i would've punched her flipping lights out if she hadn't left in a huff the following day ( not because of me mite i add)
 
Sorry k&s but any horse that attacked me in a field would get a sharp sting from a small crop with a nice flat, smacky end. Horses are too big to take any nonsense from. An abused ned that was a potential danger to people should have been kept where both horse and people would be safe. Love the umbrella idea!!! My only concern is that the whole herd, not just the spawn of satan, would b*gger off down the field at a rate of knots and stand half a mile away with their eyes on stalks lol!!
 
This pony really needs separating before he causes any more injury. Can you talk to the owner calmly about it, with your concerns? Or write a letter from all of you? As you say there are other small ponies in the field, are their children going into that field?
Whilst you need to protect yourself, I would be reluctant to use a whip on him if you don't know his background. Remember when treated aggressively some horses will up the stakes, and will always be stronger than you! Or he could be a really troubled horse that is trying to cover up his problems, and further abuse wouldn't help him.
 
Try asking for her insurance details, tell her you are claiming all your costs back and get everyone that has ripped rugs to do the same.
All it needs is for everyone to stand together and she will get the idea.
If the little s*d is that dangerous it needs to be kept seperate, before someone is hurt. Point out to the YO that ultimately he is also liable and I think the pony will get moved pretty quickly.
 
the abused ned was never gonna be a danger to anyone in the field but the stupid woman who hit him was scared of horses (her own included) she was a complete numpty who actually hit the abused ned in the face with a crop.

do you understand now why i was so angry ??

i agree any horse that attacks people needs putting in its place but on some yards it just doesn't happen. a loud shout and a wave of a head collar sometimes works.
 
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