Suddenly becoming headshy..

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Mlini

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I have noticed over the past week that my horse has become headshy in the stable. He gets very nervous if you are stood outside the door and will flinch if you try tempt him forwards with a treat and move to the back of the stable. He hardly puts his head over the door anymore, only when he knows I am there. If you make any sudden movements while he is looking out, he will rush to the back of the stable. Another livery also mentioned that she couldn't get him to come to the door (for a treat) last week. :( He is fine when you are in the stable with him or in the field, it is just when he is in the stable and you are outside. He is fine when he has realised it is me that is there, but is headshy with other people. He has always been a happy horse and never been headshy/nervous around people. This leads me to believe that someone has been either hitting or threatening him over the stable door. We are on quite a small yard (10 horses) so there aren't millions of people going past him all the time. He had a vet check last week and nothing was out of the ordinary.

What would you do in this situation? :confused: I have mentioned it to YM, not gone into any details or pointed the finger. Yet!
 
^^ I agree. But I think you could also consider the possibility that someone was fussing him/ patting him/ feeding him and something spooked him or he went to do something like mug someones pockets for treats and then they moved and he knew it was naughty and not knowing them well thought he was in trouble and possibly yanked his head up and hit it on the top of his stable door hard? I dont know your horse obviously so dont know what he is like or your stable style but Im just mentioning it from my own experience :).

One of my uber huggy fuss adoring pones did this and was head shy over his stable door for a couple of weeks. I was turned away talking to mum and can only assume that behind my back he was considering mouthing at the pocket that some treats were in or tugging my coat for attention etc because when I turned back to face him his head was stretched out towards me and he whipped it back and threw it right in the air belting himself across the forehead on the stable door before shooting backwards :(.

He is NEVER hit on his face, the worst he ever gets is a finger tap on the muzzle with an "ah ah" which he never reacts to aside from desisting whatever naughtiness such as pocket mugging he was attempting. And he's only been smacked once or twice on his body in all the time he has been with us - for kicking out. I can only assume that most likely when I turned around my coat swished or he just wasn't paying attention focusing on whatever he was thinking about doing and had his head so close to me that it made him jump and instinctively react. He was however bless him head shy over the door for a couple of weeks with good reason even if it was his own silly fault! He soon returned to sticking his head on your shoulder over the door and blowing in your ear asking for kisses though so hopefully if yours is something silly he should come back to normal soon too :). This might be impossible/ unrealistic in your situation but thought I would mention it :).
 
^^ i agree with the above posts. Do you have a whiteboard on the yard thats for general info, you could write on there asking if anyone has seen any funny behaviour in him or seen him hurt himself on the stable door! Then if someone has seen it happen you will know about it and if someone is hitting your horse they may stop due to you highlighting the behaviour and letting everyone know
 
I agree with others, discreetly find out if somethings happened. Daughters pony went through a phase of charging anyone who went in the field except us. We assumed as she'd turn away from everyone but one woman long before she got near you it was a dominance thing as she's that way inclined anyway & the woman she'd chase from the field was very novicey. Turned out the fool had been trying to bucket feed her horse in field, pony had been pinching it & she'd taken to chasing pony with a schooling whip. Having no fear pony had simply learnt to chase her back.
 
OH wants to install a hidden camera above the door and see if anyone goes near him lol :rolleyes: I think it could possibly be the lady next door, as she ties her horse up outside my box and mine does terrorise other horses sometimes :o But I don't dare ask her, if it turns out not to be her.. :o

It could possibly be that something like that has happened becca, hopefully he will be back to normal soon.

Eyes have been checked but haven't looked in ears.
 
Why doesnt she tie up outside her own box ?
Most horses will try to move off a horse in their space outside their stable.
If you'd rather not ask her directly, just mention to her that for some strange reason yours has became a bit headshy, so your going to keep a close eye on him, with others to try to work out why. Then you could ask her to tie up outside her own stable, just incase theres been a squabble over the door and yours has banged their head ;)
 
Agree with marydolls suggestion. It's not an accusation at all but does sound likely, & I agree few horses appreciate one tied outside their door.
 
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