"Teenage" Horse

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thehorsediva

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Is it normal for a horse at 6 to go through a teenage stage? He is a lovely boy but he seems to be constantly testing- feels like a teenager/ toddler! On the lunge he will do a huge buck (he is lazy git and I am really getting after him they he chucks it in) gets told off, then does some beautiful work. He has also got quite agressive with other horses - great with he pony he is sharing his grazing with but others come near him on yard and its ears flat back ugly face! I am getting worried about competing or meeting others out and about. So unlike him as he i usually a total softie with horses (still great with people). He is growing in confidence, so i just wonder if he is tryin to exert his dominance in any way he can. Believe me I am not being a soft touch by any means! Is this normal or is he going to turnintoan antisocial s*d...
 
Can anyone help/ advise?

QUOTE=thehorsediva;12116142]Is it normal for a horse at 6 to go through a teenage stage? He is a lovely boy but he seems to be constantly testing- feels like a teenager/ toddler! On the lunge he will do a huge buck (he is lazy git and I am really getting after him they he chucks it in) gets told off, then does some beautiful work. He has also got quite agressive with other horses - great with he pony he is sharing his grazing with but others come near him on yard and its ears flat back ugly face! I am getting worried about competing or meeting others out and about. So unlike him as he i usually a total softie with horses (still great with people). He is growing in confidence, so i just wonder if he is tryin to exert his dominance in any way he can. Believe me I am not being a soft touch by any means! Is this normal or is he going to turnintoan antisocial s*d...[/QUOTE]
 
Pretty normal I'm afraid, Yes they do go through a period of "The Kevin's". Keep doing what you do and he will revert back............................................. eventually!!
 
Definitely.... my gelding is 6 and behaves far worse than as a 5 yr old. The only thing positive I can say is he feels stronger in his 'body' when I am on board, so I look at that as this years achievement!
 
I agree with the others and it is the reason I was looking for a 7/8 year old when I bought Cam. He was 5 but ticked all the other boxes so I went with the flip side argument that at least he was unspoilt and by the time he is 7 he will be trained 'my way'.

The only thing I would bear in mind is this.....

Last Autumn I was beginning to ask more of my then 5 year old and he basically got very grumpy and just not the happy Cam he had been. I spoke to my then instructor about it and she said that he was just being a typical teen and there wasn't anything physical stopping him doing slightly more grown up work. We had one not very pretty lesson where she got on him and had rather a go at him for being gobby and resistant through the neck. For various reasons (not least this incident) I gave him the winter off and changed instructors. As soon as my new instructor got on him, she remarked how stiff he was through his neck and queried whether he had been ridden in draw reins (this is not an anti draw rein post, as they do have their place, but in this case the question was around whether they had been used to 'fix' his head in place). We worked on a lot of flexing work and got an Equine Body Worker out (she still comes every three months) and he has gone back to being the lovely boy he was. Just something to bear in mind - they are still growing, changing shape etc. and I still feel very guilty that when I worried about it being something physical I was too easily convinced it wasn't.
 
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