Turnout Dilemma....

so your horses behaviour is natural, its creating a problem for the other owner in the field so something needs to be done to make life easier for everyone. i would be a bit peeved if i had to deal with the same problem as you described its annoying at best and if you have a horse that is bottom of the herd it can be downright dangerous, even if your horse will not follow it up agressively trying to lead a horse that is being herded is a nightmare.

maybe to ease the situation you could offer to bring the other horse in when you get yours?

or divide the field?

this happened recently where a friend keeps her horse her 18yr old ended up going lame cos he was trying to come in and being herded away all the time, the ground was hard and the concusion to his older legs created a 3 month lamness-it is your horse creating a problem in your shoes i would be working hard to try and find a solution not blame it on nervous owners who cant deal with you mare
 
its creating a problem for the other owner in the field so something needs to be done to make life easier for everyone.
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Yes, owner of pony walks in to field, puts headcollar on pony and walks it out of the field.
 
jools1234 said:
so your horses behaviour is natural, its creating a problem for the other owner in the field so something needs to be done to make life easier for everyone. i would be a bit peeved if i had to deal with the same problem as you described its annoying at best and if you have a horse that is bottom of the herd it can be downright dangerous, even if your horse will not follow it up agressively trying to lead a horse that is being herded is a nightmare.

it is your horse creating a problem in your shoes i would be working hard to try and find a solution not blame it on nervous owners who cant deal with you mare
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I completely agree with most of this. Something will need to be sorted. What I guess I am amazed at is the lack of understanding of basic horse behaviour - owner doesn't go in the field to catch pony (even when it was turned out on its own). I think that leaning over a five bar to attach a lead rope and then leading through is dangerous. I should imagine that if the lady actually went into the field she could lead her pony away no problem but she wants the pony to get itself right to the gate latch - my mare isn't letting this happen but she will let it stand just near the gate.

I have to be clear. My mare hasn't done anything except put her ears back and take three steps of trot towards the pony - all of this was done while her mouth was as close to the grass as possible - she wouldn't want to stop her eating regime for too long.

I wouldn't say that would stop many people from going into the field? Or perhaps IABU :rolleyes:

Either way - I do not want my horse to HAVE to come in with another. Asking for trouble and not what I signed up for.....
 
Have you tried to get her horse in for her whilst she is there? Maybe if she sees that nothing actually happens then she won't be so scared?
 
Grumpymoo said:
Have you tried to get her horse in for her whilst she is there? Maybe if she sees that nothing actually happens then she won't be so scared?
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I will do that for her tonight GM. Last night I just grabbed a bit of mane and walked Olive off a little way. I just can't understand this 'not going in to catch' thing. Am I missing a trick here or should I expect my horse to stand at the latch whicle I put a head collar on, ask her to back up so the gate can open and then walk her through all while not stepping foot in the field? I can't see how this can ever work unless you are turned out individually!
 
Good luck for tonight! When I asked Kerrieberry to get my boy in for me cuz I was getting nowhere she ended up nearly squished by the pair of them! It only took a week to sort itself out tho!

How anyone thinks that you should be able to catch a horse without going into the field is silly! My horse is always at the bottom of the field so that never happens to me.
 
Why does the pony need to be in with yours?

I'd request a strip of electric down the middle. Will not cost the earth and will be quick to do. With Olive the side without the gate, but next to the other horses.
I'd make the point to YO that you would like to do this to prevent upsetting the other livery. Or ask YO's opinion on it (but make clear that your horse is not to be brought in by owner in question), she may suggest splitting the field herself...

I'd be more worried if my horses weren't weeing over night!

Pan
 
Could you attach some twine to the fence, when yours comes to the gate woman catches her, ties up in the field, & releases once pony out? And I'm with others who think the problem is more to do with pony owner rather than ops horse. It's standard imo. The horse should be well mannered enough to respect humans, but I've never had problems catching low ranking horses, I simply move the others from my space. Daughters pony is low ranking, so although she comes to the gate if my mare isn't there to defend her, she just gets chased away. As daughters 7, & the chaser is a big bad mannered beast, it means she can't go in to catch her pony unless either an adult or my mare are there to see him off, as its too big a risk imo for her to try it. However, I see this as my problem, not the other owners. And I believe that in the case of a nervous or novice adult its the same.
 
amymay said:
Yes, owner of pony walks in to field, puts headcollar on pony and walks it out of the field.
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in an ideal world with sensible horse people yes i agree, yards are not always friendly to new horses if they upset the routine wehter its nasty or not and its easier to been seen to try and fit in and not rock the boat
 
I'm going againsnt the majority here *puts tin hat on*

I have actually been on the other side of this. My very submissive mare was turned out with 3 others. There was 1 gelding, that would constantly herd her away and chase her. She would try to come torwards the gate, only to be chased off by this other Horse. It was very annoying, more often or not I would have to bring him in too (was a poppet as soon as he was caught and no bother at all) and bring both in together. However soon stopped that, as his stable was never ever ready for him to come in to (no hay, dirty bed and sometimes no water) I got fed up of having to bring in, and get his hay and top up water.

His behaviour only got worse, until one day I got trampled!! I lead my mare out and he charged at her, she paniced and ran forwards and knocked me over. Luckily she missed my head! I am a competent handler BTW. But this Horse had no mannors in the field at all.

If your Horse doesn't settle soon, I would ask YO for your own feild, if you can't then you need to split current field in half or create some sort of walk way. It is not fair for the other owner to put up with it. Hopefully she will soon settle and it won't come to that. But I really can sympathise with the other owner.
 
TBH I'd ask the YO for advice and to plan out a compromise. It sounds like the pony owner really liked having a field to herself and would like that to continue. It may be best resolved by splitting the field or putting yours in with different horses. In a field with other horses you'll get issues getting in and out and that's just horses; they are a herd they all have positions and we as owners adapt our behavior to accommodate how things are. I'd rather put up with the gate hangers and chasers when I bring mine in than have them out on their own without company or enrichment. It is very difficult settling into a new yard and the YO needs to assist with this really.
 
With permission from horse owners, I'd take two headcollars and 2 carrots or handful of mix, and tie a baler twine loop to a good bit of fence to one side of the gate out of kick/bite range of using the gateway.

Then I'd catch the Chasing horse first, headcollar it, tie it up with a carrot or two or handful of mix on the ground to amuse it. Then catch mine, headcollar and lead mine out, shut gate, lean over fence and release the Chasing horse who will have eaten his/her treat by now.
 
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