What to do about horse TOO pleased to see you in field???

[Spyda]

My homebred 16.3 WBxTB riding 5 year old is very exuberant temperamentally. When she sees my car coming down the drive she perks up in the field; winnies and gallops about plunging and fly bucking in excitement. Great! Nice welcome, but she doesn't always stop when you go into the field with her. Some days she'll be calm as anything and plod over calmly and behave perfectly, but others (like today, yesterday and the day before ) she charges at you flat out, half rearing, plunging and fly-bucking. I have to emphasis this is not meant nastily - she's simply very excited and pleased to see me arrive. However, flattering as this might be to another horse in greeting, this is not acceptable around a human. She's been well disciplined from birth and does b*gger off to stand at a safe distance when I shout at her and shoo her away, but it's a nuisance and still risky going into the field with such a big boisterous horse bouncing all over the place. Any ideas on how to help erradicate the behaviour? Sooner or later someone will wander into her field to pet her and end up splattered.

 

[Theocat]

How about making extra trips to the field and not giving her any attention (other than shooing her away for safety) and not bringing her in, giving her feed, etc? Presumably she's pleased to see you because she associates you with nice things - if you can make her realise that sometimes you're just there, and it's not to interact with her, maybe it would stop the exuberant welcome?

 

[jendie]

My ID filly used to be like this when she was a baby. She had just been weaned from her mum and I suspect she bonded with me as a substitute!!! It was funny at first, she'd belt down the paddock rearing and bucking, stop a few feet away and then nuzzle me all over. I was very inexperienced and was quite chuffed that she was so affectionate until our vet came to give her a 'flu jab. He witnessed the performance and was out of the gate before you shout Whoa! After this the dangers dawned on me and I gradually got her to stop a little further away by shouting and waving my arms. That was all that was needed and she became much steadier. A little later she bonded with a shettie foal and the problem disappeared altogether.