When WOULD you hit a horse? Or would you?

AndySpooner said:
I think I must be fortunate then, I've never been attacked by a horse.
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Me neighter. Nor have I been bitten. I would never hit a horse and I hope I will never get myself into a situation where a horse feels it has to attack me to defend itself. If a horse feels it has to kick, bite or attack imo something is going wrong somewhere, either with the horses physical state, mental state or humans approach. That's my take on things anyway.

I haven't read the whole thread but my views on this subject are well known on here from my previous postings.
 
I walloped my mare a few weeks ago, that was because she pratted around in canter and then threw herself sideways, 3ft ditch a foot away, gave her a smack but she fell into it anyways! One out of hours vets bill later and marey was fine! Again would only smack if in danger (although in that situation, it didn't work!)
 
Amandap, are you being serious!!?
The horse referred to in my posts generally an arse, and was massively testing boundaries. Nothing to do with "attacking me to defend itself"!!
 
Do you mean hit with a whip or a hand? I gave my mare a damn good smack with a whip the first time she reared up with me on her - it was pure temper as she was in a strop. She's never done it again. I gave her a fairly hard smack with my hand today when she decided to try and squash me against a wall. I don't think it mortally injured her tho :rolleyes:
 
When I'm on the ground, especially at a show, and lumi gets excited about a mare - sometimes a wallop over the chest with a stick just reminds him who's in charge and makes him back off and keep 4 feet on the ground. Their skin is much thicker than ours - a good wallop from us is normally no more than a slap about the ear to us for them!
 
Hmm ive not had to wallop a horse often at all. I wouldnt hit a horse that wasnt mine either unless it was a completely dangerous situation. Its up to the owner to discipline horse. The two ive had of my own have had good manners and not needed any smacks really. My mare was really sensitive and the gelding I have now is good. I have walloped him for trying to barge and squishing me against the stable door as he wouldnt move back but he's normally responsive. And i've walloped him for nearly biting once. He occasionally thinks my fingers are carrots I think.
 
amandap said:
Me neighter. Nor have I been bitten. I would never hit a horse and I hope I will never get myself into a situation where a horse feels it has to attack me to defend itself. If a horse feels it has to kick, bite or attack imo something is going wrong somewhere, either with the horses physical state, mental state or humans approach. That's my take on things anyway.

I haven't read the whole thread but my views on this subject are well known on here from my previous postings.
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^^Like^^
 
If he's behaving dangerously, he'll get a slap or a shout, nothing too heavy.

He got the biggest slap of his life at the weekend when I went to catch in with the dog. He went for the dog, ears back, foreleg strike, I'm afraid he was absolutely thumped :mad: Had he killed the dog, I would have sold him, no way could I have kept him. I was terrified and I probably overreacted, but after 3 years of owning him, he should be used to the dog. The dog was sat at my feet: he knows how to behave round horses.

I think to say you would never hit a horse is naive and stupid. It shows a lack of sense: how do you tell a horse it's wrong/dangerous? You back up your leg with your stick, why not use a little forceful behaviour to back up training?

A friend was telling me how they treat horses in Ireland-a slap for any naughtiness, rarely a pat. My lad is Irish and came to me head shy and I'd never touch his head.

I'd rather my horse respected me and didn't walk all over me. He gets jealous if I talk to other horses, shouts his face off when he sees me and won't let me out of the field without strokes/cuddles. I don't think he fears me, but he damn sure respects me.
 
Horses may not hit one another, but they certainly kick and bite one another to reprimand and/or determine thier place in a herd.
But once in a while you will come across a horse thats either badly managed and dangerous, or plain nasty, although this is fairly rare.
If a horse came at me with the intention of attacking, and I had no way to remove myself from the situation, that horse would get whatever came to hand in order to stop it in its tracks.
 
KateB999 said:
Never. You don't see horses hitting one another, so why would it mean anything to them if we do it.
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Do you even know what a horse looks like?! My first horse was PTS because another horse double barrelled him and broke his leg. If that's not hitting, then what is? Have you ever seen stallions fight? They can fight to the death. A friend's mare has a dip out of her neck where another horse bit a huge chunk out of her. Mine was covered in bites when he first went into his current herd.

The unwanted behaviour stops when the horse is smacked: my horse was about to strike my springer with his foreleg-should I have just shouted at him? Think I'd have a dead dog. :(

Get real!
 
talkinghorse said:
I would never hit a horse.

I cannot use a whip to defend myself from a horse, it has far better weapons than I have, so it would always win.
Many a time a yard broom or shovel has saved me from 'agressive behaviour' and one of these was a result of someone with the same approach as you have - horse didn't reverse on me again at feeding time.

I would not use a whip to punish a horse. If it does something that I don't want it to, I would look at my training and correct the problem.
Depends on what has not been done - if it is not moving away from your leg, then yes stop and look at your level of training - but if it is napping because it doesn't want to leave its friend and you spend time thinking of the flaws in your training you have just cemented a bad behaviour habit. Horses learn bad behaviour in exactly the same way as they learn good behaviour - allowance and repetition

I would not use a whip to train a horse, my body movement and language are more effective.
It is great if you are able to do that but not every horse is as sensitive as that. Did you have the horse from it's birth and been the only person who has ever ridden it. Because if not then there will have been times when I'm sure someone will have used a stick to back up a leg aid

Anyone who thinks hitting a horse will solve a problem is lacking in knowledge of horse behaviour. Anyone who thinks hitting a horse will punish an unwanted behaviour is lacking in knowledge of horse psychology.
Horse psychology - is do as the person higher up in the pecking order tells you or else! Test me & I'll sort you out.

You only have to watch herd interaction to know that body language is the first instructiion, example guarding pile of hay. Ears back - "don't come near MY hay!" Ears back, bum swung round "Are you thick or something I said this is MY hay - go away" Ears back, bum swung round, whallop! "Yes stupid I did tell you it was my hay" - got the message?"

All you will achieve by hitting a horse is to teach the horse that it can't trust you. If you do it often enough, you can even teach a horse to be very dangerous, so you need to take responsibility for what you do.

For a horse to trust you it has to look at you as herd leader, if not it will use it's own instincts to look after it's self. This may include fleeing, biting, kicking, bucking, rearing, pushing you over and stomping on you. If it doesn't look at you as herd leader then you are in for some fun.

Some of us make a living solving problems with horses that others have created, it would be better for horses if the owners had the time, patience and education to put us out of business.
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I have to laugh at this - are you really being serious? or have you only had one horse in your life? DO you do anything that tests your horses courage and your leadership skills or do you just ride in your paddock.

I once hit my stroppy TB - who I love to pieces - so hard that I saw the tail of my schooling whip on the otherside of his tummy. He was being a prat about going past the bale conveyor which he had passed countless times inthe years that I'd owned him. After him planting himself and threatening to spin and go up I turned my schooling whip upside down and dropped him one. He went straight forward and never again played up when we went past the conveyor.

My most succesful horse came to me with jumping problems - he would refuse everyfence every time - only did it at shows, weak rider had allowed him to stop and he knew three times and we are out of the ring. Surprise for him - first approach he stopped, 2nd approach, Stick turned around, whack, whack, whack and over we went and he never stopped again.

I was taught to always carry a whip as you never know when you might need it - even to fend off dogs!

Spare the rod, spoil the child - is a good saying and maybe there would be less crime & violence in the world if a few more children had received the smacks we got as kids. Then you could leave your doors unlocked, your kids could play in the street safely and teaching was an enjoyable profession where your pupils automatically had respect for you and behaved in class.

This works too for the horse - the rod does not necessarily mean a whip but disciplpine that ensures respectful behaviour.
 
I am not a violent person, and I have never hit a horse in temper, but I certainly would hit one if I had to. With my own it is rarely necessary, but if handling other peoples then you have to react as you see fit at the time.

One of my youngsters for example, when scared on the ground would run over me as she wanted to be close to me for comfort. I am not a horse and cannot take a 500kg animal running up to me and walloping herself against me. So yes I did hit her with with a headcoller in her face once for self defence. This happened very shortly after I had bought her. She respected my space but not enough when the chips were down. She never ran over me again. She also squashed me against a wall once when having her mane combed which she disliked, and yes she was smacked hard and didn't do it again. She did this with everyone new that handled her. She wasn't scared, just testing the boundaries. A smart smack and she understood it wasn't an option for her, and was happier as result as she knew where she stood and accepted what was required of her.

There are situations such as a veterinary emergency when what you require from the horse has to be complied with and there is not time to pussyfoot about, taking time to habituate the horse to this that and the other. I use positive reinforcement all of the time, but my horses all also understood that some things such as manners are non negociable.
 
I take the view that I can't dish out punishment on the same scale as a horse would receive from its peers so it hardly going to cause as serious problem if I dish out the occasional slap.

I'd prefer not to have to do it, but horses aren't like bicycles!
 
Enfys said:
I don't mean a slap when he's bitten you, or a "hey! buck your ideas up" tickle with a schooling whip, I mean a real "Oi, behave yourself!" type wallop.
Is it ever warranted?
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I have actually walloped one that was launching at my horse in the field whilst I was stood in between them. When all you can see is 16.2 of teeth coming towards your 5'1'' head, you don't feel too bad about walloping a horse one on the muzzle with a rope and the one on the behind with the headcollar whilst growling very loudly at it to F off. Instinct takes over at that point and fluffy bunnies can say what they like - it was him or me as he was herd leader and thought he was boss of anyone, horse or human, that was in the field. I'm pretty sure he would have had worse from other horses and he would bugger off toot sweet when he saw me coming from then on.
 
Hot_Toddy7 said:
Are your horses kind of wooden looking and full of fluff with a stitched on saddle?
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Lol, one's an arab she's the other half's horse, I don't ride her because I think I'm too heavy. Mine is a QH and as sharpe as a razer, She can gallop from a standing start and stop from a gallop. Not many horses round here can keep up with the QH over a short gallop even the TB's, all good fun.
 
We have had all types of horses over the years we point to point compete and have a few young ones to sell on and a few rescue cases i have to say i have seen more ruined by over aggressive handling than not.

However you must show you are in charge with horses and remember they kick and bite to reprimand each other so giving a sharp reminder is ok.
You should never do this if you have lost your temper never hit in the face or kick or deliver a prolonged use of any type of hitting or attack.

You should only use force in a controlled way unless of course you or someone else or another animal is in danger.

Of course hitting means different things to different people we are pretty feeble compared to what horses do to each other but if it is scaring a horse or being done in anger then it has gone too far.
 
For the record, I have also smacked horses pretty hard when they've messed around on the road and put themselves in danger. I've also smacked one when he tried to kick a hound - bunny huggers do your worst, it cannot be harsher than the reaction you get if that happens!
 
Trinity Fox said:
We have had all types of horses over the years we point to point compete and have a few young ones to sell on and a few rescue cases i have to say i have seen more ruined by over aggressive handling than not.

However you must show you are in charge with horses and remember they kick and bite to reprimand each other so giving a sharp reminder is ok.
You should never do this if you have lost your temper never hit in the face or kick or deliver a prolonged use of any type of hitting or attack.

You should only use force in a controlled way unless of course you or someone else or another animal is in danger.

Of course hitting means different things to different people we are pretty feeble compared to what horses do to each other but if it is scaring a horse or being done in anger then it has gone too far.
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I like this, what is the saying, 'where knowledge ends, violence begins'.
 
So, for those of you that would NEVER hit a horse here is a scenario and I would be interested to know what you would do in the situation.

You take in a big solid warmblood mare for the owner who has had a car accident. The chap who transports the horse to you warns you that it has a reputation for being nasty. Livery is turn out with feed.
You turn the horse out with two other mares and later go to feed all three in the field. As you get to the gate the new mare charges the gate, ears flat back meaning to get you. There is no way she is going to let you get into that field although you could give her her feed at the gate and clamber over the fence to fed the other two but, what if she leaves her feed to come get you?

What would you do in this situation? This mare was not just threatening but meaning business and had she made contact she would have done serious damage.
 
NEVER. I have a horse that has been badly abused and will never quite be always able to be the trusting loving horse that he is underneath. Physical abuse is never acceptable. Remember they are powerful, quick and strong animals they choose not to hurt you, how can you abuse that trust?

FDC
 
Wagtail said:
I was once severely attacked by a mare. All I did was lean over her door to check if she had haylage. Her teeth clamped around my upper arm like a vice. I had 5 layers of clothing on as it was mid winter. My arm was black from shoulder to elbow. At the time I picked up everything at hand and threw it at her! Later on that year she kicked my trainer and ruptured her spleen, then attacked her owner in the field with her front legs and broke 3 ribs.
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I've known 2 horses that would merrily attack you over the door just because you were standing there.
 
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