Yearling TB hates being touched... advise please.

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Fools Motto

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Part of my job, I have 7 yearlings in to prep for the sales. 6 (including 2 colts) have been so so good, makes me grin ear to ear. So very proud of them already! However, one filly, now nicknamed 'WildThing' (WT) is a league above my previous experience. (I do have help and not completely soley on my own). She is home bred, and has been regually caught, feet picked out, farrier visits, been stabled before (not her fav but is coping) and been bitted. She can be a little bit unpredicable to lead, but nothing out of the ordinary considering her age etc..
Now, the problem is arising that apart from putting the bit in, and lifting up her feet she hates being touched. Have a body brush in your hand and its even worse. I have never seen a horse who is so determined to 'get you'. The hind feet are like lightening, and seemingly very flexible. The front feet are striking out IF the hind feet are on the floor, and the teeth are everywhere. Strangley WT's ears are not of hate or attack, but normal, its her eyes that look dangerous.
We are trying to take things slowly (obviously) and are thinking its best to keep at it, little by little in the afternoons when she has been walked and been out in the paddock. But tbh, its not making that much difference, and she is already way behind the others in the 'prep program'. She is a nice looking filly, who has never been badly handled.

Does anyone have any tips, ideas on this? Just to groom her neck would be a huge improvement, let alone anything else.
 
Used to have a very good tb event horse who you could not touch without a battle- he was so ticklish. He would just about allow himself to be groomed with a goats hair brush, if strictly necessary. Oddly he was pretty ok with baths
 
Her future is at stake here and you need to get he up to speed with her prep. Sedate her, handle her the entire time under sedation even when she comes out of the sedation. I dont mean knock her out, just take the edge off her. Do this a couple of times and you will see the difference. Its not a quick fix by any means, but better than pussy footing around.
 
lionman said:
Her future is at stake here and you need to get he up to speed with her prep. Sedate her, handle her the entire time under sedation even when she comes out of the sedation. I dont mean knock her out, just take the edge off her. Do this a couple of times and you will see the difference. Its not a quick fix by any means, but better than pussy footing around.
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Hve not sedated her yet, but thinks that may have to be the next step. You can't touch her neck/shoulder/mane and beyond even with your hand at the mo. It is not funny, and I think she thinks she is winning so will continue to be 'wild'!
 
Will she wear a light rug,if you could get one on her,it may help her get used to being constantly "touched"
Possibly a daft idea but????
 
be positive said:
Will she wear a light rug,if you could get one on her,it may help her get used to being constantly "touched"
Possibly a daft idea but????
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Again, she will have to anyway and by the end of this month, like it or not she will be in a light sheet. I hope she comes round to it all soon - for everyone's sakes!
 
Get a bamboo pole about 5 or 6 feet in length, on one end fix an old glove filled with shavings or something to make it stiffish and use that to handle her all over. you can stand by her head and let her circle around you in the stable and keep the hand on her. Let her kick out at it and just keep the hand somewhere near the place that she kicked or even through on the opposite leg.
You can keep out of range and she can fight all she likes to no avail - she will catch on that it just isn't worth the trouble.
 
Tie a brush or stuffed glove onto the end of a stick and use that to stroke her with. You can then keep it touching her even when she is lashing out, without putting yourself at risk. Hopefully, once she realises that kicking and biting has no effect she'll give up and let you handle her properly. The key is to make sure that you keep the brush or 'hand' there until she has stopped protesting and only remove it once she is quiet.

Would agree as well that being slightly brisker often works well with a ticklish horse. If you're being extra gentle in the hopes of not provoking her you may actually be making the problem worse.
 
Foxhunter49 said:
Get a bamboo pole about 5 or 6 feet in length, on one end fix an old glove filled with shavings or something to make it stiffish and use that to handle her all over. you can stand by her head and let her circle around you in the stable and keep the hand on her. Let her kick out at it and just keep the hand somewhere near the place that she kicked or even through on the opposite leg.
You can keep out of range and she can fight all she likes to no avail - she will catch on that it just isn't worth the trouble.
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My personal idea - with the full armour padded body suit that police dogs /people wear in their training! If no progress by this time next week, then I shall make one. I really do think it is the only way forward. I don't like watching the owners pussy footing around her and running out of her stable 'cos she scared them... does me no favours at all!
 
I prep'd a 3yo TB who hated being touched, but was nervous rather than nasty, he was ok with farrier and being caught but a pat or hand on the neck had him climbing the walls. I got a light rug on him by using one that had been on one of his friends and letting him sniff it and laying it on his neck:confused:, still letting him sniff it and then fastened the front before easing it slowly to his back and doing up the surcingles loosely and carefully! ( it was a rambo and they are good about not moving even if they are loose). I found that this helped alot although I had to put it on like this for about 10 days. I also found that hosing him after work helped, originally he would kick and spin when it went near any part of his body or hind legs but was not afraid of the water (he would hold the running hose in his mouth), I would put him in an empty stable to hose him off so that he couldn't get away (I dont have any help) and eventually, especially on hot days:), he started to accept it. I also started grooming with one of those water brushes that has the sponge in the centre with the bristles on the outside so that he got used to the rub of the sponge and then a bit of a rub with the bristles and so on. Your lady sounds a challenge, if I was to use only one thing on her it would be the hose as I would find it easier to keep it in place if shes kicking, I've found the glove on a pole good in theory but hard in practice to keep the horse still and the pole in place without help, but maybe thats just me! Good luck.
 
TBB said:
I prep'd a 3yo TB who hated being touched, but was nervous rather than nasty, he was ok with farrier and being caught but a pat or hand on the neck had him climbing the walls. I got a light rug on him by using one that had been on one of his friends and letting him sniff it and laying it on his neck:confused:, still letting him sniff it and then fastened the front before easing it slowly to his back and doing up the surcingles loosely and carefully! ( it was a rambo and they are good about not moving even if they are loose). I found that this helped alot although I had to put it on like this for about 10 days. I also found that hosing him after work helped, originally he would kick and spin when it went near any part of his body or hind legs but was not afraid of the water (he would hold the running hose in his mouth), I would put him in an empty stable to hose him off so that he couldn't get away (I dont have any help) and eventually, especially on hot days:), he started to accept it. I also started grooming with one of those water brushes that has the sponge in the centre with the bristles on the outside so that he got used to the rub of the sponge and then a bit of a rub with the bristles and so on. Your lady sounds a challenge, if I was to use only one thing on her it would be the hose as I would find it easier to keep it in place if shes kicking, I've found the glove on a pole good in theory but hard in practice to keep the horse still and the pole in place without help, but maybe thats just me! Good luck.
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Thankyou. I hadn't thought about the hose. I will put this idea forward to the owners and go from there. Sounds like a good idea.
 
Just thinking outside the ticklish square - has a chiropractor had a look at her? Back or neck out of allignment can cause considerable discomfort and make the skin ultra sensitive. This happened with one of my TB's who was out in the neck - he would become quite violent when touched.

Youngsters can do so much damage to themselves when they fool around in th epaddock and we don't always know what has happened.

I love yearling prep its very satisfying to see them parade all shiny and well mannered
 
Just a wee update about the Wild One! I managed to not only touch/stroke and pat her neck today, but also managed to stroke her mane, and scratch her crest from both sides! She seemed very chilled about it, and I was very happy.
I've come to a minor conclusion... the above was done in the paddock, do you think she could be claustrophobic? and therefore human entering her little space is too much for her? If so, how on earth do we overcome that?
 
My old skewbald was claustrophobic, the way we worked it out, was when we bought our own property, we built the stables as the old victorian way with grills between each stable so they could see each other and plenty of open windows, so they could stick their heads out and see what was going on, and my old boy never had a bad day from then on and settled really well, and I've never had a problem with any of my horses since.
 
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