You know those horses who drag their owners to grass.....

[RubysGold]

Well my horse takes it one step further than that!

I walk across an area of grass to get to his field. He used to drag his head down to eat (and the naughty beast would push me with his shoulder or bite my knee to stop me getting his head up)
Now, having realised I won't tolerate that and he must walk across the field without his head down....he has now started laying down to eat!
He'll go to lower his head to eat. I tell him no. So he lays down and munches. When I pull him to get up he rolls over!! I haven't found a way around this yet. He won't stand again until he is ready!!!!
I can walk around the grass but I sometimes forget to do that!
Has anyone ever heard of a horse doing something so bizarre!!

 

[YorksG]

Well my horse takes it one step further than that!

I walk across an area of grass to get to his field. He used to drag his head down to eat (and the naughty beast would push me with his shoulder or bite my knee to stop me getting his head up)
Now, having realised I won't tolerate that and he must walk across the field without his head down....he has now started laying down to eat!
He'll go to lower his head to eat. I tell him no. So he lays down and munches. When I pull him to get up he rolls over!! I haven't found a way around this yet. He won't stand again until he is ready!!!!
I can walk around the grass but I sometimes forget to do that!
Has anyone ever heard of a horse doing something so bizarre!!

I used to work with a woman who bred mini's and she had one who would lie down in protest at anything she didn't fancy doing She was fooled when she did it for the farrier, so he simply trimmed her feet with her on her back

 

[TheHairyOne]

Ha!! Funny horses. Mine likes to eat the grass on the way out to the field. He is not allowed. Now he wees when i put him out...and eats at the same time!

 

[tiga71]

My horse Izzy pretends to wee when we are hacking so I let his head go and he helps himself to grass. He only does it when there is tasty grass or clover and does it about 5 times on hack.

He will assume the position, I will stand in my stirrups and he puts his head down and stands normally. I realise he is pretending, push him on and he assumes position again. Repeat, repeat. He then squeezes a wee out. And we carry on happily until he spots some more tasty grass and we do it again.

I have inadvertently trained him to do this but he is 19 now so am not going to worry about it. Though he never does it on an endurance ride or fun ride, only hacks.

He is too smart for his own good!

 

[poiuytrewq]

This thread has made my day 😂

 

[Sparemare]

Brilliant! I'd love to see a video of this!

 

[Antw23uk]

Hahaa, this has made me chuckle. I was expecting one of those annoying fluffy 'cant possibly tell my horse off so you lot think of an alternative for me' type thread but this has made my day How big is he?

 

[Hallo2012]

way round it?!!!

short sharp application of whip to arse should do it.....................comical as it is, its still rude.

 

[RubysGold]

Antw he's 15.2hh

Hallo If I remembered to take a whip that might help but when I whacked him with the leadrope he couldn't care less.

 

[little_critter]

Antw he's 15.2hh

Hallo If I remembered to take a whip that might help but when I whacked him with the leadrope he couldn't care less.

Same with mine, she really is stubborn and it brings up the dilemma...just HOW hard are you willing to hit a horse so it takes notice?
Mine doesn't lie down, but will do a mini rear and plunge to yank the rope out of my hand. Its a constant battle of minds, as soon as I find a way to prevent her diving to grass, she dreams up a new scheme. Current tactic (of mine) is to keep her absolutely level with my shoulder so she doesn't have an inch of spare rope to get any purchase, I have to be lightening quick to prevent any dive. Also helps to hold the lead rope the wrong way up as it's a stronger hold for me.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Carry a whip and if he *thinks* about lying down, tap him under his belly. You'll have to have quick reflexes though, they can drop to the ground pretty fast, but it worked with my boy who decided to go down in the outdoor school. I think that he wanted to roll in the sand and the fact that he was wearing a saddle didn't matter to him. Grrrr.

 

[DappleDown]

I used to work with a woman who bred mini's and she had one who would lie down in protest at anything she didn't fancy doing She was fooled when she did it for the farrier, so he simply trimmed her feet with her on her back

Tooooo cute!

 

[Apercrumbie]

I appreciate that making a large animal get up when it is refusing to do so can be tricky, so I would make damn sure he doesn't get a blade of grass when he is down there. You can still pull his head! He'll soon give up when he realises that it won't help him get what he wants.

 

[Hallo2012]

you dont have to batter the living daylights out of them but i would absolutely get up in their face growling and screaming, waving the whip and/or rope ,waving my arms and making them think i was about to flipping well kill them.

scaring the crap out them for being rude ignorant pigs is fine. however it would have been better to not let it get to this point in the first place.

but now they are doing this diving yanking rolling whatever, i would do whatever it takes to stop it happening next time. and you will probably have to be that strong several times, but always be on your guard.

get someone to chase the rolling one with a lunge whip and break the habit.

 

[little_critter]

you dont have to batter the living daylights out of them but i would absolutely get up in their face growling and screaming, waving the whip and/or rope ,waving my arms and making them think i was about to flipping well kill them.

scaring the crap out them for being rude ignorant pigs is fine. however it would have been better to not let it get to this point in the first place.

but now they are doing this diving yanking rolling whatever, i would do whatever it takes to stop it happening next time. and you will probably have to be that strong several times, but always be on your guard.

get someone to chase the rolling one with a lunge whip and break the habit.

I can assure you I am not standing there going "there-there dobbin, please stop eating" She is handled firmly with clear praise and punishment as required, but she really is stubborn.
It's like she's an addict, the punishment is worth it for a snatch of grass.

 

[Hallo2012]

i didn't say you were, however having worked around stallions from a young age and having had 2 of our own and 1 other (17.1hh) on the yard, what THEY think is worth a telling off for is far worse i can assure you. But if you are consistent and firm and fair, they learn manners from a young age.

it isn't hard............. horses dont get addicted,they dont have that mind set, they do whatever is easiest and if they can do whatever they want with no repercussions, then that is what they will do.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you Hallo. The time to correct the behaviour is while the horse is still on its hooves, once it's down and eating you are too late, however much yelling you do. This does mean that the handler has to get up to speed with reading the horse (in the OP they say that the horse goes to eat, they say 'no' and the horse then lays down) and getting the timing right. I would be ready with a whip at all times and if the horse goes to eat, I'd correct the lowering of the head (the OP has this bit sorted) and tap the horse under the belly with the whip and I'd be ready to then make it walk on too, it's harder for the horse to go down when they are marching forwards. With my experience of a very clever yearling who really tested me, the best time to correct unwanted behaviour is while they are *thinking* about doing the wrong thing or are actually doing the wrong thing. As soon as they have done it, you really are too late. Punishment after the fact is often a complete waste of time compared to a calm and well timed correction.

 

[Hallo2012]

sorry if it read as battering it whilst down that's not what i meant, i would do all the above as soon as it even thought it, but you might need two people and yes, good timing.

 

[little_critter]

I agree timing is key. You need to get in there and stop that 'grass' thought before she moves a muscle. One she starts to act on the thought it's a battle of strength which you will lose.

I'd love to have corrected this behaviour when she was a youngster, but I didn't own her then.
I would have loved to nip it in the bud when she first did it with me (isn't hindsight great!) but she was my first pony and I didn't know what it would lead to.
Now it's an ongoing battle of brains over brawn.

Just to add, I've just got my 2nd horse and she isn't allowed to get away with anything...I've leant that lesson!

 

[Hallo2012]

i would say the first part of stopping it is stopping calling it an addiction-shes just half a ton of animal with her own agenda and scant regard for you.

quite frankly at this stage she would be feeling some very tough physical correction before she seriously hurt someone or put them in danger by being bloody rude and immobile..... i'm not sure brains over brawn is going to cut it at this stage tbh.... chifney?

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I wish you lots of luck LC, it does sound like you have good tactics in place to not give her the opportunity to do her rear/bog off thing. I would also be keeping her hooves moving, no pauses allowed just incase the pause is the preparation for the mini rear.

 

[little_critter]

i would say the first part of stopping it is stopping calling it an addiction-shes just half a ton of animal with her own agenda and scant regard for you.

quite frankly at this stage she would be feeling some very tough physical correction before she seriously hurt someone or put them in danger by being bloody rude and immobile..... i'm not sure brains over brawn is going to cut it at this stage tbh.... chifney?

I didn't say she WAS addicted. I said it was LIKE dealing with an addict - in that she will stand any punishment in order to get her fix of grass (well - any punishment I'm prepared to give out)
She does get tough physical correction, has done for years and it's not put her off. I am not a bunny hugger, but I'm not a pony abuser either.
I honestly think that some of the people on here who advocate a 'sharp smack' as a cure all for stubborn ponies haven't met a truly stubborn one!
Brains over brawn is mostly working at the moment because I will not hand out physical punishments any harsher than the ones I currently use (yes, I do use a whip) but if I can keep one step ahead tactically then that does work.

 

[little_critter]

I wish you lots of luck LC, it does sound like you have good tactics in place to not give her the opportunity to do her rear/bog off thing. I would also be keeping her hooves moving, no pauses allowed just incase the pause is the preparation for the mini rear.

Thanks Faracat, she used to edge ahead of me to get just enough rope to give her an opportunity. I quickly cottonned on to that and as she sped up so did I....then she tried just haging back a little to get the same effect...now she has to stay absolutely level with me at all times. She's a smart cookie!

 

[Hallo2012]

if you're happy then thats fine (albeit you don't sound very happy) but i CBA with having to stay one step ahead all day, i just want polite horses that can be lead around by anyone included the uninitiated.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Hallo, the filly I mentioned started to rear in hand. Even at that age she was bigger and stronger than me and she knew it. I was very strict with her and equipped myself with the right kit to lead her (long leadrope, gloves and whip. A hat could also have been added) and then if she paused, which was her signal that she was about to go up, I sent her promptly forwards and mini lunged her around me. Then we would carry on in the original direction as if nothing had happened. If she went to rear again, we mini lunged again. She soon got bored of circling and is very well behaved in-hand now and has been for years.

My point is that no aggressive approach was needed. It was much simpler, she learnt that standing on her back legs in-hand = circles. She didn't like circles, so she stopped rearing. Having the horse make the decision themselves about whether to do or not do a behaviour is a very powerful training method.

 

[Hallo2012]

and in your particular situation i agree however if the person cannot even stop the horse stopping and get head down, they are unlikely to be successfully able to put them to work on a circle to teach them that stopping=hard work.

and if they are leading them in strong enough equipment that they CAN... then stopping the initial pause and head down in the tracks would also be possible.

if the horse continues to do it after many years, the training is inadequate IMO and IME

 

[Hipo]

What about leading in with a grazing muzzle on?
I have to lead 2 hefty ponies in down a grass track, highland is a greedy so and so, and will try to go down for grass. I have to be angry when I start to lead them so they get the message. Highland will get a bit of a kick in the chops if he does manage to pull down as I have no free hand. He better not try and lay down! Don't think he's thought of that one.

 

[milliepops]

this isn't really about the grass though, the grass is just a trigger/excuse. This is a basic lack of manners IMO - if allowed to continue to develop you could end up with a horse that is essentially unmanageable in all kinds of ways.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I think this thread was light hearted people! Chill, it made me smile
It doesn't sound like OP is actually struggling to control her horse just that if she forgets to go round she has a mighty resourceful horse.

 

[KittenInTheTree]

I agree with FC. IME, the time to act is in the instant before they go from "spotting the possibility" to "seriously considering acting on it" - by the time they've engaged in the unwanted behaviour, you've already lost that round. If you can spot the possibility before they do and veto it by sheer dint of will, so much the better.