Your horse's quirks?

bex1984

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What are your horse's odd quirks?

Murphy has to load himself - you can't lead him on to a trailer/box, you just have to point him at it and let him go. Saved a lot of trouble when I worked this out!

He is very unflappable and un-spooky, except when it comes to donkeys...he is genuinely terrified of donkeys!

He hates dressage - will trot enthusiastically around the edge of the arena, but as soon as you 'enter at A' he just will not go forward or cooperate at all. He does however love showing and prances about showing off in front of the judge.

He developed an aversion to left canter which lasted years, but would then miraculously manage to do it in showing classes when the judge was looking.

His first time xc schooling, he jumped the ditch, steps, in and out of water, with no issues, but ran away from a 1ft log (he was jumping 2ft + logs at home).


Share yours :)
 

Christsam

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My boy either hates/loves the camera and people watching him, whichever way you look at it. If someone is taking photos of him moving he properly shows off and prances around yet if he is standing still and not doing anything he gets very bolshy and nips and pulls faces. None of this happens when it is just me and him!!!
 

peanut

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My horse is incredibly mouthy and nibbles/chews on everything. She will even carry my whip for me like a dog with a stick :D
 

Christsam

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My horse is incredibly mouthy and nibbles/chews on everything. She will even carry my whip for me like a dog with a stick :D

Haha, i know its not good to be too mouthy but my boy is the same! He likes to try and lead himself, or help me pull my jacket off, or pull his rug off whilst im trying to put it on or pick up his old trug feed bucket and throw it at me if its empty....
 

SS.89

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The more people watching tobe the more he shows off ! He loves a show atmosphere and plays off it.

The way i've seen him trot round his field when the mare's are coming in to season really suggests that he could do prix st. george, yet we're just starting intro :/

He also has an absolute heart attack when he's asked to walk through a puddle on a hack, yet attempt to do the same puddle on the way back and he walks through it like theres nothing there.

When he's finished his dinner in the evening, he'll throw his bucket over his stable door ... I don't think he likes clutter on his bed

SS x
 

Jenna1406

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I like this thread

Darcy when you let her off the head collar in her paddock after a work out ALWAYS rolls at the bottom of her paddock and then has to gallop to the top (endless energy)

She can look like a proper grumpy chestnut mare but secretly likes attention

Loves putting her head down and watching you if you are cutting her feathers

If you dont close her stable door over properly she loves knocking it right open with her head (hasnt ever left it....YET lol)
 

flump

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One is head shy, and naughty to lead out, won't wait to be unclipped!
The other two are just horrid to muck out and destroy anything left in stable!!
 

WelshD

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One of my ponies has a break and a doze half way through his feed. He keeps his head in the bucket and has a sigh and closes his eyes, it can be ten minutes before he will start eating again
 

FfionWinnie

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WelshD eating is hard work. (although my welsh ponies Hoover things up at a scary speed!) :D

My new mare threatens to bite and pulled horrendous faces if I put my arm over her withers :eek: I am slowly getting her out of it tho as I don't like that sort of behaviour. I think she has learned to get her own way by acting like this and she is good tempered really (I hope!)
 

Chottsy

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My favourite horse at work is quite happy to be hosed off and will stand still without me holding him or tying him up, but use the hose to fill the water buckets in his stable and he freaks out and hides at the back, whites of eyes terrified. Numpty! :D
 

Littlelegs

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Mines really easy tbf, even her dislikes she will tolerate if you ask her, just avoids them given the choice. Eg getting feet wet, but will hop in a water jump without needing riding into it. Greedy, but hates likits. Sulks after worming, discreetly moves away from me for 15mins after. Fine to clip, brush, tack up with ears, but moves away if you are just handling them pointlessly. Same for upper head, although from poll onwards enjoys a good scratch. Very much herd leader, but used to get v confused by a friends slow, arthritic, but bolshy mini. He was always pushing his luck, but I swear she knew he couldn't move fast so she did slow motion threats. Which he ignored, & she would never take it further. When he used to leave his feed/hay to steal hers, she would nudge him away with her nose gently. Anything else would have been firmly told. And she didn't even like him much. Also won't reload after sj unless she's done at least 2 rounds. Well, she does, but reluctantly.
Daughters is more quirk than pony.11.1 mini x, but far more like a stereotypical tb than pony. Good doer & not stressy, but permanently full of it. Always has been but at 5 is definitely just getting livelier. Safe, but just always on the go, rather than typical greedy, lazy small pony. Also will go anywhere, eg in houses, sheds, kids playhouse when tiny. Virtually no flight instinct, more fight, so for example the first vehicle she saw in close proximity was a tractor & flat bed trailer unloading straw in our barn. First instinct was to approach it with threatening body language, rather than back off. Also loves odd stuff, wormers, cribbox, cornucresine. And if you hold out a cup & a carrot, its the cup she goes for, loves human drinks. And will lie down anywhere provided either there's a horse/human around she trusts. Eg on a long hot show day, she'll lie flat out & sunbathe in the lorry park. And once when daughter was on mine in a class, I was holding pony at the ringside watching. Pony had a sunbathing session surrounded by spectators with lots of classes going on around her. And plays with stuff, buckets, footballs, tips barrows, throws buckets, holds the hose & sprays herself.
 

Crosshill Pacers

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Star is scared of small grey ponies with children on them, they are renowned monsters.

Sammy won't travel anywhere on the lorry other than at the back, even if there's only one other horse and it's up the front. He won't pee anywhere except his own stable (which is amusing when we've been away for the day and he bolts off the lorry, runs into his stable and then immediately has a wee, whilst groaning and closing his eyes in contentment!)

Smokey was scared of inanimate objects one week, then fine with the same objects the next, then miraculously scared of them the week after! Non-consistency with her fear, particularly of tree stumps (the last time I checked, they tend not to move from where they were the last time you saw them?!)
 

Georgie-

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I could right you a list as long as my horse!!


- She's grown up in a RS around dogs. We always meet dog walkers when we're out hacking. The farm where I keep her now has dogs. they run around her feet yap bark she's fine with them all. But heaven forbid a dog should be wearing a coat. I can't get her anywhere near it.
She's scared of dogs in rain coats!

-She's not mouthy at all with people never bitten or nipped me. Leave anythign hanging on the stable door or rugs on the wall and drags them around with her mouth. Turn you back on her for 10 seconds and she'll have untied herself (no matter how you tie her up might I add even in a knot (safe I know)). Not only that but she will the walk over to her friend and start trying to untie them too!

-Sometimes normally if its going dark she won't eat her tea out of a bucket unless i stand by her head to protect her from the big scary bogey man or she will refuse to eat unless I hand feed her (me being daft enough I do it).

- She will stand in the corner of the stable staring at herself in the mirror.

- If I try and kiss her any where on her face when someone is watching she will wrinkle her mouth up like she's going to bite me. If its just me and her I can kiss her 100 times in a row and she'll never flinch!!

- when she's really dirty and I have to get the elbow grease out to clean her she will groom me back!

- Without fail everytime I start tacking her up she will let out the biggest sign in the world and look at me as if to say 'not this again!'


:)
 

Brightbay

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It's been a few years now since he told me that headcollars and leadropes are demeaning slave gear :D

So, if we're going out for a ride (i.e. doing something that involves him coming from wherever he is in the field to the gate), I go over to him with the headcollar and lead rope (or actually, now, just the bridle). I show it to him, and say "come on", and he then walks with me (or sometimes trots ahead of me) to the gate, where he stands to be groomed and tacked up. Because of this arrangement :cool: the bridle goes on last, since he grudgingly accepts that it is a legal requirement for when we leave the field ;)

This all came about because of a few times when I walked up to him and went to ask him to put his head in the headcollar - and he walked off. To the gate :D

For anybody who is about to say "well, that's just because he comes in/gets fed" - he lives out. We don't have a stable, and if he leaves the field, it's to go hacking. He's fed in the field (not by the gate).
 

abbijay

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It's so reassuring to know that you lot have special head ponies too! BP has a few weird ones.
When you brush his face he has to dash off to the back of his stable to have a 'panic poo'. Then he will grudgingly let you finish.
He does not nap, but if I sit watching others school him he tries to stop everytime he goes past me. He doesn't do it with other people watching, just his Mum!
He gives a clear indication of how much fun he's had on a ride according to how big a rub you get afterwards. If he doesn't even ask for a scratch you know he's sulking but some days he practically lifts you off your feet for several minutes!
He knows what a camera is and can spot one at 20 paces and puts on his best work just for them.
His favourite thing in all the world is to have his fetlocks scratched. Crouch down behind his back end and his lips go all whiffily.
He's strange but i love him!
 
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Jeff is very spacially aware and if a gate or door isnt open quite wide enough he will shoot through at the speed of light. If its open wide enough he just toddles through.

Gray won't tollerate rugs on his door, he chucks them off.

Kyle used to refuse to wear rugs or have a bad after he had been worked. He would pull sweat sheets off and dig his bed right to the back of his box and stand on the rubber matting. He would put it all back again 3 hours later and quite happily wear a rug. Weirdo.
 

Honey08

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Yesterday the horses had been in most of the day because I rode them. While I did the school run I put them in a little winter grass paddock we have. When I returned an hour later I opened the gate so they could wander round the yard and strim the grass at the edges and up and down the stables drive. When I say gate, its just some elec tape tied across the gateway.

Husband's gelding wandered out and had a great time strimming. My mare stood where the gate was and neighed at him - she would not go past where the gate usually is. She stoold there for about ten minutes. I had to go and lead her through it!

She used to be scared of ponies too. We got a Sec A for company for her and she ran way from it in terror - you'd think we had turned a lion out with her! Worked out it was an equine about 3 days later!
 

Crugeran Celt

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I have a mare that doesn't like anything that is black and white, this includes cows, coloured horses, dalmations and black and white spaniels. I have two liver and white spaniels and she is fine with them. I though they were meant to be colour blind but mine doesn't appear to be! I also have a gelding that myself and friends who have horses have decided is autistic, bless him. I really would love to know what goes on in his head, everything has to be done in a certain order for him to remain sane. I have had him 5 years and for every day of that 5 years he has shied when I open the gate and it makes a noise! He is afraid of cats whilst out hacking but is not bothered my two at all. He doesn't like the autumn because he doesn't quite get where the leaves falling from the sky are coming from and they make him jump. Recently had his shoes removed, trying to go barefoot, and he kept watching his feet as he walked as if he was wondering where the clip clop had gone.:D
 

Montyforever

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Mysti is a spooky mess one day and really not interested in working then the next day the concentration on her face looks like she's training for grand prix.
She's scared of ponies smaller than her (she's 12hh :rolleyes:)
If she's in a good mood she's the pony I've always wanted, if she's in a bad mood she's a devil pony you never get a nice even middle just one extreme to the other!!!
 

Madam Min

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Chloe given half the chance will open her stable door by pulling the bolt with her teeth, especially if food is in the vicinity.

Amber is obsessed with my OH and will watch his every move until he pays her attention :rolleyes: She also thinks it great fun when washing her off to stand on the hose stopping the water!
 

daisydoo

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My girl likes to drink out of my flask (water) and likes to chuck hay on my head when I'm sitting down, I swear she's laughing while she does it!
 

Damnation

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Buffy is a funny one.

If you tell her off for something, or if she is in a temper, her bottom lip starts twitching like an upset child!

She has amazing ground manners, its so muddy int he fields that she knows when I say "Wait" she has to stop and wait for me to catch up with her!

I can point at her front feet and she will lift whichever I have pointed at.

I can walk beside her then walk backwards and she will do exactily the same.

She HATES being dripped on with a passion. If we hack under tree's and one drips on her we have a massive spook.

She can spot someone with a carrot at 50 paces :D

ETA: When Buffy is stabled overnight she gets a mouthful of hay and dips it in the water. If she is bored she sticks her face in the water bucket and blows bubbles :eek:
 

Coldfeet!

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If he leaves anything in his overnight net and then you dont empty it and stuff it with new stuff he wont eat it!

Have to empty what he didnt eat, give it to my other horses and fill his up withe new stuff.

Ive tried mixing it in, but he KNOWS!
 

Bojingles

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When I give the comedy cob something tasty, especially a carrot or polo, she sucks it. She sucks and sucks for hours, sometimes blowing bubbles, until she falls asleep, bless.

This may be more common than I realise; I tried googling it, but believe me, you don't want to see the results of a "horse sucking" search :eek:
 

Firewell

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Mine is not massively keen on cows. He'll go past them but he can be a bit dramatic about it! He especially hates it when they peer at him and moo.

Other than that he's not really a quirky horse, he's pretty easy. He is a sucker for attention and constantly trying to get people to stroke him and love him, which basically involves him shoving his great ginger head into peoples personal space which they don't always like! That's a nice quirk though, he's very chewy and playful as well, always got something in his mouth.

That's about it, he's very straighforward and anyone can do most things with him which is quite depressing when I like to think he only loves me ;) :D.
 

thinkitwasjune

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My mare is very dominant and I have to let her think she's boss at all times. This means that when I'm trying to get her to do something she doesn't want to, I have to make her think it was her idea and then she will do it no problem. She is also extremely fast and will go anywhere and everywhere at 100mph but is completely safe and bombproof. Her favourite trick is scratching her bum on the gate until she lifts it off its hinges, then stepping delicately over it and ambling off up the lane :D

My gelding is definitely more quirky. He is a real creature of habit and gets very upset if his routine changes - eg. if someone other than me gives him his breakfast he will ignore it and stand looking over the door and pawing the ground in confusion. He spends most of the morning lying flat out snoring once he's finished his haylage :) It is essential to have a poo in the stable before being ridden and a pee in the stable straight after being ridden or mucked out. He also panic poos when scared (most of the time when jumps are involved) and is genuinely terrified of going down steps, no matter how small. There are many more but he's still one of the most endearing horses I've ever encountered!
 

StormyMoments

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Rio likes drinking out of the tap.. But doing that also means he has learnt to turn the tap on and off so when im washing his legs off and hes has enough he will turn the tap off on me :eek:

he also opens and closes doors so while i was mucking out the other day he closed the door on me and locked the door... The sod.

He has to see ever brush you are going to use on him and both sides so if i use it on one sude then go to groom the other he has to have a look. His favourite thing is the noodle pad to get the dust out of his coat

he will only let you put a rug on if you chuck it over him.. If you put it on slowely he freaks out.

Taz cant be lead short as he gets excited or frightened and starts to mess about and kick out.

Hes fine in the field without missy if hes out before she is.. If shes taken out he jumps the fencing even with rio and marylou at each side of him.

You have to go in a certain sequence to pick up his feet other wise he gets confused :eek:

and when clipping he tries to bite the clippers :)
 

cyberhorse

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When turned out in the school he bucks and runs off snorting to the other end and then proceeds to stare at himself in the dressage mirror for 10min before getting on with general running about and rolling.

When you hang his net up being the sharing type he likes to pack some hay down the back of your neck or in your hood just in case you get hungry later. He would also share his bucket feed given the chance - I have learned to run after tipping it in!

Ditto with the feet picking StormyMoments - he won't pick them up at all if you do not go in the right order if you do the foot is up ready before you get there.
 
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