Brought sweet horse home, now she's bossy and has an attitude.

[Where_sMyWhite]

From gypsymare

[INDENT]You really need in-person help with this. Every interaction with this horse needs to reinforce your position as leader instead of the other way around.

With a slight clarification. Every single interaction with your horse is a teaching/learning experience for your horse. Every…single…interaction. Everything you do sets a precedence going forward. Even if it’s a bad/negative interaction, it’s still a learning moment for your mare.

Your mare’s previous owner sounds like she had a good, established relationship with the mare. You aren’t there yet which is why things like butt scritches aren’t the best idea.

As many have said, as a new owner, working with a trainer/instructor to help you learn how to safely work with your mare so that she understands you are the boss, aka herd leader, and are to be respected, which isn’t the same as feared, and to do as you ask. Your mare doesn’t get to be herd leader, you need to be for your safety.

[/INDENT]

[Altermyne]

[QUOTE=HannahAmmons;9014149]
Any tips for best ground work excercises for us to do where she understands in the boss? She has lunged pretty good for me so far and will back up with a little shake of the lead rope.[/QUOTE]

see the youtubes I posted and join the FB page.

Warwick Schiller Performance Horsemanship

[SugarRush]

Sorry, I posted to your new thread before I saw this one:

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?507898-Best-ground-excercises-for-establishing-dominance

The problem is not your poor horse who has been stuck in a tiny box for several weeks with almost zero stimulation or exercise, it is 100% your bad management. Put her outside, who cares if the ground is wet? My horses are on 24/7 turn out and perfectly happy in their mud holes right now, thank you very much.

At your trainer’s even on limited turn out she was still being exercised multiple hours a week (and actually turned out, albeit for short periods). She also had other horses around. She is pushing you around because she actually needs to move (her brain and every muscle in her body is telling her this, you should look up how horses bodies function).

Maybe she needs to go back to trainer, or be boarded out if you’re a novice horse owner. Or have trainer coming out at least weekly. Best to have experienced eyes watching over your horse while you’re learning.

[RxCate]

Like someone else said, everytime you clip the lead to her, you are training.

If you clip the lead and she pushes in to you, push back. Make her back up/Give her a little jerk on the lead and tell her “Baaaaack” - once she stands calm, then move on her with her at your shoulder.

Your mentioning of the ‘shaking the lead’ sounds like NH - what is your background?

[ladyj79]

Back to trainer or facility with professionals for horse, lots and lots of lessons for you. Volunteer to help where horse is boarded and try to get lots and lots of hands on experience now.

You slipped vital steps prior to horse ownership. Did the trainer suggest it was time to buy a horse and keep her at home?

[LSMarnell]

You need to have thought a little better about what your pasture and barn setup was going to be like BEFORE you brought her home.

Sorry, OP, but it rains, and horses still need to go out. Do you have additional acreage you can fence and/or create a sacrifice area that she can tear up but still go out when it rains or is muddy?

Look up threads on here about creating a sacrifice area if you are worried about the grass. It’s not cheap to do it right, but keeping a horse stalled for weeks because it’s muddy is unacceptable IMO.

[right_horse_at_the_right_time]

Stop with the turn out beating up.

Plenty of horses don’t get a ton of turn out. Call it cruel, call it whatever, but sometimes that’s how it works. And horses are not abused because of it.

OP - get the trainer out and follow the super advice on here.

[Janet]

Something practical you can do right now, that will establish you as the leader without being “mean”.

At feeding time, she has to WAIT until you release her.

First, go into the stall without feed, but carry a dressage whip, and or a noisy plastic bag.

Ask the horse to stay in the corner furthest from the grain bucket. Make yourself big and imposing and assertive with your body language. If she tries to leave the corner, wave the whip at her, or shake the plastic bag until she stands still. When she stand still, you can become more neutral, but do not praise or fuss her.

When YOU are ready, release her, with both word and stance. I use “All Right”, but you can use any other phrase you want. Lower the whip, and stand less assertively. THEN you can fuss her.

Next step is to put her in the corner while you put the grain in the grain bucket. Make her wait a while. Then, when YOU are ready, release her to the grain. But it has to be YOUR idea. If she starts to make a move on her own, she needs to go back into the corner.

You can do the same thing in the aisle or cross ties to prevent her from crowding you. Start off with establishing the space between you. Don’t wait until she starts to crowd you.

[2DogsFarm]

Oy, Janet :no:
This is not something a Newb to reading horse body language should attempt unsupervised.
All sorts of damage could result, least of which is mare will pick up a nice new habit of rushing at anyone entering the stall.

From what OP posts it does not seem like she has a good sense of when to escalate, when to back off.
Carrying a whip is not a guarantee it will be used safely.
Maybe having a Pro/competent friend demonstrate, then walk OP through the process?

[OverandOnward]

OP, is there anywhere where you can hand-walk her on firm-enough ground, safely? A path through the farm? A road with no traffic and an adequate, firm shoulder? (If she won’t get away from you.)

You can help manage a lack of real turnout with hand-walks. That’s a great chance for you to work with her on your expectations of her behavior. It’s work and time management for you, of course, but there can be positives for both you and your horse.

Hand-walks in no way substitute for turnout, as the horse needs some time on their own, grazing. I really think that being head-down picking out their favorite grass is essential to equine mental health. On free-choice pasture, studies say they are in that position about 60% of the time. But it’s better than staying shut in.

[danacat]

OP: IMO – given your novice ability (and I say this with graciousness) no one can train your horse and/or teach you, from afar. Not from COTH or any other online forum. You do need hands on help from a professional.

I see so many problems with your current situation that I don’t even know where to begin, other than to say that I think you brought this mare home prematurely, and now your inexperience is catching up with you. Mare is acting out because she’s confused etc. (in brief) and you are already on the road to resenting her because she’s not sweet anymore.

Others have given you some very sound advice – but even if they or I or the Warwick Schillers of the horse world went through your original post line by line and addressed every single issue with accuracy, it would still not be enough.

Maybe I’m being too critical – and if so my apologies – but I still think you need to move mare to a boarding stable where she and you can get the training you need. Set yourself up for success. Sermon over.

[pony_grandma]

It’s too long to wait for a field to ‘dry out.’ You need a run or a round pen to turn her out for the majority of the day. My friends did a round pen with some sand footing. At the least the horse has weather and fresh air and something to look at for the day.

[asterix]

I don’t think it’s beating up on the OP about turnout. This mare is both alone and in a stall 24-7. In my experience there are very few horses who would not find this situation miserable. They are social, mobile animals. Take all stimulation away from them and it is really unhealthy.

[HannahAmmons]

Yes I would say it was a little premature. She was supposed to stay at the borders for another month until all our fences were done for adequate turn out time. The boarder requested we bring her home because she was fighting with all the other horses. My husband has been out of town for a month and will be home tomorrow. Hopefully we can get the fence issue knocked out so we can turn her out. I’ve been searching for clinics and trainers in my area and not coming up with much luck. I do have a sister in law who rode English all her life and has come over once to help me out. The mare did great for us during this time. She stood still (after some time getting her attention) and would listen great. She let me clean her feet and groom her after a short ride. I know I need lots of experience and am actively searching for somewhere where I can get it.

[HannahAmmons]

At the trainers she was stalled 24-7 besides the one hour weekly lesson my daughter had on her. She was turned out 2-3 times the entire time she was there for a month. And maybe for 2 hours or so those times.

[Sunflower]

A horse can act mean or aggressive towards another horse that it is stalled next to-- doesn’t mean a thing out of the stall necessarily. My horse is very protective of his hay and feed in the stable and pulls mean faces at his neighbors if they peer at him. You would think these were his worst enemies. Yet, out in the pasture, these are the buddies he hangs out with, and likes to graze near.

So just because the horse has a particular attitude about a neighbor while stalled means nothing at all about how that horse would react to that neighbor if turned out.

Horses are herd animals. It is very stressful for them to be separated from others. (others being a broad term-- can include non-equine companion, but as you have read here on the many good answers given, horses should not be alone) They are not solitary creatures.

[gypsymare]

Please do not try to push her around in a stall before you establish a better relationship leading and outside of a stall. You have nowhere to escape and can get injured very quickly if you cannot read the warning signs and respond appropriately.

[Posting_Trot]

I think the horse would be best off being at a boarding barn until you get the fencing done, and possibly for a few months beyond that. Try to find a boarding situation where there is a trainer who can both work with the horse, either on the ground or under-saddle, and give your daughter lessons on working with the horse.

You need to have a lot more experience before you try to keep a horse on your own, particularly what sounds like a smart horse that may already have your number on speed-dial.

Good luck.

[Palm_Beach]

Sorry OP it’s you, not the horse. Take her back to the trainer and do several lessons a week, and you may need to get her some company, like a goat. Having horses at home is hard - small herds get herd bound really easily, and if you don’t know how to handle it, it can be a big challenge.

[Manahmanah]

I don’t understand - in one post you say the trainer sent her home because she was fighting with all the other horses but then in the next say that she only was turned out 2 or 3 times total.

If turnout for this horse isn’t a factor why would the trainer have made her leave for fighting with other horses? Surely she wasn’t doing this in a stall. It sounds like you’ve already been told this horse needs turnout by at least 1 Profesional. You should take care of this before the horse seriously hurts you or your child.