No kidding I think that too and I know it’s not normal but riding a horse isn’t normal either so I think he could learn it somehow and As I mentioned in the reply before. He usually go far away from people who provide his food and I bought him with this manner and It helps alot when i need to clean his paddock while i have his food but he never even try to come close unless who ever next to the food leaves. I just think previous owner really taught him very hard the lesson but I assume it’s better like that safe and comfortable. Thanks for your time
Thats great, thanks for your time
I don’t know about that, am super noisy person all the time. I just like it no matter how far I am xd
i appreciate your response
To quote everyone’s favorite 90’s-era Kiwi one-hit-wonder, how bizarre!
OP, I’m going to assume you are posting earnestly (in spite of some doubts). Surely you’ve observed in your 3+ hours a day at the barn that most horses do not neigh with any frequency when being walked or just standing around.
Setting aside why anyone would want to trick-train a horse to whinny, the fact that most horses vocalize relatively infrequently and typically with very specific communicative functions means it’s going to be a difficult behavior to capture and train into a trick.
Enjoy the richness of your horse’s nonverbal communication and keep watching the Hallmark-style movies if you find incessant neighing to be ‘very awesome’.
Turning away from food can be a sign of gastric ulcers. When a horse sees the food, his digestive enzymes are stimulated. This causes a burning pain if the horse has ulcers and some horses with ulcers will turn away from their food. Ulcers are common in foals, race horses, competition horses, horses who go long periods without access to food, and horses who are stabled. Even a worried horse in the pasture can also get ulcers. Other stressful situations are traveling in a trailer or moving to a new home. Some horses who meet none of situations can still get ulcers. It is possible that the behavior that you think is from his old owner kicking the hell out of him at feeding time is ulcers instead. The old owner kicking the hell out of a new horse at feeding time would never cross my mind if a new horse turned away from food. Are you certain the former owner abused your horse and is there proof this happened?
My one gelding always nickers for his feed.He also whinnies when he hears me come outside to feed him. Other gelding once in a great while nickers for his grain.
For most part he’s quiet not really into grain eats it sometimes. …mostly walks away to go eat hay.
Not sure you could train a horse to nicker/ whinny on command. Some just aren’t very talkative some are. Just enjoy your horse for who he is.
Thanks for replying.
Is what you are saying is correct for when the horse run to food when I or the feeder leave the paddock?? Because i am sure thats not the case here.
Not a proof just by some behavior that i observed him do when human around.
thanks
Yes, that is what I am saying. A horse come in who had that kind of behavior. When people walked away from the stall or where the food was place in the paddock, the horse started eating. The owner suspected ulcers and had the vet look inside his GI tract with a scope to look. The vet confirmed that horse had ulcers and was treated with medication. A few weeks into treatment the horse stopped avoiding eating if people were close. Follow up scoping showed the ulcers were gone or almost healed. The thought was that the presence of a person too close to the horse at feeding time caused stress and made the ulcers hurt. Some horses, same as some dogs or other animals, just don’t like people hanging on them or floating around too close when they want to eat. Any time a horse doesn’t want to eat for whatever reason, there is always a concern.
That’s great that you are sure he doesn’t have ulcers. Did the vet confirm no ulcers by scoping or a several week trial of ulcer medication resulted in no behavior changes?
Poor guy. That is just awful to imagine an owner abusing a horse after giving him some food. What are some of his other concerning behaviors when humans are around?
I do apologize I jumped to conclusion directly… I thought you were describing another type of behavior. He is examined every time a vet come for a horse which is usually every two to three weeks. But yeah I will call my vet tomorrow to take a look.
But just for education purposes, do you know what signs that horse showed like change of the poop color or lost weight Was he quiet or looking at his stomach or showed sign of suffering while being ridden?
This topic is getting interesting and useful pretty fast thanks:)
one of the things I observed, he get desensitized to new object and places pretty quick but not with human. Like for example, I introduced him to umbrella that was just laying there for educating and he did fine even when I open it fast next to him. A couple of minutes later, my friend who don’t know him well took the umbrella and man my horse was gone the moment my friend took the umbrella! The list goes on from helmets to sunglasses and everything in the hand of a stranger. He would be cool with a dog with frisbee running towards him but not when the owner of the dog comes closer. But once he knows you he is very social. I know it’s too long but hard to explain in short sentences
I hope you realize that horses do not particularly enjoy noisy people. Try being completely quiet and moving slowly around your horse. That might help him emerge a bit.
As far as standing back from food, I’ve put a fair amount of effort into teaching my mare to back up and wait while I pour her mash out. She isn’t allowed to step forward and eat until I step back and let her know it’s OK. Otherwise she would run you over.
My training did not involve any violence, just asking her to back up.and wait.
Good job. Thanks
How do you get a horse to vocally react? Say, “blücher”!!!
G.
I will skip the cuing to neigh part and address you ulcer question- the absence of the things you mentioned (losing weight, manure color, acting colicky) does not mean your horse does not have ulcers and unless your horse has been recently scoped there is no way to definitively say he does not have ulcers. Ulcer symptoms manifest themselves in many different ways that make it non-obvious that that is a problem. I had one vet say that any time a horse shows odd behavior at feeding time (whether odd in general or odd for the particular horse) he suspects ulcers and I think this is pretty good rule of thumb.
I have one horse whose only sign of ulcers was acting weird when he was brought in for breakfast (his herd walked up a chute as a herd and then they were led to the barn individually and his only sign was that he would not come up the chute with the rest of the herd like he used to and would wait in the field and then run up a few minutes later). He showed no other signs- ate well, was in good weight and had a healthy coat, normal manure and was otherwise not showing any signs of stress or discomfort- but he started a new behavior at feeding time. The sign my other one gives when he has ulcers is that his spookiness increases exponentially- no other sign.
I forget the actual percentages but studies have consistently found that more than half of riding horses have ulcers when scoped so I would never assume mine don’t.
Also, my horses know that they are not allowed to crowd me when I am dumping their feed in their bucket. I have never hit them or used “violence” as you put it (growling “back up” and/or the evil eye has been sufficient to get the point across), but they have to take a step back from the bucket until I move out of the way. So the fact that he backs off when feed is dumped doesn’t necessarily mean he was abused or that something is wrong.
Regarding OPs original question it’s probably like trying to teach a cat to be a lap cat that doesn’t want to be one.
I reward my horses for talking to me. They also talk to each other. It’s just like training a dog. You reward when a dog barks on command. I ask my horses to speak, just as I was taught in doggie obedience school.
Somestimes I do get complaints from my horses, but I encourage them to be vocal, whether friendly or complaining.
A vet cannot tell if there are ulcers by doing an external exam. A special camera (scope) must be put into their mouth and down their throat to look at their stomach lining. On that lady’s horse with the ulcers, he did not have change in poop color, no weight loss, no dull coat, no behavior changes while being ridden. She said he has always been a very quiet horse who does not show outward signs when something is bothering him. Like what bambam said, the new and odd behavior at feeding time was the dead giveaway. When his feed time behavior suddenly changed after being shipped and moving to a new place, it made sense that it was probably ulcers.
What bambam said about ulcers manifesting in all different ways. Looking at the stomach can be a warning sign of colic, impaction (not drinking enough water, rough hay too stemy), or other GI distress . Every horse is different and ulcers can effect each horse differently. If there is lots of bleeding from the ulcers, the poop can turn almost black. There might be other color changes or poop consistency changes if there is a lot of stomach acid present.
What you are describing sounds completely like a normal horse to me. Is this is the behavior that makes you think he was abused? This is normal behavior and your horse sounds like a normal horse. It’s to be expected that he is trusting of you more than anyone else. Strangers are unpredictable in movement and behavior. If some stranger suddenly came up to one of my horses torturing it by waving or popping open an umbrella at it, they’d high tail it out of there too. If I took the umbrella, they’d just stand there. Some horses build trust much faster than others and some breeds are more sensitive than others. Just like people. Your horse is a TB. They are known for being a hotter and more sensitive breed, not that all are that way.
Has the vet examined your horse’s eye sight?
A vet sees your horse every 2-3 weeks when one comes to the barn?? Idk…this one’s a head scratcher for me
Seriously vet checks your horse every 2 to 3 weeks. I have vet at most maybe 2 times a year,sometimes have a horse colic that requires the vet. But sure not having vet check my horse every 2 to 3 weeks. That’s a bit excessive and costly at that. Like now horse needs teeth floated guess what isn’t gonna happen,anytime soon.