My horse has had this ongoing issue where he will often toss his head and paw in the crossties. He’ll constantly toss his head when I leave to go get his bridle and when I tighten his girth. I’ve tried tightening his girth one hole at a time just in case tightening it all at once causes him discomfort, to no avail. I know these are behavioral issues and I’ve tried tapping him on his shoulder and giving him a firm “no”, and it still hasn’t worked. Also, I only do light riding with my horse and he doesn’t have this issue under saddle. I’m really at a loss right now. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this that would be great.
COTH was a huge help with William Tell and his behavior that was similar to what you describe --only he would try to bite me too! Without going into a long list of what I tried (FYI it wasn’t ulcers --or kissing spine because Will stands like a rock if one just drops the lead line and saddles him without cross ties --he also stands like a stone at the horse trailer --don’t even have to tie him, or if he’s tied to a fence post --it was JUST in the cross ties) —but the solution that worked for me was NOT stopping the behavior --it was teaching him a new one.
When I saddle will or am on his left side, he is trained to look away from me --slightly turn his head to the right. I did have to loosen the left tie rope for him to do this. When I started, I just said, “Aside” and held my hand closer and closer to his eye (not hitting or touching) until he looked away --then I moved my hand away. We did this every time (about 100 times) when I started --but rather quickly, he learned that when I say “Aside” firmly, he is to look away from me. He still snaps and tosses his head and pins his ears --but not near me.
As for the bridle --originally I taught him to drop his head by pressing behind his ears until he did so. Then releasing pressure. But me being me, I ultimately went with my daughter’s suggestion of putting a treat in my palm with the bit. Now he lowers his head and accepts the bit nicely, because there’s a peppermint in my palm.
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Head shaking and pawing might be associated with a horse holding a wee bit of tension and horse not able to let that tension go. You might try doing a hyoid release on him when he presents those behaviors. To do a hyoid release, stick your fingers in the corners of him mouth and gently press rub the bottom bars of his gums. Horse will begin licking and chewing, remove your fingers at that point. You will notice sometimes his mouth is tighter than others when you stick your fingers in his mouth. The tighter his mouth is closed, the more tension he is holding
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Ive seen a number of horses train their owners to bring them treats and scratch their itchy spots by screwing around in the cross ties. It works to get owner to come back right away. So be careful you are not responding to his or her command fir you to return immediately. Its hard but ignoring them usually works. Like ignoring a barking dog though, patience.it us often learned behavior so can be unlearned.
I bought one that came with that behavior. It took awhile and the biggest obstacle was other people responding to that demand for treats and scratches, they thought they were doing a nice thing to calm the horse instead of rewarding bad behavior. Despite my pleas not to treat or touch her, they kept it up, and so did the mare. Until she bit one of them, then they stopped and so did she within a few weeks.
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Clicker training would work great, here. Or you can use the same principles. Whenever he stands nicely, you would click and treat. Or just say, “Good” and treat within a few seconds of the word. When he is bad, you ignore it or turn your back. When he stands nicely again, you praise and reward. Always ignore the bad, and reward the good.
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I promise I’m not being flip. Must you cross-tie?
Could this be head shaking syndrome?
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They don’t have a concept of “no.” Tapping on the shoulder is a “question” that needs an “answer.” Since you want him to stand quietly that is the behavior to focus on. When he stands quietly tell him “good boy” and love on him. Ignore what you don’t want. Don’t give too many cues too quickly. Their attention span is about 3 seconds so if your response is too slow he won’t connect it with the cue. If you give them too many cues too rapidly, they can’t figure out which one they should respond to. You can see the confusion and frustration - their head is up in the air and you can see it in their eyes.
We have a teenager with a nice young Mustang mare. She wanted her to stand quietly in crossties. She was pushing the mare all over the place, moving her butt side to side, forward and back non-stop. She started to focus on standing quietly no matter how far out of line the mare was. Within a couple of weeks she was able to stand quietly for grooming. Next step was standing quietly while the owner stepped away. When I saw them recently the owner left her standing quietly in the arena with her butt towards the door while the owner picked up her gloves. Repetitions made a difference - not too many in session and always stop in a good place. Their relationship has noticeably softened on the ground and in the saddle. A very quiet cue got a single step to the right. They are becoming a very nice pair.
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