“Hi Alistair
I wondered if you could possibly give me some advice. I have 2 unbroken filly yearlings. I have had them about 3 weeks now, they are turned out on the field, at first they wouldn’t come near but after a great deal of patience and hard work they now come to the fence and will eat out of your hands, touching is still a bit hit and miss but they are very interested in me. If I am on the field they are right behind me or really, really close, sniffing and following me round.
2 days ago one of them decided that she could bite and has started nipping, I have attempted reprimanding her by swiftly smacking her on the nose, she seems to be thinking about the biting before she does it now, but yesterday she has decided to try kicking out with her rear legs at me too. If she doesn’t get what she wants, which I don’t give in to her, she tries to turn around and kick, but this only started yesterday.
Do you think I should stable them both separately and do immediate stable manners, or shall I carry on trying to win them round nicely and keep telling her no when she is naughty?
I cant stroke them, they do have head collars on, but these are quite tight and could do with being loosened and they cant be led at the moment. What would you advise me to do?
Kind Regards
Katrina”
What I love about posting these questions is the different approaches and methods people have. No two horses are the same, so the more we get, I’m sure the more it will help.
Please post below if you’ve got any ideas…
Best
Al
Horses are basically children who live in the barn. She has decided that she likes you enough that even scolding is okay if it means she has gotten your attention. Competing with the other filly means she has to be a bit more aggressive with this “terrible twos” behavior. She has to be taught that bad behavior gets her less attention instead of more attention. dian
I would begin round pen training to establish who is in charge. By sending them out and reversing directions, you are telling them in a way they understand that you are the alpha. I recommend reading up on natural horsemanship and round pen training.
She would need a ”join up” session in a round pen (Monthy Roberts. Method) to accept you as her leader and let you approach her and put a halter on. Chase her away when she has this behavior, this is dominance, trying to know who is superiror, another horse would act exactly like this (chasing the other away). You can build yourself a temporary round pen in your field with metal fences and sand, that will be very usefull for you ! Anyway you will need it to train you horses. Establish your leadership firts and the rest will follow. Good luck !
Dian Iron Feather i would appreciate it if you can tell me how to learn them to behave well. We have 4 two year old fillies and have the same problem with two of the fillies. They behave very bad when they need to get their vaccination shots in spite of the fact that they must know by this time that they never get hurt in any way. The third filly also want all the attention and start kicking the stable wall if she doesn’t get immediate attention. She was in an accident and when she came to us her wound had to be done every second day. So she got most of the attention. Now that she is sound again she hates to share attention with the other 3.
When she attempts to bite and or kick, put her in time out and interact with the other filly in her view. Being stalled for a while will give her time to think. And they do think!
I also have a “nipper” He is only 4 mos. old but can bite HARD! I really hate smacking him so I try very hard to not give him a chance to bite by keeping a close eye on him and scratching him where he loves it (butt)
Your girl sounds like she is playing with you the way horses play. It is good that she accepts you as one of the herd but you have to let her know that you are the LEADER of the herd. You may have to corner them to catch them and get the collars loose. Can you leave a short rope on the collars or use a halter? That way you can catch them more easily and get them used to being touched. Good Luck!
Dangerous behavior needs instant discipline. You are doing the right thing with combating the nipping and biting. My wild mare and her filly went through all the testing of me, using horse language and I had to talk back in their language. I kept a crop with with me. The offending limb or body part would get a strong “no” from the crop. In nature, that is how the lead & dominate horse of the herd would respond, “oh no you just didn’t!” . You WILL get their attention in a hurry after just a few episodes. When the situation is calmed and the fillys are facing you with fixed attention, then administer a quick bit of affection with the crop still loosely held in your hand. This would be a good time to snap on a lead and get those halters off or loosened. Tight halters leave life long marks. The facial skin & hair is so paper thin. Hope these suggestions are helpful. Lisa
My 1.5 year old donkey has started the biting also. Exactly what do you do to make him stop. He loves me too death but I’m not really sure just how hard he might bite if I didn’t move.
Do what it takes to get those halters collars off. They will be grateful you did. Get them to eat a little sweetfeed out of a bucket and play and pet near the buckle until you can undo it. Watch your head in case they suddenly flip their head up. If you can stall them daily for eating/grooming time that will really help them. Pinch their muzzle hard if they bite. This is better than swinging your fist at them. They will accept it. It is just like another horse nipping at them in response. I have had horses and ponies most of my life. Raised 3 from babies two from yearling age. The best ones I raised from birth
Your horse is being disrespectful and is
showing you that she does not respect you as her
leader. Doing ground work using natural horsemanship such as “Parelli’s seven games” is a sure way to gain your horse’s respect and show her that you are the “alpha horse”.
I don’t think it is a good idea to
leave a halter on a horse, especially if it is too tight. There are too many things that a halter can get caught on and cause a serious injury. Halters can become very uncomfortable and rub sore spots when left on for long periods of time. Halters are intended to be used with a lead rope when you need to temporarily contain or move
a horse.
Brenda
You need to do the “bonder” with both of these horses. The one that bites and kicks you is being dangerous to you and showing complete lack of respect. These horses are only going to get bigger and become more agressive with you unless you get their respect. The bonder will do that. It will also allow them to become teachable. We did the bonder with my graddaughter’s horse who was very spooky, wouldn’t let you catch her and only liked certain areas on her body touched. The bonder changed all that. Go to marvwalker.com
Marv has so many things to offer and you can even call him with your questions and he will gladly help you. Good luck.
Gloria
Watch what a mare does to discipline her foal for bad behaviour! I would carry a carrot stick and send her away when she behaves badly. No hitting her with it though! I prefer to use a quick movement of the elbow when a horse tries to nip, then it doesn’t see me as being violent, just as asserting my space. When she behaves, I would let her back in.
In the field when she went to kick at me I would chase her away and not let come back into me until head was lowered, asking to come in. She needs to know YOU are the lead mare. I have mare that I got at 3 yrs old. Sassy, spoiled, not able to lead, kicked and bit. If she did any thing wrong ….I just pushed her out of my herd….she would always say sorry and want to come back. Not sure if it will work with another horse being in the pasture also…..maybe others have a better idea
Hi Katrina,
During the time it took me to read your post, the thought that was with me is….Give them more time, three weeks is really not very long.
I appreciate this reply is very simple but there is no substitute for time, just be patient and wait until they chose you as their Passive Leader.
All the best.
Alan
😀
Having coped with youngsters for about 60 years, I would definitely separate them. Get help to tie them up for a while, or put them in a crush where
you can get “hands on” without danger to yourself, via biting/kicking etc. Get them used to being touched all over, possibly with an arm extension to begin with, (so that you are out of range) but can still apply touch to them. They will soon get used to it and have respect for you.
I agree with Dian; also, I think you should separate them until they have better ground manners and know what come and back means…they aren’t too young to learn good ground manners…
Remember the 10 second rule. The behavior need to be addressed right away what ever method you use. Separating them might be a good idea if you can. Starting training the kicking one first. That can be very dangerous as well as biting. Habits that can be stopped early Shellie
Hi, Katrina…I am 1 month into my 2nd year of owning 2 OTTBs. They are the lights in my path of life! I have to board them, but i have no qualms with it. They are two VERY different personalities, but i love them both the same. The stables that i board them at has tow weanlings, I have the pleasure of training the weanlings to human interactions. It has been a test of patience in teaching them not to bite. I tried ALOT of different ways, but the one that has proved the best on BOTH of the babies is gaining their trust. I ended up having to separate and stall them, but next to each other, and show them that i am not a threat to them. After morning feedings, i placed them together in the round pen, for about 20 minutes while i cleaned stalls, to show them that they still have each other as stable/pasture mates. I then take one to the stall, while i work with manners and discipline, with the other. On day 2, they were a little leary, but i haltered them and taught them to “walk” beside me, not in front of or behind me. Day 4, routine is starting to set in! YAY!!!! I have been bitten once by the filly and twice by the colt. The very second that they bit me, i stopped and gave them a flip on the nose, in a firm voice said “no bite” and cued them to continue to walk. They both now eat their treats and i even hand feed them without their teeth even touching my skin. I can also lead one on the right and one on the left, at the same time, with no fuss. Let them know you are their leader. Be calm. Talk to them. Let them know that you love them, but you will not allow any biting or kicking. Turn their hips away and make them keep their eye on you. They will thank you:}
I could use some help here too. Jace is my 10 year old gelding and a patient and sensitive gentleman. Last C’mas we got him a 6 month old mini boy for company, Pippo Pinchbottm-Magee, who was gelded in May. Pippo was always a mischief and it was always funny when he would steal the hairstick out of my hair and run off or get on the deck and goof around. He has been an increasingly perky “little brother” to Jace.
I think, as an almost 18 month old he is “bucking” for superiority, over Jace and possibly me. He is using his rump to hip-check my out of his way, he pushes past me to get to the food (feeding separate buckets apart and the same haylege bale) -in fairness, he spent his first 6 months at a farm with about 18 other larger animals in a large enclosure and had to compete for food..
He wants his own way and when corrected – spoken sharply to and lead back in when he escapes – he *thinks* about kicking me or rearing, you can see him wonder if it will work. He has also been a biter, which lessened after he was gelded and fed less grain. He still tries to get one in now and then and cleverly dances out of the way of correction.
It is time for him to start “school”, so far we are leading him and lunging him. I am a huge Joe Cross fan and am started lunging him longer and changing directions. He needs to know that I am the Alpha Mare.
Meanwhile Jace is annoyed with him, he pinches him and dances away, then sometimes gets in front of him by backing his rump right into Jace’s chest. I think my Jace is getting annoyed at me for not controlling Pippo.
Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted. My neighbor is a retired horse trainer and has offfered to occasionally help but she has a full life and I do not want to pester her,she said she would feed my horses if there was an emergency (my husband has a heart condition).
Any suggestions would be most gratefully accepted!
Hi, I think it’s great that your fillies trust you and are not scared. I would keep it that way. When you hit them, it will break the trust between you and your fillies. Your filly that bites and kicks at you is just being dominant, and when you show her that you are the more dominant one, the leader, they will start to respect and love you. Now don’t think that being the more dominant one and the leader you have to be really mean to them. That will just make them scared of you instead of trusting you and respecting that you are the leader. To gain their trust, you need to communicate with them using their own language.
A sudden change in behaviour can also indicate a physical problem. Your horse is trying to tell you something. Try to rule out pain / discomfort, particularly since you admit the head collar is too tight.
Good luck.
Check out Georgia Bruce and clicker training it really works.
Hi Katrina, would like to know how you have progressed with the two? also why can’t they be ‘led at the moment’? I always found that leading them out one at a time spending quality time with each makes a big difference with bonding. 🙂