Difficult to Handle Q&A


Separation Anxiety


Six weeks ago, I bought a five year old TB mare, basically straight off the track. When I trialled her and got her home, she was very good in company, easy to handle both on the ground and to ride, and very safe and sensible. I couldn't really fault her, until I took her out alone. She will constantly call out to her paddock mates and gets quite uptight and hard to handle, making hacking out a very unpleasant experience for both of us. How do I go about making my horse more confident and easier to handle as apart from this she is a very cool horse. Big Al, Queenstown

Hi Al, Horses that insist on being around others all the time can be unpleasant to be around and so our advice would be to set up a situation where you don’t have to be around her when she is focused on looking for her friends.

Can you paddock her by herself? In view of other horses but in her own defined space. If you can, this will help set up the other steps. There will probably be a few tears to start but if you ignore the tantrum she will settle. From living alone to standing tied up waiting to be handled would be the next step for us.

Can you arrange your time with her so that you catch her and tie her up and then go and do something else until she is chilled enough to fall asleep. If you make it a rule that you will not handle her until she can stand still then you will have a much easier individual to be around. We are quite happy to give our new entrants three to four days of apparently doing nothing. We are quite happy for them to come into the yard and master the art of standing on three legs (because they can’t be bothered to stand on four) we will not do any “work” with them until they can stand still.

Once you have got her living by herself and standing still when you tack her up then the riding side of things should come very quickly. We would be absolutely insistent on her standing while you get on and we would be prepared to spend as long as it takes to achieve immobility even if it meant that she wasn’t actually “ridden” on the day she masters the lesson. We would then insist on walking and her ability to stop and admire the scenery long before we even considered trotting and or cantering.

The above probably sounds very slow and long winded but as we are having confirmed on a daily basis, if the educational foundation is carefully and broadly established the end result is rock solid. Sure there will be times when the horses laugh when they shouldn’t do but they will be working form a base of amusement not apprehension.
My horse won't tie-up

My 7 year old mare seems to have issues being tied up and usually finds something to freak at and pulls back until she breaks free. She realises that if she's in a situation she's not happy with, she can pull back and flee from what's threatening or frightening to her, which I understand is a natural reaction for a horse in such situations. This can be caused by something in the distance happening, to grooming her, to tacking her up. I find it's less stressfull, for both her and I, to not tie her up and she'll usually just stand there while I'm doing whatever I need to do. But in situations such as at a show, this is not appropriate and I don't trust her enough to leave her tied to the truck with or without me there. I've had her for a year and I don't know what has happened in her past to make her this way. Even though over time i've figured out certain things that will make her react in this way, there's always something new that will come along. Can you offer any suggestions to help us overcome this problem?

Heather
Auckland

Hi Heather,


When horses pull back because they have perfected the technique of exerting just the right force in a short sharp jerk and it has become a game then the approach to solving this challenge is to remove the reason for them to want to break free.

I have a delightful old mare who would not stand tied to a truck by herself if she went to the show with another horse.

I did try leaving out the baling twine and I did try using a bum rope and I also tried the stern lecture reinforced with a failing whip but my girl knew how to pull back and “leave town” and as she proved on a couple of occasions extra restraint just made her exert more force until something or someone got damaged.

She wasn’t frightened of being tied up it was just that in certain circumstances she didn’t wish to remain attached to any wall or post. Eventually, I chose to avoid the hassle and embarrassment of my chestnut girl arriving at ringside with a bright smile and a whinny looking for her friend. So I always took the easy option and made sure that she could stand with a buddy at the truck or I took her by herself.

So Heather, I guess I’m saying that if your girl is calm, cool and calculated in the way she pulls back then my best advice is to avoid situations where she can demonstrate her technique to other equines. However, it sounds as though your girl is pulling back and “leaving town” because something worries her and therefore she needs to be convinced that “your town” is not a scary place.

We'd start by checking that she's not frightened of having a lead rope dangling from her headcollar. We'd do this because if she does pull back and get free you don't want her to be able to say: “I told you so. When you tie me up, I end up with this creepy snake smacking my knees and I won't get a wink of sleep because of I’m going to going to have nightmares all night”

When she's accepted that a dangling rope does not signal the end of the world then you can talk about tying her up.

Start by tying her in a box or a small yard and enlist the aid of a senior equine companion. This horse will have the unenviable job of telling your girl to cut the histrionics and understand that the quickest way to be taken back to her paddock is to relax and go to sleep.

Use a piece of baling twine as a fuse wire so that she doesn’t hurt herself when/if she pullsback. Have plenty of extra ties handy so that when/if one gets broken there are at least another three ready to be used. Each time she breaks a tie sigh, catch her, tie her back up again and then slowly but deliberately move out of her space to get on with it.

It is amazing how quickly the lesson is learnt if your attitude is one of “When are you going to grow up?” If she's tied in an enclosed space there isn’t really much point in continuing to pull back because there is nowhere to go and she is just going to be tied up again.

Having established that being tied up and left to wait her turn for your attention is a boring fact of life then, and only then would we suggest that you move into handle her.

Watch her carefully because when she's mastered the art of standing still in a small quiet area without a human in her space then she will be much easier to read as to what stimuli is going to upset her so that you can  avoid them.

From here we would progress to tying her up in other situations, but for sometime always setting the stage so that if she does get free you're always there to calmly tie her back up again.
Fidgety Feet

I've got a 17 year old SB gelding who gets really fidgety when I pick up his feet. He lifts them okay the first time, but after a short while he pulls his foot out of my hand and after that it's a real effort to pick them back up. What can I do to stop him doing this?
Sarah King
Dipton

Hi Sarah,

Your gentleman is almost of voting age and so I think he is allowed to question your motives for “borrowing” one of his feet. Can he trust that you will give it back? Or are you holding his leg so firmly that he might have grounds to believe that any favours given will not be reciprocated?

When we are faced with a horse who is concerned about picking his feet up, the first thing we ask is “Are you comfortable?” There are some horses, particularly more senior ones, who are not comfortable on concrete or standing in an enclosed space by themselves.

That’s OK. Thank God for individuality. We are all – whatever our species - different!

Talk to your guy, reassure him that all you want is for him to be comfortable and confident. When this is established tell him that you would like to touch his leg in such a fashion that if he felt like letting you admire his foot you would really appreciate doing that - but only for a very short time.

Remember that you cannot pick up a foot/leg until you can touch it in a position where (if he allowed you to) you would hold it for him.

Remember the biblical quotation that goes something like. “Do unto others as you would want done unto you.”

You will get the best line on how to answer this question by asking yourself “Would you react trustingly towards the approach of someone like yourself?”

Please let us know how you get on.
Bridling Issues

My horse clamps his teeth shut and throws his head around when I try to put his bridle on. I've had his teeth checked by a dentist, and there's nothing wrong. Please help. LS, South Auckland

Hi LS,

Horses that react like this can be really irritating because the temptation is to think that it should be really simple for a horse to accept a bridle, I mean all you want to do is put the bridle on!

However silly you think your horse’s reaction is, he is doing what he does for a reason that is very real to him,– so don’t belittle him or his problem. I seek to define exactly what it is that I do that causes an anti-social reaction. I do this by breaking my movements down into as many tiny steps as possible so that I learn exactly where the “trigger points” are.

I like to look horses in the eye and talk to them as though they’re children, I find this helps me to think the right thoughts and to position myself so that I am there to give them a reassuring touch or say “Errrrr excuse me. Grow up”.

My conversation would begin something like this…
“OK, young fella, so this bridling business worries you. What part of it worries you?
Can I stand here holding the bridle without your trying to move away?
I can? Wow, Thanks!
Can I touch you here without your throwing your head around?
OK, so this is a trigger point. When I position myself here with my right hand on your snoze and my left hand holding the bit by your lips - you start to get worried. OK we won’t go any further until you are comfortable with my movements to this point. Is that OK?”

I would then step out right of the horse’s space, put the bridle down and deliberately think about some totally unrelated subject to give both of us a breather.

When ready, I would create at least 10 steps that would take me to the first trigger point explaining each step to him as I go “So, Step 1- I pick up the bridle. Step 2 - I move to stand beside you. Step 3 – I put my right arm here. Step 4 – I put my left hand here and so on, until I got to the point that caused him to throw his head around last time, I would not attempt to go any further than the first trigger point until he was quite happy for me to get there without resisting, then I’d say something like…

“Woohoo” and once again step right out of his space.

I would then create another 10 steps that I could use to go past the first trigger point until we got to the second trigger point and these would be broken down into minute movements such as I put my thumb here and my little finger there. I would move through the process of defining the trigger points and establishing the horse’s confidence that firstly I respect his fears and that I am not going to rush him and secondly I have infinite patience and I am not going to be a yoyo.

If you give your horse time and I am talking about the seconds and the minutes not the weeks or months or years, you will soon be able to say

“Wow, you’re pretty cool! I wish all the other horses could stand as quietly as this when they have their bridles put on!”

Rude Ground Manners

I have recently bought a new horse and although he is very good to ride and seems willing to please, on the ground he is often very rude. He will nip and barge past me too, so much so I don't trust him with children. I have tried him in a rope halter doing leading exercises and carry a small whip with me but it doesn't seem to stop the problem. What can I do to get him to respect me? LG Auckland

Hi LG,

Well done for asking this question, LG because the way a horse respects you when you are on the ground has a huge influence on the level of respect he will give you when you are on his back. If your horse shows you a lack of respect / trust when you are on the ground you can guarantee that he is not really listening to you when you are on his back.

How do you gain this insolent horse’s respect? You change your attitude. How? Perhaps this little story will help explain.

Once upon a day at college, when I was a teenager and knew everything that there was to know about anything, my friends and I had been left in a Lecture Theatre without a tutor – so we were noisily enjoying the unsupervised time by throwing some poor student’s personal and very private diary around.

Miss Green, a very nice new teacher came to the door and said in a high pitched voice, as she fiddled nervously with her watch:

“If you don’t sit down and be quiet, I’ll….” racking her brains to come up with some dire penalty. “I’ll keep you back on detention!” she finished triumphantly.

As she left the theatre she said: “Now, settle down and be good!!”

When she left the room we all fell about laughing as the clowns mimicked what she’d said and how she had admonished us.

Ten minutes later Mrs MacKenzie came to the door. Mrs Mack folded her arms and cleared her throat as she walked slowly up to the podium looking around the 50 or so students before she asked in an exasperated voice.

“When are you guys going to G R O W……U P?”

You could have heard a pin drop when she left two minutes later.

The two teachers achieved spectacularly different results by their auras. Miss Green could have threatened any number of punishments but she didn’t mean them. Mrs Mack, on the other hand, didn’t need to talk about punishments, we knew that if we didn’t shut up - we’d be in serious trouble.

No-one could actually tell you what happened if you got into serious trouble with Mrs Mack because no-one had ever been brave enough to find out!

When handling horses you need to be like Mrs Mack. It is your choice to decide whether you are going to allow horses or unruly teenagers the option of being intimidating.

So…. with regard to dealing with your gelding, set aside an hour of your time…..look the little treasure in the eye and talk to him in a very matter of fact, slightly frustrated tone of voice. DO NOT feed him tit-bits, or pet him. Tie “Twinkle Toes” up and leave him until he is bored. Remain in sight or earshot , but act as though he does not exist. Make the most of the spare time you suddenly have to clean some tack, talk to a friend or read a book. DO NOT be sucked in to any attention seeking antics.

When he can wait patiently and you are ready to talk to him, ask him if he is going to be polite and respectful, if you can an affirmative reaction, move into his space and calmly offer to take him somewhere else.

Be adamant – be prepared to stand your ground and move away from him again if he reverts to behaving like an obnoxious teenager. If and when he is respectful – you will be gracious enough to handle him – it is his choice and it really is a very simple trade.