Horse Talk

[Bunnylady]

Eli bites for basically the same reason as June. Pampered with treats by one previous owner, abused by another, so the biting I think is partial self defense also. You put a hand above his head, watch out, otherwise he's pretty good.

I'm trying to decide whether this statement makes sense from a horse's point of view. Horses are flight animals; their primary defense is to run. A horse that feels trapped will fight, but it's generally defensive kicks intended to create distance between them and the threat. A scared horse may run right over you, but once he has an opening, he's outta there!

Biting, on the other hand, is an aggressive move. A horse that is feeling too much pressure from a dominant horse may kick out as a reaction to that pressure, but I have never seen one bite back at a horse that it knows outranks it (except maybe in play). When the mouth gets involved, that's pushy and at very least, disrespectful. In a horse's body language, dominance is high, submission in low - I can't help but wonder, when you put a hand over his head, is this little stud thinking, "Oh, so you think you're higher than me, huh? We'll just see about that!" I know that small dogs will sometimes exhibit fear aggression, but I'm not sure a horse's brain is capable of that kind of thinking.

 

[ChickenLover200]

[COLOR=333333]Originally Posted by ChickenLover200 [/COLOR][COLOR=005CB1] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Eli bites for basically the same reason as June. Pampered with treats by one previous owner, abused by another, so the biting I think is partial self defense also. You put a hand above his head, watch out, otherwise he's pretty good.[/COLOR]

I'm trying to decide whether this statement makes sense from a horse's point of view. Horses are flight animals; their primary defense is to run. A horse that feels trapped will fight, but it's generally defensive kicks intended to create distance between them and the threat. A scared horse may run right over you, but once he has an opening, he's outta there! Biting, on the other hand, is an aggressive move. A horse that is feeling too much pressure from a dominant horse may kick out as a reaction to that pressure, but I have never seen one bite back at a horse that it knows outranks it (except maybe in play). When the mouth gets involved, that's pushy and at very least, disrespectful. In a horse's body language, dominance is high, submission in low - I can't help but wonder, when you put a hand over his head, is this little stud thinking, "Oh, so you think you're higher than me, huh? We'll just see about that!" I know that small dogs will sometimes exhibit fear aggression, but I'm not sure a horse's brain is capable of that kind of thinking.

i think because his face in particular was beaten, when he sees your hand above him(almost as if you are preparing to slap him), naturally, he'd learn to react (almost like someone with PTSD) so that he could get away sort of thing. I've made lots of improvement in the past months with his ears. I can now get as close as a centimeter from his ears. Used to be at the base of his neck he'd jerk away.

 

[abigalerose]

What I don't understand is why June's breeders spoiled her so much. They had several horses, a big ranch, and their stallion was

they obviously knew a lot about horses, their stallion was a show horse and they bred a couple horses, so why would they spoil one to that point? Just by looking at them and their horses you would've thought June would have come to me with excellent manners but that was not the case

 

[abigalerose]

Okay so serious question.. When should I start riding June in the arena or pasture? We walk and trot in the round pen but I'm going to have to canter her soon, and I'm not sure if I should do it in the round pen. The problem is, when I trot her she wants to stay against the fence so she can go fast enough and becuase of lunging she knows that's where she's suppose to be, but it makes me smack my legs on the fence and that hurts, but if I try to get her off the fence she slows down, which makes sense becuase smaller circles will slow them down. I want to ride her in the arena, becuase its big enough to go through all the gaits, and she still needs some work on her turns and that'd be a good place to do it, and I'm sure walking and trotting would be fine in there, but it's very rocky so the footing isn't so good, and I'm not sure it'd be a good place to canter. There's a spot in the pasture, on the other side of the pond, that's a long straight stretch that would be great for cantering, but I'm just not sure, because she'll have a lot of space to gain speed. And I'm not sure she's ready to ride out there. I was thinking maybe I could work on walking and trotting and turning in the arena where it's rocky, and once she's good at that I could work on the same things in the pasture, and if she's good out there I could start working on cantering. What do you think?

 

[I Love Layers]

Okay so serious question.. When should I start riding June in the arena or pasture? We walk and trot in the round pen but I'm going to have to canter her soon, and I'm not sure if I should do it in the round pen. The problem is, when I trot her she wants to stay against the fence so she can go fast enough and becuase of lunging she knows that's where she's suppose to be, but it makes me smack my legs on the fence and that hurts, but if I try to get her off the fence she slows down, which makes sense becuase smaller circles will slow them down. I want to ride her in the arena, becuase its big enough to go through all the gaits, and she still needs some work on her turns and that'd be a good place to do it, and I'm sure walking and trotting would be fine in there, but it's very rocky so the footing isn't so good, and I'm not sure it'd be a good place to canter. There's a spot in the pasture, on the other side of the pond, that's a long straight stretch that would be great for cantering, but I'm just not sure, because she'll have a lot of space to gain speed. And I'm not sure she's ready to ride out there. I was thinking maybe I could work on walking and trotting and turning in the arena where it's rocky, and once she's good at that I could work on the same things in the pasture, and if she's good out there I could start working on cantering. What do you think?

From what you said, June could canter in the round pen, but she always hugs the fence.
So I would first work on her being able to canter in the round pen, cause you don't want to get out into the pasture and try cantering and she takes advantage of you, or takes off.
Arenas are good things to have so why not take the time to move all the rocks out of the way.

If I were you I would work on stops, turns, cues, and all the gaits in the arena, then slowly work your way into the pasture. When I first got my horse, I worked her in the round pen, then arena, then I would trot her on the lead in the pasture etc with a saddle on, and little by little I worked her into being able to gallop in the pasture

 

[ChickenLover200]

Okay so serious question.. When should I start riding June in the arena or pasture? We walk and trot in the round pen but I'm going to have to canter her soon, and I'm not sure if I should do it in the round pen. The problem is, when I trot her she wants to stay against the fence so she can go fast enough and becuase of lunging she knows that's where she's suppose to be, but it makes me smack my legs on the fence and that hurts, but if I try to get her off the fence she slows down, which makes sense becuase smaller circles will slow them down. I want to ride her in the arena, becuase its big enough to go through all the gaits, and she still needs some work on her turns and that'd be a good place to do it, and I'm sure walking and trotting would be fine in there, but it's very rocky so the footing isn't so good, and I'm not sure it'd be a good place to canter. There's a spot in the pasture, on the other side of the pond, that's a long straight stretch that would be great for cantering, but I'm just not sure, because she'll have a lot of space to gain speed. And I'm not sure she's ready to ride out there. I was thinking maybe I could work on walking and trotting and turning in the arena where it's rocky, and once she's good at that I could work on the same things in the pasture, and if she's good out there I could start working on cantering. What do you think?

From what you said, June could canter in the round pen, but she always hugs the fence.
So I would first work on her being able to canter in the round pen, cause you don't want to get out into the pasture and try cantering and she takes advantage of you, or takes off.
Arenas are good things to have so why not take the time to move all the rocks out of the way.

If I were you I would work on stops, turns, cues, and all the gaits in the arena, then slowly work your way into the pasture. When I first got my horse, I worked her in the round pen, then arena, then I would trot her on the lead in the pasture etc with a saddle on, and little by little I worked her into being able to gallop in the pasture

I'm wondering what I will do once I'm finished working in the round pen... I don't have an arena to work in. I'm hoping to be able to work on the cart in the round pen a little bit at least before heading out to an open trail.

 

[abigalerose]

Picking up rocks in the arena is easier said than done. It's pretty big and there are a TON of rocks. The round pen was the same way, and I spent a whole day picking up rocks in it and there's still a bunch left. The rocks make me want to pull my hair out! I wish there was some kind of machine for picking up rocks like a brush hog for rocks. There's such a ridiculous amount. And another problem is in the middle of the arena there's four or five round concrete slab things, that were poured to, I'm assuming, keep posts in the ground and they stick up out of the ground and would be seriously dangerous to fall on and I have no idea how to get them out! And the arena is at a downhill slant. Errgg. If I had my own trailer I would take her to an indoor arena somewhere

 

[I Love Layers]

Picking up rocks in the arena is easier said than done. It's pretty big and there are a TON of rocks. The round pen was the same way, and I spent a whole day picking up rocks in it and there's still a bunch left. The rocks make me want to pull my hair out! I wish there was some kind of machine for picking up rocks like a brush hog for rocks. There's such a ridiculous amount. And another problem is in the middle of the arena there's four or five round concrete slab things, that were poured to, I'm assuming, keep posts in the ground and they stick up out of the ground and would be seriously dangerous to fall on and I have no idea how to get them out! And the arena is at a downhill slant. Errgg. If I had my own trailer I would take her to an indoor arena somewhere

I grew up picking rocks though, so I guess for me it's just something I would do

 

[ChickenLover200]

Picking up rocks in the arena is easier said than done. It's pretty big and there are a TON of rocks. The round pen was the same way, and I spent a whole day picking up rocks in it and there's still a bunch left. The rocks make me want to pull my hair out! I wish there was some kind of machine for picking up rocks like a brush hog for rocks. There's such a ridiculous amount. And another problem is in the middle of the arena there's four or five round concrete slab things, that were poured to, I'm assuming, keep posts in the ground and they stick up out of the ground and would be seriously dangerous to fall on and I have no idea how to get them out! And the arena is at a downhill slant. Errgg. If I had my own trailer I would take her to an indoor arena somewhere

I grew up picking rocks though, so I guess for me it's just something I would do

We dont have any Rocks to pick. Just tons of sticks from underbrush

 

[abigalerose]

I'd so rather deal with sticks! I hate picking up rocks, and every says there's no point in bothering with them since there's so dang many. It's not really an arena built for horses either, it's just a thing off the barn where cows were kept becuase it's an old milk barn, but it does the trick.