Things your horse does that makes it seem as if it is smart...(LOL)

[welsummerchicks]

My horse turned off the electric fence today.

My friend's horse used to run up, grab the end of the longe whip, rip it out of her hands, and run away with it in his mouth, and drop it over in the trees and brush.

Anyone else got any smart horses?

 

[babyblue]

my old gelding can tell the difference weight and skill wise between children and inexperienced riders and experienced adults. slow and steady for the little ones. just has to push the experienced riders buttons from time to time. he thinks hes so funny.

old gelding will not eat bad feed for any reason even if he is hungry. mold, trash, weeds, sticks? no way (boarding barn got a really nonsense load of hay a few times- yet another reason I no longer board) he picks it up and drops it in front of his stall on the floor.

old gelding is kind sweet and patient with all dogs and puppies, no matter how annoying or stupid they act. including trying to nip him. coyotes foxes and other "wild" type preds he is out to kill. vicious crazy chase the coyote down in the pasture and stomp it kill. yet lets the lab/mastiff/dane/pit cross jump all over him.

forgot... also learned that with winter blankets on if he ran fast he wouldn't get zapped by the electric fence. it was warmer so I removed the blanket soaked him with the hose and turned the fence way up. learned his lesson now lol.

 

[pamperedpoultry]

Some of ours can open certain gate latches and take off the others halters.. LOL

 

[HEChicken]

My dog, who is perfectly behaved and listens well when I am on the ground, ignores me when I'm in the saddle. I think his attitude is "yeah? And what are ya gonna do about it?" So a couple weeks ago we were out riding and dog started digging, probably after some critter. Repeated shouts to him to stop were ignored so I asked my gelding to advance rather quickly on said dog. Gelding "got it" right away and broke into a canter, right up to dog, who was so intent on his digging he didn't even notice us approaching. Next time we're out riding, similar scenario and gelding took off towards dog the second I suggested it. Dog hasn't ignored me in saddle since. I find it rather ironic. Most people have dogs who round up livestock. I have a horse who rounds up my dog. Oh - horse also seems to recognize dog as part of our herd. He sometimes goes after other dogs but never my dog.

 

[Funky Feathers]

Sometimes my pet sitter can't tell hay from straw. Horse knows. She makes it a point to tell the pet sitter "WTH?? This ain't hay!". Won't stop fussing until pet sitter exchanges it.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

1 or 2 of mine know to use their nose to open a chainlink gate, & back when my fence was only 4 & some feet high my other horse figured out that all he has to do to get over the fence is rear & let himself tip forward over the fence instead of taking a running start & doing actual work

.

 

[sabella]

I had to build Pony Ft Knox! My horses are a 14.3 Lipizzaner gelding and a QH gelding. The Lipi has cleared a 5' fence from a standstill and both can open gates. So when we planned our farm our pasture is 4' no climb, a rail, 6" diameter posts, those gates that are goat proof and a string of bull proof electric wire. And all the gates are closed with spring clips. Our stalls could hold a Shire stallion with an attitude problem. Our doors are 5" thick! The latches all have spring clips and then behind that are the cargo net type stall guards with the chain stall guard above. We don't have bars but the walls are 4' high. It's ridiculous!

That's what I get for telling the carpenter and fence guy "This is Maximus. He is a Houdini Horse. Keep him in! Didn't find out Houston was a Houdini Horse till we got him. (I knew him before we owned him. He was boarded at the same place Max was.)

Max in his Uber Stall

Houston

The fence

 

[2pinkmom]

My old Percheron gelding managed to get himself into a tight sqeeze the other week. Our run in has two separate areas for the horses. These two areas are separated by a pedestrian walkway consisting of a raised concrete pad. The walkway is separated from the horse areas by metal tubing - think cattle sorting pens. The pedestrian area is sort of "M" shaped. Anyway, old Prince somehow managed to squeeze himself down the walkway all the way to the end of the building. I discovered this right as I was going to pick up my daughter from preschool. I couldn't not get her, so I spent the trip trying to formulate a plan to free him. I started calling horse friends to come help. Imagine my relief when I came home to find that this 1600 lbs horse had calmly backed himself through the 3.5 foot wide walkway -40 feet and two 90 degree turns! I raced out to see if he was injured or colicking from stress. He looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears . I chalk it up to him being aged and a draft breed. If one of the younger light horses had done it, I'm sure it would have killed itself trying to get free...

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

As I was brushing Max out today with a hard-wire brush to get the shedding hair off of him..he did a full on Pilates move and stretched so that I could scratch his belly and get the hair out of there for a good 7 minutes. I STILL didn't get it all.

 

[Marietta's Hidden Chicks]

Makes me laugh!