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Do you have a bratty horse?
  • I go to an ag school with 6 horses most above 4 exept for a 18month old gelding. Hes chestnut but a brat, i was grooming the 18 month old named perry he was good for a while but got annoyed halfway through he was tryin to nip me so i kept smacking his nose and he gave me the dirtiest look he could manage. But hes cute he has a wonky blaze and is about 13.0HH
    Life is Special live it to your fullest
  • I've worked with training harness racers, so I have known my fair share of brats. I used to train a 2 year old stud colt that we had to be two people just to turn him out. He would charge us again and again. I got him set straight after a few months. But I've never felt the need to smack a horse. I've kicked a few after they have kicked me first though.
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  • Some horses -- and most "brats" fall into this category -- are looking for entertainment when they nip you. If you smack them, it turns into a game and is actually rewarding the behavior. If you can rig it so they bump into something unpleasant (like brush bristles on a sensitive nose) without you making a big fuss, it's more effective. Or, with my troublemaker mare, if she nips she gets to back up about 30 steps. She gets sick of that game fast. But I groom in the pasture, if you're in a stall that obviously won't work.
  • OR... since he is a youngster.... reward him for standing patiently for a while with something interesting (invent games if he is very left-brained, this can be a lot of fun) =before= he gets antsy.
  • He was entertained by his leadrope while he was tied but he got bored after 10 min.
    Life is Special live it to your fullest
  • Well sure, he's a baby. How many toddlers can stand in one place for 10 minutes with only one thing to entertain them? :)
  • Well he hasnt be gelded long, maybe a few months at the most too. And thats what my equine teacher told me to do
    Life is Special live it to your fullest
  • And there is a reason hes so nippy he was born on a coal mine type thing and he had to fend for himself the first year of his life
    Life is Special live it to your fullest
  • Games are your friend with any intelligent horse! My last boy was a very smart OTTB. He had great ground manners if you were working with him, abysmal stable manners tho. Whenever possible when I was grooming him, I tied him somewhere where he could see stuff going on--so looking out to the riding arena or toward the parking area where there was lots of hustle and bustle, in spring and fall when the weather was nice (sunny but not boiling, crisp but not cold and windy) we would groom outside...he just got bored easily. We used his pre and post riding stretches as a game--I would stick a carrot or cookie in my pocket and pretend I couldn't see him reaching for it to do lateral stretches for instance. We stretched all through the grooming session instead of all right at the very end and that way he stayed occupied and didn't try to bite passing horses or paw or make mischief!
  • So he wasnt taught how to behave
    Life is Special live it to your fullest
  • Well, I don't own or really work with any horses, but I was riding one in September who bucked when he got especially excited to be going out on a ride. He wasn't being mean, it was just a happy kind of hop. :P I eventually gave up and fell off, though. :P
    A few days earlier I'd also fallen off him at the mounting block. He's got a bad habit of moving off as soon as you're mounting, which I didn't like, so I asked my dad to hold him for me, and he didn't like that. :D
    I did actually volunteer with another horse who was completely fine except that he didn't like his ear being touched. He'd come from out West and had been ear twitched.
  • Both my guys are very well mannered. The older one is just very pliable and good natured, so it's easy to have him do anything. The yearling can be a little cheeky and babyish, but nothing nasty.

    I've always found that moving their feet has been a pretty good solution to any lack of respect or naughtiness. With my little guy, our routine is groundwork FIRST, then grooming. I don't mind him looking ratty while he's learning to be respectful, but I do mind him being disrespectful and clean. I also limit his handling to no more than a half hour 4 days a week at the moment to stop him from getting bored and sour.

    The big guy doesn't get away so easily lol!
  • HAHAHA DO I HAVE A BRATTY HORSE!? My quarter horse gelding is the definition of brat! I swear hes almost just as bad as he was when he was a yearling stud colt. And hes 5 now! Oh but hes my best friend and my heart horse(well my full sized heart horse). But I love him with all my heart no matter how big of a pain in the butt he is lol.

    The rest of them are brats in their own ways when they want to be but hes the biggest lol
  • haha moon funny. The mustang thats turned out with him is not a brat what so ever but hes pretty good about being caught but hates it so he will walk away. Now perry will practically walk up to you if you call him. We have this 10 year old gelding named cash (15 or so hands maybe bigger) who used to be so horrible at being caught my sophmore year( and my first year at the ag school). But hes much better. So when we had the thoroughbreds who were there being boarded by NARA my sophmore year and first year at the school. We had one named BlowBack we called him BB he was pure black and he had one blaze on him too god was he beautiful in his ownself. One of my teachers asked me and my friend fantasia to get BB ( i had to miss my classes at my homeschool for it as the tour was in the morning and she was giving it to at least 40 or so 4th or 5th grader split up) and i had gone to the barn as soon as they go there so i could get BB ready, he was fine until the people in the arena ( some other friends were practicing for something) left the arena and he got bratty because he couldnt see them. So my teacher took him back to the pasture and we just used emma ( her horse) the rest of the time. Emma is could care less about what we did
    Life is Special live it to your fullest
  • Both of our horses have a love hate relationship with us. They are awesome about most things but they both have their quirks that you have to know how to deal with.

    I think that's true with almost any horse though. They all will have a quirk or bratty side that you have to avoid or know how to deal with. I always think the horse you know with a few problems is better than the horse you don't know that might have lots of problems.
    SALVISTAR PERFORMANCE HORSES
    Barn ID - 2358
  • I agree 100% with your last sentence Salvistar.

    I'd much rather deal with a problem child that I know like the back of my hand than deal with a horse I don't know who 'acts' perfect who may have a few tricks up their sleeve that you arent expecting lol
  • Hmmm
    Life is Special live it to your fullest
  • It's the one that are angels in the crossties and ticking time bombs under saddle that freak me out. Be a little naughty on the ground so I'm ready for you to be an idiot, please!
  • Oh, is there! Harold, a big 17hh gypsy vanner/thoroughbred cross (not mine, just at the barn I ride at) is the sweetest, cutest, and handsomest horse that will nuzzle you and be so sweet unsaddled. But once you hop on his back and ask him to trot, he will hop and buck like he's being spurred like a bronc. I'm not even pushing him most of the time. I'll use voice commands and cluck at him and he'll kick out. Such a brat. Love him anyways <3
    Have a nyce day!
  • That right there is exactly why I groom and tack in the pasture. :)
  • I will never forget the day I volunteered at a riding barn to take people out on trail rides. I was in my mid 20's, everyone else was in high school. All the kids kept talking about this one mare who needed to go out for exercise but no one wanted to do it. When I asked why they said ever since she had a foal you could not get her to leave the yard without a fight and most of them had tried previously and ended up on the ground. Her foal was grown and gone and this mare had gotten her way ever since so I think it was pretty much a learned behavior by the time I met her. I told them where is she, I'll tack her up and take her. She was perfect tacking up it wasn't until I hopped on and started walking her out of the yard that I realized what the kids were talking about. She kicked out like a bronco, no joke. I almost went right over the top of her head. She ran me into a fence and into a tree in the yard. Everyone asked if I wanted a switch but I refused. I pulled her head tight around and we literally walked in circles all the way out to the trail where she settled right down and we enjoyed the rest of our ride. rofl When we got back the kids asked if I wanted to go for the bareback pony ride with them that they do at the end of every day. I politely refused saying I needed to get home to my kids. I didn't want them to know that my body was on fire after fighting with her lol
  • Haha, love that story... it illustrates how horses pull shenanigans to do what they want (or get out of doing what they don't want) and then when they realize you're determined to win, they go "yeah, k, whatever..."

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