Horse Bites When Entering her stable?

Question

theres this horse at the stables, Carla

And when you go past her stable, she sways her head from side to side with her ears flat back, She doesnt like people coming into her stable, and its really hard to get into her stable when Carlas trying to bite you!

When Im riding her tomorrow, how do i get into her stable without upsetting her to much or getting bitten?

Any suggestions?

If you know a pony does this and you know how to stop her..please let me know.

P,S . I dont really appreciate silly answers like hit her over the head with a spade, and other stupid answers.

Thanks in advance..!

Answer 1

Many people assume horses have the same characteristics of humans. This is not the case.. we have to treat horses as their own species.

Mis behaving horses are like mis behaving children. The only way a child will learn to respect his parent, is if the parent shows dominance over their child.

Carla is testing you. She wants to prove to you that she is the dominant one.

If she was in the field and she behaved like this towards another horse, and if the other horse was dominant over her, he would turn around and either kick or bite until he established who was in charge.

I am not saying its a good idea for you to kick or bite Carla.. but do not back down by acting scared. Make yourself bigger and use a deeper, louder voice. If she threatens you, threaten her back, just like another horse would.

She will respect you if you are dominant over her.

Of course, you alone cannot stop her from behaving like this but if you talk to her owners then maybe they can ask everyone else to do the same.

I hope this helps! It has worked for me numerous times.

Answer 2

Bite her back and kick where the sun don't shine.

Better yet, make her a reservation at the Glue Factory Hotel.

Answer 3

she is probably territorial and is letting you know that its her turf and her food etc. give her a polo and pat her then slowly undo the bolt and pat her if she is good, and give her another mint then start tacking her up an when you do her bridal give her a mint and when you do her saddle give her a mint (only if she is good) also make sure she has a head coller on when you go in so if she swings to kick you or turns to bite you you can grap her head coller and keep her under control, the key is rewards and being friendly/gentle although if she tries to bite you distract her before she does, grap er headcoller and stop her or is she does get she hold her headcoller and smack her nose (not really hard bu hard enough so she knows you wont tolerate it tell her no firmly and quite loudly as you smack her :)  

Answer 4

Probable cause is too many people have been tacking her up and she has had a bad expierience in the confine of the stable.

She's only trying to bite, which is actually not anywhere near as bad as her kicking out.

As somebody before me posted it's a matter of trust. I don't think you will crack that before tomorrow.

If it was me, I would use the Polo approach. Use a packet of mints to get the bridle on and tack her up outside. Change the routine and reward the change. She'll be too interested in what's going to happen next. Plenty of soft gibberish talking and watch for her ears coming up.

Answer 5

sounds like a very unhappy horse.  does she mean to bite or is it a threat to frighten you?  makes a difference as some horses think it is a game.  take a feed into the stable to catch her as you would with a horse difficult to catch in the field.  this will hopefully take her mind off actually biting.  let her finish this small feed as by taking it away will be teasing her.  tie her up and continue grooming etc.   talk to her telling her that she is being silly.  you know the sort of rubbish that we tell our horses.  so we are told by non-horsey people.   keep a packet of polo mints in your pocket,  horses love them so much. give her some so she knows where they come from.  gradually she will accept that nice things can happen.

a riding school pony sucked all the mints from my jacket that i left in his stable.  i was left with a soggy jacket and no mints.

at least he was a happy pony and clever with it.   good luck.

Answer 6

Is this your horse, or the stable's horse?

If it's the stable's horse, tell your instructor about the problem and ask what you should do.  Then do as she tells you, or ask for a different horse.  You really can't discipline someone else's horse without their knowledge and permission.

If it's your horse, ignore the nonsense about feeding her treats to distract her.  That's rewarding the bad behavior, and will cause it to continue and escalate. If her ears are flat back, I'd enter like nothing was wrong, humming and happy but VEEERRRRYYYY watchful.  As soon as she'd threaten to bite, I'd smack her on the muzzle and say NO!  Then, I'd continue like nothing happened, humming, happy, and VVVEEEERRRRYYYY watchfull.  After a few attempts and few corrections, she'll get the picture.

Getting her ears forward is another story.  I usually find that they're actually unhappy at being allowed to threaten this way.  Getting her to understand that you're the boss, you're fair and you don't hold grudges will help.  They usually come to like and trust you, accept you as the herd boss, and then the ears will come forwards.

Good luck with her!

Answer 7

That is a good question. Take a crop into her stall, if she starts to come at you, wave your arms as big as you can (if she is in your space, its okay if you smack her with your crop, as she needs to move out of your space), this tells her "you don't come into my space". Then take your halter and rope and let her sniff her hand first before putting it on her (this is very inportant) its like saying to her, "Can i come into your space?". If she turns her back to you and thretens to kick (this is a sign of extream disrespect!), take your lead rope and smack her on the rump hard (this may only be done once, as she will learn fast)! Its like saying to her "Your gonna kick me? I don't think so!" Make sure she is facing you before you put on the halter on. This may take a minuit and be a little scary but you will see results fast!

Its worked for my horse, and he never thinks twice about bitting or kicking me.

Hope this helps.

Answer 8

I don't know what your experience or skill level is, so I will just tell you what I would do, and let you be the judge if this would be good for you or not.  First of all, I need to know if she charges you or if she stands her ground and attempts her biting when you put the halter on?  What also enters into the equation is if this is your horse or a lesson horse or a leased horse.  If it is a lesson horse and is owned by the stable owner/manager, I would ask this person what they suggest or allow to be done and would they come and show you how they would like this done.  If this is your horse, it makes a difference, a whole lot of difference what you can do.  If this horse is charging you, then yes, I would use drastic measures...not a shovel, but I would put up a barrier between she and I that she crosses the line, she either runs into a 2X4 or a whip.  If she is reaching over and trying to bite you while you are putting on her halter, that is different and easier to deal with...just wear gloves and have tacks between the fingers of the gloves so that when she comes at the closest part of you, (make sure it's your gloved hands) that she punishes herself...I would go about my business as if nothing had happened and lead her with the same gloves....teach her to respect your space.  Now, horses get this way for the same reason that dogs that are kept on a chain get overly possessive of their area...that's all they have and it's important to them, their world is too small and needs to be expanded.  So, I would try to get this horse outside more often, let her interact with other horses..in other words, let her be more of a horse.

EDIT*****I couldn't agree more about polos or other various treats........it only reinforces her poor behavior, you have to remember, people are people, horses are horses, it's never going to change.

Answer 9

I'm not an expert sorry but it sounds like the horse has trust problems and maybe you need to slowly ease your way in and show your not a threat to her.

Answer 10

Well, i suggest you hit her quite hard on the muzzle (nose) so she gets the idea that it isnt ice.

Biting is a habbit that has developed from thretening and then physically biting. This is because no one has stopped her when she has threatened to do it so now you will have to be more hard on her.

Just give her a smack, not really hard but hard enough to detur her, then push her nose away and say very sharply "NO", you have to say it like you mean it though, otherwise she will just think yur a pushover.

For this to work, you will have to do it every time she goes to bite otherwise she will know she can get away with it sometinmes.

If your yard doesnt want you to smack her on the nose, you can smack her on the chest or neck but it isnt as effective.

You must smack her though as soon as she has done it otherwise she will forget why she has got it and then she will become headshy.

Good luck.

EDIT: all of those answers, however professional they may sound wont work, if you give her a polo, she will think she gets rewards for biting so will do it more and smacking her with the crop is a bit harsh.