Is my horse trying to play with me??????

Question

when i'm standing by or infront of my horse he always pushes me with his head.

why id he doing this.

it doesn't really bother me.

but hes been doing this in the stall and pushes me against the wall

and i know hes not trying to itch himself

Answer 1

DONT LET HIM DO THAT!

HE IS TRYING TO TEST YOU!

And ur letting him win. If u keep doing this he wont trust u  because he will think he is in charge, and this is because he is playing the who's in charge here game... If he nudges you again as a "hello" what r u doing? use ur elbow to nudge him back in the girth area and he should move away.

By the way don't be afraid to poke him hard it wont hurt him!

Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

This isn't a good behavior...Back him out of your space.  He wants to be the boss and your allowing this, i have seen people hurt from allowing this thinking its cute, its not can be dangerous.  I play with my horses, but they know better then to get in my space unless i invite them.

Answer 3

Sounds like someone wants to be the leader. Lol my uncles mare did this to me all the time. When i was young i didnt really mind, i thought what the heck, its not big deal. Till she tried to kick my head off. But my little angel chased her away from me! lol i love my horse!

But soon i started to reliaze that she is trying to be the leader of me. So everytime she pushed me, i pushed or back, and walked away.

Now she is a sweet heart. Kind of wild though, only lets a few people near her, im one of them! lol!

Answer 4

He is asserting his dominance to you. He is pushing you around. Don't let him get away with it. Assert yourself as the dominant figure. When he goes to push against you, turn him away. Make him realize that you are the leader and he is to follow you.

Answer 5

that is unacceptable behavior that could become a hazzard! (ive had a horse push me back once and i took a step back to balance myself and tripped over my grooming box, fell and a horse nearby spooked and thankfully didnt trample me!)

you could try approaching him first and kind of crouch and stick your hand out as a way of saying hello to him.

if that doesnt help then you should push him back and maybe give him a little slap to let him know that that is not alright with you

Answer 6

You need to stop this behavior asap. You have to show him you are the leader. You can't have a horse push you around like that, you are likely to get hurt. You have to take back the stall! If possible, you should watch RFDTV or get a book by Clinton Anderson about pushy horses. I had a mare who would push me around in the pasture and actually try and kick me. I have a zillon CA books so I simply looked it up and now she ALWAYS gives me her head when I go into the pasture. You have to stop this before it gets as bad as my mare was.

Answer 7

all other answers are right.. he is pushing you around and it will eventually lead to worse if you let it continue

Answer 8

I actually asked this question because I had the same problem. :)

He's showing you that he's dominant. If he went up to the herd leader and shoved him with his head, that wouldn't go down so well, would it? This could progress to him shoving you HARD. You need to stop his behaviour before it becomes dangerous by pushing his head away, or giving him a smack on the face when he does it. Trust me, he will not be mad at you. :)

Answer 9

it's a small way of exerting his dominance.  He's saying 'I'm bigger than you and can rub my head etc... and you can't stop me'.  Don't let him do this, it may move on to play nipping or biting and then more and more behavior problems because your horse believes he is dominant over you.  Carry a crop with you and if he starts to push against you, jam the end of the crop into his shoulder and force him over.  Also consider a refresher course in ground manners.

Answer 10

He is trying to see who the more dominat one is.  They also do that when you are riding But they do it with pressure.  You should get after him him when he does that.  IF you dont he may start doing it more frequently and it will get stronger.  It may be that when he was gelded(he hes a gelding) that they missed some of the tissue that proudces the testies.  That would make him act like hes stil a stally when hes not if he is a stallion then it will be that he is trying to be the most dominate one and you need to make sure that you get after him when he does that.  If its for an itch then make him rub on like your leg so he doesn't get in the habait of just rubbing all the time.  

I hoped that this clears up your promblem!

Answer 11

He's asserting dominance over you and it is not a good thing.  

You should never, ever allow him to invade your personal space like this...it could, and will likely, lead to other problems down the road.

Redirect him when he tries this.  Pull back with the lead, place your hand on his nose and push firmly away.

Not saying that I don't "love" all over mine.  I do...but it's at MY instigation, not theirs.

I AM the alpha mare, LOL!!!