My horse is scared of people...?

Question

I just bought a 1 1/2 yr AQHA filly, I have only had her for about a week or two. She is very loving to me, does everything I ask. I can rub her all over, pick up all of her feet, She leads and loads great, doesn't bite or bolt.She is also great with other horses..... But when other people get around She tries to bite, when they get to close she either hides behind me or runs backwards. I don't understand why she is doing this, because I have only been around horses that were either scared of everyone or loved everyone.

My question is should I be trying to get her used to other people right now or should I just go with it and build her trust with me a little more before I start getting her around people?

Answer 1

what is it that you do that seems to make her trust you.when others walk up to her. do you mean with you.or as you are already with her.do they have something in there hand.when you say other people.is that all. male'female or all.she may of had some kind of bad expereance involving a number of people together.ask the previous owners. they may be able to shed some light that may be helpful.good luck.

Answer 2

That is normal it took me some time to get my mare to let other people lead her with out freaking out. I wood keep doing what you are doing bring your friends when she is to be feed and let them feed her then let her be as she may have trust problems. also stop worrying about it for she can sense it from you and it may be making it harder for her. also if she is biting them then she is not that screed and may be polling the wool over your eyes. Send people to feed her when you are not around and see what she dose then she may be fine and just playing up when you are around

Answer 3

Is she a pleasure horse or for show, rodeo, etc.? Is she like that with absolutely everyone or does there seem to be a certain type of person she doesn't like? What kind of home did she have before you got her? How you handle it kinda depends on what made her like that. My experience has been if a horse trusts someone, he/she will do almost anything for that person. If you have the time take it as slow as you need to she'll come around eventually.

So she needs to have some respect for other people. Our horses don't get "out" much so it doesn't really matter if they like other people or not. Was she like that with YOU at the beginning, or did she seem to automatically like you. She may just be a "one woman horse".

Oh and what does she think about others around her on horseback? Does it make a difference than on foot?

That's a toughie...  Work on her trust with you and keep watching for a common denominator. Hopefully her bond with you will be enough for her to overcome her fears. Keep experimenting (safely, of course) with different scenarios, maybe the answer will show itself eventually. At least she's proficient in backing up.

Answer 4

My pony had a fear of men :(, I got him to trust me then work on other girls then the men and it worked :D

Answer 5

This is a very young filly whose whole life has been torn up overnight.  She doesn't understand why she had to leave the  place she was born on; she doesn't understand where her buddies are.

Then, it all changed again, and she went to your place.  She's disoriented, grieving and confused.

Perhaps you resemble (by smell, more than sight) the original owner who cared for her.  Perhaps she's come to depend on you as her "herd".  Impossible to know why she's selected you, but thank heavens she found someone!  And that that someone selected her back.

Give her time to get acclimated to her new surroundings before you introduce more people.  She probably didn't see too many close up before, and it's freaking her out.  Work with her as much as possible to show her humans are okay, and let her come to accept the new place as home.

You're doing all the right things, except I think she needs time to adjust before she'll accept others.

Once she's had a few months to acclimate, choose one person to be the first stranger.  Let that person feed her, be with her outside the corral, and generally hang out with her without touching her until SHE approaches, and WITHOUT YOU PRESENT!  I know it'll be hard, she's your baby, but if you're there she's not going to see anyone but you.

Good luck.  It's wonderful to be so important to a young horse, and in the long run I think your bond will make everything easier.

Answer 6

She is young and you have plenty of time to help her to overcome all of her fears...of people or anything else.

Just be sure you are focusing on her...not the people...when you work on this.  Explain to people that you are training her and can't worry about their wishes to approach her, etc.  Protect her while you expose her repeatedly to people and she repeatedly realizes nothing is hurting her.  Patience!