For 1.5 years I've had problems handling my horse in his box. The reasons for this change in his - until then lovely - behavior we can skip past this time.
The important thing is that I have tried to work with it, give him time, and the other day we had a major breakthrough that put a huge smile on my face.
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I was standing just inside the box-door, pouring water into his water-bucket from a water-can, while he was eating his evening hay in the far corner of the same wall.
(Now, I can hear you all scream: "leave him alone while eating!" But please trust me when I tell you that is not the root to, or part of, the problem.) :)
So while I'm keeping my eyes on the water, I reach out casually to put my left hand on his withers, and guess what.
Without looking up from his food, my horse shuffles his feet enough to move a little closer to me, sort of "stepping into" my hand, and continues to eat contently. I can tell you it took a lot longer than usual to finish pouring water that time. :)
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Maybe just a subtle thing, but it felt huge to me, so I just wanted to share it.
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It sounds amazing Kicki; congratulations on what is clearly a huge breakthrough. Those moments are very magical - thankyou for sharing it.
Yes Kicki well done - I bet you still have a smile on your face. Leaving them alone to eat sounds right but it does concern me somewhat especially if they tell you to leave them alone. I know Monty says that this is when we should back off but what if they get into the habit of chasing people away from their food bins which could become dangerous? Most of my horses are very laid back and are quite happy for me to take their rugs on and off and give them a good rub while they are eating. However my Pie used to tell me to nick off but I persisted with her as it is an easy time to rug them etc. Now her daughter Tricka is telling me to nick off while she eats and because Monty says that is what we should do I have been trying to follow this advice as it sounds sensible. However Tricka gets quite naughty if I do leave her alone and is much better if I tell her she has to accept me being there for awhile. She is very good as she will go up the paddock in front of me and my other horse Uggs and waits at her bowl for her feed but once she has it in the bowl she is telling me to nick off and because I have been responding and following Monty's advice she is actually getting naughtier and more determined and I don't like this. What happens if one of my grandchildren walks past her feed bowl and she takes it on herself to chase them off? I have decided that despite being a Monty student this behaviour and ownership of her feed bowl has to stop so now I am chasing her away from her feed until she allows me to stand there while she is eating - something I had trained her to do previously but then backed off given Monty's recommendations. Tricka could be a horrible horse so I can't encourage her to think that she has the upper hand even at feed time. I would love to have Monty's response to this one or one of the certified instructors to comment. So Kicki I am certainly not going to scream "leave her alone while eating". Most placid natured horses seem to accept being stroked and rugged during feed time so I think the naughty, more sparky ones like my Tricka need to learn this too especially if children maybe handling them in the future. My dream for Tricka is that she will be a pony club horse for my little grand daughter so she has to shape up!
That's great Kiki it's always nice when that kind of magic happens. I agree with Maggie you still have to be the lead mare so to speak.
Maggie, I so agree with you on that! While I'm the first to advocate that horses should be left alone while eating - esp. working horses like those at a riding school - I still think a horse should accept being handled in his box/stall even if they do munch on their hay.
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Actually, as a contradiction, a friend of mine has a mare that is difficult to handle *unless* she is eating.
I do suspect the mare has effectively trained her owner to "give me food, or else..." ;)
Fantastic Kicki and lovely to hear the trust he's putting in you. Well done.
Mel
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Kicki that's fantastic. I agree any animal should be left alone while eating but all of my animals are taught (and occasionally reminded) that i will need to periodically deal with them while they are eating. You don't teach a dog that they are allowed to be food possessive as that's just asking for them to then bite someone who doesn't know better, why would you allow your horse to learn that same bad habit.
Then again everyone thinks I'm funny because I teach all my animals to wait patiently for their dinner (including my cats :P) as I don't believe that any animal should be allowed to learn to be rude and pushy at meal times.