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Horse Behavior and Training

Aggressive to approach in the field

By:

Abi

Date:

2013-Apr-02 at 07:26PM

Hi all,
A pony at my yard happens to be very aggressive when approached in the field (when she doesn't want to come in), but is fine to catch in the evenings when all the other horses have been brought in and she wants to come in.
If you approach her she puts her ears back and makes an attempt to run at you, so I didn't back away (people have run away from her) and raised my hands and she made no attempt to charge.
I wondered if anyone has any pointers or tips on how to deal with this.
I have been approaching her from a safe distance and if she stands with her ears back I stand quietly and still and as soon as she ignores me and puts her head down to graze I walk away.
I was also thinking about once I can get close enough to her to just bring her in and prehaps give her a groom and put her back out again.
She is ridden by a child so needs to be safe to catch.

Thankyou Abi xx

MaggieF, Melbourne - Australia 2013-Apr-03 at 04:21AM

Hi Abi - Yes if she is to be ridden by a child this bad, bossy habit needs to be overcome. Tricka is cheeky and has a tendency to do this sometimes despite my efforts to overcome it. If I walk up to her and she puts her ears back then I immediately send her away until she is prepared to accept my approach in a docile manner. Same if she is eating her food ( I know we should leave them alone while eating but we also need them to be safe for people so I do consider this behaviour to be NOT acceptable.) If she decides she is going to put her ears back at me and look snaky then again I chase her away and stand by her food bowl until she comes up in a docile manner - as soon as she does this I walk away. She is sometimes excellent for long periods but then this slightly aggressive nature comes on again probably because she is cycling. If she is consistently naughty then I take her to the menage for a join up/follow up session and after that she is usually well behaved for days. Others may have better ideas for you!

mary.mason3 2013-Jul-27 at 09:31PM

My pony is like this when he has a hay net or if I walk up to him with a halter in my hand. The horse trainer who I had visit suggested if I needed to catch him up to bring him in from the field that I should walk backwards and forwards in front of him in a sort of semi circle and edging a bit closer at each turn. I did this and to some degree it is working. I also told him off for turning his rump on me in such a threatening way. It was interesting to see how my beaviour with him sparked off licking and chewing he was obviously trying to make sense of my very odd behaviour.

griffo.girl, Tasmania, Australia 2013-Jul-28 at 01:58AM

Hi Abi - I agree with Maggie in that you should send the pony away when she behaves aggressively but also don't just send her away - keep her moving so she understands there are consequences for her actions. Soon she will realise that she has to work when she behaves this way and will eventually rethink her attitude and actions. Just walk behind her and use a rope against your leg to move her on if she thinks about stopping - she will soon get tired of this and hopefully with repetition and time her manners will improve. As she is a child's pony she needs to be able to be caught easily at any time - she is not safe for a young one at this point in time. Good luck, Jan