AboutRick Gore (www.freewebs.com/horseawareness) Expertise Visit Rick Gore's Horse Site: --- www.freewebs.com/horseawareness --Rick is a student of the horse. He can answer questions about sacking out (Desensitizing vs. Sensitizing), dealing with spooky, abused or ex-race horses, rearing, bucking, horses that won’t tie or load into a trailer, working in a round pen/round corral, starting colts, dealing with aggressive or so called "mean" horses, herd behavior, biting, kicking, horses that won’t let you mess with their feet or head and hard to catch, using a bosal or hackamore, soft hands and direct reining verses neck reining. If you expect him to tell you feel good advice, you will be disappointed. 95% of all his answers will include "the problem is you and not your horse." About 90% of most answers that I give out are on my web site, so if you read it you will probably answer your own question and may learn a few other things. If have some good information that you would like me to add to my site, please email me so it can be passed on to others.
Experience Rick is an experienced horseman with many years of riding and handling horses. Rick grew up in Texas around horses and horse people. He has started colts, ridden many horses with behavior issues and worked with problem horses. (He believes that most horse problems are really people problems)
He believes in and practices natural horsemanship and continues to read and study books by great horsemen. He routinely attends clinics, talks with and discuss horse issues with other clinicians and trainers. He has never met a horse that could not be fixed. He has fixed horses that would not; trailer load, take a bit, go through water, lead without pulling, allow you to halter or catch. Rick believes it is never the horse's fault and with proper handling, all problems can be worked out.
Education/Credentials Rick has many years experience in being around and working with horses. Over the years he has watched good horsemen do the right thing and seen the wrong things done with bad results. Rick has a Bachelor of Science degree in Education.
Question Hey Rick. I am 27 years old and I have been around horses, mostly off the track horses since I was 6 years old. Me and my boyfriend just opened out our riding facility on Long Island, NY and I've been getting horses (including TB's raced and not raced) and a whole batch of other breeds. About 2 weeks ago, some guy dropped off 2 Thoroughbreds -- one was not raced named Mya, who I got sold for 9500 as a jumping prospect, while the other one was recently off the track named Leona, who I been trying to get trained to be a nice and easy going mare for someone to take to the shows and have as an all around all purpose horse. She has VERY BAD ground manners, which is no surprise and I've run into horses that have been worse. She will not shut up when I ride her .. constantly neighing. I realized the mare that came in with her was like her pal, and she left so that isn't really a major concern, but it's extremely obnoxious to me and all the other boarders who we have at our barn. She is turned out like 3 hours a day, and then is kept in her stall pretty much the rest of the time because she paces, paces, paces, and paces some more... which is also usual for a Thoroughbred. Her turnout is next to other horses, actually next to my daughters pony, which is a mare also. Shes really good under saddle, spooky but that's nothing.
Ok, now for the question. I been dealing with these types of animals for years and years, and I can usually get them to get their ground manners under control and safe for others to be around. She rears, drags, bolts forward out of NOWHERE, will not cross tie even when watched. She isn't aggressive at all but she will not work with me and it's becoming a hassle. If you have any tips, training tools, etc that could help me make her ground manners any better. That would be awesome and that would help me out alot.
Thanks..
Katie Proodian
Answer Hi Katie, I feel really bad for this horse. Her life has been pretty bad and her experiences with people have been worse. I really don't like to hear bad names pinned on horses. A horse is a horse, nothing more and nothing less. They can only survive in the world we give them. I would guess this horse has never been cared about and was only looked at as a way to make money. I never blame the horse for bad behavior, I blame the people that have let the horse down. Not saying you have but this horse has a lot of history that is not her fault.
I would leave this horse out in pasture with another horse, the pony or any other horse. Horses are herd animals and need buddies and a herd to feel safe, to relieve stress, to be mentally stimulated and to be able to relax. Putting a horse in a stall causes bad behavior from boredom and lack of stimulation. It makes a horse act out when out of his cell (stall) so then they are treated more harshly and then act out more for not knowing why and the cycle gets worse.
Put this poor horse in with another horse, it just lost a close friend, pasture buddy and herd member, although it may be annoying to you, it is a big stress and loss to her. Think like a horse, if you lost your boyfriend and someone said you were annoying and locked you up alone it would not help you. Let this horse mend her loss and buddy up to another horse. Then teach her some manners, if she is rearing, bolting and drags you, you or someone has taught her that she is stronger than you, bad lesson. No horse can drag you if you know how to handle them, take their head away and move to their butt. They cannot pull if they are moving their butt away from you.
This is a people problem so I say stop blaming the horse for her behavior, look at yourself or others for causing this behavior and find a way to help the horse find the right behavior.
From you questions, I do not think you really understand a horse or herd behavior. Natural horsemanship is about using behavior like a herd leader to control and teach the horse. I may be wrong and not trying to be mean, but I tell everyone with horse problems, work on yourself and your horsemanship and your horse problems will go away. A horse only responds to what WE do to them. If you let this horse out into the wild, all the problems you described would go away, why, because you take the people out of the equation. So if the horse is fine without us, then we have to realize that we are the problem not the horse.
I assure you that what you see as a hassle from this horse, she sees you as a hassle. Horses are a reflection of the handler. Take a look at your horses in your barn, the calm horses are handled by calm people, the high strung horses are handled by high strung people.
I put my site together to help people understand a horse better. Invest an hour or two and read my site, it will help you see horses different and understand where they come from and why they do what they do.
