Things our horses do that makes us want to rip our hair out!

[sublimequine]

I KNOW I'm not the only one around COTH that feels like ripping my hair out due to my mare's antics sometimes! So I want some people to sympathize with, dammit. :lol:

I changed barns because my mare was in a dry lot with extremely poor drainage. ie, she was forced to stand in 6 inch deep mud, with no dry spots in the entire lot. The risk of thrush, her slipping, her torquing something, etc, just made me worried sick. :no:

So I moved to this great new barn. No more dry lot, grass pastures. We had a torrential downpour here for about a week, flash floods and everything. And while the entire pasture was wet, there were still PLENTY of places that it was just damp grass and NOT mud. I'd say 80% of the pasture was just damp grass, and 20% mud.

I go out there one day, between rainstorms, and scan the pasture for my mare. 6 of the 8 horses are standing in the center of the pasture, grazing. My mare is not.

I look over.. and my mare and her BFF (best friend forever :lol: ) are standing in the WORST, MUDDIEST spot in the entire dang pasture! Fetlock deep mud. Just chillin there, happy as clams, in the nasty muddy muck. :confused:

Now, before anyone asks, there's nothing appealing about that spot in the pasture. Hay bales are nowhere near there. Water troughs aren't close by either. Nor are the shelters. They just apparently wanted to stand in the nastiest mudhole in the entire damn pasture just to make me mad! :mad: :lol: :lol:

So, someone else, PLEASE, tell me a story of their horse doing something similar. I beg you. :lol:

[SkipChange]

Oh gosh mine is a complete fool sometimes...

A couple of weeks ago he was eating a tree (go figure) and managed to snap off a branch (thin but close to 5ft long). Took it in his teeth and started running laps around the field carrying it. Of course it flopped around and spooked the mess out of him! He was bucking and rearing and galloping all over the place. But did he drop the branch??? NO. Just kept running laps. :lol::lol:

I'm pretty sure he thinks he's a dog after that number. He also will lick your face like a dog and likes to play "fetch." Meaning he grabs any object not bolted to the ground and throws it so he can chase after it. Saddle pads, blankets, brushes, open front boots, halters & lead ropes, even muck buckets. He can also untie every know I know how to tie, safety knots and regular knots alike.:mad: Being able to untie himself makes his game of fetch incredibly frustrating (and hilarious).

I wish I knew what was going through his mind sometimes :confused:

[SarahandSam]

Mine has a young mustang gelding buddy in his group that he plays with. He never understood playing before, but figured it out this summer. The other day I was driving down the driveway and see my horse biting the other gelding's butt. A second later, I look over and my gelding is standing on his hind legs with his front hooves planted on top of the other gelding's hindquarters. Just standing there, head turned, looking at me. "Nothing to see, lady!"

I was grooming him today and come to a big cowlick on his butt--look closer and there's a little scrape in the middle of it. Other gelding has one that matches. They both also have matching scrapes on their foreheads. Don't even know how they managed that one. Sigh.

My horse also is the only horse who is still trying to go wade into the pond in his pasture now that it's cold. My horse is going to cost me a fortune in snow fencing around the pond, because I know he's going to be the idiot out there when it's -20 degrees, trying to take a swim...

[colormecrosscountry]

I was bringing horses from my mare's field in. And she's not at the top of the pecking order, so I took two other horses with me instead of her and her buddy. Her fields in the back part of our barn [approx. 20 acres] so it doesn't take that long to get back and forth to the barn, get the two mares in their stalls and walk back to the field.. It probably takes all of 5 minutes.

I come back from putting the two other mares in their stalls. And my horse is completely COVERED in mud. Head to toe [hoof!]. She was perfectly clean when I was getting the other two mares. And of course, she picked the muddiest, nastiest spot in the field to roll.

The most annoying part? I had a lesson in forty-five minutes.

[SkipChange]

I was bringing horses from my mare's field in. And she's not at the top of the pecking order, so I took two other horses with me instead of her and her buddy. Her fields in the back part of our barn [approx. 20 acres] so it doesn't take that long to get back and forth to the barn, get the two mares in their stalls and walk back to the field.. It probably takes all of 5 minutes.

I come back from putting the two other mares in their stalls. And my horse is completely COVERED in mud. Head to toe [hoof!]. She was perfectly clean when I was getting the other two mares. And of course, she picked the muddiest, nastiest spot in the field to roll.

The most annoying part? I had a lesson in forty-five minutes.

Oh dang! Not cool!

[dacasodivine]

This is my 3 year old pony gelding.

He yanked out my arabian's really pretty tail. And I mean yanked. He would causually walk up and grab a mouthful and yank! That was this spring. He's stopped but she has a pathetic tail now.

I let the horses graze in the backyard now and then. One day my kids called me that he was on the back porch. He couldn't figure out how to get back down the stairs. Also, you can't have him in the backyard when clothes are on the line or he will pull them off, bending the umbrella clothes line, and deposit clothes all over the yard.

When he is in the front yard: He has kicked out the front blinker on my husband's car, removed the passanger side mirror on the same car, stepped on and bent the back tires on 3 bikes.

When I'm dragging my pasture with my makeshift pallet/tire thing, he will chase after it and try to stand on it.

That's all I can think of.:winkgrin:

[MunchkinsMom]

My 7-year old cutting bred gelding takes his job too seriously, he thinks his job is to herd the two old-timers into the barn and keep them trapped in a stall. There are too many times I go to the barn to find both of the retirees in one stall, with the "guard" standing in front of the stall door so they can't get out.
And my older gelding keeps finding something to get stung by, at least once a week he has some strange swelling on his face that is itching him like crazy.
And why is is that as soon as I finish cleaning all three stalls, that the mare MUST come in and leave a fresh pile for me to pick? Geeze, there is 9 acres of pasture for her to poop in, must she "christen" the clean stall? She doesn't even wait til I am back at the house, comes in as I am sweeping the aisle.

[dacasodivine]

I thought of more. I once put the saddle on my mare and walked away with it just sitting there. He walked up and pulled it off of her. If I'm grooming any horse, he will take everything out of the bucket. If it's him I'm grooming, I have to make sure he can't reach anything in the bucket or he will drop it on me!

[ILuvmyButtercups]

My old retired hunter-turned-light-riding-trail-horse cannot accept he's of little working use anymore. Still nickers and frets anytime I hook up the trailer, begs to be taken somewhere. Will stand for grooming, tacking, as long as he can participate - by biting, nipping, grabbing the tack, pawing, and generally being impossible to get ready in any time under 20 minutes. If I leave him on the wall for a second he gets bored and afraid I'll forget him, so he grabs whatever is handy on the rug rails, tears all the stuff off that, paws any buckets or grooming items within reach of his feet. Has to make all the noise he can muster! If in cross ties, and he can't rip everything off the walls, he'll just hollar, nicker, paw, clank and crash around. I moment I return, he's all goodness and light. Is insanely jealous of any attention you pay to horse or human.... it's all about him, he's the center of the universe. After trail rides off the farm, he never wants the ride to end, will try to go visiting all the other horses, and gets glum when we load up to go home!
I just love my Buttercups, can you tell????? :lol:

[suz]

my little haflinger mare is at a lovely barn with a very conscientious barn owner. last month she moved my mare into a stall overnights because one of the herd was being very protective of my mare and causing problems in the run-in.
my mare does not like being stalled and spent all of her time figuring out ways to get out. she also began escaping from every paddock she was in, she'd just limbo under and graze outside the fenceline. if the barn owner took another horse out first my mare would slip out and follow to the barn.
barn owner finally got all fencing haflinger proofed and the other day met me by the house and told me she had finally gotten the fencing and stall totally pony proofed. just then we look over and my pony has unlatched her three locks and comes walking out of her stall and down the road.
she now lives outdoors again and is no longer proving her point!

[Cinnabon2004]

These posts are hilarious!! I love seeing all the differences in the horses personalities! :winkgrin:

My mare, who is now 5, is of the opinion that whats yours is mine, no questions asked. She's really polite, never pushy, she just...well.. expects it.

She will eat any food you put in front of her, human or otherwise. And heaven forbid you go near her with a glass of any kind, especially red plastic cups (which we use for water frequently at the barn). She will take it out of your hand, tip it up and drink it; all of it. Coke, water, powerade, you name it. :lol:

Her pasture mate on the other hand feels the need to steal whatever you have. I left her halter near the gate for 5 seconds, come back to get her, and he is running across the pasture with the halter. So I chased him for 10 minutes and gave up. Where he then brought the halter over to me, and dropped it at my feet. Go figure! :rolleyes:

[billiebob]

My horse likes to watch other horses. His paddock adjoins the outdoor arena and he enjoys watching lessons. Today I was watching a particularly nice mare pack the kiddies around and told him to watch. He actually did for a few seconds! I swear when he watches other horses jump before he does he jumps better.

He tried to watch the chiropractor adjust his legs the other day. She'd stretch one out and instead of relaxing like the others did he looked at her like "whatcha doin' there lady?"

In the span of a week, he went from whinnying in his stall when finished with breakfast to being relatively quiet. The reason? He started throwing his blankets and his halter (as well as those belonging to his neighbor) off the rack by his door. And when that got boring, he figured out how to undo his latch and turn himself out. Just calmly walks out to his paddock gate.

This is the horse that I thought was slightly boring (and um, not overly intelligent) when I got him. He's been saving it up for 8 months, I guess. :)

[murphyluv]

OMG my horse pissed me off when he was in electric tape fencing- two strand, wide electric tape. I'd say the bottom strand was about 3 feet off of the ground. he would GALLOP up to it, scramble under, snatch the alfalfa hay the oldies were eating, and run back under before I could run over there and beat his little butt... OH where was a baseball bat when you needed one. and he would do this constantly... it did not stop until I moved him.

[thatmoody]

Yup, if they get quiet, you should worry. My recently gelded stallion is a houdini. He can open his stall, so we have a rope with a snap to the handle. I caught him reaching WAY down to untie the rope the other day.

[mvp]

My gelding, usually protective of his precious body, scraped some fur off right up around the base of his forelock. When I asked him about it he said "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." None of his fence line buddies or T/O people were talking either. He tried to smooth is forelock over it, hoping no one would notice.

[BlueEyedSorrel]

I was at the barn yesterday, grooming Pixie. A fellow boarder observed that compared to when we arrived almost 2 years ago, she is so calm and relaxed now. I bask in the praise, say that yes it has been a long road, but I finally think I have her respect and she's been progressing steadily. I even say I'm hoping to start riding her again soon.

You know the sly evil grin the Grinch does as he's contemplating stealing all the xmas presents in Whoville?;) I swear Pixie got that same look on her face.

Fast forward 20 minutes. Our "lunging" becomes a rodeo show of leaps, bucks, squeals, and death-defying scoot&slips. The same horse that was going calmly over cavelletti, accepting side reins and listening attentively the last time I worked her (about week ago due to weather/car trouble/work) acted as though she had never heard the word "whoa" in her life. And no, she's not stalled and isn't over-grained. 24/7 pasture board, minimal grain. This is just her....a chestnut TB mare personality in a chunky little QH body. After 15 minutes of drama, I decided to call it quits for the day, since her brain had clearly left the building, maybe the planet.

No one will be able to convince me that Pixie didn't hear the conversation about her remarkable progress and decide to humble me. I think she went back to the pasture and told her friends how she humbled her owner.
BES

[Woodland]

Shane paws when he eats his grain to the point where he knocks the boards off of his stall in front. He has one board missing and two loose on one side. i can not make him stop and If I use a floor feeder he knocks it all over his stall spilling everything as he eats.

I am so fed up last week i stopped fixing his stall front! If it were a boarder i would never leave it like it is - but I am sick of it! When he knocks the boards off he rips his shoes off - GRRRR!

Love him to pieces - but SICK OF THE PAWING.

His stall is in a corner not of any bother or harm to any other person or horse.

[Mimi La Rue]

My horse loves to bite clothing. I don't know how he does it and doesn't get any skin, but he hasn't so far. He flashes people! He has done it to like 5 different people. When you don't expect it he will grab your tshirt and pull up real quick. I wore a hoody sweatshirt the other night and he grabbed the hoody string and was trying to chew on that and once I was painting his hooves and he grabbed my hat right off my head. I don't know how he just gets the clothing and no skin, but I alway punish him (or try) because one day I know he probably will accidently get me or someone. If I go down to the barn in a tight shirt he will leave me alone, he just goes after any loose clothing.

[ILuvmyButtercups]

My horse loves to bite clothing. I don't know how he does it and doesn't get any skin, but he hasn't so far. He flashes people! He has done it to like 5 different people. When you don't expect it he will grab your tshirt and pull up real quick. I wore a hoody sweatshirt the other night and he grabbed the hoody string and was trying to chew on that and once I was painting his hooves and he grabbed my hat right off my head. I don't know how he just gets the clothing and no skin, but I alway punish him (or try) because one day I know he probably will accidently get me or someone. If I go down to the barn in a tight shirt he will leave me alone, he just goes after any loose clothing.

:yes: Buttercups expresses his affection (?) by making contact through nipping at whatever is presented to him. But he's careful to only get the clothes. Sometimes he misses and gets skin, then recoils in horror, looks soooooooo sorry! I don't imagine he really is sorry, just afraid he'll get bopped hard on the nose for his indiscretion. He's clever about how aggressive to be - heavy winter coats get a good chomp, but summer tops are fairly ignored. So, he obviously doesn't want to hurt me, just make his presence be known! :lol:

[carp]

Last year we redid the shelters in the pasture. New roofs, new lumber. The horses immediately started chewing on the shelters. The pasture has a lot of trees. Last winter we had a bad ice storm, and a number of the trees came down. We cleaned up the ones which were problems and left the rest. The horses spent the rest of the winter happily debarking the aspen and pine logs left in their pasture. Did they stop chewing on the shelters? Of course not! 10 acres of all sorts of chewables and free choice hay, and they still have to eat the buildings.

[twinkle]

I really needed this thread. You guys have me laughing out loud--shhhh,,in the library.

[Scaredacoops]

I noticed that my gelding was losing a lot of his tail. I would find big hunks of it out in the field. One day I saw him go down to roll and his big brother (1700lb draft X) runs over to him, stands on his tail, and proceeds to bite him. Of course he jumped up while "Big Foot" was still standing on his tail. Mystery solved.

Mr. "Wimpy Tail" just loves to pee in the trailer. He will stand tied to the trailer for a couple of hours after a ride and hold it until I load him up, then let it go. I just had the trailer mats pulled and the floor cleaned so decided to see if he would pee in a bucket. I got one of those rubber feed tubs, put shavings in it and slid it under him. Sure enough, he hit the bucket! Might not work for a mare though.

[Vesper Sparrow]

When I'm riding my mare, she rarely poops in the arena or in the ring. No, she waits until she's on the crossties, where I'M responsible for picking it up. And she paws impatiently until I go get the pitchfork because she hates stepping in it and getting her precious little feet dirty.

Today, we had about a 20 minute ride in the ring and then at least an hour trail ride. And when did she poop? Not in the ring, not out on the trail but right after we came back and I put her on the crossties...

She must think I'm not only her treat dispenser but also her personal toilet assistant.

Oh yeah, and Miss Dainty who doesn't like to step in manure is also the sloppiest eater imaginable. The food is not only flung outside her stall and on her saddle rack but it also ends up all over her face.

[Villager]

Two of my ponies need their hay soaked in water tubs in order to eat. My third pony gets visiting priveledges to wander into their paddock after meal times, in great hopes of scarfing up the last wisps of soaked hay.
In his greediness, he dumps all water buckets thinking there is more at the bottom or under the buckets. Every meal time I have to refill water buckets. Even worse,one of the pony mares now starting to dump! I have tried everything to keep them upright. Consequently he isn't allowed to visit them in their paddocks as much as he would like.

[LuvMyTB]

Mine refuses to accept that every horse is not his personal playmate. He pesters and bothers and annoys the other horses until they have no choice but to kick/bite him, which leaves lovely marks all over his body.

Last week I caught him grabbing another horse by the tail and attempting to drag the horse backwards. The other horse, clearly horrified by this, ran around in little circles with my gelding chasing after him, still holding his tail in his mouth. Eventually he let go and went and grabbed another horse by the tail.......

I am SO tired of picking scabs off of my horse!

[catknsn]

Mine pulls off every tail sock/wrap ever invented, usually taking huge hunks of tail along with it. I have thrown my hands in the air and am just going to buy him a tail. Fortunately they're legal in QH.

And he grabs everything that he can. We have a sawhorse cow with twine for a tail that the guys practice roping on, and my trainer caught him carrying it around the arena by the tail. He has pulled a tarp off the wall, carries around longe whips, and grabbed the hose away from my trainer's mom and turned it on her as she was filling his trough. He is lucky he is cute.

[Trevelyan96]

Inky has a thing for my sawdust pile. If I leave the barn door cracked enough for him to squeeze through for even a minute, he'll make a beeline for the sawdust pile and paw the whole thing down. He can spread an entire dumptruck load all over the barn aisle in less than 3 mintues. Ask me how I know. The barn doors were barely cracked wide enough for ME to squeeze through!

And Rico is not allowed to be anywhere near another horse wearing a halter. He has more creative ways of trying to murder other horses with their own halter than I have ever seen. I have found his pasture mates with them cinched around their muzzle, strangled, chin straps between their teeth, etc., etc., after just 2 minutes in the same paddock with him. Not 1 or 2 or 3 times. Every time.

[Cinnabon2004]

And she paws impatiently until I go get the pitchfork because she hates stepping in it and getting her precious little feet dirty.


My horse is the same way. She REFUSES to ever step in it. However mud has no effect on her at all.

She only goes when I'm lunging her it seems, and she always goes right in the path. So every time she comes around the circle she LEAPS over it, because god forbid she just steps over it like a normal horse. W/T/C doesn't matter.. she hops over it like a deer.

Oh and her new favorite habit is stepping in water troughs and just standing there in it. Like she is waiting for her pedicure to begin. How do I end up with high maintenance horses?!?!:lol: