Naughty things...

[Sparky]

Mine likes to grab the zipper pull on my jacket and zip it up and down--and I think it's pretty damn funny so I let him do it and then I give him a treat

[abbydp]

My boy's "reward" after working is a good head rub. Once the bridle is off only, though.
I feed him treats out of my hand. He is the most polite treat-taker I have ever met, even with little kids.
He Loffs little kids - likes to smell them.
I lead him in and out with just a rope around his neck.
I do lots of stupid stuff that could illicit a kick.
I very often change, put on, or remove his blankets out in the field with no halter or anything, and other horses around

I'm sure there's more, but that's all Im gonna cop to right now!

[theoldgreymare]

Mine likes to grab the zipper pull on my jacket and zip it up and down--and I think it's pretty damn funny so I let him do it and then I give him a treat

Lol...we have a naughty pony that does that too.......it's like he thinks the carrots are hidden insie your coat or something. He is the same one that loves to be ponied.....by the golfcart. He would trot alongside that thing for hours if I let him. Very bad, I know.....

[BumbleBee]

It's always seemed to be a sign of affection and contentment, as once she starts licking she usually sighs real big and closes her eyes.

My gelding does the same thing when I let him hold my hand in his mouth... did I just admit to doing that. It's totally stupid and I mentally smack myself every time he cons me into it. I am sure one day I will get an inadvertent bite but it's obvious he just wants to hold it. His eyes close imidiatley when I let him and he just sits there gently holding my hand between his teeth. Yes I just said that.

Do I get the big stupid owner award?

Did I mention I am human and have my flaws?

[HiddenStars826]

My friend and I laugh all the time about this one. I had literally just joined PC this summer (ok, I'm almost 21, but hey we can be in til 25 haha), just handed in paperwork. We were all at the barn getting horses ready for a show the next day, and for some reason friend was reading the D manual. Just for kicks she flipped to the barn safety section, then pulled out the camera. She called me over a little later and I looked at the picture and compared it to the manual.
What was wrong? We keep hay/shavings in the aisle of the barn. We had a pitchfork in the doorway. ALL of us are in shorts/sneakers. One of the girls is on her pony bareback with a halter, no helmet (shorts/sneakers). Another girl is on her knees painting her horse's feet, horse is groundtied. There's a horse grazing next to the washstall with a halter/lead, no person. My horse and friend's daughter's pony are tied at the washstall together, no breakaway halters, and the two of us are behind/near their butts doing the tail and back legs. On the other side of the tie rail is my Arab apparently playing halter tag with the horse I was bathing. We cringed looking at it. She took a photo later of me riding my horse around bareback/bridleless (I had a helmet at least) around the barn (ie, not in an enclosed area) with horses in the background loose, farm equipment everywhere...thankfully you couldn't see the bowed tendon that we are recouping due to the polo wraps...polo wraps aren't allowed at my level either, apparently...
I'm such a bad pony clubber.

[Still Workingonit]

Hmmm....
1) Allow certain horses to rub their heads on me (against my back and with me leaning on a strong gate).
2) Leading my oldies by their manes - you can tell when they are in the mood to require a halter or a rope or, at least, something more than that.
3) mutually grooming with my mare - she has learnt the "no teeth" command and wraps her lips around her teeth - it is quite funny to see. Not saying that she doesnt forget at times ...
4) ditto 3 with my old boy who has almost no front teeth anyway so the "no teeth" command is not really that vital with him
5) moving the horses by opening a gate into the new paddock and "calling" them as I would do with the cattle ("Come on, come on, come on my lovelies") or as I call our feral/free-range chickens to come for grub ("here chick chick chiiiiiiiickeee" there are variations on this one) as they have learnt that these calls usually mean more food.

[talkofthetown]

Oh wow, are all of these things really looked down upon? oops :lol

1. Ride bareback/halter/blankets/pajamas/at night (a helmet? pff! )
2. Play around loose in the pasture
3. Treats fed by hand, anywhere and everywhere. Including bribing into the trailer...
4. I mount while the reins are slack, up the neck, horse totally not paying attention to me
5. I rarely fasten the chin strap on my helmet
6. I pony the horse behind a golf cart, truck, 4 wheeler, whatever
7. My tack (bit excluded) is pretty much filthy
8. Let him loose (halter and lead on) to graze nearby

Oh, these were supposed to be naughty things the horses do, weren't they? Let's see, he totally gets away with love nibbles and licks (teeth never come out). He reallydoesn't like being poked in the ribs to scootch over- ears back, nostrils flare, head tosses, very threatening- and yeah, I should probably correct that, but he moves calmly if you ask nicely. And hey, I don't like people poking me to get out of the way either...

[eventchic33]

Lets see..... I let my pony

--untie my shoes, bite my toes when mounted(she doesn't actually bite just grasps them when bored), eat her grain from a big rubber spoon, give me kisses, chew on my hair, my OTTB bites the fence when I tack him up, oh yeah I tie all my guys to the fence when I tack up, wander in and out of the barn when I am cleaning stalls. The OTTB is just starting to develop a sense of humor so I let him do pretty much whatever he wants.

[gloryeyes]

My favorite of my boss's horses is her retired Olympic mount, and he's a snarky, cranky, smart-as-a-whip sonuvagun. He's the kind of horse who'll lunge at you when you open his stall door if he's in that frame of mind.

I made a deal with him when I first started taking care of him - I'd trust him to not hurt me if he agreed to never hurt me intentionally.

Now he sneaks carrots out of my back pockets while I groom him, and he nickers when he sees me ('cause I usually have a pear for him - his favorite!).

I let him roll at the end of the leadline when I hand walk him (he's very careful), and I let him lead me to the feed room so I can get him an extra carrot. Shameful!

He messes with me sometimes, just because he can. For example, once when I was standing in front of his open-top dutch-door stall, he carefully enfolded some of the skin on my back between his front teeth, and gently held it for a while. Aaaaaugh! I stood very still until he let me go - fortunately without biting down. Now I know how risky it is to stand in front of his door!

[2DogsFarm]

Oh Lord...where to start....

As a disclaimer these behaviors are only allowed because it's just me & my 2 boys at home.
Every one has Throw Out of Boarding Barn written all over

*almost never halter to bring in from pasture - usually a hand under the cheek of one and the other follows (hey! there might be food involved!)
If they see me coming with a halter/lead they seem to know it means work and then we play Catch until they're bored

*never crosstie (no 2 beams aligned right in my small barn) - when the shoer comes I hold them both, nose to nose, in the aisle for him & his son to trim. They get tacked up standing loose in the aisleway, sorta ground-tied.

*leave stall doors open when feeding - this means Cash pushes the door all the way open to let himself into the aisle where he can get to the "good" hay stacked on pallets. Vern rarely crosses the Invisible Line from stall to aisle & seems curious as to how Cash does it. I seem to have Xtra-strength pallets that can support 1300# of TWH.

*tour the property - all 5ac - bareback with a rope halter/hackamore, including grazing rights and a stop by the apple & pear trees for windfalls

[JustABay]

For Shame! I am not exactly the role model.....My guy frisks me for treats, snuggles for head hugs, wanders around the barn while I muck his stall, goes to indoor turnout with no halter-we just open his stall door and let him go! Tack is filthy, I am a scratching post, lying on my guy bareback while he's grazing is the perfect way to spend a hot summer day, and I think I'm in enough trouble to keep listing!!

[BansheeBreeze]

There's one horse i used to ride that was just a trail horse but when I'd take him out by myself we'd go running. He would buck and jump, not being bad, but just feeling good and having fun. Since nobody else ever ran with him, I didn't discipline him. Just laughed and sometimes whooped and hollered to get him more riled up. He loved it!

I've also ridden 100's of times bareback with no halter, just jump on them in the pasture and let them run around. Had one horse that I would sleep laying backwards on, loose out in the field. And me and my ex would put our feet in each others stirrups and ride, kind of our little thing(only tip toes though) but so stupid.

[kellidahorsegirl]

HAHAHHAHA whats funny is that everything I do with my horses..I never realized that they were BAD things that were naughty! HAHAHAHHAHA

I stack five blankets over my head....so I'm walking like a ghost...wander into their pen like that and toss them on each of the horses loose,,,no biggy. One time made my gelding wear his and carry the rest FOR me.

I let them rub on me...I feed them treats with my hand...whatever

They kinda do whatever they want really..cuz if its a behavior that doesn't bug me,,,I don't care what other people think...no one else touches them anyway. My resale project though...man, she has manners that just make my horses look awful!

[catknsn]

I used to let my old mare zip and unzip my jacket. She was awesome. She crossed the Bridge last summer so now I have to unzip my own jacket.

I currently have two old mares that I permit to mutually groom me. Neither one has ever used her teeth. One of them is a particularly talented back-scratcher.

I am much more strict with horses that may be sold at some point, but if I know they are lifers I am pretty permissive.

[Thomas_1]

I used to let my old mare zip and unzip my jacket. She was awesome.

I also do that. It's why all my jackets have lost the toggles on their zips!

The horse that's best at it also "steals hats" and again I let him take my cap but it can be a little disconcerting when he runs up behind me to steal it! He's funny then though because he swipes it off my head and runs off and I chase him and he throws it away from me till I turn away and then he picks it up and bring it to me. I've got some quite funny photos of him doing that!

And some more I do:

I've a hand reared horse that is a pain in the butt - he thinks I'm "mummy" - except he's now 13 years old and 17.2 hands! When I'm doing tractor work in the paddock where he is I leave the door open so he can trot alongside with his head in the cab!

When I groom the above he grooms me back and even sucks my ears!

I've a welsh section A that's a real cutie - the one I sometimes ride in bareback. When it's a customer free day and they're all turned out and having a day off and I'm building carriages in my workshop I let her tag along with me and including into the workshop.

And I suppose I ought to confess to trying to ride a pair of horses by standing with a foot on each of their backsides!

[HiddenStars826]

And I suppose I ought to confess to trying to ride a pair of horses by standing with a foot on each of their backsides!

Somehow I'm not surprised!!!

[Gray Horse H/J]

I always let my horse rub his head on my back, but only after the bridle comes off.

When I get on, I don't go out of my way to make him stand at the mounting block. He's usually wandering off as soon as my left foot is in the stirrup - although he doesn't wander very fast! However, he will stand if you make him, or if someone is standing at his head. My mom has gotten on him (she doesn't ride) and he stood like a statue while she get on with me holding him.

I hate cleaning tack. The tack cleaning gurus of the world would slap me if they saw my tack. I clean it when truly necessary - like if mud splashed up on it.

This isn't so bad, but every single time I do it I hear my former BO's voice in the back of my mind - leading without a lead rope. I'll lead him with just a halter all the way down the barn aisle. When I was a kid, the BO would SCREECH at us for doing this.

[Janet]

In the confines of the barn and paddock, I often "lead" with just my hand on the nose (no halter, no lead rope).

I sometimes let Music wander around the aisle on her own.

In the summer, while we are walking out, I let them grab grass with the bridle on, as long as they KEEP MOVING.

I also plead guilty to negligence in the tack cleaning department, but the bit gets rinsed every time.

[lcw579]

This thread has made me realize that I am a very BAD horseperson! I have been guilty of just about everything mentioned on this thread at one time or another.

My only saving grace is that I always clean my tack after every ride - can't help it, I hate riding in dirty tack! I'll even wipe a bridle off quickly before I ride if someone else left it dirty. I'm sure my DH wished I was that anal about the house!

[jeano]

mine are terrible beggars and both are velcro and zipper broke, meaning every time they hear rrrripp or zzzzip they stop dead and crane their heads around for a treat--the further refinement of this, is that they both know my riding buddy is more apt to have better treats in HER saddlebags or pockets, so either will march down the trail with his/her head in buddy's lap as she rides her horse.

And we laugh like fools every time they do this.

I clean tack once a year whether it needs it or not.

I pick out feet almost as often as I clean tack--in my defense, horse are barefoot, have rockhard feet, live on a sandy pasture, and to date have never had anything to pick except once there was a stone stuck up in a cleft.

I ride into the barn almost evey time I ride.

I ride out on the trails all alone by myself and never give anyone any clue as to where I'm going or when I'm coming back.

I snap reins to the bit.

I feed no supplements, own no horse blankets, use no bedding and havent picked poop out of the pasture in two years. So far no one has died.