Would appreciate some input

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MistyMorning

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I've got a 12YO mare that every time I am bringing hay in she makes a break for the open gate. This started about a month ago and she got out. She didn't take off or anything just went on a little stroll around the place. After about 15 minutes I walked up to her, haltered her and led her back into the corral. I tied her for about an hour in there and than had to leave so I untied her.

She has since tried it every time I'm bringing the hay in. It's pretty difficult to be jumping on and off the tractor and opening gates, but this has never been a problem before, she would just move out of the way. She hasn't gotten out again, but she is for sure looking for that opening and I was wondering if there is a way to break this or if I am just going to have to take the extra time and tie her while I'm doing it.
 
We had a similar problems with one of mom's roping horses once. He made a run for it when mom opened his stall door. We just let him go about his business and completely ignored him. Ignoring him apparently bothered him, so he returned to the barn. So instead of letting him come in, we kept chasing him off. This went on for about an hour...then mom opened his stall door and he walked right back in. (And no he wasn't confined to a stall all the time)
 
Thanks for the reply FG. My issue with this behavior is that it is new and with her one has to curb any new behavior issues pretty quick, she will try everything/anything at least once. The trainer that I go to for most of these kinds of questions is incapacitated right now and I'm kinda at a loss as to how to deal with this issue as it will be some time before I can quit bringing hay in.
 
This may be a little vague since it depends on why the mare is behaving this way, (curiosity, boredom, ect,) but make the bad behavior difficult. If she wants out you could always move her away from the other horses (assuming there are more) and keep her there until she decides that the pasture is a good place to be.
 
Take a lunging whip with you next time and let her have it when she moves toward the gate , might take a couple times but you will get some respect very quickly. We have a similar issue with a group of mares that crowd us when feeding , now they never know whether i have the whip or not and give me the space to throw hay , probably have to do it about once a month. don't show the whip until it's time to use it !

after that I can just point at them and give em the look and they stay off the gates.
 
Used the lunge whip today, she wouldn't even come close to the gate or me. Was a tad uncomfortable on the tractor today though as my hip was sore from getting tossed by her twice yesterday. I can't wait until the round pen dries out. We should have some fun than! :D
 
Angus Cowman":1chsp1uh said:
If that hip is really sore maybe Angrie will let Oof Duh come rub it for you :lol:
AC you do realize that "oaf fer duh" is not real don't you. :nod:
 
MistyMorning":26taocqf said:
Angus Cowman":26taocqf said:
If that hip is really sore maybe Angrie will let Oof Duh come rub it for you :lol:
AC you do realize that "oaf fer duh" is not real don't you. :nod:
yes I realize he is Angries imaginary friend but we have to humor her or she might go postal on us
 
MistyMorning":26dosduh said:
Thanks for the reply FG. My issue with this behavior is that it is new and with her one has to curb any new behavior issues pretty quick, she will try everything/anything at least once. The trainer that I go to for most of these kinds of questions is incapacitated right now and I'm kinda at a loss as to how to deal with this issue as it will be some time before I can quit bringing hay in.

MistyMorning,if you have a mare that will try anything/everything,you have a horse I want,those are the kind I look for.
Some horses are just more curious than others and in my humble opinion are easier to train,sounds to me like you have a nice mare,I think you will find most horses will exit an open gate,probably just curious.leave her in the stall while you do your hay chores or tie her.............good luck
 
HAY MAKER":28xa1j82 said:
MistyMorning,if you have a mare that will try anything/everything,you have a horse I want,those are the kind I look for.
Some horses are just more curious than others and in my humble opinion are easier to train,sounds to me like you have a nice mare,I think you will find most horses will exit an open gate,probably just curious.leave her in the stall while you do your hay chores or tie her.............good luck

Well Hay Maker thank you so much, that is encouraging. It is also much the same thing my trainer says about her. We spent the afternoon with some quality time in the round pen today. Since the tossing incident and head flying about she(my trainer) suggested going right back to the basics. We did today, getting her to give to the bit again and after some time, she was doing real nicely.

I have been using the lunge whip with great success lately. I just have to flick it a little bit and she runs and hides behind the cows. Of course she adds the death stare and tail business, but she stays way back. :D
 
I've been in the horse breeding business for 11 years, and I've owned horses all my life. Your horse is spoiled, and at 12YO that is a non-desirable trait. At that age she should be trained completely. Obviously since she is out with cows she has room to exhaust any built up energy, therefore she is disrespecting you, and that is no ones fault but your own. I have my original show mare( 15YO ) and my wifes gelding ( 8YO ) both have gone as long as 2 years w/o riding due to our show schedules and we can still catch and work them anytime with no problems.
You need to get the respect of your horse or you'll get more than a sore hip from her.
 
gregrio":23n0z75j said:
I've been in the horse breeding business for 11 years, and I've owned horses all my life. Your horse is spoiled, and at 12YO that is a non-desirable trait. At that age she should be trained completely. Obviously since she is out with cows she has room to exhaust any built up energy, therefore she is disrespecting you, and that is no ones fault but your own. I have my original show mare( 15YO ) and my wifes gelding ( 8YO ) both have gone as long as 2 years w/o riding due to our show schedules and we can still catch and work them anytime with no problems.
You need to get the respect of your horse or you'll get more than a sore hip from her.

Thanks for the reply gregrio. A couple of things about this mare that I didn't post. I purchased her in the begining of Sept. last year. So I have owned her less than a year. Was able to put 60 days hard on her with the assistance of a trainer who visited us once a week. We made huge progress with her, but alas winter comes early here and it was a nasty cold one. I rode maybe ten times this winter. My mistake on the day she tossed me was not to have done some round pen work first.

She is willful, I do not spoil her, she gets disciplined for any undesirable behavior. I refuse to have a 1000lb animal run roughshod over me. It's a matter of safety.
 
Good attitude to have. Having a professional trainer is a big plus, but the Clinton Anderson DVDs are still a good idea for personal knowledge that you can reference at your convenance. He has videos on a wide range of traing steps and adresses many different problems. Just a suggestion.
 
I would really try to avoid the Clinton Andersen videos or for that matter any of the other traveling shows that have special patented training and products for sale, those never work but attract alot of people to spend money. No substitute for just good old fashioned hard work and horse psychology and Clinton Anderson sure misses the boat on that.
 
well hayray I agree that there are alot of crappy so called horse trainers, but in the last 2 years I've worked some of Clintons techniques, and had good results.
 
She may just be wanting some attention. My mare when she was younger would sneek out of the gate and then when I went to catch her and get her back in she would wait until I was within reaching her neck and then run like crazy in big circles like a colt would do a mare. She would just stop and let me get close to her just to do it again finally after a while of chasing she would let me catch her usually after we were a way from the house and I would jump on her bareback and take a quick ride around. She would also stick her feet through the bottom of our field fence and I would have to go and get it out until I got wise and just ignored her. Watching from inside the house she would just gently lift her foot out and go on about her business. The point is when they figure something isn't going to work they will try something else. She is now 10 years old and has been retired but don't think that she isn't still up for a game of catch me if you can when I have time except since I can't ride her do to a arthritic leg she just chases me for a while and we go back and forth. Gotta love those good old Hancock horses!
 

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