If
you have a question for Cheski, send it to: Ask the Experts,
NZ Horse & Pony Magazine, PO Box 12965, Penrose, Auckland.
Alternatively, you can fax us on 09 634 2948 or e-mail us
at editor@horse-pony.co.nz,
remembering to include your postal address. Pen names may
be used, but anonymous letters will not be accepted. Letters
may be edited for length and clarity
Q : My girl is a 10-year-old wild/stationbred from the backblocks
of Taranaki, with a mostly unknown past. She has been part
of a herd situation for at least the past year, living and
working with seven others. The herd share a paddock, work together
and usually hack out in a group of no less than four.
I am moving her away from this situation to new grazing in another
part of the country. My question is how to handle her without
her herd buddies? She is an assertive mare at 10, but is certainly
not the leader or alpha horse. Her natural inclination is to
be a follower but I will need her to be handled and ridden alone.
How do I increase her confidence without her herd around her?
How firm do I need to be in disciplining her if she plays up?
Do you have any suggestions as to how to ease the transition
in her lifestyle?
SG, New Plymouth
A : Hi SG, what makes you think that your mare’s confidence
needs “increasing”?
I think you’ll be surprised to find that your girl will
enjoy a bit of time by herself. Especially when she realises
that the solo option opens so many more doors and opportunities
for her.
If she were human and had always been shopping with at least
four members of her family (even if she were only going to the
dairy) do you think she might find it refreshing to be able to
have a bit of privacy and to do something she wants without being
continually coerced into following the majority decision?
How would you approach the situation if she were human?
Would you offer your human friend calm support by saying, ‘Hey,
I know you’re upset because you’ve left your family
behind but when you’re ready I’m here to talk to
and we’re going on lots of adventures together. I know
you’re upset right now. That’s okay. It’s understandable;
hell, you’ve lived with that lot for at least a year. Don’t
fret, there’s no hurry, just let me know when you’re
ready then we’ll have a special meal and a nice drink and
I’ve got all day if you like.’
Or would you be firm and rough up your human friend, because
she’s playing up and needs disciplining?
I think you’d probably pick the first option, because you
don’t sound like a terror-ist.
Humans and horses are animals, and as animals we all have the
same basic feelings and needs. All species can read vibes, especially
compassion and confidence. It is not difficult to tell if an
animal (of any species) is agitated; they exude a certain frantic
energy. The best way to deal with this energy is to stay out
of their way while they are being explosive but make it obvious
that when and if they want support, you’re there to help.
As you don’t yet speak Horse and your mare doesn’t
speak English, both of you need to talk very slowly to each other,
lip read and use sign language to communicate properly.
You need to take responsibility for initiating this calm communication
and if you start with a jerk on the headcollar, a punch in the
neck, an elbow in the ribs or a growling, I don’t think
you’ll be successful.
Am I making sense?
So how should you set the stage for your mare to enjoy being
by herself?
Take her away from her mates, somewhere they are out of sight
and earshot. Ideally, put her in a small safe yard so that she’s
confined but not restrained. If you have to tie her up give her
plenty of room to swing around as much as she likes in her own
space.
She will probably be agitated and have lots of frantic energy,
so the equation doesn’t need any of yours. You need to
deliberately slump your body, move, breathe, think and talk slowly
and quietly with lots of sighing. If you do this you will cause
her energy to dissipate. It might take a bit of time…that’s
fine. Time taken now will save you heaps of time later.
Remind her that you’ve tossed a tasty concoction of yummy
treats together in her own feed bin and when she’s ready
and isn’t going to knock everything over it’s all
hers. When she is comfortable in her own company, introduce yours.
If you find that she doesn’t want to talk to you – respect
her wishes and go away.
SG, have you ever asked someone who is trying to touch you and
restrain you to go away? How do you feel when they keep touching
and restraining? Have you ever felt panic if you’ve felt
that the other person was about to inflict pain on you, or anger
if you’ve thought that the restraint was irritating?
Could your mare react in the same way?
Once she realises that you sympathise with her concerns about
being by herself and you’ve got the means to give her happy
ridden adventures to nice places, she’ll be fine by herself.
The key to the transition will be for you to give her the time
and the space to have a cry without her feeling that you are
smothering her, and she certainly doesn’t need “discipline”.
 |
You
may be surprised to find
your horse enjoys solo adventures |
Q : I have a 20-year-old gelding. I’ve had him for 18 months
and he’s developed a bit of a problem – whenever
I stand beside him and give him treats or pat him he nips me
on the legs.
He’s never bitten me hard but it gives me a fright. He
always gets told off, but a few minutes later he tries to have
another go. Have you got any idea why he would do this or any
ways to make him stop?
ST, North Island
A :This is another example of an apparently simple question that
has sent my train of thought down a road to a clearing – thanks,
ST.
The first thing we need to get very clear is: your fella is
not saying, ‘Goodie… tomorrow ST is going to turn up
with some treats and I’m going to gnash my teeth, bite
and frighten her. Heh, heh, can’t wait! [evil grin and
satisfied swish of tail]...’
He doesn’t have a personal vendetta against you. He’s
complaining about what you’re doing to him, not about YOU
personally.
You’ve got yourself a grumpy old man, ST so to answer your
question I’m going to ask you a few.
I wonder if he’s trying to tell you something? If
he is, what’s he trying to tell you?
‘Give me all my treats NOW, and go away’? or ‘Don’t
pat me because the muscles you’re smacking hurt’?
If you think it’s the first, then I would suggest that
you don’t feed him treats by hand because he’s turned
into an old thug who mugs and robs nice people like you. If you
want to give him tasty morsels to eat, put them in his feed and
leave him to it. Just a point though – if he is using
language that offends you, why are you giving him treats at all?
If you think the bites are a reaction to the way you are patting
/ touching him then really analyse how and where you’re
touching him.
If you’re ‘patting’ him, are you using the
same sort of heartiness that you would on a team mate who’s
just scored the winning points for your sports team, or are you
using the sort of tenderness and gentleness that you would like
your partner or favourite relative to touch you with?
The area we like to pat horses is usually their neck. What we’re
actually ‘patting’ is a large muscle group. This
muscle group can get very sore.
Is your guy ewe-necked? Does he have pronounced underside muscles
and very little top line? Is he a bit light and therefore missing
a nice layer of padding to cover his musculoskeletal frame? Yes?
Then I think therein lies your answer.
Ever wondered why he might have a ewe-neck? Could it be that
he has developed those muscles by deliberately holding his head
and neck up? I wonder if he’s done this because it hurts
him to carry his head and neck down with his weight forward and
over his front legs.
In researching this answer I asked Google to show me webpages
about weight of a horse’s head and neck and it didn’t
surprise me to find that although head and neck represent only
10% of the horse’s weight, the position of the head and
neck, sticking out in front of the body, gives them a relatively
large influence on the horse’s balance and weight distribution.
The standing horse carries 55-60% of his weight on the front
limbs and only 40-45% of his weight on the hind limbs.
One of the pages I read talked about a study that showed that
in a stationary horse with the head in the neutral position,
the front limbs carried 58% of the horse’s weight and the
hind limbs carried 42%. When the head and neck were lowered,
the weight on the front limbs increased to 60% and the weight
on the hind limbs decreased to 40%. When the head and neck were
elevated, the weight on the front limbs was reduced to 56% and
the weight on the hind limbs increased to 44%. Therefore, the
centre of gravity moved closer to the front limbs when the head
and neck were lowered and moved closer to the hind limbs when
the head and neck were elevated.
This study did not take into account the effect of forward momentum
on the percentage of weight carried by the front legs. As an
example, lead a horse, and watch how at the moment of following
you, the horse must fractionally rock his weight back on to his
hocks to be able to lift his front foot from the ground.
Is it possible that in your gent’s 20 years he’s
used and abused his front legs so they are showing signs of wear
and tear and so he’s been over-working his neck muscles
to carry his head and neck up to keep the weight off his sore
legs?
Have you ever injured a knee or ankle and ended up with a set
of sore muscles in your back or other leg because of the way
you’ve been using or carrying your body to avoid aggravating
your injury?
Have you ever protected these sore muscles from someone or something
that looks as though they’re going to knock them? I
have and I’ve been quite vociferous on occasion.
You say you always tell him off. How?
Are you sympathetic and use phrases like ‘Yeah, yeah,
you old grump, come on. All I want to do is give you a little
stroke. For some strange reason I think you’re pretty
cool and I’ve chosen to hang out with you and dispense
these nice treats. So smile you old fool or I’ll take these
goodies away’?
Or do you move quickly, raise your voice, and shout something
like ‘STOP IT!’
So ST, if you think your guy could be protecting himself from
your over-amorous attentions, don’t put yourself in a position
that offends him and makes him feel the need to defend himself.
You say that “he gives you a fright”. If you are
watching his eyes and ears he won’t, because you’ll
be warned.
Watch to see which movement of yours makes him curl his lip and
start swearing at you and then don’t do it.
I’d chuck all thoughts of ‘patting’ out the
window. Experiment and see where he does enjoy being touched,
stroked, or scratched and then get to work on the pleasure spots.
You’ll need to get his confidence that you promise to avoid
the sore bits and that if he tells you to go away you will listen
and do his bidding.
Watch him and as soon as he looks as though he’s going
to swear at you, don’t go any closer.
If he swears at you before you’re anywhere near him then
he really is grumpy and defensive, so look him in the eye and
say, ‘That, my friend, is unacceptable use of the equine
language. I am going now with all my treats. I’ll come
back later or tomorrow, with the treats back and I’ll open
the conversation with, ‘How’s it going buddy?’ because
I want us both to enjoy time together. If I don’t swear,
but LISTEN to you, will you do the same to me?’
Good luck!
