Terrible stable manners
Caroline Balfour
One of the horses at the yard has awful stable manners. She kicks the
door and scrapes her hoof along the concrete when she is impatient, she
always kicks her buckets over (which annoys us because the bedding gets
saturated) and barges out of the door in the mornings when she wants to be
turned out. We have put the buckets in tyres to stop her kicking them over,
we are going to put a rubber mat over the concrete she scrapes her foot over
and we are generally trying to teach her to behave. This behaviour has only
just started as she has moved stables recently, and now has drybed, not
straw. However, the stable itself is much nicer than the one she had before
and we can't move her back anyway. Any suggestions to train her to stop her
bad habits?
Caroline Balfour
[caroline...@btinternet.com]
Francis Burton
Caroline Balfour <caroline...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>and we can't move her back anyway. Any suggestions to train her to stop her
>bad habits?
Are you sure you aren't rewarding her kicking and scraping?
Giving a horse attention, e.g. by shouting at it when it bangs
its door, may be enough reward to perpetuate the behaviour.
Effective punishment in this situation is so difficult, it is
almost not worth attempting (imho). Short of using a remotely
controlled electric shock collar (which I am not recommending!),
someone has to be there to administer the punishment the instant
the behaviour occurs. The horse may then learn to kick the door
when there isn't anyone standing next to the door holding a
riding crop!
This is very hard to do when the noise is driving you up the
wall, but you could try ignoring the "bad" behaviour completely;
it should extinguish itself eventually. Don't even look at the
horse when she bangs the door. This can take a few days. The
only reason this may not work is if the horse finds kicking the
door inherently pleasurable (unlikely), or it kicking attracts
the attention of other horses in the yard.
You should also make sure you don't reward kicking at feeding
time, by waiting until the horse is not kicking before putting
the feed into the stable. Indeed, you can reward good stable
manners specifically using positive reinforcements (tidbits)
alone, or in conjuction with a bridging signal such as a clicker.
For more info on clicker training, see:
http://www.crisny.org/users/kurlanda/
Hope this helps!
Francis
Brad Williams
Caroline Balfour wrote in message
<76kqhg$m5g$1...@mendelevium.btinternet.com>...
>Hi everybody,
>
> One of the horses at the yard has awful stable manners. ...and barges
out of the door in the mornings when she wants to be
> Caroline Balfour
> [caroline...@btinternet.com]
>
>
DeLurking to say.......
I wouldn't say she has bad manners. She is bored. Moving can be unsettling
to a horse and it can take time to adjust. She sounds like she has a lot of
energy. Take her out and use it up! Ride her...Lunge her...whatever...!
Turning out won't tire her.
She DOES need to learn NOT to bolt through a door at turn out time. She
needs some lessons leading. You are encouraging her by letting her charge
out in the first place.
After you ride and or lunge her you can capitalize on her weariness by using
the time to do leading lessons. Lead her around her new home and let her
get used to it....all the while making sure she stays in her place on the
lead. When you do turn her out, first halter her and take the lead in hand
and when the door is opened DON'T let her charge. Make her stand and wait
until you are ready. Then walk her out a ways to remove her halter.
Sometimes I'll toss the lead rope around the neck as I take off the halter.
If the horse wants to charge off I've still got her. I absolutely
positively do not let my horses charge off at turn out or push through
doors. A horse that does this is not broke (I don't care how old it is). A
horse that does this will get you hurt!
For your stall, get rid of noisy things. For instance, I had a filly that
would clang her feed bucket against the wall and make noise all day. I
bolted the bucket to the wall so it couldn't make noise and she quit.
Another mare used to kick the wall to make noise. We hung a rubber mat
against the wall to muffle the noise and she quit! Sometimes you can hang
stall balls & toys but I've found that they only occupy them for a short
time.
You need to work with her before her actions become vises. And these vises
are almost always due to boredom and can be passed around to her neighbors
as they sometimes join in.
Brad Williams
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John
Caroline Balfour wrote in message
<76kqhg$m5g$1...@mendelevium.btinternet.com>...
>Hi everybody,
>
> One of the horses at the yard has awful stable
>door and scrapes her hoof along the concrete when she
is impatient, she
>always kicks her buckets over (which annoys us because
the bedding gets
when she wants to be
her kicking them over,
>we are going to put a rubber mat over the concrete she
scrapes her foot over
>and we are generally trying to teach her to behave.
This behaviour has only
>just started as she has moved stables recently, and now
has drybed, not
>straw. However, the stable itself is much nicer than
the one she had before
Are you sure the horse agrees with you about the new
stable being much nicer? It probably a strange,
frightening and unfriendly new space to have to get used
to.
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Regards,
John
BlueIris
I think you have a good point there. We often forget that
horses are incapable of understanding what is happening to
them when they are taken out of a familiar place and moved
to a new one. "New" or problem behaviors often accompany a
change of ownership or place, and often disappear as the
horse settles in, which can sometimes take a few weeks! We
have a mare that dug up the entire side of her stall when
she first came to our barn. I mean a real excavation, about
2 to 3 feet deep, with all the base piled against the
opposite wall. Her digging behavior stopped as soon as she
settled in and made friends with her neighbors in the next
stalls.
Roberta
albi...@hotmail.com
> One of the horses at the yard has awful stable manners. She kicks the
> door and scrapes her hoof along the concrete when she is impatient, she
............
How about fitting the stable doorway with an "american style" webbing door
barrier inside the normal stable door (I think you can get them from CAM) or a
simple chain.
The stable door can then be left open (nothing to bang and therefore no
irritation to you and no "satisfying" noise for the horse) and yet the horse
has an additional restraint which stops it barging out and yet allows you
access.
The above is simple to fit and use and solves 2 of your problems - However,
you must really consider why this horse is soooo stressed by its new stable
that it is exhibiting major behavioural problems - repetitive actions, and a
keen desire to leave the environment.
Has the new stable got a different roofing material (noisier ?); are the
stable walls open to the horses neighbours (or not ?); does the stable have a
"view".
Another possibility is a companion in the stable - is it big enough to hold a
goat or sheep as company ? Have you tried moving the horse back to its old
stable to see if the poor behaviour disappears ?
Only some ideas...
Ann
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