What makes a Horse get Vicious?
Hunter Hampton
I just read today's Fugly, a horror story about a kid who boarded her
sweet little horse who turned into a savage when the girl was expected
to come ride.
But, stayed sweet when she showed up unexpectedly.
So, I don't understand what the bad trainer was giving the horse to
make it so nasty..... any one have any idea?
Hunter
Bill Kambic
The story sounds apocryphyl, designed to reinforce the point that it's
good to check out the "bona fides" of anyone with whom you're going to
entrust your horse and/or do business.
I could be wrong on this, but that's how it reads (and I read the
story twice).
CMNewell
wrote:
>On Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:21:09 -0500, Hunter Hampton
><airstrea...@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>>Hi Gang,
>>
>>I just read today's Fugly, a horror story about a kid who boarded her
>>sweet little horse who turned into a savage when the girl was expected
>The story sounds apocryphyl, designed to reinforce the point that it's
>good to check out the "bona fides" of anyone with whom you're going to
>entrust your horse and/or do business.
>
>I could be wrong on this, but that's how it reads (and I read the
>story twice).
What Kambic said.
--The Chuck
lace...@msn.com
wrote:
Hey Hunter,
The story was disturbing, but it happens more than we like to think
about.
I don't think the trainer has to "give" the horse anything to make it
nasty.
There is a place down the way from me where all the boarders have left
due to
the ever changing staff and the run of "I can fix your horse, I do
"Natural Horsemanship" clinics.
Their horses were becoming wary of having anyone walk up to them,
jumpy when being saddled, and
backing into their corners when anyone walked by the stalls. Sour
horses with ears pinned were the norm.
It is a sore spot with me as most of the persons that show up to teach
here are not associated with any
particular trainer and have melded all they have seen into their own,
new bastardized version.
They promise much and of course are a lot less expensive that the big
names.
What they seem to accomplish is a lot of people with sour horses that
can certainly move away from a "stick"
and back up when you shake a lead rope at them.
But after watching the same people go by to attend these clinics bi-
annually, I have yet
to meet one riding on the trails. When I have asked if they ride the
trails I have heard various replies.
They range from my horse is a baby to I'm only working on level one.
Oh my!
The one thing I retained from a John Lyons clinic years ago was his
statement "don't try this at home with your well broke horse
after watching me this weekend. I (John) am a professional and you are
are here to observe my methods on an unbroke horse".
Our neighbour tried out what he THOUGHT he saw the very next weekend.
The end result was a frightened,
well broke QH mare that ran through the riding ring fence, hitting a
post and snapping her front leg.
All the while the owner was running around saying I killed my horse.
It seems this statement is a good indication that they may feel they
made a mistake.
I am certainly all for a well mannered horse, a safe as is possible
riding partner, but see so many f***ed
up horse owners looking lost with the current trends of training,
espcially middle aged new owers.
That is my rant for the day
Lacey
Cricket
"CMNewell" <mingl...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:b7mhf5ta5nhg5ifu0...@4ax.com...
What they said.
If I had a nickle for ever time some well-meaning person told a story like
that (with absolutely no basis in fact - not saying that one doesn't, but
I've "heard it before"), thinking the end justified the means, i.e.,
educating the masses, I'd be rich.
Not to say that that story necessarily isn't true, but I've seen so many
that were either "made up to prove a point", or wildly expanded on, for the
same reason, that I tend to approach them with caution.
Also, "vicious" tends to be in the eye of the beholder...like the
"unmanageble" under some circumstances (won't go into the woods, rears, has
to lead) pink mare...she hesitated for half a beat on the woods (and the
leaves were knee deep), "rears" half an inch if really pushed, and does a
spin head shake and dance performance when asked to follow - followed by
well behaved following, if I insist. It looks mighty impressive, but it's
just a show, and it's nerves and adrenaline, not nastiness.
So if horse and kid actually exist, maybe there was someone who got
scheduled to work when the kid was having a lesson or riding in general (too
lazy to go back and check, plus the page makes my eyes cross), who the
horse has learned they can intimidate, and it has a little fun with that,
still being in "Oh, let's scare the human" mode when the kid gets there
(example of this - an ex-boarder at my Percheron barn - not viciousness, but
seriously poor ground manners, depending on who handled her, and it slopped
over into the next handler until corrected).
It all sounds just a little too cut-and-dried to be unvarnished, objective
truth.
Cricket
Cricket
"Hunter Hampton" <airstrea...@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:fghhf59lsfljatmbs...@4ax.com...
Another thought - maybe the horse was kept stalled all night before the girl
was supposed to show, and it was one of those who doesn't deal at all well
with that.
A good trainer should have figured that out after about one night, but...
I have a friend who raises Paints (foundation type only, she would insist on
me saying), and gives lessons, and she's picked up several very nice horses
who are perfect ladies and gentleman...as long as you don't stall them.
They know they're horses and should be moving 24/7. Maybe they get slight
tummy aches from standing in a stall, who knows...but it's not a
particularly uncommon occurance. My friend with the riding stable gets the
same thing - she doesn't stall, gets a problem horse in, it's a pistol for a
short while, then settles down and works. She sells it (telling them the
general story), new owner stalls the horse (and usually overgrains it), then
bad-mouths her all over hell and gone for selling a "vicious" horse.
Often they come back to her, fall right back into working the line, and
there's nothing she can do to retrain, because the horse wasn't the one with
a problem.
Cricket
Catja Pafort
I don't know how much the story has grown in the telling over the years,
and whether there were measurable factors involved that the owner does
not recall.
Personally, I've encountered the following:
- horse was happy in the morning when there were only a couple of people
around, and a nightmare in the afternoon/evening after exposure to
several hours of frantic people and loose dogs and noise.
- horse was nervous/stressed coming out of the stable and fine after
several hours of turnout
- horse was fine on its own/with one or two other horses, and a nervous
wreck with three or more other horses worked in the same space
- horse was fine with other horses and a total nervous wreck on his own
- horse was fine with rider in pootling about mode and a nightmare with
a rider who would challenge the horse, put pressure on him, and make
demands
- horse turned into a nervous wreck in the company of a nervous horse
- horse turned into a nervour wreck when another horse was repeatedly
beaten with a whip
- horse went frantic at the smell of pigs
- horse went frantic at the sound of bats (once the bats were in sight,
horse got used to them, but the noise on its own... not so great)
- horse was extremely cranky when hungry or thirsty and unable to
concentrate, which showed up as 'leave me alone' behaviour if a rider
tried to get the horse to do anything at all.
- horse was fine with certain tack and a nightmare with different tack
- horse was afraid of a certain trainer/horse was afraid of people who
stand in the middle of a school shouting at horse/horse was afraid of
people in middle of school waving lunge whips
For most of these, I can think of several examples and, well, Crumble
would - at one point on another of his life - have made a good example
for several categories.
From this point of view, I don't find the tale unbelievable at all.
Catja
--
writing blog @ http://beyond-elechan.livejournal.com