Franklin Levinson's
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My Cracker Horse is a real cracker
I have a 17 year old mare I had recently bought in the past summer, and she has been pastured with 2 geldings. One is 24 years old, and the other is 13. The two geldings get along fine. Actually they are best friends. The older gelding is a boarded horse. He constantly bites my mare and chases her around, and she has huge bite marks and chunks out of her. He is very tough and my mare knows it so she just runs away. But he chases her and bites her for no reason that I can see. I plan on showing her next year and I can't if she has huge chunks missing. I also can not separate them because we just have a one large field with a run in shed. I am very concerned. What can I do?
Thanks, Ashley
Hi Angel,
I would suggest doing a lot more ground play with the horse. He needs to look more to you for his source of safety and peaceful feelings. The more you can do on the ground the better. There are lots of games and movements you can do on the ground that are fun for you both and will get the horse really bonded to you in such a way as to really support your relationship. If you take the time to do this you will be amazed at how fast and how close the horse will come along. As far as head shyness goes; first ask the horse to lower his head (a horse with his head low is relaxed). Do this by using a rope halter and gently put a little of the weight of your arm on the lead rope downwards. The horse will lower his head a tiny bit to get away from he pressure on his pole. As soon as you feel the head come down just a tiny bit release all pressure. This is his reward. Then a bit more weight on the rope and repeat the release when the head comes down a fraction. This is how to get a horse to lower his head. Once his head is as low as you want and he is comfortable with it, slowly and very gently begin to lightly and scratch around his eyes and the bridge of his nose. Slowly and occasionally going a bit higher towards his ears and then back down again. This is a slow process to be done over a few days at least. Sooner or later you should be able to begin to gently touch his ears and poll. Make certain there is nothing organically wrong with his ears by having a vet check them before you begin the process or nothing will work.
Good luck and please keep me posted. Remember, it's all about trust.........and as much about the human as about the horse......
Sincerely, Franklin