ears

Question
I have a 6 year-old registered palomino. I purchased this horse from a horse trader. She is in a 3 acre pasture with 3 other horses. when i purchased she had a problem with touching her ears. The trader said that the vet had told her to rub the horse's face touch her ears and then rub her face continuously. The vet thought that this would resolve the problem. I am brushing and attempting to touch her ears every night when I feed but I'm wondering if theres something else that I should be trying. This problem keeps me from riding the horse because I cant get a headstall on this horse without touching her ears. Please help if you can. Thank you in advance for your time and efforts.

Answer
Hi Judy!

You did not say how long you have owned this mare but, I will assume it has been a short period of time.  She really needs a combination of things...to bond to you as her herdmate and Boss mare, to become submissive to you in all ways and to then submit to desensitization about being touched.

I will just bet she has been this way for a very long time and that's how she ended up at the horse traders.  

So, can you fix it?  This is not really her true problem but, one of the symptoms.  If you correct the root problem....everything else will fall into place and the symptoms will start to disappear.

You need to become dominant to her and I do not mean hitting her with a 2x4....I mean to dominate her mind as a Boss Mare would in any herd dynamics.  Because she is with other horses free in the pasture they are all running on a herd dynamic.  Not like a single stalled horse who's main contact is his human so that is the herd of 2 that he belongs to and the human is considered dominant.

You need to separate her her more from the herd and while being very firm and consistent, show her you are large and in charge.  I recommend starting with the Monty Robert's "Join-Up" method.  It is exercises in a round pen to establish dominance over the horse and to lay a solid foundation of communication and obedience.  You can Google this and see how it works.

After capturing her mind, you need to work with her daily to maintain this newly found dominance/respect and assert yourself as the leader 100% of the time.  Then, her natural desire to be submissive will allow you to begin to desensitize her to touching.  For this I recommend the "Clicker Method"  this is mainly for dogs but, works well for horses too.  You can also Google this or go to your local pet supermarket for information.

This is a relatively easy fix...just time consuming.  If you leave things as they are and just try to "rub her face"  well, you're going to be "trying" to touch her ears for a long while!!  Plus, I can just about guarantee things will only get worse.  First, you can't touch her ears, then you can't touch her at all, then she won't come to you and so on and so on.....tll she's back at the horse trader  :-(

All new owners must learn to dominate and communicate with their new mounts.  Anything less than a real communication between the two is just luck and happenstance....not real partnership.

Be firm, be consistent and learn to talk to her in her language....then you can start to teach her ours  :-)

Good luck and remember to always wear an ASTM/SEI approved helmet!

Solange