stall games

Question
I have a 10 month old filly who is really difficult to manage in the stall.  She will put her head in a corner and her butt toward me.  When I try to approach her, she turns the other way.  She has never kicked or shown any signs of anger (ie ears pinned).  But, this behavior is annoying.  She is a foundation quarter horse.  I also have a hard time putting the halter on.  She leads, loads, bathes, stand for the farrier, etc... but, I don't want her to continue with these annoying habits.  I have tried attaching a short lead rope to her halter and it helps a little but whenever I reach for her face area she spooks.  I've never hit her or given her any reason to act this way and I have owned her for about 4 months.

Answer
Hi Ingrid!

This behavior is typical of a young horse who is exploring it's boundaries.  In your last sentence, you say you have never hit her or given her any reason to react like this.  Again, this is a common mistake horse owners make.  They think for a horse to act disrespectful or challenging that it must have been abused somehow by a human.  Not true at all!  Horses are hardwired in their brains to a herd mentality.  In actuality, she is just considering you as another horse and worse for you, she is treating you like a lateral or submissive horse in her herd.  So, this must be fixed and fast!

This is not "an annoying habit" as you put it.  It is a dominance issue and you must change her mind about exactly who is in charge.  You are the Boss Mare and she must have that explained to her in no uncertain terms.

First, I suggest you Google Monty Robert's "Join-Up" method and try it on her.  This is an excellent source to explain horse/herd interaction and how you can clearly communicate to her that you are Boss Mare.

Now, when I say you must dominate her, I do not mean hitting her with a 2x4.  I mean she does not understand humans at all, so you must speak to her as another, dominate horse would and put her in her place.  Then, all disrespectful behavior will stop.  And turning her rear to you is very, very disrespectful.

Lastly, I suggest you speak to your vet, farrier or tack shop and have them recommend a local trainer who is experienced in her breed and has specifically worked with babies.  Have them out to evaluate your situation and give you suggestions on how to correctly handle and ground train your filly.  You could use this advice right now.  You need to stop the downward slide you are on with her in this relationship....because things will only get worse between the two of you if this is not corrected.

Be firm, be patient and above all be consistent in all your training with her.  From now on, everytime you touch her it is for training and you must have a plan with an easily achievable goal to reach at the end of each training time.  I could not even begin to say over the Internet all the things you should be doing daily with her.  That's why you need a on-hands trainer to guide you at this critical point in her education...and yours too!

The slaughterhouses are full of badly trained horses, either through abuse or ignorance doesn't matter.  Well trained horses live long and happy lives.

Spending the time and money now to correctly train her will give you both 20 more years of a wonderful riding partnership  :-)

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

Solange