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  Discussion on Sudden change for the worse in yearling's attitude
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New Member:
Mkat

Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2004 - 12:04 am:

I bought a horse a year and a half ago and unexpectidy my mare had a foal 6 months after we got her, last june. This filly (happy is her name) has been sort of like a pet until about two weeks ago when she became absolutly uncontrolable. Happy tried to run my grandmother down while she was walking in the pasture and the horse will make several passes at people and try to take them down. I dont know if this is a game of chase gone horribly wrong or what but the situation is getting dangerous and it is starting to look more like agression. She is the only young horse on the ranch, and she is the first one that we have, raised since birth so perhaps we made some fundamental mistake that is causing her to act this way. Anyway, we have some horse trainers that are leasing part of the ranch and they said that they would take a look at her to see what was going on. So yesterday the put her in the round pen and tried to halter her, which we had been able to do up to this point. She would not have anything to do with the trainer and kicked and bucked, later the trainer came over to the house and was really shaken and said that Happy was one of the worst horses that she had ever seen. And to add to the bad situation, happy has become un-weenable, she will be 1 in june, if anyone has any solutions to help, that would be so appreciated.
thanks
kat
Member:
Canter

Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2004 - 7:59 am:

Sounds to me like your filly has been spoiled and has never learned to behave around people. Can you describe what you've done to this point to train/handle her (In additiona to the round pen)? Has she been taught ground manners, respect for people, etc?

If you haven't already, run a search. There are all sorts of fascinating & very helpful discussions from HA members about handling young horses and re-training one that has turned into a brat.
Member:
Dtranch

Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2004 - 8:07 am:

Kat .. I would go back to round pen and start with basics. Move her in both directions, stops and turns both inside and out. Give her a good workout and keep her pace up with you in control of every stop and turn, etc. Do this before haltering until she submits, then halter and work on ground exercises such as neck flexes and releasing the rear, etc. My experience with these youngsters that have been raised as pets is that they have had their own way for a long time and need to understand who is in charge. If you think back, you will probably realize that she has been working up to this over time. Little things that are a little pushy or maybe even aggressive that go unnoticed, or perhaps even rewarded as being "cute". Now she thinks she is "top dog" and has no rules. I'm not criticising this cause we have done it ourselves, unfortunatley more than once. The hard part, is that you will probably have to get pretty aggressive yourself to do the ground work. Our little ones were so comfortable with us that we had a hard time even getting them to move away in the round pen. Of course, this was all my wifes fault. My expeience is that she will settle after a couple of sessions .. barring any mental situation which I doubt.
DT
Member:
Cowgrl

Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2004 - 10:53 am:

Hi Kat, You mention that your filly is "unweanable"; why is that? What happens when you remove the mare?

Dennis is exactly right, you must assert your dominance now or otherwise things will only get worse. Breaking to saddle would be a nightmare if you get that far without being injured.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, May 20, 2004 - 6:58 am:

Everyone out there raising foals for the first time should read this post, it has become such a common problem with all the one time breeders out there.
DO
Member:
Mkat

Posted on Thursday, May 20, 2004 - 5:39 pm:

thans for the tips, i will deffinatly give some of your ideas a try, as far as unweenable, we did basic weening when she was six months old and kept her and her mother separated for about three weeks, then once they were back together she just started sucking again. so we waited a week or so and then separated them again for another three weeks and now they are together again and my mare is still producing and happy is still sucking. they are only together now because we neede the pasture space, but i cant even get a halter on her right now to take her to another pasture. im really stumped on this one.
Member:
Jerre

Posted on Thursday, May 20, 2004 - 10:58 pm:

Cecelia, I think 3 weeks might be too short for the emotional part of weaning. I've only done it once (another single foal on a one-horse farm!) and I definitely see how what you describe could happen. Especially when mom was gone, my filly got very attached to her people. When mom came back (10-11 weeks when baby was 6 months old) the mare immediately put the filly in her place -- their relationship had clearly changed from mother/baby to mare/junior mare. And the filly got much more respectful of people too.

But we still have to be clear about boundaries every single day. Check out Chris Irwin's newer tape, Round Pen Redefined. It's got great info on respect and body language -- both people and horses.

I bet you're going to have to separate your mare and filly for a longer period - and periodically separate them after that to maintain the emotional independence. It can be hard on a small farm.

Jerre
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, May 21, 2004 - 7:01 am:

I agree 3 weeks is entirely to short, for our recommendations see Equine Reproduction » Breeding and Foaling » Weaning Foals from Mares.
DrO
Member:
Annes

Posted on Friday, May 21, 2004 - 1:21 pm:

If you are short on space/pasture to separate how about putting one in a stall 12 hours with the other one free to visit, then switch? This is what I did with the only foal I have ever tried to wean. They could hang their heads over to socialize but the filly could not reach to nurse. We just needed time enough for the mare's milk to dry up. In the case of my filly, I think it was just a habit by that time (she was close to 1 yr old too) and she did not try to nurse when they were put back together. I did not have separate fields to separate them safely at the time. Maybe this would work for you too. Good luck - Ann.
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