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Oddball Behavior? Share your weirdos

3K views 30 replies 18 participants last post by  Jan1975 
#1 ·
I cannot figure this child out. I have been around and/or had horses ever since I was a small child (over 30 years now) and this is the only horse I have come across that does this without a fence to reach through.

Standing in front of her in the middle of the pasture and she does this:


She does this frequently and will move her head around sideways with a full neck stretch when begging for attention and there is never a fence obstructing around.

Anyone else have oddball weirdos to share so I know I am not the only one? Please share, my husband thinks this coming 3 year old filly is a tad crazy because she has weird comical behaviors :D
 
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#4 ·
My first show mare actually did that too! Haha

My two have lots of weird quirks, to many to name really.

My QH could really care less if I gave him affection or not UNLESS my mini is getting loves. He likes his butt scratched and will ever so slowly step back (like I don't notice him closing in :-D) until it is touching the fence or almost touching me and shift his weight back and forth until I give him a butt scratch. If I stop and go back to my mini, same thing, the weight shifting starts until I scratch.
 
#5 ·
In my thoughts, although I am in no way an expert, I think that it's really not all that weird/unnatural to horses. Horses are like people, in that they have their own personality and expressions. Some horses have more complicated or blatant expressions, like these two sillies. I may think it's weird on one side of myself, but on the other, with more thought, it actually kinda makes sense. *rubs chin*
 
#6 ·
I own a gelding in with our town mob, and a friend owns a gelding in the same bunch.

If she feeds mine goes to the bales she's bringing out and pulls it off. If I'm feeding hers goes to whatever bale I have on the sled or wheelbarrow and pulls it off. Our own never do it to us. None of the other horses do it to us. Ever.

Yeah. We could chase them off, but they really seem to enjoy it and it makes each of us laugh. Also, we don't feed more than 5 bales at a feeding and usually just 3. Now if it was 35 bales...
 
#7 ·
Sometimes my mare will stretch like a cat, front legs straight out in front of her and butt up in the air, she and another gelding are the only ones I've seen do this and it's usually before/after a ride or if she's standing at the post waiting her turn for the vet/farrier. Along with that she'll also hold a front hoof up to her belly when foods coming or if she's becoming impatient.
 
#8 ·
Coming home today we saw Flash with his head stuck through the fence eating the grass in the ditch. Pulled up in front of him honked and yelled at him to get out of the fence. He ran right over and stood in front of Gamble (herd boss) and was moving his mouth and shaking his head up and down. I think he was telling Gamble about getting in trouble. LOL
 
#9 ·
LOL can't they be so silly sometimes?! Redz likes to 'smile', nod yes, shake his head no, etc. They are quite the hams.
It's funny, one of the other horses came up to me last night & was doing exactly what your horse was doing in that picture. I was like, you weirdo! :rofl: Adorable.
I love their quirky, silly personalities. :)
I'm also weird (in a good way!) so it works out LOL
 
#10 ·
My gelding used to like his Cleg bites getting scratched. He’d lift his head in the air with his nose skywards, slowly moving his head and neck back and forth, bottom lip drooping, eyes rolled back and his eyebrows twitching. He'd then follow me about the field with his head tucked into the hollow of my back. I learnt the hard way that I need to give him a warning if I was going to stop walking. He was such a big soppy beast.


When getting shod, my mare would gradually lean away from the farriers, almost as if they were lifting or pushing her over. The first time she was shod after buying her she landed on her side; after that we had to shoe her beside the muckheap to stop her hurting herself. It was strange to see her sway and stumble. It wasn’t a problem when I cleaned out her feet, so time standing with a foot in the air must’ve been a factor and she had no problems with balance the rest of the time.
 
#12 ·
My gelding used to like his Cleg bites getting scratched. He’d lift his head in the air with his nose skywards, slowly moving his head and neck back and forth, bottom lip drooping, eyes rolled back and his eyebrows twitching. He'd then follow me about the field with his head tucked into the hollow of my back. I learnt the hard way that I need to give him a warning if I was going to stop walking. He was such a big soppy beast.
Sounds like a nightmare horse. xD If I was dreaming, and that came near me, depending on the dream's mood, I'd scream and run, or laugh... idk which. Rolled back eyes scare me some, LOL.
 
#15 ·
I know, it really doesn't flatter her features. She actually is a very pretty girl



She has very strong direct halter and performance bloodlines, beautiful typey Arab head. I cannot imagine how she would score in a halter class if she held her head sideways reaching for my target hand while presenting for the judges. She is endlessly amusing and michevious (loves to play and get into anything she can)
 
#13 ·
I had a gelding that refused to pee or poo on the trail. He would slowly start inching his way off of the trail (no matter where we were) and walk through the brush or trees until he found a satisfactory spot and then do his business. We used to laugh at him - he was tidy in his stall too.

I lost that gelding to an aneurysm March 2016- in August I purchased another horse and believe it or not this mare is doing the same thing now. I have owned a lot of horses and never had one do this and now two! We all laugh and say Steve's spirit is guiding Tillie Mae
 
#14 ·
We have a pecan orchard and harvest by hand. It also doubles as a horse pasture.

I was up in the tree throwing pecans into a bucket. They made a thump, thump, as they went in. Caspian (Mr. Curiosity) came up grabbed the small bucket with his teeth and bobbed his head, listening to the nuts rattle around against the sides.

I got down off the ladder with the intention of taking the bucket back and driving him off. He took off trotting away with the bucket shaking his head and apparently enjoying his new toy!

The other weird thing the horses do is that we spread out tarps around the trees and shake them, then gather the pecans. Two of our horses prefer to poop on the tarps like paper trained dogs. PITA because then we have to stop what we are doing and scrub everything down!
 
#16 ·
Trouble looks mad ALL the time. We say he has resting b**** face, because his ears are always back.

He will also, when stopped on the trail, reach around and nudge my foot when he wants to go. If I ignore him he'll try the other side, and "point" down the trail. He did it all day today, whenever we stopped along the trail or in the yard.

Spirit will stretch like a cat as well, and when you catch her, she will turn her head away from you, give you the evil eye then let you grab her.
 
#18 ·
One of the other mares was getting her feet done and while he had a hold of her back hoof she decided suddenly that she was done and began to walk away on three legs, stretched right on him. *facepalm*

And I have concluded that Rosie is part dog/cat/horse now! Was out brushing today and watched as she carefully picked up her back leg, reached forward and scratched her ear like a dog XD (same mare who stretches like a cat)
 
#19 ·
Goober licks everything. I had a friend hold him for farrier and she said her coat was soaked by the end as he stood there and licked it the whole time. Put your hand out, he will lick. Not giving him attention, he will lick you. Let him loose in the arena to roll the other day. He walked over to a friend's horse and licked him on the nose, then twice on the neck.
 
#20 ·
I have a licker too! He will lick ANYTHING. Tires, the swing set, the barn wall, people, feed tubs, the side of the water tub, trees, the ground, you name it.

Poor ****** had to be tied down while we pulled splinters of wood out of his tongue when he got ahold of a sheet of that splintery pressboard and licked it down to nothing.
 
#23 ·
I have a weird one. We call her the "derpy moose". If you feed her anything she doesn't like (ie: anything other than hay or BP) she will humor you and put it in her mouth, then we she thinks you are not looking she will spit it out and try to "hide" the item. If she is caught in the act, or if someone other than me feeds her something she deems not edible, she looks at me and sticks her tongue out/makes odd faces and gives me looks of blame.

If you feed her an apple she will hold it in her front teeth for a good couple minutes before biting it in half, then slowly picking at the rest.

She also likes to roll in her poop, immediately after pooping. Not as frequent as years ago, but when she was a baby 4-5, every poop she took she had to roll in it after.

She will lift her leg if her belly is scratched. Okay, not that weird, but I haven't personally met another horse that does it. Seen it, but the only horse I "know" that does it is her.

She used to fling her grain bucket in a 360 motion after every.single.bite.

She licks everythings. Jackets are her favorite.

If tied outside her stall while I clean, or in the wash bay, and I'm cleaning/not paying attention to her, she will do everything in her power to get my attention. This generally involves picking things up and throwing them every which way. Shampoo bottles, hoof picks, fly masks, other horse's blankets hanging outside stalls. If it's near her, she will throw it.

She likes to lick the hotwire, but usually only if someone is leading her. Usually this happens when she's put outside in the morning and whoever is handling her stops to take halter off at the gate, she will stretch her neck just to lick the hotwire. Barn staff have now learned to take her to the middle of the paddock before stopping to take her halter off, lol.

She has many other odd or weird habits, more will come to me.:lol:
 
#29 ·
My mare at home is like this. Pickiest eater I've ever seen. No cookies, no apples, no bananas, honey, molasses, mints, nothing! The only two things she loves and will eat are carrots and crushed grain. I have to mix carrots into her beet pulp to get her to eat that and even then some days she gets all disgusted and pushes the bucket over and just eats the carrots.
 
#25 ·
Trouble grew out of this, but when he was small he would absolutely not eat treats. I even made him special apple slices dipped in molasses and rolled in sweet feed, and he would roll them around, look at me and step on it. Every darn time.

Now, when an apple falls from the tree in the pasture he will run full tilt to go get it. He's charged deer out of the pasture when they were eating his apples too, and will stand under the tree if you shake it and let them hit him in the head. He just gets incredibly happy when you shake a branch and the apples rain down, he will close his eyes, lift his head and wait for them all to fall :lol:
 
#26 ·
Oh one that I forgot about until this morning when it happened is my Mini crosses her front legs when she pees.

So I have attached an awkward photo... felt weird taking it, but I've never seen another horse do that haha



She also does that weird "Cat Stretch" that someone else mentioned, with front legs stretched out and butt in the air.

And like some of you others it seems, my QH still will rarely take a treat from me. He does like apples though, but will take the teeniest tiniest bites of it. It takes him forever to finish one.
 
#28 ·
I'm not sure if this is really weird or not, but I am riding a QH mare who will stretch out her neck and lips for the bit when bridling. I have never seen a horse actually want to pick up the bit like she does, not that I'm complaining, lol! I asked her trainer how he got her to do that and he just told me she does it on her own, he never taught her specifically. Kinda cool =)
 
#30 ·
My mare is quite finicky about food. No apples, carrots, or most cookies. She will only eat one flavor (apple cinnamon) of one brand of cookies. They also have flavors like apple, green apple, carrot, peppermint, molasses, etc. Nope. It's got to be apple cinnamon. Apparently, though, she will eat just about any treat a child (under the age of 12) gives her with the utmost delicacy. Because obviously us adults are too stupid to be trusted when picking good treats.

Oh, and when ever she is fed powdered supplements (biotin, magnesium) it has to be done just right. If you feed it dry she will blow on it and make the powder fly up in her face and then blame me when some gets in her eye. She will keep doing it until all the powder is gone. But if you just dump water on top and mix it in she will only eat off the top layer of food because apparently the powder sinks to the bottom. If I want her to eat the supplements I have to wet down the feed to a soggy mush and then sprinkle the power over top so it dries in a crust over top. Of course then she throws a fit because the powder crust over top tastes funny and she can't eat the rest of the food without eating the powder AND her food is soggy. Yes, her life is just that rough. She eats it though because I have a strict rule that anyone who purposefully dumps their food in protest can just go hungry. She tried to call my bluff on that one and ended up eating her food out of the dirt three meals in a row. :twisted: She does still take the bowl when she is done and bash it against the wall and then poo on it because it's clearly the bowl's fault that her breakfast was soggy and tasted funny.
 
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