So I've had Echo for just over 6 months now but still have a recurring problem that I'm not entirely sure how to fix. She pins her ears at ALL strangers who touch her or get close to her. She won't attack or hurt them but she will show that isn't happy with them around and tends to be a little more 'on guard' when there's strangers around her. She especially hates it when they start to brush her on one side and I'll stand on the other. If it's two strangers on either side, she gets a little worse and may stamp one of her back hooves, though hasn't actually hurt anyone. She's not a mean horse by nature either.
She also didn't like being groomed for while either. She'd always flick her ears back and stomp her back hooves at me too with the occasional 'snarl' look in her lips which she does when she's threatening to nip. She's gotten better but she still has days where she reverts back to this. At present, as soon as I start brushing her neck, she starts tossing her head slightly with her ears going back. If I continue to brush that spot for a bit, she stops and finally just accepts it. Sometimes she's better or does the same thing again when I move down her side. Her back end is totally fine though (and that used to be the "Do Not Touch" zone). Once I have her fine on one side, I'll go to the other side and the process repeats all over again. Brushing her mane and tail haven't been an issue yet either. I trust her enough to stand directly behind her to clean her tail and she's never shown any grumpiness about that.
She used to be horrible with her feet too. Would constantly try to pull them away as I tried cleaning them as well as simply not lift them. Now she's still slow in picking up two of her feet but she does pick them up which is a huge step forward with her. She's almost completely perfect with her feet now. The only thing she's suddenly decided to do in the last two or three days is when I go to clean her right front hoof, she picks it up but then pulls her leg all the way forward away from me, though doesn't do a huge fight about it and relaxes it within a few seconds, but it's still not a nice way for her to pick her foot.
So a bit of info about her 'condition':
Found out a little while ago that two spots in her neck are out, along with a rib or two on either side, as well both sides of her hips and one shoulder. So it's something I have to get regularly fixed for her until her body just stays where it's supposed to be. I know that can cause soreness, but should it really affect her this much for grooming when I have less issues with her when saddling?
Also, a bit about her past may help..
hen I first got her, I moved her out onto a feild with 4 other geldings who were all owned by one lady. They were all real sweethearts and Echo loved being with other horses. At first, things were pretty good. But then her attitude started to change. She was always easy to catch, but she didn't really want to listen. At this point, she'd also only ever had about 5 rides on her throughout the last 2 and a half years. But she hated to stand still (which wasn't a surprise since she never really had to do it before). But at some point, i finally noticed just how much she'd changed by being there (this was after 1 month of being in the field). She was more likely to pin her ears and did so every single time I led her around. She would walk behind me with her ears laid flat. When we stopped, her ears would go forward but the start walking and back they went again. She didn't care much about personal space either. Then there was a saddle i was allowed to barrow to be able to ride her. It wasn't an easy or smooth ride but I never really knew the true cause of it till one day. I was riding her around and things were finally getting better and she was relaxing. But then the person who owned the field another horses showed up. Echo saw their vehicle and at that moment, her behavor changed. She stopped listening to me and started to throw fits with everything till there was no point in even attempting to ride her. (though it never got to the really dangerous point).
After that, I told my family about everything that'd been going on and I started to listen and observe things a lot more too. I don't have physical proof but we came to the conclusion that the lady was abusing Echo. She'd told us that she wasn't about to let a thousand pound animal run her over and beat her so she wouldn't do it. Those are almost her exact words. Basically, she'd smack Echo around to force her to behave. The reason why she even handled Echo was because the horses couldn't be left out in the tall grass during the day because the heat brought out too much of the sugars and it had already caused too much trouble for her other two horses who got sick from it. There were also a few strange marks that showed up on echo that didn't make sense unless you put the pieces together that she'd been hit, not to mention her attitude change that made her into a more dangerous horse than a good one.
So by the end of August, I had her vaccinated and dewormed. I moved her to the stables and for the first week, she was clingy to me due to never being in the stables before. But after that, she went back to being sour. She was so bad by that point that one day when I was saddling her, she actually tried to kick me and narrowly missed my head since i was bent over to get the cinch. At that point, I knew I seriously needed some help cause at this point, she was almost dangerous to handle. I was too scared to saddle her up again and also found out the saddle didnt' fit her right anyways. I also had never done ground work before so I was at a loss as to what to do. So i started to think about selling her and just getting an older calmer horse. But then I got some help from a lady who has a horse in the same alleyway as me which started to change things but not enough. But at this point, she had stopped pinning her ears when I would lead her which was good, but she'd pin her ears and turn her butt to me as soon as I stepped into her stall. Then a Doug Mills clinic came along and I joined in on that. It's made a huge difference. I can finally saddle her without any worries and she greets me at the stall door every time I come to take her out. She follows me more easily and will backup when asked and I can finally ride her without too much concern.
Well, this turned out much longer than I expected... -.- either way, any advice would be very appreciated
She also didn't like being groomed for while either. She'd always flick her ears back and stomp her back hooves at me too with the occasional 'snarl' look in her lips which she does when she's threatening to nip. She's gotten better but she still has days where she reverts back to this. At present, as soon as I start brushing her neck, she starts tossing her head slightly with her ears going back. If I continue to brush that spot for a bit, she stops and finally just accepts it. Sometimes she's better or does the same thing again when I move down her side. Her back end is totally fine though (and that used to be the "Do Not Touch" zone). Once I have her fine on one side, I'll go to the other side and the process repeats all over again. Brushing her mane and tail haven't been an issue yet either. I trust her enough to stand directly behind her to clean her tail and she's never shown any grumpiness about that.
She used to be horrible with her feet too. Would constantly try to pull them away as I tried cleaning them as well as simply not lift them. Now she's still slow in picking up two of her feet but she does pick them up which is a huge step forward with her. She's almost completely perfect with her feet now. The only thing she's suddenly decided to do in the last two or three days is when I go to clean her right front hoof, she picks it up but then pulls her leg all the way forward away from me, though doesn't do a huge fight about it and relaxes it within a few seconds, but it's still not a nice way for her to pick her foot.
So a bit of info about her 'condition':
Found out a little while ago that two spots in her neck are out, along with a rib or two on either side, as well both sides of her hips and one shoulder. So it's something I have to get regularly fixed for her until her body just stays where it's supposed to be. I know that can cause soreness, but should it really affect her this much for grooming when I have less issues with her when saddling?
Also, a bit about her past may help..
hen I first got her, I moved her out onto a feild with 4 other geldings who were all owned by one lady. They were all real sweethearts and Echo loved being with other horses. At first, things were pretty good. But then her attitude started to change. She was always easy to catch, but she didn't really want to listen. At this point, she'd also only ever had about 5 rides on her throughout the last 2 and a half years. But she hated to stand still (which wasn't a surprise since she never really had to do it before). But at some point, i finally noticed just how much she'd changed by being there (this was after 1 month of being in the field). She was more likely to pin her ears and did so every single time I led her around. She would walk behind me with her ears laid flat. When we stopped, her ears would go forward but the start walking and back they went again. She didn't care much about personal space either. Then there was a saddle i was allowed to barrow to be able to ride her. It wasn't an easy or smooth ride but I never really knew the true cause of it till one day. I was riding her around and things were finally getting better and she was relaxing. But then the person who owned the field another horses showed up. Echo saw their vehicle and at that moment, her behavor changed. She stopped listening to me and started to throw fits with everything till there was no point in even attempting to ride her. (though it never got to the really dangerous point).
After that, I told my family about everything that'd been going on and I started to listen and observe things a lot more too. I don't have physical proof but we came to the conclusion that the lady was abusing Echo. She'd told us that she wasn't about to let a thousand pound animal run her over and beat her so she wouldn't do it. Those are almost her exact words. Basically, she'd smack Echo around to force her to behave. The reason why she even handled Echo was because the horses couldn't be left out in the tall grass during the day because the heat brought out too much of the sugars and it had already caused too much trouble for her other two horses who got sick from it. There were also a few strange marks that showed up on echo that didn't make sense unless you put the pieces together that she'd been hit, not to mention her attitude change that made her into a more dangerous horse than a good one.
So by the end of August, I had her vaccinated and dewormed. I moved her to the stables and for the first week, she was clingy to me due to never being in the stables before. But after that, she went back to being sour. She was so bad by that point that one day when I was saddling her, she actually tried to kick me and narrowly missed my head since i was bent over to get the cinch. At that point, I knew I seriously needed some help cause at this point, she was almost dangerous to handle. I was too scared to saddle her up again and also found out the saddle didnt' fit her right anyways. I also had never done ground work before so I was at a loss as to what to do. So i started to think about selling her and just getting an older calmer horse. But then I got some help from a lady who has a horse in the same alleyway as me which started to change things but not enough. But at this point, she had stopped pinning her ears when I would lead her which was good, but she'd pin her ears and turn her butt to me as soon as I stepped into her stall. Then a Doug Mills clinic came along and I joined in on that. It's made a huge difference. I can finally saddle her without any worries and she greets me at the stall door every time I come to take her out. She follows me more easily and will backup when asked and I can finally ride her without too much concern.
Well, this turned out much longer than I expected... -.- either way, any advice would be very appreciated