Fact or Fiction?

HI there! I have a 4 month old filly that is a sweetheart. I had a person tell me that no matter how much I train her, that when her horomones kick in she will be a brat and go through a kicking, biting, shoving ect..stage. Is this true? I don't want to believe that because she is doing so well with her training. Maybe this person is just being negative towards me or has had bad experiences. What do you guys think? Any succesful horsey people that have raised a baby? Thanks for all the opinons!

My fillies never went through a terrible phase. Never to the point where they were difficult to handle or dangerous. They each had their "thing" Saro went through a nibble stage but that was quickly stopped by discontinueing hand feeding her.
Most of the stuff they did was owner error not baby nastys.
I think consistant training and lots of close work is the key to a well behaved horse toddler

ETA-I never noticed any hormonal flare ups with them and they are both 3 yo. Now. Their moms don't go into any nasty mare attitudes every month either.

Every filly/mare is different just like women/girls some get pms really bad others have no idea when that time of the month is coming till it's there. At 4 months old she is still a baby baby and has a lot of uncertainty and will look to you for reassurance but as she gets older she will feel more independent and she may be a bit of a brat at times but it's not a hormonal thing..it's a growing up thing :)

IME, most horses go through a 'teenager' stage. However, just like with people, it depends on the individual.

Some kids go through highschool without drinking, partying, skipping class etc... Some... not so much.

Same goes with horses. Some you have to deal with major temper tantrums, some you don't.

Yeah... We've raised 2 fillies in the past. One, my cousins, was always a sort of timid but calm horse. She never really blew up over nothing... In fact, the only reason she went nuts was because my cousin kept her at these peoples house for them to train her and she was abused and began fighting them because she didn't want to be hurt. This horses dam was a timid and calm horse, though, and so was her sire.

The other filly is my uncles. She was the sweetest thing as a baby, but really nosy... Now she's just turned 2 and she's a major brat and wants to kick, buck, bite, strike, and rear... It's really annoying and dangerous since my uncles 12 year old granddaughter is the one training her and the filly has already broke her finger and tried to throw her. Whitch, this filly's dam was a real brat, too... Her sire, however, was moderately calm but got really unruly at times.

It just depends on the horse. And the genetics.

I think that if she does go through some "terrible twos or threes" how bad and how long will depend on a few things. One is how consistant you are with the "rules". Two is how dominant her personality is.

Just keep in mind that if you're not training the horse, she/he is training you. That helped me when Walka entered his "testing" period. It was mild and very short lived because of consistancy on my part and he really is a sweet heart and good natured boy.

I agree with others who say it depends, that they're all different, but also, it depends so much on how you treat/train them. If you don't teach them any manners, then don't expect them to have any. A horse that hasn't been taught/treated well is always going to be worse behaved than one who has been taught consistently & fairly how to behave around humans.

Fiction

It's got nothing to do with hormone levels.

All horses ( mares / geldings / stallions ) will go through a phase as they grow up - this is just the horse establishing their position in the herd hierarchy, most horses are able to breed well before they get to 2 .
All you have to to is be firm but careful with them - this is a time when abusive behavior can have an extra effect as it's a time when they are learning and if you step over the line between discipline and abuse the horse will go from respect to fear - and at this age they remember such behavior for a long time.
Most will also be playful ( normal ) and when they grow their adult teeth they are likely to chew all they can find ( helps remove caps ) , all they need is a reminder that they cannot be playful with you and that you aren't something to chew on.

My filly periodically finds and exploits my weak areas. As a yearling she discovered she could turn, bump me with her hip and take off with me skiing and I couldn't stop her.
I wore gloves after that and put a chain on her nose and got that out of her head pretty quick. That being said, I still have to watch her as a 3 yr old cause the gears in her head still turn sometimes.
The latest thing is that I have a vulnerable period in my dismount once I swing my leg over and work on getting my foot out of the stirrup. She took to taking off at that moment.
Now I get off with her facing a fence and a nice firm grip on that inside rein. It is better, but I still don't trust her yet.

She is a very dominant horse and likes to be the alpha mare in the herd. As she gets older she is getting better, but we are always on our toes around each other to see who is going to let their guard down. One of those that may benefit from a breeding.

Agreed.

But there's also the point where pony starts going into heat. And THEN the hormones are having a polka party.