# Does my horse hate me?



## HorseyPie (Apr 11, 2011)

So I have a mare, Pie, who seems like she hates my guts. I've had her since April of 2010, and she's always been the same...
Every time I go near her, she pins her ears and walks away. When I try to pet her, she pins her ears and swings her head at me several times like she wants to swat me across the field, then walks/trots away. And she doesn't do it to just me, she does it to every human being! She hates company! And when I saddle her up, she tries to bite me, so I have to tie her really close to the post. After riding, she doesn't even let me come near her.
There's another horse (gelding) that came from the same owners as her who's the sweetest thing ever! We recently took them to see their past owners, and the wife hugged and kissed all over the gelding. She tried to approach Pie and she did the same thing she does to everyone else. The woman backed away with a scared look on her face saying "I could never get close to that one..." 
Is Pie just a hateful horse? Can/will she get better? How? I've been told so many times to 'spend more time with her', but how does that help if she hates my presence? Please help...


----------



## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

She is just a crabby mare. Bet she likes to see you when she's hungry though.


----------



## HorseyPie (Apr 11, 2011)

Yeah. That's the ONLY time she's happy. -_-


----------



## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Then you gotta be the treat person. Buy a bag of those horse crunch cookies, if this crabby patty likes those, (most do) and randomly treat her.


----------



## sandy2u1 (May 7, 2008)

If it were me, I would not be giving treats to a horse that acts that way.


----------



## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

I have a horse that looks like the meanest thing on Earth, snakey neck, totally pinned ears, all indications that she is hateful. But she's not. She doesn't even know how to be bad but she just looks like that. 
I taught her to put her ears forward on command otherwise you'd never see them until you get a hand on her, then she's nice looking.
I catch her looking at me with ears forward & as soon as she sees me looking at her the ears whip right back. That's just her way.
I don't take offense to it but I did name her Icky.


----------



## rocky pony (Oct 5, 2007)

Can't help but agree with Sandy. Treats would be extremely counter-productive here, if not downright dangerous.
Have you worked with her much on the ground? It sounds like she could use some serious lessons in respect. It might sound like it would only make her like you less, but it really wouldn't. She needs someone to stand up to her and put her in her place, a strong leader. You must become her leader before you can become her friend.

Especially in horses with this type of personality I would highly advise doing a lot of work down at her level, one-on-one. Does she lunge? I feel the impression that she wouldn't. If she does, does she listen and keep an ear on you, or does she look around and wait for something more interesting to happen somewhere outside the pen?
Solid, properly executed lunging sessions can do wonders to get that respect from a horse.

I'd also bet she'd benefit from some solid standard groundwork exercises, making her step over in the front and hind, backwards, forwards, moving her all over...and really making her move, as in "You will go how I tell you to go when I tell you to go or you will be made to go."

Exercises like that are what are really going to build the foundation of your relationship with your horse, believe it or not. My mare was almost just the same way when I started working with her, but now she's ecstatic to see me and follows me like a puppy. She just needed to learn that I was to be respected and therefore could be trusted. You really must think like a horse when it comes to these things...and let's just say a submissive horse would most definitely not be caught behaving that way towards her leader!


----------



## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

natisha said:


> I have a horse that looks like the meanest thing on Earth, snakey neck, totally pinned ears, all indications that she is hateful. But she's not. She doesn't even know how to be bad but she just looks like that.
> I taught her to put her ears forward on command otherwise you'd never see them until you get a hand on her, then she's nice looking.
> I catch her looking at me with ears forward & as soon as she sees me looking at her the ears whip right back. That's just her way.
> I don't take offense to it but I did name her Icky.


 
Icky sounds great xD I love that name.

I used to own a TBx called Belle, 5yo, and was completely wrong horse for me but it was fun. Well, not so much at first. Her previous owner rugged her up in 35oC heat, and I learnt why. Grooming. I tried curry combing her and she cow kicked me in the gut. So, I untied her from the post, asked a friend to groom under her belly whilst I held a front leg up with a lead rope, she tried to kick, and fell over. No more problems.

Mares can be mares, they can be grumpy cows. But you have to think of it like this. If she didn't want you on her back, you wouldn't be there. Unless you stitched yourself on.

Don't feed her treats by hand, if you're going to feed her treats, make sure she realises its you dropping the carrots and apples in. Apart from that, ground work so she stays out of your personal space.


----------



## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Ah don't you love real marey-mares  

I've got one, I've had her since I was 10 years old, she was my first pony. She has always been a crabby little so-and-so, puts on a big "don't go near me I'm really grumpy" performance, but as soon as you start paying attention to her butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. 

As has been said above, this sort of horse will do well with lots of one-on-one groundwork time with you. Though she may be just being a typical grumpy mare, you need to make sure she knows your'e still the boss - trying to bite or acting aggressively towards you is not on, she doesn't have to enjoy being fussed over, she doesn't have to stand with you when you let her go after a ride, but she is absolutely not to try and dominate you.


----------



## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

Another thought, have you had her ovaries checked to make sure they aren't tender, sore or swollen? Forgot to mention, magnesium works a DREAM on grumpy mares, however you have to feed it for about three weeks before the horse starts to show change!


----------



## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

Ahhh the grumpy pony, I have one of those. He will walk up to you with ears forward and nickering but go to pet him and his ears go back and he gets the mean face on. Hates to be brushed too. He was a rescue so I am not sure if some it stems from that. He is three and a half and I have owned him for 2 years. I have learned if I wanna love on a horse that there are a few at my barn that love it so I just go see them.


----------



## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Sorry, should've been more thorough with the treat thing. Don't be rewarding miserable behaviour with treats. Stand outside her paddock, stall, whatever, when she comes up to you, give her a treat. If she's miserable, she don't get one. Heck, I trained a crazy beef cow to follow me around like a puppy with horse cookies. He even followed me into the stocktrailer after others were chasing him around for hours. I was the treat person. But remember, don't reward bad behaviour, a half decent pleasant look is fine. A miserable pinned ear look, too bad, cookie is gone. Correct any bad behaviour, miserable looks while the horse is in it's paddock is a personality trait. You want an animal to look forward to seeing you, give it food.


----------



## HorseyPie (Apr 11, 2011)

Thanks a lot for your advice. I will definitely start doing dome ground work with Pie as soon as I can!


----------



## HorseyPie (Apr 11, 2011)

Thanks! I am going to start some one-on-one ground work as soon as I can.


----------



## soenjer55 (Dec 4, 2011)

Hm. Well, have you ruled out physical problems? If it's nothing physical, then I would chalk it up to her having an EXTREMELY low opinion of people in general. I would say that she needs much firmer handling- she needs to know you are someone to respect, even if she doesn't like you, necessarily... Some horses need to respect you before they like you.


----------

