We have a saddlebred weanling in the barn we call Little A--and A's not for Angel! She's beautiful, but we didn't get her until she was 5 months old, and had never even had a halter on. We've been working really hard to gain her confidence, but she's not at all a "people" horse, and in fact is starting to be dangerous.

Any time we walk into her stall, she turns her butt to us, and starts backing up. She'll nail you if you don't get out fast. She's not even interested in being bribed with grain or peppermints! This baby hasn't been mishandled--she was just never handled at all, and has a nasty temperment.

Does anyone have suggestions of how to break this behavior? I think I once heard of using a broomstick, and letting them kick into that and smack their legs. (Not smacking them--but letting them make contact with the broomstick every time they kick.) Thanks for your suggestions!

Yes, You've got the right idea.
The broom part, not the stick.
When she turns her but towards you prickle her with the bristles.
It is more of a shock thing than a hit.
Or jump around and bang things together like a crazy person, or 1 hard hit with a driving/dressage whip.
Anything to stop her from thinking she is in charge and running you out.
You are not looking at trying to become friends, what you need to do is teach her that you are the herd leader and she is to yield to you-ALWAYS.
You don't need to touch her, through trial and error you will discover how much force you need to exert.
May be just by expanding your chest and looking taller, think military. They look a certain way. Body langue.
But, You are correct to know that you must stop this now.
Good Luck

On first thought, I personally would go with Ltc4H's "1 hard hit with a whip".

BUT: There are two things you want to keep in mind.

First, you have to be willing and able to do that. Willing means, you cannot hesitate the last moment - and your hit turns into a little smack. Able means, you need to hit - not get hung up somewhere and miss.

Second, there is the chance it would not work and the filly goes nuts in the stall. You better have an "exit strategy". If possible, I would get her into a larger pen or corral.

Then on second thought, there is a reason for that behavior. You say she never was abused, just not handled. I have worked a lot of "problem horses - and it always turned out that "something happened".

The most likely reason is that she is afraid / feels threatened. Was she turned out before and is now stalled? That could have something to do with it.

How did she get there when she never was handled / haltered before? Forceful loading can screw a young horse up in a hurry.

Do you know the former owner(s)? It would not be the first time that a horse with an - undisclosed - "bad habit" gets sold.

It for sure is a problem that needs to be solved. Do some soul searching - and if you do not have a lot of experience with horses, do not hesitate to ask for a little help.

Good luck!

GC

I would never have thought of using the bristles on a broom excellent idea

Thanks for everyone's suggestions! I'll let you know what we do, and how it works! Happy New Year to all

Immediate response, that is my suggestion. AS SOON as she even looks like shes thinking about turning on you, IMMEDIATELY respond with the bristles, or whip, or even an empty bucket. It doesn't really hurt at all but makes quite a racket. I was taught to play "Hide the Hiney" with young horses, it's something we do with all of the youngsters to teach them to never give you their hind end unless you ask for it or enter thier space first. Take in a lead and every time she goes to turn pop her on the bum with it. They normally get the idea very quickly,lol.

I just had a mare in that was a tad fearful and would turn away at the last minute when going to halter her. The swat on the rump (broom) is a good technique if you keep in mind also to stay at least 6 feet away from the back legs (long broom handle). I had a very rude mare that had no issue with letting you see how dirty her hooves were when she was corrected for presenting her hind end. I would also keep in mind you are working a lesson here and that if you hit her too hard you may create fear and worsen the problem at hand. Be committed to your response to the hind end, but only severe enough to get a correct response from the horse.

I had a filly that I bred from my Mustang mare, and she ended up with the same problem when she was only a few months old. All the advice given has been very good, but one of the main things that I did was hold her by the halter, (if you have a short lead that's even better) and reach my hand around and rub her all over - across her back, over the rump, down the legs etc. It's a good idea to do it with a stick or something before you do it with your hand just for safety's sake, but I think this helps them to not see you as a threat. After working with this for a while, if she tried to kick me, I would give her a hard pop on the back end, but as soon as I did, I would follow up with running my hand all over her and picking up her feet. Make sure you're holding her head though, so you can always pull her head around and move her hind end over.
This is a little off the subject, but this filly also pinned her ears back at me whenever I went to give her grain. I would stand in front of her with the bucket, and tell her to stick her ears up. I'm not saying she understood what I was saying, but I waited until she changed her look of aggression to one of curiosity or anything that wasn't offensive. When she did, I immediately gave her the feed. It didn't take her long to figure out that she wasn't going to get anything until she had a kind "look".
This filly's dam is super sweet, and NEVER has shown my any aggression whatsoever. I raised the filly from the time she was born and handled her a lot, so I have no clue where the kicking problem came from, but that's how I dealt with it.

First, does she have a play mate and lots of turn out time? If you have a bit older horse that is an Alpha, a little bossy, but not deadly. One without hindshoes if you have one.
A foal knows only what they see from mom and the rest of the herd. If Mom and baby were not worked with on a regular basis your filly does not know the rules of humans. She will try to relate to you just like she would another foal or horse. If her mom was bossy, she would also have been used to watching mom eat first, drink first and get the shady sweet spots. She does not know you are the HUMAN, NOT her playmate. You have to teach her that all humans are alpha to horses. Without early education she will naturaly try to be the top dog.
I would keep a "safety" halter on her at all times, one with a very short cotton rope for a while. Once she comes in, when you enter her stall stand with your back at the door. Cluck to her, I also carry a towel to flip at her hind end. If you stand and cluck and flip the towel at her she will turn to face you. Grab the lead rope, replace it with a longer one. Turn her head to you, step towards her rear and pull her around, cluck to help her start moving. Every time you move towards her rump and pull her head to you she will swing her hind away. Reward with a word, but no treats. She should quickly get the idea that her head follows you around the stall.
When she gets the message, back to the door, change lead ropes, reward with a soft rub and voice. The poster that said you should always make her wait for you to allow her to ear is right on. Even if you need to temp. feed her by the door, she does not eat until you let her.
I fix cross ties in the stall. Rubber tied to a piece of twine or wire tie that will break if she gets into trouble. Long enough for her to just get her rump to the back wall, but not get her head to the ground or even around past her shoulder. You can start asking her to step away from you, pull her head slightly to you, cluck and press on her back, just about where the saddle would sit, mid belly line. If you keep her head to you she should not be able to kick. If you are close, you are LESS likely to get a big kick. If you stand about 6 feet away from a horse they have enough room to let you get the full force of their hind leg. If you did your work within the stall first, she should get the idea to move away from you. Once you put her in cross ties, with a wall behind her and have her step over away from you, you can work from both sides, she should already have the idea you are not her PLAY BUDDY. Most VITAL, GET a good trainer to help you get her started. GOOD LUCK

John Lyons has a good article on this one called "Perfect Ground Manners". I had some of the same issues with Chance when he was younger (and this article helped a lot). A lot of what this baby is presenting is fear/disrespect for humans. Out of curiosity, how long have you had her?

I used to leave a halter on Chance all the time (The barn owner where I used to board couldn't catch him - and he was abused before I got him at 11 months old.) But what I had to do with him was earn his trust and show different body language. If they can sense or see fear displayed they can act like a bully - which then you're not conditioning the horse - they're conditioning you to leave their space. A lot of time and a stick and/or the back side of the manure fork to push against his butt and tell him "over" worked well with him. Chance's worst time used to be at feeding time. So we made a game out of it. He had to face me and give me space (yielding and standing next to the wall while I put grain in his bucket) before he recieved the reward (his dinner)

Unfortunately I have limited time to work with my horses but I make every minute count. Even if I only have 5 minutes I make it a small lesson. Those smaller lessons do add up. Be careful and good luck.

p.s. I can only speak of what worked for me and my horses. I am by no means a professional trainer - I only train my own horses.