I have two yearling half sisters about three months different in age. The older of the two responds well to me and mostly lets me handle her all over. The other (Rowdy) has been suspicious of me from day one. I got them about 7 months ago. Spend equal time with them.

Rowdy will come to me, seems excited to see me, even follows me around. As soon as I touch her she pins her ears. Loose in the pasture she turns her rear to me when I touch her. The other things she does now is tosses up her head and goes white eyed, ears pinned. As soon as I drop my hands she is ok again. I have never been rough with her. I am firm and scold her if she acts like she wants to bite, but mostly with a sharp tone or a smack on the neck if she seems agressive. Seriously, even when she walks up to me knickering at dinner time, she pins those ears. I am beginning to think they got screwed on backwards!

She is the "low man" between the two and her sister dominates her constantly. They are the only two horses I have. When I am grooming or petting her she never really relaxes and swishes her tail or stomps, maybe even does small side kicks. If I separate them and halter her, she will calm down a little after a half hour of doing feet and grooming, but she never really likes it.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Can you seperate them? Sometimes being by themselves horses will change their attitudes toward people. A friend of mine has a Morgan gelding that she put a mare in with thinking that it would be good for him to have company. Instead he wouldn't let her any where near him anymore. After I brought the mare to my place he went back to same old ways of wanting all her love and attention.

Hope this helps.

Ann

I agree seperating them would be best. If the other mare is dominant and Rowdy is the low man, it almost seems like she is trying to dominate you. I think seperating them and working a little more with her on who is in charge would be best. Now I have a mare that we have had since she was six months and she is now 12 years old and her and I don't get along at all. If I haven't messed with her in a while (since she is the hubbys) and then go out to the pen to get her for something, she can be hard to catch, runs off, turns her butt at me. I make her run around a while until she comes to me. But she pins her ears at me all the time and I just get after her and then she is fine. Some people and horses just don't get along but they learn to tollerate each other and I think that is where I am with our mare. Most of the time all I have to do now is point at her and she puts her ears back up some.

Hope this helps, good luck

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try separating them. I do think she thinks she is dominating me. I am going to try separating them and then only handling her while I have her on a halter so I can correct her more consistently when she gets cranky. Right now, I handle her loose frequently and it makes it easy for her to get away.

I really hope she doesn't turn out to be a horse that just doesn't like me. Sometimes I get a glimpse of her relaxing so I have some hope. What I don't want is to raise a rotten egg that nobody wants. Will take her to a trainer first.

if the separation doesnt work you will have to make her know you are boss, i work with natural horsemanship and it has done wonders for my horses! she needs to learn you are the herd mare, lots of groundwork is in store if you choose this route, but its well worth it.

We had a very nervy little mare with similar behaviour. Horses are extraordinarily sensitive. After some massage treatment (very gentle) and desensitizing with a mop - about a month of daily training - she is like a different horse. Try to get Jim Masterson's DVD on equine massage - I ordered it over the internet. It is a fantastic resource.

I will look into the Masterson DVD. Thanks for the suggestion. I have been feeding them in two separate areas and focusing much more of my attention on just her. I have tried putting her in a separate pen for awhile before I work with her and also am feeding her separately. That is helping. Next, I have had to teach her I am not a playmate. Each day she is better about that. My biggest challenge seems to be getting her to relax, which definitely is improving. She is letting me do several things and pins her ears less often. She has even dozed when I brush her face which is a definite turnaround. She is still very wary when I touch her belly and still pins her ears for no reason when she isn't on halter. I am going to keep trying what I am doing and will look into massage. I have often thought she might like that.

Do try the massage - I am busy with a report on my blog about the major problems I had with my horse with bad manners and behaviour, and what the underlying causes were. Mainly muscular pain.
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