nomdeac
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 177
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Post by nomdeac on Dec 23, 2011 23:05:39 GMT 1
Just wondered if anyone can help. A have owned my 14hh Connemara yearling for just over a month now. Each day I bring her bring her in and give her a small feed and practice some of the foundation excercises as described in Perfect Manners. She is coping with these very well and will back and move sideways and can be handled and brushed all over. She comes cantering to the gate when I call for her and will lead in easily either before or after her 24 year old field companion. Out problem comes when I try to turn her back out again. She refuses to go out and rears and strikes out and seems generally very anxious about the idea. She will lead about in a very mannerly way anywhere else on the farm and is easy to turn out in the same field but through a different gate. Do people think I should just turn her out through a different gate or keep patiently working on turning her out the way she came in. We stood at the gate this morning for nearly an hour in the rain, as soon as we tried a different gate she was fine.
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Post by shan on Dec 23, 2011 23:13:48 GMT 1
Will she go out through the scary gate? The simplest way I think would just be turn her out through the gate she likes, until you know each other better and can work on the other gate issue. If it's inconvenient to use the ok gate all the time, could you try putting her bucket in the field so she can see it, and feeding her just inside the scary gate if she'll be tempted through like that? Afterthought - is the farm she's at now new to her or has she always been there? Does she go back in through the scary gate ok with her friend?
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nomdeac
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 177
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Post by nomdeac on Dec 24, 2011 17:08:29 GMT 1
Many thanks for your reply, its' really helped. She has only been at the farm for a month, so everything is very new. She won't go back into the field even with her friend (there are only the two of them in it) This morning I was furious, I had stood with her for ages just outside the gate, using passive body language and stoking her withers to calm her down, she was very nearly at the point of going through the gate when some people let dogs run through a nearby paddock and she was frightened out of her wits. She shot through the gate and all her old anxiety returned. I think I'll put her out through the 'easy' gate until she becomes more confident in herself, perhaps I'll feed her just inside that gate too so she associates bieng turned out with even more pleasant experiences.
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Post by specialized on Dec 24, 2011 21:16:28 GMT 1
Perrhaps something has happened in the vicinity of the gate that has scared her, it does sound like a confidence issue and everything being so new to her will not be helping.
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Post by rifruffian on Dec 24, 2011 21:45:41 GMT 1
furious.....no.
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nomdeac
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 177
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Post by nomdeac on Dec 25, 2011 17:48:55 GMT 1
Not with the pony with the people. I'm the only person who has ever lead her through the gate and she hasn't had a scare with me. You've made me think though. Instead of letting her go when the dogs scared her I should have stayed with her and tried to calm her down. So your right, I shouldn't have been furious. Thank you. I've just read my original post, my fillys issues aren't about 'manners' its' about confidence, she isn't being bad-mannered just scared. So I need to work on building her confidence. I've been dealing with horses for 36 years now in the traditional way and it feels like there is so much to unlearn and learn again now that I've started to use IH techniques.
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Post by specialized on Dec 25, 2011 18:04:04 GMT 1
It does not need to be related to you leading her through the gate, something could have happened in the vicinity of the gate that you are unaware of, but has scared her.
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nomdeac
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 177
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Post by nomdeac on Dec 25, 2011 19:17:55 GMT 1
It does not need to be related to you leading her through the gate, something could have happened in the vicinity of the gate that you are unaware of, but has scared her. Could be, I think I need to keep getting to know her and building her confidence.
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calekio
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 1,235
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Post by calekio on Dec 25, 2011 20:00:47 GMT 1
I had a miniature horse yearling filly who came to me for showing & training... she had a fair few hang up but one of the most (annoying i suppose) hangs up was that she was scared of gates.. i later found out from her owners they had shut her in a gate as a foal (i don't know why)
I had recently been to a demo by Sarah weston who showed a non-loader and use similiar methods with the gate trouble as with a non-loader. We started with no other horse in the field so the gate could be wide open.. just walking her through it to show her it was ok.. then with someone holding the gate began to close it so she was walking though a smaller gap.. once we hit the 'thats too small, i can't go through that' time with her.. i did as sarah does with loaders.. asked her to come forward, stand and then she was allowed/asked to go backwards a step and calm down, come forward again a little bit more than before then backwards to calm down again... eventually after a few hours (spaced over a few days) we had her walking in and out of gates like a pro without any fears and we could lead her and open a gate at the same time... i did eventually when she was 100% happy ask her to stand in the gateway and get her to allow me to close the gate on her so to speak, just it would be an inch or so from her body and she soon relised that gates weren't going to hurt her and when she left me she had no fear of gate what so ever.
Best thing you can do is to make everything to do with the 'scary gate' as lovely as possible, do you have help when putting her back? Or do you have to hold her and open the gate at the same time... if not might be worth trying to get someone to help you.. and maybe taking the other horse out of the field whilst working so you can have the gate wide open and being held open (or tied open, so no chance of shutting on her) and just have lots of patience....
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nomdeac
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 177
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Post by nomdeac on Dec 26, 2011 10:10:51 GMT 1
Many thanks for that advice. I'll try it. Thats why I was so cross with the people who frightened her with the dogs. I'll work on making her experiences around that gate as pleasant as possible.
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Post by outoftheblue on Dec 26, 2011 12:13:24 GMT 1
Interesting we had a scary gate issue with one of our ponies who would be ridden through but not led. If onlyw e could download their files and see what they are thinking!!
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nomdeac
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 177
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Post by nomdeac on Dec 27, 2011 15:02:46 GMT 1
I think we've had a break through this morning. As soon as we came round the corner out of our stables and headed to the gate she halted. I let her take her time and she came forward, then I decided to let her eat some grass. She took a couple of mouthfulls and then took some steps forward. Then she just decided to walk towards the gate, she spotted the bucket in the field and walked straight through the gate with no hesitation. I made a fuss of her and let her eat her feed. Thank you very much for all your advice everyone. I'll let you know how she gets on.
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Post by shan on Dec 28, 2011 1:43:05 GMT 1
Brilliant!! Well done both of you!
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nomdeac
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 177
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Post by nomdeac on Dec 28, 2011 18:49:05 GMT 1
Brilliant!! Well done both of you! Thank you, a bit sticky this morning but we got there. I think I must be a bit dim, she's been on a professional yard all her life till a month ago. Who knows what experiences she may have had when being turned out again. Thats just dawned on me today.
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nomdeac
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 177
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Post by nomdeac on Dec 29, 2011 17:57:53 GMT 1
Another good day, she sticks to me like glue but after a little bit of turning away from me she walked out as good as gold and then straight through the gate. I have it wedged open wide so she doesn't have to walk through the really muddy bit. We are still using the bucket with a little feed in it, I'll keep using it until the behaviour is really established.
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