Do horses dislike certain individuals?

[LMuirEDT]

I am not one to think horses prefer men or women, I think if an individual person attacks/beats a horse then yes they can dislike that individual but on the general I don't think they distinguish between people that deeply.

However, my horse can be a bit of a handful at times but my dad has always been able to lead him round. Recently (since about October) my horse is just taking the mickey out of him at every chance and it's really knocking my dads confidence. He used to turn him in/out daily for me but now he gets dragged around, cut up, reared with, etc. My dad is taking this personally which i didnt think he should as my horse can be a handful for everyone else at the yard (he seems to have respect for me but I'm very balack and white with him which works). He was a handful for a while for other people but he's calmed down again but it just seems to be happening with my dad now.

I've tried walking with them whilst dad is leading and instructing him what to do and my horse just seems to ignore my dad which I thought was just my dad not being confident/authoritive. A few days ago tho I got him out of the field and all was well and then gave him to my dad and my horse would out of no where just trot, cut straight infront of him to eat grass. First time thought, ok maybe dad just wasnt ready for it but he then did it again! He doesn't do it with me and I'm at a loss as to what to suggest to my dad. He's a 5yrs old ID 17hh so he's not a small chap and tends to use his size to intimidate. We've also tried ground work in the school and he's ok with me but when dad takes over it's as if a switch flicks and he has no regard for dad at all.

Of everyone, my horse used to love my dad and follow him round more than anyone so all this is very odd. Dad can lead all the other horses around no problem so it's not necessarily a body language thing altho he does admit he is now really scared of him leading him round. In the stable they are fine, picking out feet, rugging up, it just seems to be a leading thing.

Any suggestions? It's really getting my dad down now as before if I needed him to he would quite happily go down and catch him for me, usually leading 2 at a time.

[Lisa in Plymouth]

It doesn't sound like he doesn't like your dad - it seems more like he doesn't repect him and therefore disregards his instructions. Would it be worth getting out an RA - they may be able to spot differences in your handling techniques and come up with ways to improve and clearly give out the same message. It could just be the most subtle difference that you can't even notice but a third party may be able to spot straight away. I think if your boy is rearing it may be advisable to get some out asap before someone is injured or your dad loses all confidence.

Hope you find a solution soon, dads are very useful when you can't get to the yard and need a stand-in!
Lisa

[LMuirEDT]

Sorry, bit long winded.

In a nutshell horse used to like dad, now being handful for dad to lead around, don't know what to suggest.

[horsey123]

hi

my welsh was very scared of men just men in general (he came from the sales as a 2yo stalli so we dot no his full past )

but he loved my outher half as i have shown my OH how to be aroud horses how to watch his BL and how to get the horses to reaspect him

jimmy would always try to play up like planting but we got him out of that we a chage of direction
jimmy would bite my OH
kick his frot legs out
and pin him in the stable

but they were in the school one day just doing backing and ground work and jimmy bit my OH really hard
we my OH uncliped jimmy and smacked the lead rope on the floor and sent jimmy away and boy jimmy moved he OH carried this on utill jimmy was just calmly walking around and then OH invited him in

and scince that day they have been best buds jimmy will follow him onto a trailer let him pick his feet and let him groom him witch is a biggy as jimmy hates to be groomed

we just still havent masterd him and the herd trying to herd my OH out of the feild hehe

[LMuirEDT]

I know! My dad is an absolute jem and this is really winding him up. I think it is a respect thing as if my horse doesn't respect you then you are irrelivant to him.

The most frustrating thing is he is a lamb for me, ok he tries it on occassionally when he's feeling clever but i cant explain what i do. I've been round horses 15+ years and work with them so I just do it without thinking. Every morning I lead out mine and 2 others at the same time so it's not as if it's the excitment of going out.

[LMuirEDT]

Thinking back this all seems to have stemmed from one time. I went to a show and whilst I was waiting for the results my dad and OH said they tried to load him and he wouldnt go anywhere near the trailer. He didnt do anything wrong just refused point blank to even entertain the idea. I had no idea about this, came back, untied him, walked him to the ramp, he had a little look (as he always does) then walked straight on. They didnt tell me about their attempt until we were half way home. Any connection do you think?

[Caroline]

You mention that your Dad is beginning to get a bit afraid of him. Horses are very good at picking up on a person's fear and it seems to bring out intimidating behaviour in even the quietest and gentlest horse.

I once took a friend who was scared of horses into my field. All 4 horses in the field are gentle and safe to be around, particularly the wise old gypsy cob. He is a horse I trusted with anything (now dead sadly) and has given first ever rides to hundreds of babies, toddlers and kids, pulled a gypsy wagon for much of his 19 years - through cities, festivals such as glastonbury and roads all over the country.

He seemed to pick up my friend's fear from the other side of the field, put his head down and charged at us. I have never seen him do this before or since. It was weird - but it did illustrate the effect of a person's fear on a horse. My own mare did something similar on a different occasion. Suffice to say, I don't take anyone who is afraid of horses into my field now!

I think it is connected to the pig-fear that a lot of horses have. Pigs smell of or like adrenaline, which horses pick up as fear - it then makes them fearful and that leads to high-energy behaviour which can be undesirable.

So I would give thought to how you can build confidence between your Dad and your horse. I am a new convert to clicker training, so forgive me if I am over-enthusiastic about it. Perhaps it would be a way to start re-building a co-operative and happy relationship between them? If you don't fancy clicker, then maybe you can find some things for your father and horse to do that are very achievable.

I think you need to focus on taking fear out of the equation by working through small, achievable goals.

I am not great expert though. I find it hard enough to solve my own horse's issues! Nevertheless, I am always happy to offer an unqualified opinion on the off chance that it might be helpful. I hope it all works out for you, your Dad and your horse

[greyhorses]

I think your horse is taking the mick with your dad and you need to step in as herd leader to say that you wont tolerate his behaviour with anybody human. Perhaps you can do join up with both yourself and your dad in the centre as Horsey has done. Don't let this turn into a dominance battle between your dad and your horse.

My horses are respectful of anybody leading them or in their field as they know that I will intervene if there's any messing about. On Xmas day I had the whole family in the field and then my mentally disabled aunt was able to bring my arab in whilst my uncle (her brother) lead my cob in.

[LMuirEDT]

i think we are all thinking along the same lines which is great as I wondered if there was something glaringly obvious staring me in the face. i think I will try more 'fun things' for them to do together.

I'm making my horse sound like a nutcase but he really isn't, he's just big and know's it sometimes but strangely enough he can be a bit of a wonderer to get on sometimes but if my dad stands next to him he will stand still, so that must mean there is some sort of a 'connection' there doesn't it? more work to be done i feel!

thanks guys, u've given me fresh hope!

[apachepony]

My gelding dislikes people alot and seems to especially enjoy trying to bite my OH. After nearly 9 years its more amusing than problematic as OH STILL manages to miss/ignore the warning signs. He has never done it to me and I'm soft as anything with him. But my gelding has LOTS of issues and is quite nervous of people (other than me).

[june]

I think this is simply a body language issue and nothing personal to your dad. If you can get an RA out to show him how to lead the horse properly and be in charge of the horse's feet it would make a big difference. RAs do a great job at transferring skills to the people they've gone to see. They aren't just about dealing with problem horses.

Your dad needs to be important to the horse and to be important he needs to be in control of the horse's feet and the horse needs to feel safe with him. If he's worried about the horse, the horse will be worried and won't feel safe, so will feel it needs to look out for itself. All your dad needs is some pointers on consistent handling and he'll be fine.

[wabuska]

My last horse Blue disliked one male friend of mine and was scared of him (he wasn't iffy with other men). He would shake and eyeball him until he left. Really odd.

[jakeandbarneysmum]

I totally agree with June. My 2 are not so well behaved for my OH - he's done no NH stuff, and is more inclined to just get cross with them if they don't behave perfectly. I think they see him as "one of the gang" and they don't seem to have the same level of respect as they do for me. But my OH won't listen to me (do they ever?) so I decided just to let the 3 of them get on with it. They have kind of reached an equilibrium now, and don't play him up so much, although the ginger one still likes the taste of Daddy's hand!!!!

Oh, and my two nieces, very similar to each other (full sisters) - one was 5'10" and 15 years old, and the other one about 4'6" and 10 years old - Barney lurrved the older one (Bex) and would do anything for her. If the little one (Ellie) went near him, he tried to eat her (literally). Really nasty. I think that was down to body language too. Ellie was a little bit worried about him (who wouldn't be?) but Bex was in love with him.

But... another weird situation - my Auntie, with a lifetime's experience with (other people's) horses met Barney for the first time, and he seemed to take an instant dislike to her. She's very short, and I'm wondering if he has some sort of height discrimination going on??

Jake gets on with everyone - he such a big cuddly teddy bear. He loves stopping in the village to say a big doofah "hellooo" to anyone who's out walking.

[june]

I think they react to energy coming from people near them. If someone has a lot of energy then that can be quite worrying for them. Fear can give off a certain energy so they pick up on that. Maybe auntie gave off a lot of energy and intention because she was very confident, and he didn't like that and Ellie gave off too much energy through fear and he didn't like that either?

[Azrael]

I think they can tell the difference between people and react differently to different people, I'm sure that could include not liking certain people.. but a lot of being different to handle for different people is either a difference in how people do the handling or the horse learning that they can do what they want without consequences rather than like or dislike.

I've got two who are quite easy to handle and the same for most people, at worst they'll tow someone over to the nearest bit of food if they've really got no control over them. Then there's Mia who is very sensitive and far too clever and she learns very quickly who to be angelic for and who can be declared her new toy to play with She seems to have a good memory as well, there was a livery she'd declared an annoying little chew toy and her coming to visit a year or so after leaving was enough for Mia to go from good mood to producing the EvilDeathStare especially for her.