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Post by horsefeed on Jan 20, 2013 23:45:19 GMT 1
I collected a project/rescue pony last weekend, he is a friendly enough Newfie gelding, riddled with worms and lice, both now treated!
He is catchable, leads, ties up, grooms, pick feet out, allow you to rug and even place a saddle on his back but he is exceptionally headshy, He will not let you touch his ears on poll area at all to the extent its a struggle to get a headcollar on him, (even if you put round his neck lower down and bring it up slowly and then do nose band up) he is also extreme in his reaction and literally chucks his head at you!
I have been trying advance, retreat and treat, I hold his dinner buckets and play with his ears while he is eating but he is so unhappy.
He also tries to pre-empt you and if he thinks you are going to touch his ears will react even if your not going to. This afternoon I was brushing his face and he thought I was going for his ears, swung his head round and split my lip! He is very quick and it hurts!
If you insist and keep going he will let you touch base off ears but then he starts stamping front feet and getting quite arsey!
I did something I don't normally do and I twitched him today and had a good look inside and round his ears and no obvious injuries as was worried maybe he had something in them or something, he stood like a rock while twitched. I twitched him with my hand on nose, not an actual twitch!
Anyone got any ideas?
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Post by june on Jan 21, 2013 0:02:17 GMT 1
Clicker train him to allow you to touch his ears, touching quite a long way away from his ears and gradually getting closer. That way you should be able to change the association from something unpleasant to something pleasant.
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Post by kizi on Jan 21, 2013 0:20:36 GMT 1
Maybe go right back to foal first head collar stuff.. A slight delay perhaps but if it worked it would be worth it. I had a foal that came like that, I don't know what happened him. I also discovered he wouldnt put his head out over the door so was pretty extreme about his head being touched by anything, not just humans! I couldn't have got him on side without Sarah Weston and her book.. And a pair of tights!!!! It was the softest 'restraint' I could think of, where a scarf is suggested for the sensitive ones even that was too much for my boy, but because the tights are so light and also stretchy I was actually able to gradually build up to having the tights loosely tied around his face etc to build yo to a scarf, soft rope and eventually a head collar... It took a lot of time and tears.... But I won him over... And now he is rising 2 and loves nothing more than a good head and ear scratch, yesterday he actually rubbed his poll on my arm which was a first and a huge milestone for him....
So that's why I suggest go back to pure baby stuff... Reteach him....
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Post by SarahW on Jan 21, 2013 10:49:29 GMT 1
You also need to make sure you get the quality of the touch right. It needs to be deep flat slow - not tickly, not pointy, not invasive - make sense?
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Post by mandal on Jan 21, 2013 10:58:54 GMT 1
riddled with worms and lice, both now treated! Have you considered the possibility he has ear mites? Obviously the other suggestions will be needed for the vet to check. |
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Post by jen1 on Jan 21, 2013 11:17:44 GMT 1
Clicker train him to allow you to touch his ears, touching quite a long way away from his ears and gradually getting closer. That way you should be able to change the association from something unpleasant to something pleasant. This was going to my advice, works a treat, if you start off clicking and treating wildly even if he looks at it, then just get closer and closer make sessions short |
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Post by jill on Jan 21, 2013 11:44:41 GMT 1
Chances are he has been hit around the head, in which case it will take time and he will never ever really forget. All you can do is overlay bad associations with good ones, so I'm with the clicker training folks.
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Post by jen1 on Jan 21, 2013 11:47:05 GMT 1
Tbh, I think id have gained his complete trust before doing anything with him, remove all doubt in his mind
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Post by mandal on Jan 21, 2013 12:02:32 GMT 1
It does appear that he is specifically protective of his ears though. Ear twitching comes to mind but I would want to rule out any physical cause as well myself.
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Post by horsefeed on Jan 21, 2013 14:37:01 GMT 1
I have though ear twitching too Mandal, I will start with clicker training and see how he progresses. He is quite dangerous with his head as he literally launches is it at you!
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Post by marychick on Jan 21, 2013 18:03:53 GMT 1
If he's that dangerous then maybe you could start out by touching with something on a stick (such as a feather duster) so you can be a safe distance away and don't have to worry about getting hurt. Some horses can find this less threatening too, particularly if it's human hands they're worried about? modified to say... obviously don't go straight for the head with a feater duster (or similar) on a stick as this is likely to be threatening. Start at the wither and when he realises it feels lovely work slowly up the neck  |
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Post by ladynowak on Jan 21, 2013 19:12:00 GMT 1
The dealer who I got my last horse from ends up with a lot of similar horses coming to him to be sold on, he is so gentle with them and just so quiet. He doesn't even try to touch them, he just puts a line of bailer twine across the corner of the stable with j-cloths tied to it where he puts their hay/feed and leaves them to it. That way it 'tickles' their ears as they go to eat. He then slowly works on brushing them and slowly works up to their ears. Then eventually puts an old towel across it so it has more weight. He claimed it never took longer than a week to 'cure' them, but he was at the yard all day so just spent the days going in for a couple minutes at a time.
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Post by horsefeed on Jan 22, 2013 10:29:38 GMT 1
What a brilliant idea Ladynowak, he is in a small yard on his own at the moment so I am sure I could rig a line up over the hay box, I started clicker training this morning, he was intially petrified just of the noise of the clicker, so I had to start at the gate and click and threw him a treat everything time he stood still when I took a step forward, he sussed it very quickily and soon approched me, I touched all over his neck and face with touch, click, treat, when the base of his right ear (normally his worse) and then I clicked, treat and walked away and left him to absorb it, massive improvement in such a short space of time and his reaction towards the end was no where near as extreme so very happy |
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Post by Ally S on Jan 22, 2013 10:51:28 GMT 1
I've got a horse like this. My Spanish rescue Manny. He's petrified of his ears being touched and I have no doubt he was ear twitched. I came up with a brilliant idea years ago on how to deal with it. Nothing! He doesn't like them touched, fine I don't touch them! I just get on with what I need to do and give them a wide berth. Over the years the problem has just gone away because it's stopped being an issue and his trust in me has built. It won't be everyone's idea and there are lots of options, but I do feel we can push a bit hard sometimes, when standing back can be a very effective option!
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Post by jill on Jan 22, 2013 11:40:20 GMT 1
Ally S - how is he having his bridle put on now? Because that's when headshyness arond the ears becomes a real problem IME
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