At 21:52:44 on 15.12.09, La Palma wrote:
My 9 month filly shows often a bad mood. When she comes to me she looks happy, but when i touch her the ears goes back. She dont want to get brushed our touched.If I dont touch her she stays happily with me smelling and investigating me. I bought her just 14 days ago and before that she had hardly been touched. She now accept when I put on and take of the halter and I can lead her. She often follows me even when she is not wearing a halter. I suspect that I have done wrong by giving her carrots, and now thats the only thing she wants from me, can that be so? Does anybody have any ideers aboute what I can do, to make her more friendly? On the photo she just tried to bite me. Kim

At 13:18:33 on 16.12.09, plodalong wrote:
hello Kim, your youngster is testing her boundaries and trying to establish whats going on. you are already doing a good job with the halter.the treats are good for motivating left brained horses but right brained horses may be too worried or anxious for treats to mean very much, what she may be picking up is that if you are the leader,why would you give up your food? you may like to try approach and retreat, when you touch your baby and she is accepting of it then immediatly stop touching her. it wont happen over night but she will learn that if she doesnt want you to touch her then the quickest way to get you to stop is by standing still, not pulling faces and being nice, once this is realised she may find out that being groomed and stroked is pleasurable.and begin to look forward to grooming sessions.she has only been in your care for a short time and trust on both sides needs to be established.if you dont want her to bite you then keep away from her mouth and keep your hands or arms busy, move them around a lot she will learn that you are not smacking her and if her face bangs into your moving arm or hand then its her fault and she will move away.when she is in the field think what an older horse would do to dicipline a naughty youngster.you cant put your ears back but you can put a scowl on your face and then she will see that you are displeased with her behaviour.have fun with her.

At 15:12:21 on 16.12.09, La Palma wrote:
Thank you for the tips. Today I didnt give her any treats, and she was more possitiv and calm. So in the future if I give her it will be when Im leaving. Moving my arms, that is a good ideer, that will also make her less scared of movements. Today was a good day, and tomorow is another day... I need to reed more aboute left/right brained horses, I have many things to learn. Can you tell what type a horse is at such young age? Have a nice day! Kim

At 19:22:07 on 16.12.09, plodalong wrote:
hi, the idea of left and right brained horsanalities comes from Pat Parelli. if you can get hold of a horsenality dvd that will explain it far better than i can but i will have a go there are left brained introverts and extroverts ,there are right brained introverts and extroverts,left brained horses are usually dominant,pushy,tolerant, unconcerned,confident and curious,right brained are usually fearfull nervous,defensive,reactive,spooky, unconfident and emotional the introverts are usually slow,have a tendancy to stop. they have more whoa than go and appear to have low energy levels. The extrovert has more go than whoa,high energy,quick and a tendancy to run.the idea of playing with your horse is to get the If you have ever seen the Parelli horses then you will see that linda's horses are very different, Remmer is a left brained introvert and needs lots of motivation to do anything ,if too much pressure is put on him he goes inside himself until he gets reassurance that all is well and he hasnt got anything to worry about. Linda's other horse Allure is a left brained extravert.He loves to play and move his feet around. he is easily bored and he has lots of energy.training each of these horses needs to be considered, what works for Remmer wont work for Allure. Remmer needs to be motivated and reassured and his training will be done at a slower pace.Allure is the opposite he likes games that are quick,and he keeps Linda on her toes. hope this is making sense to you.Pats horse Magic is a left brained horse and had a lot of extreem fears and was always wound up, she is a very high spirited horse and has been challenging to train.if you follow Parelli and watch the dvd's then you will understand better and get the idea.Only you know what your horse is like and over time she will show her true colours and her horsenality will appear.some aggressive horses have been misunderstood as they may turn out to be defensive and fearful.watch her playing in the field, spend time with her even get a book and just sit with her, in her space. She will soon get to respect you and see you as a leader who leads by example rather than a leader who is to be feared,most of all enjoy her and i hope you both have a lot of fun in your lives.

At 21:14:18 on 16.12.09, Fernley wrote:
Hi , thank you for the comment on my video of fern my youngster, she is now 19 months old, the vid was taken last year when she was six months old! Fern is not my first youngster that i,ve had, she,s my fourth as i love to bring them up to be responsive, respectful and safe, i like the challenge and have learnt a lot from my horses! I,m replying on this forum because of your problem with the biting and mood swings, i have to say i dont feed titbits its a sure fire way to lose respect quickly, not with every horse, but with most. It teaches a horse to be pushy and to disregard your space, you are in affect putting yourself in a lower rank than the horse. My filly whinnies and comes running every time i go to get her in but its not for any reward of food, but because she respects me and therefore feels safe and comfortable in my presence! Sorry if it sounds a bit big headed, but it is important that you gain the youngsters respect and a good way to start is by never giving titbits and moving her out of your space, just insisting she has good manners basically!! Hope this is helpful!! x Lisa

At 21:59:09 on 16.12.09, La Palma wrote:
Thank you plodalong! And Lisa I so want to get where you got to with your filly. I have had that with a horse I had ones, I could let her loose anywhere and when I called her she came running, it was great.I bought that horse when she was 3 years old, she had always been treated very good by here previous owner, so it was easy for me. With Nelly everything is new, and she is now getting use to us people. I have decided not to give her any treats, the difference was big today, she was much more interested in me and also calmer. Thanks again for your help. Kim

At 15:20:57 on 17.12.09, La Palma wrote:
No treats seems to work much better. Today I could brush her 4 legs and her stomach. She does not stand still the whole time and her ears goes sometimes back, but it works much better now.

At 09:38:48 on 18.12.09, Flicka wrote:
Hi, yes I agree treats aren't a good idea and it's great to see that removing them has had positive results. You've already had a lot of really good advice and I really think the advance and retreat works. I used this with a rescue colt that couldn't bear anyone to touch him and you couldn't even catch him in the stable. I did use Reiki as well but obviously he needed to release some emotional problems! After four visits he could go out in a field and was happy for anyone to go up and fuss him. As already mentioned I keep my hand/ brush on until they stand and accept it and then as soon as they stand and relax remove your hand/brush. Then build it up. And again I agree with plodalong about blocking a biter with an elbow rather than retaliating. Look forward to reading about your progress.

At 20:54:32 on 19.12.09, La Palma wrote:
She behaves much better with me, but this morning she bit the man who feeds her. It happened when I didn't see it, so I don't know how it happened. He even have a small wound on his hand. My little angel... I filled in a Parelli form to find out what type she is, and it seems quiet clear that she is LBE. But she is young so I don't know if that is reliably?

At 18:37:36 on 28.12.09, plodalong wrote:
hi Lapalma how are things going with your youngster?.