At 01:53:02 on 02.01.12, shadypony wrote:
Back in march 2011, my pony kicked me in the stomach/ribs, it hurt a lot obviously, i was in the hospital for 2 weeks, and I'd rather not go into the details I don't feel they're important right now. But basically, unless he is tied, I'm extremely uncomfortable being anywhere near his butt since then. He's not the nicest horse in the world, but I shouldn't be that scared of him. Unless he's in the crossties, I won't go around his butt to ge to the other side or anything, and I hate it!!! It's stupid to be scared. Like really? If he just moves his legs when Im behind him it freaks me out. I HATE IT. I wish I could be a normal person... anyways, any suggestions I could get to stop being so scared???

At 12:40:49 on 04.01.12, OffTheTrack wrote:
It must be hard and the solution to individual horse and owner trust is unique, so difficult to suggest online. But I think the key is time, spending time with him, get him to trust you as well, because trust works both ways. Join-Up might get him to trust and respect you and you to trust him. I think as time goes on, this fear will slowly ebb away as you leanr that it's unlikely to happen again. Do soem training with him, maybe clicker train him. This will bring you closer and get him to associate you with fun and learning and you to associate him with focus and respect. I used to be wary when I started working with the thoroughbreds, because they were so huge and I'd seen them kick people. But the more time I spent with them, the more confident I became. Then a client came along needing our help because she was terrified of riding her thoroughbred. We worked with her, got her to spend time, corrected some of the horse's bad manners and brought her confidence up bit by bit. She considered selling us the horse halfway through, but we convinced her not to give up... and now they're in high level ROR competition together. You can do it, there's no doubt about it :) x

At 13:08:18 on 04.01.12, shadypony wrote:
Thank you!! I will try to just give it time and training. Recently he's been out of work because of a tendon injury and I've been working on his ground manners, which are becoming lovely :) The clicker training sounds like a good and fun idea, I'll try it! Thanks again!!!