My Lil Tack Shop

So, I bought this 22 year old gelding paint quarter horse. He is supposed to be kid and husband safe. Which I thought would be a good fit for someone who has been out of having horses for a while. I had horses when I was in high school so I'm not totally new to the world of horses. However, since I've brought this new big beautiful animal home he has been nothing but a pain. He has done everything from making it difficult to get halter on to barely accepting the bit to not standing still so that I can get on him, nibling at the halter while I was trying to put it on him, etc. Granted they are all small things but they are adding up. I am able to get out of him what I want but we are buttin heads to say the least. It just seems like he's always in trouble with me.  Any suggestions? He can be a little on the pushy side which he's starting to find that this isn't going to get him what he wants either. I don't remember going through this with my other horses. Does this sound normal to anyone else?

Hi Erin,

All  3 of  will be part of this answer, but it pretty much  boils  down to the same answer. This is Normal  for a new  horse to pull this on anyone. He  wants to see what you are  going to let  him get away with.  You need to be  the ALPHA of  the two otherwise he will always have  your number and  you  will have these problems  forever. He can be the best  horse in the  world  but if you  let  him get  away  with what he wants  he's and  any other horse are  going to take  advantage of that. (the same with ids and  adults for that matter to). You  need to make sure  he  gives you  space or he will become over pushy. get a step stool if u must to get that halter on him or bit into his mouth. If he  can't pull his head  out of  your reach  he can't keep you  from  doing  what your trying to do. (make  sure  the stool is on even ground) Have someone  hold  him if you must, but  don't let  him get away with it. Everytime he does  something  correct without a  hassel or  fight  praise  him.  Give him  loving pats on the  side of his neck, tell  him what a good  boy he is when hes good.. Horses love  to hear praise  from us.

You are  just  as new to  him as he is to you, so in his mind  you are his,  and he's the  boss of you. And he's  going to  test you and  contiune to do so till you get  control of it.

This  can be  taken care of easily  enough  with  enough work,  and  patiance and  time.. Do not  be  stern  and mean it one  time  but a hr. later or  the next day/week/month later  let him get away with it. In order  for a horse to learn  it has  to be  the same  way each and  everytime if  you want him to be trained that way. Other wise he's  gonna be  the bad horse always  pissing you off, and  sooner or later  it  could get  worse.  I wrote a article  on this same  thing on my blog, which I will  open up and   copy and paste and  email to  you if  you like.  As regan  and  Ross agree  with me, Consistey is  the  name  of the  game. If he's bad  don't get  frustrated and  walk away,  and let  him do whatever, weather it be graze,  eat or  run  off,  tie  him up.. Make  him understand he did  wrong and  your not going to tolerate it. Once he realizes  you are in  controll not him most  if not all of these  things  will stop (unless he's a bad horse period). Now days it's hard to take  anyones word  for it unless you know the horse, seen him ridden  by kids, adults , beggeniers  to truly  believe and know   for a fact a horse is all these things he was said to be  by the previous owner. If a horse owner is  trying to sell a horse and  they have  nothing to hide  they will agree to give  you  a try out  time with a non refundable  cost  or no cost,  to make sure the horse is a good fit for you.

Here I never   let  anyone purchase a broke  horse untill they have been here at least 2 different times  to ride the horse and see that  its a good fit  for both horse and  rider. If I'm not  comforable  with  a  persons  riding abilities  or I don't think its a good  fit I may request you take  riding lessons, or suggest a better  fitted  horse,  or  just not  sell to the person.  Theres always  going to be  that one person  who thinks they know it all and  want a pretty horse,  (which happens alot  with  Arabians and pinabains cuz they are  beauiful horses) but  an arab with or  without  color is not a horse  for  everyone. And  I  will not  sell a horse  just to sell a horse. I would  rather  loose a sale,  then  take the risk of the buyer getting hurt and it  coming back on me. I  know  we  got off topic a  wee bit but it all fits into New horses / bad  habits /  new owners / riding abilities / and weather the  horse  owner you bought from was  honest  with you about the animal to begin with. If this  brings up more  questions let us know and  I'll get  you the link to my blog.