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Published in the Ithaca Journal on Saturday, June 6, 2003
Improve bad behaving horses by making them earn treats
Spotlight on Pet Behavior
By MICHELLE BAMBERGER
Special to the Journal
Question: About a year ago, I bought a 9-year-old Arab gelding named Jack. Soon after I brought him home, I realized that he had "space issues". Certain areas like his shoulders and under his belly were off limits, and he didn't like people going in his stall. Since last year, he's become very pleasant when being handled and brushed. Still, if you go into his stall without a halter in your hand, he rushes to the far end of the stall and bears his teeth or turns his hind end at you; he acts like he's about to be hit with something. My mother has asked his old owner about these habits, but she claims he was never abused. The other thing is that he's very good about people in his stall at shows. What can I do to calm him down when I enter his stall?Answer: First rule out medical causes of aggression in Jack by being sure that he is normal on physical exam, is getting fed a diet with the proper levels of vitamin and mineral supplements and is not in pain. Once you have done that, we can consider a behavioral cause for his aggression.
Horses may direct aggression towards their owners anywhere, but most often it is seen in the stall. This may occur because horses can easily become territorial over a small space such as a stall.
To change Jackıs behavior when you enter the stall, you must first change your behavior. Whenever you enter the stall (holding the halter or not), withhold all praise and food rewards, such as grain or chunks of carrot, until Jack is behaving. For example, enter the stall with a food reward before Jack is fed in the morning or evening but donıt offer the food reward to Jack if he is acting aggressively. The moment he doesnıt bear his teeth or begins to turn his rump away from you, immediately praise him (or click) and toss him a food reward. Be patient, as this may take a few sessions before he begins to associate good behavior with the presence of the food and your praise. As he progresses, begin to prolong the time between the start of his good behavior and when you actually give him the food reward; this will encourage him to hold the good behavior for longer and longer time periods.
In addition to the above procedure, you may want to learn how to communicate better with Jack by learning how horses communicate with each other. Two excellent sources of information are Fundamentals of Free Lungeing by Stephen A. Mackenzie and Resistance Free Training by Richard Shrake. You will learn that the way you hold and move your body and where you direct your gaze greatly influences how Jack responds to you. By paying more attention to your own body postures when around Jack, you will begin to pay more attention to Jackıs body signals and will ultimately be able to read him better.
Michelle Bamberger is a veterinarian and owner of Vet Behavior Consults (www.vetbehaviorconsults.com), a practice based in Ithaca and devoted exclusively to solving behavioral problems in small, large and exotic animals. Send questions for her column to mjb57@cornell.edu, mail them Care of Jessica Keltz to The Ithaca Journal, 123 West State St., Ithaca, NY, 14850, or fax them to 277-6845.