yearling filly

Question
I have a yearling thoroughbred filly that I raised and now want to get her ready for a sale in October...she leads and that's about it...I have extensive knowledge of quarter horses having been in the buying and selling for 40 years but I am older and these tb's just aren't the same.it seems to me that they will hurt themselves rather than give in...I don't want her to hurt herself or me and i'm afraid if I just tie her up to teach her discipline she may do just that...can you advise me on this issue?  She rears quite easily and will run over you to escape if you want her to do something ie:  water on her...worming....she is just a mystery to me..I'm 57 and have lots of physical problems...I really would like to outsmart her and not give in.....any suggestions?

Answer
Lydia,

Thoroughbreds are very aggressive in nature, and often will hurt themselves rather than give in during a fight.  When a thoroughbred is in fight/flight mode they can often kill themselves, as well.  Not intentionally, but they do tend to lose all sense of self preservation when they feel the need to escape badly enough.

By far the easiest and most effective way to deal with a Thoroughbred baby is to handle them often from birth.  Once they accept and trust you, everything else comes much easier, and trust is very simple to establish when they are young.  Once they get older, and the only contact they are used to is for unpleasant things like shots and worming, it gets much more difficult to establish that bond. You won't do it by just tying her up and trying to establish dominance over her.  She would probably injure herself if you did it, and even if she didn't, she would likely never trust you after that type of treatment, and that will make all subsequent dealings with her that much harder.

The best and easiest way to deal with the situation, given your physical problems would be to send her to a reputable trainer who would sales prep her for you.  While I never recommend brute force to train a horse, a certain amount of strength and agility are necessary.  You have to be able to at least show her that she won't win, without trying to beat her into submission.  If she can easily overpower you, she'll never learn this lesson.

But if circumstances don't allow for another trainer, here are a few tips.  First, start giving her small treats, like carrot bits, whenever you are around her, without asking her to do anything in return.  Make her look forward to seeing and interacting with you.  Then progress to actually doing things that she finds unpleasant, using treats to "change the subject" when she starts to get upset.  For bathing, wrap a chain shank over the noseband of her halter.  This will give you a little more control when she tries to escape.  Then put her into a small, safe corner or 3 sided area, like the corner of a paddock, or a small round pen.  Give her some treats, and get her to relax before putting any water on her.  Take a hose with just a trickle of water, and run it gently on a front foot, just over the hoof.  If she tires to bolt forward, shank her once or twice, not too hard, and try to convince her to remain still.  If she won't stay still  let her circle around at will, but keep the water on her foot, so that she realizes that she can't get away from it, and eventually that it isn't hurting her.  Once she accepts the water on her foot, give her a treat or two, and move the water up her legs, and eventually over her shoulder and barrel area.  Keep the hose as close to her body as possible, in order to minimize the splashing feeling to her, and the sound of splashing water as well.  take extra care when you get to the hind quarters, as the feel of the water running down the back legs and around the belly usually is the most frightening for the young horse.  You probably won't get an entire bath done in one session, and you may have to start over from the beginning every time for a few sessions, but eventually she'll understand that the water isn't hurting her, and she'll come to accept the bath without fuss.  But do use liberal supplies of treats, so that she associates good things with the experience, and dpesn't just remember being forced to do something frightening.

The treat method works for many things.  Whenever you do something new, and she gets scared and belligerent, stop what you are doing, calm her down, and give her a treat or two, then start again slowly.  Don't reward her for treats for bad behavior, but try to anticipate when she is getting ready to blow, and stop  before she starts, calming her back to an even keel.  Try not to give her a chance to misbehave.  The key is positive reinforcement.  Try to make everything have a good connotation in her mind, rather than a bad one  .Horses have a fairly short attention span, so by heading her off with a treat before she gets upset, often she'll forget what she was going to get upset about.

Lastly, if you have to reprimand her for anything, try to do it as another horse would.  Keep it short, direct, and then forget about it.  Don't hold a grudge.  A two fingered smack to her muzzle for biting, a slap at her shoulder, a quick shank, whatever is appropriate for the bad behavior, but then it is over and done with, and get back to normal as quickly as possible.  Horses understand a quick reprimand, because that is how they behave with each other, but they don't understand prolonged screaming or hitting.  It isn't normal to their behavior, and just causes them confusion and stress.

I hope that this helps,

Stephanie Frost
www.alchemybloodstock.com