From: Carl Maxcey
First of all, let me say how much I have enjoyed your book. It was very well done and most helpful.
My question is this. I am looking to buy a seven year old thoroughbred for my daughters to ride in hunter classes here in nothern Illinois. When he is put at the cross tie for tacking he will nont stop moving around nervously and biting at everything within reach. When the girls ride him, after finally tacking him up, he seems to be fine and does not spook around other horses in the arena. The trainer says to bump him in the head with one's elbow to keep him from biting if you are standing near him and attempting to tack him. My daughter claims that will make him head shy, but having been on the receiving end of his habit, I feel it is either him or me. By the way, he is a gelding and about 16.3 hands, so he is not very small. How should one deal with him? I can understand one ought not to beat a horse, otherwise they simply avoid you. But the question is how does one keep him quiet at the cross tie? My other concern is that why does this horse still behave this way? Did the previous owner do nothing? perhaps it would be best to keep looking and just find a quieter horse. The trainer seems to feel that manners can be easily taught. If so, why has he not learned already? Please let me know what you think.
Thanks very much.
Carl Maxcey
Thank you very much, I'm glad to know that you enjoyed my book.
Whenever I hear about a Thoroughbred that fidgets or acts up on crossties, my first thought is that the horse was bred for racing, and started his career at the track. Racehorses are never cross-tied. At the track, horses are tied in their stalls, by a single tie. The aisles aren't used for tying, and horses that are being bathed are simply held by the leadrope.
Racehorses and ex-racehorses don't understand what is expected of them in cross-ties, and they get anxious, try to move around, and usually get punished for moving -- then they become more anxious, move around even more, and get punished again, become MORE anxious, etc. The only way to avoid or break this cycle is to TRAIN the horse to stand quietly in crossties, and that takes time and effort.
Since he's fine under saddle, this problem seems to be limited to behaviour on cross-ties, and that's something that can be solved.
Your trainer is right: manners can be taught. The reason this horse hasn't learned good manners on cross-ties is that HE HASN'T BEEN TAUGHT good manners on crossties. He can be taught -- it will require some time, some patience, and consistent handling. If you and your daughter and the trainer are prepared to do this, here's what I suggest.
First, don't crosstie him to tack him up. TIE him -- fairly short, with just a couple of feet of leadrope between his nose and the knot. Tie him to something solid -- a tie-ring is ideal; a convenient post can also be useful.
ALWAYS use a quick-release knot for safety.
This is the kind of tying that will make sense to him, and not worry him as the cross-ties do. When he's tied like THIS, you can begin to work on the biting problem. Your trainer is right about the elbow -- and so is your daughter. Hitting the horse WILL make him nervous and head-shy, and that includes hitting him with an elbow. But I'm sure that what your trainer meant was not "Hit the horse with your elbow" but rather "Lift your elbow so that the HORSE runs into it HIMSELF." You won't have to do anything at all -- just be ready so that when the horse swings his head in a genuine attempt to bite, he hits your elbow, or the end of a wood-back brush. You can bark "NO!" at him, or make a loud, "WRONG ANSWER!" buzzer noise, at the same time. Then, IMMEDIATELY, go back to talking calmly and doing whatever you were doing. He needs to learn that you are kind and that he is safe, but that biting has unpleasant results. Horses have very acute hearing and very sensitive ears and muzzles, so the combination of a nasty noise and a bump to the muzzle is very effective indeed.
First, remember that if you have to discipline him, you are TEACHING him what's not acceptable, not PUNISHING him by hitting him in anger. There's an enormous difference, and horses are quick to sense it. DISCIPLINE says "NO, this behaviour is NOT allowed." Anger says "You're a bad, wicked horse and I hate you and you're in big trouble forever, starting right now and escalating." In the first instance, he'll feel more secure, knowing what the boundaries are. In the second, he will become frightened and resentful and eventually panic -- and you don't want 16.3 hh of frightened, resentful, or panicked horse on your hands.
BITING can't be allowed. Making faces CAN be allowed. Your horse can learn the difference.
Let me explain a little about WHY your horse may be doing what he's doing. At the racetrack, horses are confined around the clock, fed high-energy feeds in large quantities, and spend most of their time being bored half to death. In addition to the boredom, depending on the track and the trainer and the grooms, the horses are often handled very roughly. As a result, they don't look forward to kind, quiet interactions with humans -- when they see someone coming with brushes or tack, they snap and snarl and fidget, and they will often try to bite or kick. When they become "civilians", their new owners often assume that they know more than they do about saddle-horse barn manners.
At the track, being tacked up means that a horse is getting out of its stall -- it's going to gallop or it's going to race, and in either case, it gets very excited. This habit -- dancing with anticipation -- often carries over into life AFTER the track. It's not bad behaviour, it's a conditioned response, and you can condition a new response in its place if you want to. Take a week and tack up the horse, then take him out for a short walk in hand, pat him, give him a few treats, and put him away again. You're creating a new set of associations in his mind: "tack" doesn't have to mean "excitement, speed, going to work"; it can mean going for a walk, eating some grass and an apple, and going back into the stall or back into the pasture.
Tacking-up is uncomfortable for many racehorses. They're bursting with energy, and while they dance around, a good handler can tack them up quietly, but not all horses HAVE good handlers. In most cases, someone slaps the saddle on, jerks the girth up, slams a bit into their teeth and shoves the bridle over their ears. This is painful and frightening and sets up very negative expectations. Again, it's a conditioned response. And again, you can teach the horse to react differently, by showing him that YOUR actions can be different.
First, it goes without saying that your tack should FIT the horse -- you won't be able to convince him that a bit, browband, girth, or saddle won't hurt if it really IS going to hurt.
By being kind and firm (not tentative, many Thoroughbreds are VERY ticklish!), and by moving slowly, talking in a low voice, and feeding an occasional treat while being very careful to tack up as painlessly as possible, you can teach this horse that he doesn't have to anticipate discomfort. If you wait for him to lower his head for the bridle, slide the bit into his mouth without hitting his teeth, and put the headstall over his ears gently, making the entire experience as pleasant as possible, and then do it this way EVERY time, you'll be surprised at how calm he can become, and how quickly he can change.
Talk to your trainer about this. It's an understandable behaviour and one that can be changed, so if this is a good horse for your daughter in all other ways, it would be worth investing some time and care in re-training the horse to accept tacking-up calmly.
If you do decide to retrain him, work with him tied as I described above, then you can begin to teach him how to crosstie, just as you would teach a young, untrained horse. In this horse's case, you would do well to begin by crosstying him IN his stall, so that he will encounter a wall if he runs backward. Keep everything calm and happy and comfortable, build up a new set of associations with the process of cross-tying, and then when he's quite at ease with being cross-tied in his stall, you can begin again in the aisle. Don't worry about starting over each time -- it will take less and less time in each new venue, and the lesson will stay with him for life.
Jessica
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