Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Yearling cranky in stall

From: Kirsten

Ok, this is going to be a long one : ) Firstly, my soon to be yearling filly (not the soon to be yearling who was spooking) is very cranky when you stand outside her stall. She's not barn sour, as she turned out all day, everyday. Whenever anyone (including myself, whom she is closest to) comes outside her stall, she puts her ears back and bobs her head up and down. Whenever I go in to pick out her stall and push her (gently!) over, she swishes her tail (but won't kick). She's very sweet on croos ties, although quite sensitive. The other day, when I was walking by her stall to put her grain in her bucket, she stuck her head out and bit me. I yelled (in pain!) then went into her stall and smacked her on the side. I know I didn't really handle this correctly, as I came up as an agressor, but jow exactly should I deal with it? I'm not afraid of her or anyhting like that. So, is there any way I can get her to sweeten up in her stall (I can't really isolate her or anything like that), and how should I deal with her biting?

Hi Kirsten! Horses can be very territorial about their stalls. Your filly obviously feels that her stall is HER private area, and that anyone coming into (or past) it is crowding her and invading her space. There are other factors here, too. Horses don't see well in light-to-dark areas, so if the stall is dark, the horse in it is likely to react more nervously to movement or noise. And ANY horse in a stall is likely to be more insecure than it is outdoors in a field, because a horse's first defense against any strange sound, sight, smell, or sensation is flight -- and flight is no longer an option when a horse is in a stall.

If you hit her or yell at her in her stall, you will only make matters worse, as she will be CONVINCED that the stall is a bad place to be!

I assume that, since she is so young, she is fed in her stall and spends the rest of her time outdoors. Is that correct? At her age -- actually, at just about ANY age - - she SHOULD be outdoors in a field, day and night, so that she can grow and develop properly. But if she's indoors only for feeding, you've added another factor to the mix: you have a very energetic, active, young horse that is isolated in a stall to be fed. There's nothing wrong with this -- in fact, it's the only way you can be absolutely sure that she is getting her grain and supplements -- but it will tend to make her even more territorial. Don't try to solve the problem by making her stay in the stall all night -- it won't be good for her physical or mental development.

Don't try to clean the stall while she is in it! It's a bad idea for several reasons. For one, since she comes in to be fed, you are interrupting her feeding time AND making her think that she needs to protect her food from you. For another, you are creating dust that she shouldn't be breathing. And for still another, you are putting yourself and your filly at risk. Cleaning a stall while the horse is still in it is an open invitation to injuries -- horses and manure forks and wheelbarrows don't mix well! Clean the stall when she is in the field -- before she comes in to eat, or after you take her out again (this is a better option, because of the dust). And if for some reason you must clean the stall while she is in the barn, take her out and put her on crossties, or tie her in front of the stall, while you clean it.

The only way you can "sweeten her up" in her stall is to make it a very pleasant place for her, and that's hard to do when she KNOWS that she'd rather be in the pasture. Handle her carefully, and when she finishes her meal (she's so young, it can't be a very LARGE feeding!), take her back out to her field. When she associates the stall with special feed and gentle voices and hands, instead of long confinement and wheelbarrows and forks, she will learn to calm down a bit. But there's no way to make a horse NOT be eager to go out in the morning if it's been locked in all night -- so if you can leave her out ALL the time (except for feeding), do it!

- Jessica

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