Boredom in horses

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Inspired by some of the comments on the lunging thread, and so as not to hijack it any further...

I've got more and more interested in how people judge their horses to be bored - in particular youngsters. This is not in any way a thread on how soon a youngster should start work - rather I'm just wondering what people class as bored behaviour and why.

My own view is that much behaviour exhibited by youngsters is misinterpreted as boredom. I've heard a few people now (not neccessarily here - I've been talking to people too) give me examples of what I would call absolutely normal, healthy play as indications that their youngster is bored. Yearlings and two year olds that run off with halters left on gates, that paw at buckets, harrass others they're turned out with (to the point of annoying them), push to join in whre they're not wanted and so on. To me this is the kind of behaviour I want to see in a youngster. If that youngster is out with peers of roughly the same age, you'll see that behaviour a lot. It becomes a problem when the youngster is only out with older horses who might not share their enthusiasm for play. Even then, if we then bring them in and play games, we will see a happy pony because we're now fullfilling their need for play.

To me, a youngster who's out 24/7 in company is very unlikely to become bored, and very likely to show this kind of behaviour. A youngster spending lots of time alone or stabled is a different thing. But their behaviour is also very different - aggressive behaviours, repetitive behaviours, destructive behaviours - all those we know as vices and more. That I would interpret as stress and boredom.

So what do others feel?

 

[shandy84]

Scraping her foot on the ground
Listless behaviour and very little Shandy in evidence
Rug Destrying
Constant rubbing of her mane and tail and body (found not to be sweetitch)
Calling out for hours pretty much non stop
Biting anything she could
Kicking fencing


I'm sure she's done more but that was definatly the worst of it, this was all before Bramble, now she is a contented little pony (she was not however alone just not bonded to any of the other horses)

Can I hijack and ask you why a horse would run to the gate looking happy to see you - always puzzled me if it was food or something else encouraging it

 

[Lovecat]

I'd tend to agree. Having watched my boy play with his little turnout herd they do loads of stuff that someone might classify as 'misbehaviour'; taking each others headcollars off, undoing the leadropes from the gate, biting onto the tailflaps of their rugs and pulling/dragging each other around, pestering each other until a chase starts - I'm glad that they get the opportunity to play and am surprised that some people might count this as misbehaving out of boredom.

To further clarify, within their herd, Murphy is just 7, Dylan is 10, Fraser is 19 and Harry is 2 - it's Harry that starts most of the games and initially, when Murphy was introduced to their group, Harry latched onto him and pestered the life out of him. Murph, having previously shared a field with a rather doddery old pony, was resistant at first and gave Harry several kicks and nips in response to the pestering. Harry, being a bit thick &/or stubborn, persisted and now the two of them play together like they're the same age. In fact Murphy has now taken over in the 'bad behaviour' stakes, he has started to jump the fence from the 'dry' fields into the grazing fields and then calls Harry to join him there! (Harry's a bit cowardly so instead they chat a bit and then Murph gets on with the serious business of eating.... )

 

[chev]

Shandy, You've just described the kind of behaviours I'd class as stress/boredom. I could be wrong but did you say once that Shandy had been handled a lot as a young foal, and has always had problems with other horses? If so, that's interesting - a friend has a mare she hand-reared who shows the same problems if deprived of human company for long, even when out with other horses. She has problems bonding with equines too.

The why do they greet us question interests me too. Mine never get treats, and only Rhodri and Lili are fed - and then only in the winter. So it's not food there! But I do think that if you have a good relationship with a horse, that horse will come over and 'welcome' you back to the herd every time you visit. If I go through the gate all of mine come over, they all greet me, but if I stay there and get on with doing my own thing (water, poo picking, whatever) although they'll hang around for a while they will always go back to grazing. It's much the same as the way they behave to one of their own who's been out of the field for a while. Then when I go, they sometimes follow, other times they just glance up and go back to the grass. Even May, who isn't always great about being caught, will come over initially - which makes me think it's largely unrelated to anything else that happens (like work, or grooming, or feeding). Once she's said hello she'll then beat a retreat if she thinks work is in the offing.

I've had a couple of horses who didn't greet me. One was a mare I bought off a friend. She was five, and in the space of a few months had been brought in, broken, trimmed, shod and gone through the sales. Poor girl was in a state of shock. She developed a virus the vet reckoned was stress related. She refused to be caught and never greeted us. We gave her the summer off, and I went up and played games with her. The more she started to respect me, the more often she greeted me. The other was a gelding with huge respect issues - he had no respect for anyone at all. He rarely greeted me - he'd look up but that was all. He would be caught no problem, but only if I went over to him. Once his problems were addressed (like not letting him barge through gates, teaching him to lead properly, working on his ridden manners and so on) he too started to greet me - in fact he became one of the friendliest ponies I've had.

I don't think that's the only reason but I think it's a big part of it - that they're happy with what they're asked to do, they're happy with you, and they respect you - each greeting re-acknowledges you as their partner, if you like.

 

[Tootsie4U]

Originally posted by chev
My own view is that much behaviour exhibited by youngsters is misinterpreted as boredom.

Humble Pie.

You know, that is quite true. What do you think about this?

It is quite obvious that when Bonfire's *routine* changes, he acts out. The routine change usually coincides with a "lengthy" absense on my part (three days!! ). I usually blame his behavior on the fact that he his "structure" is gone.

But, bottom line, he's just being a horse.

hmmm....

 

[shandy84]

He he see they are never too old to learn!

We have a feeling Shandy was seperated from mum very early, she was left in a 12 acre field with two horses who bullied her and she was malnourished and unhandled when we got her as a 1 1/2 year old. Have to admit she was VERY pampered when she first came to us which may be why she is so attached to people.

I think my OH and I came to the conclusion as she lost the security of mum very early and made no "friends" until us that she saw us as her herd which is why she exhibited the behaviour she did.

Shandy has had a lot of problems with other horses Bramble is the first she has really bonded with. I don't know if this is related to her past but she seems to get in and bully the others before they can go for her nomatter their size or rank. So she ended up bloody and lame on most occasions when turned out with other mares.

We moved her with some success and got an elderly TB on loan who acted as a surrogate mummy, but even towards the end of the loan she had started bullying her. We had a sports horse mare on loan who would get beaten up regulary by her and ignored the rest of the time, this mare also had some issues so went back. We then had a gelding on loan and Shandy semed to be happy (except he ended up mounting her all the time etc as well as having his own issues so he went back)

We seem to have fallen on our feet with Bramble she is younger so naturally lower in rank but I think the bull headed native in her will not allow her to be bullied too much and become downtrodden. They bicker like sisters now which is very funny. Only when we got Bramble did all the bad behaviour cease. It did get better with moving her away from a large herd of other horses though.

 

[chev]

Tootsie - could it be that Bon's behaviour changes because he anticipates a change in handling when you're not there? From what you've said, he doesn't react well to handlers he doesn't respect - and he's a horse whose respect you have to earn, from what I've seen in your posts - so if when you're not there he feels the people who deal with him are 'not worthy' he plays up...

Gelfy's much the same. He's fairly good for me right now - I'm being very patient but also very insistant and it works well with him. People who lose their temper get nowhere with him - he fights back. People who treat him with kid gloves get trampled on. But that's how most other people are around him, so it looks like he acts up if his routine changes. In fact it's more to do with attitude than 'structure'.