Sigh. I could scream and cry, I'm so annoyed and upset with Sweeney. We're having a few problems.
He's being a bad bully out in the field. He's with a herd of geldings and they have lots of open space to run around. But he's chasing the horses constantly, he won't leave them alone, he's literally galloping at full speed across the field and running at them with his ears back. He isn't kicking or biting, but the other horses arn't getting peace and other livery owners are obviously getting annoyed with him (I can't blame them). Can you stop a horse doing this?? He's been doing it for months now.
When he's in the stable he's snapping at both horses and human's when they pass. I can't tell you how many times people have come up to me to say that Sweeney is biting. He's fine as long as nobody passes his stable. He doesn't do it to me. But it's not the point, he shouldn't be doing it.
I just want to add at this point that there are no pain issues or unhappiness - he is a very happy pony (although he doesn't sound like it!), he's riding beautifully and freely and everything fits, he had his teeth and back done in October. He lets me touch him all over with no problems. He's fine to handle and he's turned out every single day and brought in overnight, it's not an option at his yard to keep him out 24/7. This has been an ongoing issue since I got him. Bit of background on him - he's 8 years old, was a stallion up until he was 3 or 4 and sired a foal, but has absolutely no interest in mares and even when the herd of mares broke in with the geldings he didn't go near any of them. He's fed 1 scoop of Spiller's Cool Fibre and half a round scoop of horse and pony nuts, twice a day.
Sometimes I just feel like giving up. There is ALWAYS a problem with me and Sweeney or always something stressful to have to deal with. I had a challenging horse for 4 years but had great fun with him and nothing like this bothered me. But over the past 3 years I just feel like it's getting on top of me and there's just too much to worry about. And now this field issue and the biting and everything else. I love him very much and he has brought my riding on leaps and bounds, but these other issues are taking over the pleasure of owning him.
Sorry for the essay. Help.
He's being a bad bully out in the field. He's with a herd of geldings and they have lots of open space to run around. But he's chasing the horses constantly, he won't leave them alone, he's literally galloping at full speed across the field and running at them with his ears back. He isn't kicking or biting, but the other horses arn't getting peace and other livery owners are obviously getting annoyed with him (I can't blame them). Can you stop a horse doing this?? He's been doing it for months now.
When he's in the stable he's snapping at both horses and human's when they pass. I can't tell you how many times people have come up to me to say that Sweeney is biting. He's fine as long as nobody passes his stable. He doesn't do it to me. But it's not the point, he shouldn't be doing it.
I just want to add at this point that there are no pain issues or unhappiness - he is a very happy pony (although he doesn't sound like it!), he's riding beautifully and freely and everything fits, he had his teeth and back done in October. He lets me touch him all over with no problems. He's fine to handle and he's turned out every single day and brought in overnight, it's not an option at his yard to keep him out 24/7. This has been an ongoing issue since I got him. Bit of background on him - he's 8 years old, was a stallion up until he was 3 or 4 and sired a foal, but has absolutely no interest in mares and even when the herd of mares broke in with the geldings he didn't go near any of them. He's fed 1 scoop of Spiller's Cool Fibre and half a round scoop of horse and pony nuts, twice a day.
Sometimes I just feel like giving up. There is ALWAYS a problem with me and Sweeney or always something stressful to have to deal with. I had a challenging horse for 4 years but had great fun with him and nothing like this bothered me. But over the past 3 years I just feel like it's getting on top of me and there's just too much to worry about. And now this field issue and the biting and everything else. I love him very much and he has brought my riding on leaps and bounds, but these other issues are taking over the pleasure of owning him.
Sorry for the essay. Help.