nightmare to rug

M

moorland

New Member
Mar 13, 2009
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isle of lewis
not that i want to all the time but there have to be times that you need to
we have a rescued meat horse ,he's 2 now very nervous a freind got one and it's taken 7 months to even touch him ,retreats really fast to a corner stands shivers ,he's 3 (she's backed horses and brought on foals before but he's really strange) ,ours is better ,different kettle of fish ,he get bolshy ,he tends to bite if he's nervous ,he was stabled with turn out during the day but has had to go out 24/7 ,due to livary shutting down in the summers here ,because of his x and were we live and for things like traveling he is going to have to be rugged ,arrived here unrugged ,my daughter could do it with a sweat rug in the stable ,rugging every day and then taking it off ,but they been trying in the feild and he snapped the lead rein the other day ,if you get his rug out now he just rears and plays up ,i think we'll start taking it down we he gets his feed and see how it goes ,any other suggestions :),maybe starting off with small piece of cloth and building up to a rug ,in a lot of respects he's coming along well ,he's ok to lead now ,will walk out ok ,but he seems to have really gone backwards since he's been living out,could he need a calmer ,as i said was coming along leaps and bounds ,since living out he's getting to be a bit of a head case ,we were at the picking up feet stage ,rugging ,and grooming all over,although he is great for my daughter who owns him he seems scared andf spooky of the rest of us even though we normally go down twice to 3 times a day to check on him and talk to him
 
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TBH although I hear where you are coming from, I would TOTALLY FORGET about rugging at this time. Summer is almost here and the Weather is warmer.

You need to work on the trust issue with this horse and need to be able to touch him all over with no fear before rugging him. IF you succeed in rugging him but he is scared of the rug he could get into all sorts of problems trying to get it off.

I would work on gentle touching exercises, working up very slowly to enabling you to run a towel or piece of cloth over him, then get him used to walking round with a towel over his back etc., and then and only then start working on a rug. Put it on the floor let him have a VERY GOOD look at it, sniff it, etc., and then start hanging it over a door, chair, rail in his presence and then and ONLY then start to try to get him to accept the rug ready for
next year.

IF you are finding he is playing up more whilst out in the field, bring him
OUT of the field and do all this outside of 'his territory'. Don't rush him,
be very patient with lots of praise.

I would normally be saying spend lots of time with him building a bond and doing very little, but I think its important that you 'do things' with him when visiting so that he gets used to accepting you even if its only bringing him out for a little walk or groom and run your hands over him, lots of praise and keeping it all very short and sweet. He is still VERY YOUNG has had a
very bad start, with probably some not pleasant experiences.

The other route of course would be to turn him away with a herd, let
him just be a Young Horse with minimal interference and start again next Spring when hopefully he will have 'forgotton' some of what has happened to him in his short life, bless. Personally I think this is the way I would go but Only you can decide which way to go.
 
hi, I think you guys are on the right track for trying to work with small pieces of fabric and getting bigger, but I'd also say try some roundpen work and get him desensitized by the rug by making him walk over it, under it, touch it with his nose and eventually have it done up. Wild or not worked on older horses really benefit from roundpen work.
 
thanks walking him over it seems like a good idea :),he trusts my daughter follows her around she sits in the feild reading ,with him and ignores him totally ,both horses really don't like women ,they much prefure men ,the rug has been hung over the fence ,silly so in so pulls it off and dumps it on the floor ,
 
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